October 20, 1863. ] 



JOTJENAL OF HOETICULTUEE ANT* COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



315 



would have 2 feet thick ; not more. The bottom heat to 

 be kept up by the pipes underneath, 3; and as screw 

 valves are used the heat could be regulated to the greatest 

 nicety. I propose having a tank, 4, to hold water for the 

 pipes to run through, and to be filled or emptied at pleasure. 

 The tank and pipes to be covered with rough slates, 2, 

 resting on brickwork, and chinks left to be covered with 

 old matting or some such material, and here and there a tin 

 chimney to let the steam out into the body of the house 

 when required. The pit to be 9 feet ■n-ide instead of 8 feet, 

 a.s in fig. 2. Some might say that the pit would be too wide to 

 render watering convenient, but that may be managed by 

 leaving a little more room between the back row and back 

 wall for laying a boai-d on the bark to walk on ; and by having 

 a long rod to draw the foliage forward, the two back rows 

 might be easily reached. 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 4 I propose making a vinery ; the advantage it has 

 over fig. 1 for that pui-pose is very great. In fig. 1 about 

 75 yards of clay were wheeled away. Here there is no occa- 

 sion to wheel away any. The concrete may be laid upon 

 the surface of the gi-oiind, and a da-ain, laid along the 

 front of the house into a drain that runs near, would take 

 all the superfluous water away. I propose that the border 

 be made only inside the house at present. The slates not 

 reaching quite to the gi'ound, some narrow ones were screwed 

 on to make them wide enough : consequently the narrow 

 ones can be taken off at any time, and 4 or 5 feet added to 

 the border along the fi-ont whenever the Vines requii-e it. 



It appears to me that there has been such a waste of 

 labour and such ignorance displayed in the an-angement of 

 these houses that I am induced to write to you to ask your 

 opinion. — W. H. 



[We are always ready to admit gentlemanly criticism, 

 but we must also guard against our pages being made the 

 vehicle of one-sided statements, and that by a second party, 

 especially when the charges of "waste of labour" and 

 "ignorance" are so broadly stated. On this account we 

 suppress all names. We could not join in the charge of 

 " ignorance " without being made acquainted with all the 

 circumstances, as neither hothouse-builders nor gardeners 

 can do at aU times as they like. For instance : We have 

 long advocated the planting of Vines inside of a house. 

 Almost aU of ours ai-e planted outside, and we know full 

 well that the making such internal arrangements as would 

 permit of planting the front Vines inside is not to be thought 

 about. We believe we could as easily have a new house as 

 alter the old one. Again : We have recommended borders 

 above the ground level, as advocated by our coi-respondent, in 

 all such cii'cumstances as he describes, but gentlemen cannot 

 always be made to see as the gaidener does. Not long ago 

 we were consulted on this very subject, and in the long run 

 the decision come to was this — " You may go as deep as you 

 like, I wiU give aU the labour necessary for moving earth, 

 but I must not have a bank or border a bit higher than the 

 rest of the ground. I could not endui-e it." And so at 

 extra labour and expense the work was done much as oiu- 



correspondent describes, only after draining and concreting 

 there were 16 inches of rubble instead of 8, placed over the 

 bottom, and the finest on the top — a matter of more im- 

 portance than a layer of open tm-f, as that soon rots. The 

 drains are not shown by om- correspondent, but at that 

 depth there is little chance of theu- being choked up. With 

 secure drainage and walled-in all round, there would be 

 little danger from the damp cold clay. Even in his own 

 case he will have clay beneath his concrete, and the damp 

 will rise, at least we have found out no means of preventing 

 this. We once had a Vine-border made waterproof on the 

 svu-face for four years, and yet when broken into it was moist 

 enough. Thoiigh agreeing, therefore, that No. 4 is a better 

 mode than No. 1, we could not come to the conclusion about 

 ignorance, unless we knew aU the facts of the case. With 

 such proofs of go-aheadism we are sui-prised that the position 

 of the six pipes has been left undistiu-bed, even if the stages 

 were to remain as proposed. Neither are we sure where the 

 Vine-stems are to be. If in front, such a stack of pipes 

 is rather near for them. We approve of the inside border 

 being made fii'st ; but though this seems very reasonable, 

 borders will no doubt continue to be made all at once, not 

 so much fi'om " ignorance " as fi'om the fact that if not 

 made then they will not be likely to be made at all. There 

 are vast numbers of good employers who hate everything 

 like changes, and who when they agree to a thing being done 

 will insist on having it done at once, but " There must be no 

 more bother about it ; mind that, let it be done with." 



Now, we confess that without further knowledge we are 

 imable to discern the reasons why, in the Pine-pit (fig. 2), 

 the bottom of the pit should be on the gi-ound level (but 

 that should not be the case, — a few inches below the pipes, 

 thi-ee, would be deep enough), and the path and the pipes so 

 far above it ; nor yet why in the original design, or in that 

 proposed by oui- coiTCspondent, there should be a slate in 

 front instead of a waU to keep heat in and cold out, and 

 which is better than a slate of ordinary dimensions whose very 

 coloiu', unless painted whitish, renders it such a good radiator. 

 But, though we ai-e ignorant of the reasons why such an 

 elevation of the floor should have been made, we do not see, 

 now that it is done, what gi-eat improvement is given to us 

 in the section No. 3, which could not be obtained by taking 18 

 inches or 2 feet off the front of the wall of the pit behind the 

 pathway, as in such pits close to a pathway the plants will 

 be more out of the way if the i^ots are at least C inches below 

 the front cui-b of the pit. It is true the bed in No. 3 -nlll be 

 a foot wider than in No. 2, but that will be no advantage ; 

 and there wUl be six pipes instead of three for bottom heat, 

 and these wiU be placed in a tank to be filled or emptied at 

 pleasure, involving not " ignorance," but a considerable 

 extra " outlay of labour and expense." 



If the Pine-house, fig. 2, were supplied with bottom-heat by 

 tan alone, then we would wish it to be 4 feet deep, but when 

 heated by hot-water pipes we would prefer a concrete basin 

 beneath them, 6 inches of rubble above them, and not more 

 than 18 inches of tan above that. We agi-ee, then, with our 

 con-espondent, in the shallowness of the plunging material, 

 and also in the mode of securing from the tank a moist 

 atmosphere when desii-able. We could also do the same 

 without a tank, though not so easily. As to his other ob- 

 jections they are more fanciful than real. For instance : A 

 thin layer of tan as it gets old, is as apt to be infested with 

 worms as a deep one. Again : Persons acquainted with tan 

 would never think of putting it new 5 feet deep in a bed at 

 once, without previously sweating it in a heap, and then 

 with care in ph^nging, there is not so much likelihood of 

 burning the roots as there would be by a strong heat in 

 these six pipes in the tank. The burning could in either 

 case only take place fi'om carelessness, but though the turn 

 of a valve will regulat-e aU to a nicety, that valve may not 

 be touched, and then there is a steamer and no mistake. 

 Neither do we agree in the impossibility of keeping a moist 

 atmosphere in house No. 2, because it is elevated so high 

 above the ground level. The floor in either case may be 

 kept equally damp. If stage No. 4 is slate, a ledge might be 

 placed all round, and water kept on it as in a shallow cistern, 

 and the bottom of the pots, &c., could stand above the 

 water. We see no reason why the lower pipes should not 

 pass through an open gutter, and be more under command 

 than when placed under a bed. And the impossibility of 



