49 



A DELIVEKANCE EEOM PEA-STICKS. 



It is astonishing how patiently we bearl 

 annoyances that the merest effort of the' 

 inventive faculty would remove instanter. 

 Is there a gardener anywhere in the coun- 

 try who has not always looked on pea- 

 sticks with a sort of it or, and secretly 

 wished that people would do without peas, 

 that he might be rid of the bother of grow- 

 ing them ? There is no crop that grows 

 with more certainty, and which, at the 

 same time, gives more trouble — the trouble 

 of obtaining sticks, the trouble of storing 

 them, or having them lumbering the frame 

 ground or the yard, or bringing down the 

 roof of the shed by their weight, and then 

 the trouble of chopping them into fire- 

 wood when their season's service is over. 

 No wonder a dish of peas costs the gar- 

 dener more labour than a sack of potatoes. 

 Near London, where people have to pay a 

 shilling a bundle for pea-sticks, and often 

 have to submit to have them carried 

 tln'ough the house, and stored in a corner 

 that is already choked up with brooms and 

 trellis-poles, and all sorts of similar roomy 

 lumber, it is sometimes better to trust to 

 the greengrocer for peas that are scarcely 

 eatable, than incur the bother of raising a 

 crop at home. We have just made ac- 

 quaintance with a remedy for this nuisance 

 in the wire hurdles made by Mr. T. P. 

 Hawkins, of 27, Dale End, Birmingham. 

 We have obtained a supply for use on our 

 own ground, in order to accomplish neat- 

 ness and be rid of the vexation of pea- 

 sticks. These hurdles are very cheap, and, 

 with proper use, will last a lifetime. When 

 done with for the season, they can be 



packed together into a small compass, and 

 be stowed away next the wall, in any shed 

 or outhouse, ready for use at a moment's 

 notice. In a flower-garden, they are just 

 the proper things on which to train sweet 

 peas, or a fence of roses or chrysanthe- 

 mums, for they are almost invisible, are 

 very firm, and admit of being covered 

 with an even growth of foliage and flowers. 



The figure represents a single hurdle. 

 Their measurements and prices are as fol- 

 lows :— 6 ft. X 4 ft,, 2s. 8d. ; 6 ft. X 4ft. 

 6 in., 2s. lOd. ; 6 ft. + 5 ft., 8s. 3d. ; 

 6 ft X 6 ft., 4s, | 



.::::;:;: 



THE WALTONIAN CASE. 



We expressed a regret last month that we 

 were unable to present our readers with 

 drawings of the Waltonian case, as adapted 

 to Mr. Hibberd's improvements. The 

 case came to hand soon after that number 

 was printed, and it has been in action 

 under our inspection for three weeks, and 

 we can testify to the entire success of the 

 plan of propagating by the heat of candles. 

 As many new subscribers may not have 

 read the description of the case given in 

 our issue for February, last year, we will 

 here very briefly explain the nature of the 

 construction, which will, doubtless, also 

 prove interesting to those who are the 

 possessors of cases, and would like to alter 



them so as to get rid of the lamp and all 

 its annoyances. 



Let us first premise that the principal 

 object of the improvements is to render 

 the case so far self-acting, that the most 

 inexperienced possessor who has yet to 

 learn the art of propagating can scarcely 

 fail to succeed, even from the first. As 

 originally made, some persons found it 

 impossible to manage the lamp so that it 

 would burn more than two or three hours ; 

 those who could trim it so as to burn 

 twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four hours, 

 complained that the lamp was a dirty con- 

 trivance, so that, to beginners and adepts, 

 it was alike desirable to substitute for it 



