jouenaij op hobticoltube and cottage gaedeneb. 



[ January 24, 1867. 



Azaleas and a miscellaneous collection of greenhouse plants, 

 for Mr. Meredith having two very intelligent sons, who have 

 jnst finished their education, it is his intention to commence a 

 general nursery business, which will make hia estabhshmeut 

 more interesting to visitors. There are two fine pieces ot 

 ground right and left cf his dvvelliug-houae, and facing the 

 road, on which he intends to build some magnificent houses 

 for plants. — J. Wills. 



(To be continued.) 



COLLECTING AND STORING ICE. 



I MENTioxEP (page 30), my intention to throw water over a 

 pond that had half an inch of ice upon it, too weak to stand 

 tho ice-hook, and which I feared would not become much 

 thicker even by sharp frost, as there was a depth of fully 

 3 inches of loose snow on the ice. The plan answered so 

 ■well that I would not hesitate to resort to it again whenever 

 there was danger of the frost not continuing. The water 

 was thrown with jets, so as partly to melt and partly to go 

 tmderueath the snow on more than one-half of the pond, as 

 we could not make it reach towards the centre. On the ne.xt 

 morning on all the part so watered we had a fine plane of thick 

 ice, but of two distinct properties as respects density, the ice 

 formed first, before the snow, being much harder than that 

 formed above it from the melted snow, though when welded 

 together the freezing went right downwards as usual. All the 

 part so watered came out in large pieces; but when, towards 

 evening, wo came to the unwatered part we could make but 

 little of it, the partly congealed snow on the top slipping off 

 the ice, as we were obhged to draw it towards us. 



It is not always that such a chance can be obtained ; but the 

 Wocks of ice, although causing extra work, even when mode- 

 rately broken, to place in the ice-house, packed more firmly 

 there than could have been done if the ice had all been of uni- 

 form hardness, unless well broken. 



^\^len the space to be filled is small, much will depend on 

 firmly pounding the ice after breaking it well ; but when the 

 capacity of the ice-house is large, and the weather uncertain, I 

 ■would prefer a large quantity of ice imperfectly broken to a 

 smaller portion however well poimded. I have often proved 

 that fifty loads housed somewhat roughly will keep longer than 

 forty loads well pounded. In fact, provided there is enough 

 small and pounded ice in which to pack the larger pieces, the 

 ice will keep nearly as well as if all were pounded small. The 

 great point is to prevent air circulating through the mass, and 

 a large heap will soon become compact even from its own 

 ■weight. I may here mention that for many years I have used 

 neither salt nor straw about or over the ice, merely packing the 

 doorway with straw. 



In general our old-fashioned ice-house does not need air- 

 giving, except when it is opened for use ; but there are a few 

 occasions when, if the surface were covered with dry straw, it 

 would be the better of a small air-pipe from the roof. The 

 low state of the barometer outside, and especially before, during, 

 and immediately after a thunderstorm, seems to have an effect 

 en the atmosphere of a close, shut-in ice-house, very much 

 similar to that which it is said to have on the atmosphere of a 

 deep coal pit. I have frequently noticed that in a fine day in 

 summer, with the barometer approaching 30 inches, the" air 

 of the ice-house would feel comfortable and dry, and the sur- 

 face of the ice be comparatively dry ; whilst in an equally fine, 

 sunny day, but with the barometer falling to 29 inches, and 

 with signs of an approaching electrical disturbance, the open- 

 ing of the ice-well would often be attended with an outpour of 

 ■visible vapour. Now, it would be better in every way if this 

 Va.iour escaped as formed, instead of surrounding and hanging 

 over the ice ; and such are the cases in which I think it would 

 be better that the ice should be covered with a dry, non-con- 

 ducting material, as straw, and that there should be an air-vent 

 by a small pipe. 



I have during the season had several communications as 

 to the success and the non-success of ice-heaps from dairy 

 farmers and others, with whom ice is becoming every season 

 more a matter of importance. I think that when the heap has 

 proved more or less of a failure, this result has been chiefly 

 caused by the smallness of the heap and the insufficiency of 

 the covering. In this respect it should not be forgotten that, 

 ether things being equal, the keeping of the ice will not depend 

 on an arithmetical progression as to the size of the heap. 

