252 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 15, 1900. 
the text of the report. They represent scenes of 
wood and water, some in winter, others in summer, 
in several of the Boston parks The deciduous trees 
more particularly show fine timber. The more 
recently planted trees and bushes are also produc¬ 
tive of fine effect. Altogether the parks and the 
several playgrounds which have to be kept in order 
are very numerous, and must entail a great deal of 
work and attention on the part of the superin¬ 
tendent. 
A CHOICE OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
As a conclusion to the summary list of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums which we made choice of from the Ryecroft 
collection of Mr. H. J. Jones in the beginning of the 
season, we append a list of the later varieties. It 
will be seen that though many are already known, 
yet they represent those of the front exhibition rank 
(judging from the past season), and they also include 
some promising novelties. 
For instance we have Vicar of Leatherhead, a 
variety which obtained a F.C.C. in November, and 
which is a most distinct sort, of a bright yellow 
colour. It is spoken of as one of the best sent out. 
Mdme. Terrier has come remarkably fine as a late 
variety this year. 
W. H. Whitehouse is a large reflexed variety with 
a sweet creamy centre and mauve base. Mr. Louis 
Barter was well received at Edinburgh show where 
the Lewisham grower displayed it to some effect. 
Then Mrs. W. Cursham can scarcely be beaten as a 
gocd early Jap.; Mr. Thos. Coles is a grand 
incurved Jap.; and Miss Nellie Perkins has become 
hugely popular in one season; and nearly every¬ 
where it has come well. It does not furnish a very 
large flower, so that lovers of mere size may specu¬ 
late on others ; but for sweetness and refinement few 
sorts approach it. Mr. F. S Vallis included it in his 
great collection that won the French and English 
N.C.S.'s Gold Medals, and large money prize. Mrs. 
McCombie is good and furnishes a rich chestnut-red 
variety, having a gold reverse. 
Lewisham Belle has caused a bit of a squabble 
about how it should be classified. Mr. Jones will 
allow us to say that though it may not become an 
exhibition variety among any section of the “ Japs.” 
yet as a true decorative bloom we would recommend 
it most strongly. The bleached-straw or soft pale 
primrose colour, and sharp radiating petals make it 
distinct, and, to our mind, very attractive. Hon.W. 
F. D. Smith has proved equal to the expectations 
formed of it last year ; Edwin Smith succeeds admir¬ 
ably in 32-sized pots providing large bright crimson 
blooms on stout plants; Mrs. Cross, golden and 
mauve suffused ; Florence Molyneux, known to all ; 
George Towers, a fine bold bloom of a mauve hue ; 
Sir Redvers Buller, one of the richest and finest of 
the season, and sure to become a favourite; Miss 
Jessie Cottee, which, with Mrs. Tail, came as a sport 
irom Etoile de Lyon, we do not hesitate to pronounce 
as one of the most beautiful, most lively coloured 
and most distinct novelties of the season. As an 
exhibition bloom we would reserve our opinion, but 
again as a true ornamental variety for the conserva¬ 
tory and for the vase classes at shows and decorative 
work at home, it will rank amongst the very best. 
We need not attempt descriptions in this note, for 
these can be found in the catalogues. 
Mrs. J. Bryant received a F.C.C. this year It pro¬ 
duces enormously massive blooms. And now comes 
Robert Laird, a variety nanei after the popular 
secretary of the Scottish Horticultural Association, 
and which will become as famous as Edith Tabor 
was when at the zenith of its popularity. Robert 
Laird is a more massive bloom altogether than Edith 
Tabor, and it is of the purest white, but the habit ( 
the long curling petals and artless build, are just 
the same. It is a splendid novelty. Mdme. Von 
Andre is good; Little Nell and Mrs. Barkley, to¬ 
gether with Lord Salisbury (good colour on late 
bud); Geo. Davis, Lucy Cheesmao, and Marquis 
Viscount Venosta (Calvat), are all first-class up-to- 
date varieties. 
To mention half a dozen decorative sorts take 
Argentine, white; Edith Pagram, single, mauve; 
Houppe Fleure, reddish-orange; Yellow Jane 
Improved ; and Eihel M. King, lilac with a yellow 
band up the centre of each petal. This came as a 
sport from La Triomphe; aad lastly, Silk Twist, 
completes a good list. What has been done at 
Ryecroft for the decorative section of Chrysanthe¬ 
mum is matter ofcommon knowledge. 
