X20 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



other tool, or otherwise removed, after which the water is drained 

 from the oat-husks, by a waste-water pipe at the bottom of 

 the tank, and beneath a perforated false bottom, fitted with a 

 strainer which retains the oat-husks. The oat-husks may be left 

 to steep in the water for from 5 to 10 hours after or during the 

 removal of the scum, as this steeping, by softening them and 

 helping to loosen the silica from the fibre, facilitates the subse- 

 quent boiling process. The remainder of the process does not 

 differ materially from the ordinary one in making paper from 

 straw. 



AN IMPERISHABLE HOT-HOUSE. 



From the recently published list of English patents it appears 

 that Mr. W. P. Ayres has secured "Improvements in the Con- 

 struction and Arrangement of Horticultural and other Buildings 

 or Erections or Structures, and in the Means and Appliances for 

 Heating the same." These consist of roofs formed without 

 sashes, sash-bars, putty, or paint, or any wood-work outside, and 

 consequently no painting will at any time be required. Secondly, 

 Mr. Ayres forms his floors, plant-stages, and side or partition 

 walls in slabs of cement concrete, strengthened in a peculiar 

 manner so as to bear any amount of pressure that may be placed 

 upon them, and yet admit of being perforated for the air to circu- 

 late through them, panelled to hold water for evaporation, or the 

 pots to stand in, or perforated and panelled. These slabs, it is 

 said, can be manufactured of any required strength, and, conse- 

 quently, are suitable for fire-proof floors, partition walls, tabling, 

 or shelving for shop, office, or warehouse fittings, or for any 

 situations where slate or marble slabs have hitherto been used, 

 with the advantage that they can be manufactured of any size, 

 and in the place where they are required to be used, left rough 

 for ordinary use, or be finished plain or in colors with the face of 

 polished marble. Thirdly, Mr. Ayres introduces a new system 

 of heating, dispensing with plunging or fermenting material for 

 bottom heat, and substitutes a system by which a stream of air, 

 moist or dry, is constantly passing through the centre of the 

 earth containing the roots of the plant as well as around the sides 

 of the pot. For glazing, Mr. Ayres uses flat glass of great 

 strength and quality, jointed with transparent cement ; or he may 

 use glass turned up at the sides, or any other form of bent glass 

 that he may find necessary for the purposes of his invention. 

 The alleged advantages are, economy in first construction, porta- 

 bility (when desired), and when manufactured in iron, gal- 

 vanized, a house so imperishable as to wear for a lifetime without 

 further cost. 



NEW INVENTIONS. 



Herring, Parrel & Sherman, at the fair of the American Insti- 

 tute held in New York, exhibited a new style of burglar-proof 