 'Thus, a heap of a dozen loads will not keep half the time that 



a heap of twenty-four loads will do ; nor yet will a heap of 

 twcaty-five loads keep half the time that a heap of fifty loads 

 would do. In fact, for aU practical purposes, it is scarcely 

 worth while making a heap if it will not contain forty or fifty 

 cartloads — that is, before the ice is broken. The larger the heap 

 the more compact it is — that is, the fewer superficial feet ex- 

 posed the better proportionally will the ice keep ; and these 

 advantages are, perhaps, best secured by a round blunt cone, 

 though a long blunt ridge, like a flat span-roof, answers very well. 

 In neither case should the base be less than from 12 to 16 feet, 

 and the height should not be less, if possible, than 7 or 8 feet. 

 I have known cases of a dozen loads of ice being so emptied 

 down rather roughly, and some cartloads of straw piled over 

 the heap, and yet the ice came out ser^viceable in July ; but 

 there would be a better chance if more ice had thus been col- 

 lected and the work had been done more systematically, though 

 it is sometimes wonderful how long ice will keep when heaped 

 in this rough way. 



Some inquirers are puzzled because they cannot find such 

 favourable places for forming a heap as I and others have de- 

 scribed. In this there need be no difficulty. If the ground is 

 quite level a small trench will have to be made, a yard or 

 4 feet from the heap, and that, too, will have to be covered with 

 straw to prevent the heat acting on the trench. It is rare, 

 however, that a little mound, (j or more inches higher than the 

 general ground round it, cannot be found ; and in such a place 

 there will be ro necessity for a trench or anything of the kind, 

 as, if the ice be placed on a few inches of brushwood, any little 

 melting that takes place will find its way to the lower ground 

 imperceptibly. No better chance for forming such heaps could 

 be found, where water is near, than a frosty time when the 

 ground is covered with snow, especially if the heap is to be 

 formed in the corner of a meadow, as not only could large 

 blocks be built in the sides of the heap, but a considerable 

 portion of the surrounding snow could be brought up with the 

 ice ; and a good watering over all, and the ice exposed to the 

 severe frost, would make the whole heap like a solid block of ice. 



No class of men could form these heaps more economically 

 than farmers, as the straw covering would cost them little or 

 nothing, for it would always come in for use when it had served 

 its purpose over the ice-heap. The straw must be dry when 

 used, and ultimately, when rough-thatched to throw off all wet, 

 it should not be less than 3 feet thick, though I have seen good 

 heaps with not much more than 2 feet of covering. A hole 

 will have to be carefully taken out whfin ice is wanted, and it 

 would be well to have small bundles of straw to fill in the hole, 

 and an old door over all outside. The straw covering should 

 extend a few feet on the ground round the heap, the farther the 

 better, to prevent the ground becoming heated near the heap, 

 for though earth is a slow conductor of heat, it does conduct, 

 and the farther the straw extends the greater will be the safety 

 of the heap in this respect. From want of this consideration 

 I have known heaps that melted prematurely, not from the 

 heat finding its way through the thatching or covering, but 

 from rising through the ground beneath. 



Two more observations will make all clear. Unless you 

 make something like a regular house above ground, be satisfied 

 with covering tho ice and laying the straw close on it ■with- 

 out any intervening frame, so that as the ice shrinks the cover 

 will sink with it and leave no space for air. Make sure that 

 the covering will not produce heat by decomposition ; it must, 

 therefore, be dry. Lastly, avoid everything like holes in the 

 covering, whether by birds, rabbits, or rats, as all these holes 

 will merely be ventilators to let the warm air in. A series of 

 tar strings round the heap will help ; a fence of fine wire net- 

 ting would answer admirably. 



My apology for these remarks is the hope that ice-heaps will 

 be more general, not only in dairy farms, but that they will 

 also be considered essential adjuncts to all hospitals and in- 

 firmaries, where ice from other sources cannot be easily or 

 quickly obtained. — E. Fish. 



PASSIFLORA LAURIFOLIA SELF-FERTILISING. 



Is the last volume, page 348, your correspondent " A. B." 

 writes on the cultivation of Passiflora laurifoHa, or Water 

 Lemon. I perfectly coincide in his remarks on the cultivation, 

 but he is in error about its impregnation, as I know by long 

 experience that it is fertilised by the pollen of its own flowers. 

 I have grown upwards of two hundred fruits annually on one 

 plant, all of which were fertiUsed by its own pollen. I consider 



