332 



JODENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



[ October 31, 1867. 



lated upon, it would be a troublesome and not very efficacious 

 remedy. 



Having beard of Fowler's insecticide, and receiving a list of 

 extraordinary testimonials in its favour, I tilled a large vessel 

 of tin, made wide and shallow, with a mixture of tbis prepara- 

 tion of tbe strength recommended, and dipped all the smaller 

 plants in it. Almost every insect was killed, and tbe youngest 

 leaves were quite uninjured. It is said to kill every insect which 

 infests plants, if so it is invaluable ; at any rate it was a com- 

 plete cure for tbe scale. — J. E. Peakson, OiiltceU, 



THE CHILWELL NURSERIES. 



The pages of tbis Journal have been frequently enriched by 

 communications from Mr. J. E. Pearson, of Cbilwell, who is also 

 tbe author of two most useful little works entitled " Hints on 

 the Management of Orchard Houses," and " Vine Culture 

 under Glass." The former has already reached its fourth 

 edition, the latter its second, though it first appeared only a 

 few months ago. The fact of their having been so appreciated 

 by the public is a good evidence of the value of their con- 

 tents, and indeed tbe instructions which these treatises contain, 

 are based on no mere theoretical deductions, but on tbe results 

 of tbe actual experience of a thinking, inquiring man. It has 

 fceen at Cbilwell that these results have been worked out, and 

 it is therefore conceived that some accountof the nurseries there 

 will not be destitute of interest. 



The Cbilwell Nurseries are situated about four miles and a 

 half from that great manufacturing centre Kottingham, and 



1, Iron pillar of T iron ; 2, Section ; A E, Ground-line. 



within an easy walk of Beeston Station on tbe Midland EaU- 

 ■way ; this, however, is only true of the home grounds, for Mr. 

 Pearson has much outlying land, partly in nursery, partly in 

 orchards, nearlv the whole of which is his own freehold, and 

 amounting altogether to about 15U acres. Although some parts 

 of tbe nurseries are situated at a considerable distance from 

 others, and a little inconvenience is sometimes the consequence, 

 yet this is probably more than compensated for by the variety 

 of soil and positions thus afforded, especially as the home 

 ground, which is very compact, contains all the glass houses. 



Of these the largest is an elegant span-roofed orchard- 

 house, 100 feet long by 30 feet wide, built last spring by Mr. 

 Foster, of Beeston, by whom, with the exception of two or 

 three of the oldest houses, all the others were likewise erected. 



The sides of this noble structure are of wood, but the roof is 

 supported at the sides by iron standards, similar to that repre- 

 sented in tbe preceding engraving, placed 10 feet apart, and 

 resting on brick piers below the ground-level. The effect of 

 these is to give the houRe such a footing, as builders would say, 

 that there is no possibility of its being blown over, or, indeed, 

 of its stability being affected even by tbe most violent storms 

 of wind experienced in tbis country. 



During tbe disastrous storm of the 3rd of December, 1863, 

 when it blew at Liverpool in gusts travelling at tbe rate of 

 ninety-three miles an hour, the neighbourhood of Nottingham 

 did not escape, for hundreds of trees were uprooted, and nume- 

 rous greenhouses were unroofed, or bad their sides blown in ; 

 and Mr. Pearson believes that had be not secured a large 

 orchard-house built without iron standards, by fastening it down 

 with ropes, and adopting means for its support, it must have 

 given way, although another house constructed with standards, 

 as above, stood unshaken and bad hardly a pane of glass 

 broken. This determined him to employ them for the future 

 in any large house which he might erect. The great danger of 

 injury to glass houses by wind has been frequently pointed out 

 in these pages by the Eev. T. C. Brebaut, especially with re- 

 ference to the Channel Islands, but in all localities in this 

 country the same danger exists to a certain extent. Presuming 

 tbe pressure of the wind in a violent gale to be :!0 lbs. to the 

 square foot, though in tbe storm of December, l>i63, it was at 

 Liverpool nearly half as much again, the side and roof of a 



The Old Orchard-house. 



house presenting to the wind a perpendicular surface of 1500 

 square feet would be exposed to a pressure of 20 tons, and this 

 not a steady pressure uniformly distributed, but unequal in its 

 action on different parts and coming in a series of percussions, 

 like the strokes of a hammer. Against a pressure of this kind 

 houses merely resting upon brickwork cannot be considered 

 safe, and those more securely fixed to it are not always so in 

 severe storms, but these patent iron standards not only secure 

 the perfect stability of the house, but its moveability as well. 

 The latter property though not a matter of much importance 

 to those who, like Mr. Pearson, put up houses on their own 

 land, is a great object to a large class of amateurs, who, how- 

 ever desirous of possessing a glass house for the growth of 

 plants or fruits, are yet unwiUing to erect one which at the ex- 

 piration of their tenancy would become the property of the 