GARDENING UlSCELLANY. 
BEGONIAS IN FLOWER. 
When one has the privilege of viewing a house 
almost completely devoted to such Begonias as 
President Carnot, Dreggii, haageana, Ingramii, car- 
minata, meiallica and corallina, all in robust health 
and with an abundance of flower, the mind is not 
left wondering why they receive so much apprecia¬ 
tion, but rather why they do not receive more. 
These all flower from the present time right on till 
the advance of next summer. They are all the very 
acme of elegance and have the beauty of harmony 
or agreeable contrast. Most of them, or indeed all, 
except Dreggii, are pink or crimson-flowered, a 
colour which one values during winter more than we 
do at any other season. B. Dreggii though a white- 
flowered species cannot but be acceptable because of 
its distinctive and finely moulded, deep, yet shining, 
pea-green leaves. Begonias President Carnot and 
corallina furnish two of the finest pillar plants which 
can be sought out. The others make splendid pot 
specimens and can be grown just as successfully in a 
small stove as in a large one. B. haageana, which 
takes after the B. metallica type, is, at times, planted 
out in a border (under glass, of course), and like all 
other plants so treated it generally assumes a grand 
size and very handsome appearance, a real decora¬ 
tive object indeed. All of them should be firmly 
potted in a rich compost and should be maintained 
at a steady stove temperature through the winter. 
During their summer growth they do well in pits and 
frames or even outside. 
HEATING AND VENTILATING IN 
GLASSHOUSES. 
Bailie A. Donald Mackenzie, of the well known 
firm of Messrs. Mackenzie and Moncur, Ltd., horti¬ 
cultural builders and heating engineers, Edinburgh, 
gave a lecture in the Drill Hall, on the above 
subject, at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society on Tuesday, the 4th inst. 
In a country such as ours, said Mr. Mackenzie, 
where the difference in- external temperature often 
varies from 20° to 30° in the twenty-four hours, the 
need for heating our plant houses is very great. The 
days of the old brick flues are gone, and hot water 
pipes are in vogue. By means of a large number of 
cartoons (diagrams), the lecturer was able to illus¬ 
trate his ideas. Explaining the flow of water, Mr. 
Mackenzie said that water expands equally in all 
directions, downwards as well as upwards, but inas¬ 
much as there is less resistance in the upward direc 
tion when water is in tanks and boilers, the hot 
water naturally forces up. In this way a circulation 
is begun and maintained along the flow pipes. The 
return pipe is brought back and discharges the water 
in the lowest part of the boiler. It can be proved 
that with a distributed fall of 5 ft., the water in the 
return pipes falls at the rate of 68 4 ft. per minute. 
No account, however, is here taken of the friction, 
which may be very great or very small. Attempts 
are sometimes made to avoid sinking a stoke hole, 
but all are absolute failures, and are only done with¬ 
out a knowledge of the flow of hot water in pipes, 
About eighty per cent, of hot houses are heated 
by means of 4-in. pipes, which is the diameter far 
the most popular, and best. 
Larger pipes are used for mains, but the radiating 
pipes are of the 4-in. bore. The amount of beating 
surface due to a house is a matter of the utmost 
importance. The following statistics have been 
found equal to all demands, except perhaps in the 
most exposed places. One must provide for the 
coldest day (reckoned at 320 frost), even though 
that day only comes oDce in a series of years. There 
should be 1 ft. of 4-in. piping for every 35 
cubic feet of space. For a plant house requiring a 
higher temperature, 1 ft. to every 20 ft. or 25 c. ft. 
of space ; but one cannot be dogmatic in this matter. 
Early vineries require four rows of 4-in. pipes along 
each side, giving 1 ft. of heating surface for every 
12 or 15 c. ft. Span-roofed vineries (16 ft. wide) 
require no less than eight rows of pipes to afford 
1 ft. of heating surface for every 15 c. ft. of space. 
For intermediate span-roofed houses, twelve rows of 
4-in. pipes, giving 1 ft. surface per 17 c. ft., are 
necessary. For a late Peach house, 1 ft. per 25 or 
28 c. ft. of space suffices. With forcing houses, 
having, say, four rows of pipes below the beds or 
stages, it is necessary to have a small pipe taken 
around the sill of the house in order to uphold the 
top temperature. 
Referring to the various kinds of boilers, Mr. 
Mackenzie observed that among the numerous 
patented boilers in the market, though each one was 
put forward as the best, it was not necessary to go 
into the merits or demerits of each. 
The old saddle boiler still keeps its hold as one of 
the simplest, and, under reasonable conditions, one 
of the most economical. This could always be 
recommended where the length of 4-in. pipes did not 
exceed 700 ft. For lengths from 500 ft. to 2,000 ft., 
the terminal saddle boiler is best. The latter is 
practically a saddle boiler with a flow above that 
brings the water a second time to the front of the 
boiler and so increases its effectiveness 100 per cent. 
There are several types of these boilers and all are 
very good. The steam Cornish boiler, rivetted, is 
equal to 2,000 ft. and over. Where there is a strong 
draught, its efficiency is greatly increased by having 
water-bars. With these, a larger amount of heat is 
got when the fire is banked up. 
What is wanted for a hot-house is a boiler that 
will keep going for eight hours without attention, 
having a slow, smouldering fire to keep up a tem¬ 
perature of 150° in the boiler. Mr. Mackenzie 
then described an American boiler made in sections 
and of cast iron, though malleable iron is less 
liable to crack or cause accidents. This American 
boiler (of which a cartoon was shown) is reliable. 
There is often a difficulty in obtaining a constant 
and steady circulation from one boiler which has to 
heat a range of houses at different levels, and, 
perhaps, awkwardly scattered. The only way to 
overcome the "blocking” which results from an 
uneven series of circulations, is by a perfect regu¬ 
lation of the valves to allow the water to enter the 
returns about the same time. To be able to regu¬ 
late the valves properly demands considerable 
experience and much thought. The chairman (Mr. 
H. J. Pearson), in referring to this subject on the 
conclusion of Mr. Mackenzie’s lecture, thought that 
the "blocking” at the point where the radiating 
return pipe joined the main, could largely be over¬ 
come by fixing it so as to discharge at the top half 
of the diameter of the main, instead of at the bottom 
as is generally arranged in hot water pipes. When 
he furthest house is on a higher level than that 
nearest to the boiler, the tendency is for the water 
to rush past the nearest house, circulate round the 
farthest house, and rush back to cause a block. 
Then, speaking for a moment on the principles of 
ventilation, the lecturer impressed on all the need 
for constructing the bottom ventilators so as to cause 
the cold air passing inwards to impinge on 
the hot water pipes. In houses requiring much 
ventilation, there should be two sets of bottom 
ventilators, one beneath the pipes or on a level with 
them, for cold weather use, and a higher set for 
increased ventilation during summer. All ventila¬ 
tors should be so arranged that a mere seam or a 
yard of ventilating space can be given as needs 
demand. 
Mr. Pearson added a few remarks when Mr. 
Mackenzie concluded, in which he strongly im¬ 
pressed on all who are about to add new houses, to 
place their business in the hands of the best firms. 
He insisted on a visit of inspection even, to 
the works of the firm, so as to be able to 
form an estimate of the quantity and quality 
of the timber, &c., that was held in stock. No 
policy was more shortsighted than that of buying or 
transacting with those who offered exceedingly low 
tenders, it was a case of a cheap suit of clothes as 
against a good suit. A cordial vote of thanks was 
passed to Mr. Mackenzie. 
NATIONAL ROSE SOCIETY. 
The twenty-fourth annual general meeting of the 
N.R.S. was held on Thursday, December 6th, at 
3.30 p m., in the rooms of the Horticultural Club, 
Hotel Windsor, Victoria Street. Westminster, S.W. 
The business in hand was that of receiving the 
committee’s report for the year ; to pass the accounts ; 
to elect committees and officers for the ensuing 
year, and for the transaction of other general 
business. 
C. E. Shea, Esq., occupied the chair, and was 
assisted by a strong turn out of enthusiastic rosar- 
ians, including the veteran secretary, Rev. H. Homy- 
