258 



JOUBNAIi OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



( April 15, 1809. 



causing considerable mischief to plants and other occupants 

 of houses, as welt as adding materially to the coal bill. 



Take, for instance, a Peach bouse with the fruit set, the 

 thermometer between 50° and 55° in the morning, and the day 

 likely to be bright ; a very small clear fire is far better than 

 shovelsful of coal heaped on, as if 5° of frost were expected. 

 The man who attends to tires should always have full command 

 of them ; he must not have the farther end of the furnace 

 partly blocked up with ashes, and so cause the most of the 

 heat from the furnace to warm the stokehole instead of the 

 holier. In most furnaces there is a flat iron plate, on which 



coal should never be placed, as it only injures the brickwork 

 above it ; the tire should be kept on the bars, over which is 

 the boiler to be heated, and the plate only used for " blocking- 

 up " material, such as ashes, ttc, the last thing at night. 



It shows bad management when a furnace is found full of 

 fire in the morning ; a tire which has burned properly during 

 the night will have just snfiBcient left to start it in the morn- 

 ing if required. The barometer, the thermometers indoors 

 and out, the wind, and the appearance of the sky will show 

 the stoker before going to bed how much fuel to put on his 

 fires, even to a shovelful. — John Peekins, Thomham, Suffolk. 



HEATH BORDERS. 



The common Heath (Calluna vulgaris), has long been used 

 in some places as a substitute for Box ia the formation of 

 edgings ; and in soils where Box, which is very capricious, 

 will not thrive, it often succeeds admirably. But it ii when 



suffusion of quiet purple which in autumn steals over a heathy 

 tract of country, the Heath's adaptability to this purpose, in 

 point of colour, will be at once apparent ; but it may not be 

 generally known that it submits to be clipped and kept down 





^^ 



worked up into live embroidery in the shape of scroll borders, 

 or of elaborate and artistic designs, that the highly-ornamental 

 character and tractable nature of this, our commonest native 

 shrub, are seen to perfection. To all who have seen the soft 



almost as well as Box, and yet flowers sufficiently well to show 

 an unbroken purplish tinge. 



One of the most attractive of all the beautiful borders in the 

 flower gardens at Drumlanrig Castle is that known as the 

 Heath border. It is in the form of a square, each side being 

 about 170 feet long by 20 feet in width, and the border encloses 

 a set of beds, to which it stands in the same relation as an 

 antique carved frame does to a painting. The ground colour 

 of the border is white, the material used being silver sand or 

 crushed freestone. The design is composed entirely of Heath, 

 kept at a uniform height of between 3 and 4 inches, with every 

 point and angle sharp and well defined, and the whole is enclosed 

 by a curb or edging of dressed stone. On each of the sides it 

 is divided by two walks, and the tracing which accompanies 

 this was taken from a plan of one of the corners and sides, 

 the same design being repeated throughout. The effect is 

 eminently chaste and beautiful, and, despite the intricacy of the 

 design, the first impression we receive on looking at it is one 

 of extreme simplicity. Not the least thing to be said in its 

 praise is, that it is also ornamental at all seasons. 



As to soil, I think the plant is grown at Drumlanrig in almost 

 pure "peat ; but I have seen it thrive very well elsewhere in 

 rather poor soil inclining to clay. In rich loamy ground, con- 

 taining much vegetable mould, it will not succeed. — Aybsbiee 

 Gaedener. 



RED LEAD FOR SEED-PROTECTING. 

 TRAPPING MICE. 



I HAVE used red lead for some time. It does not in anyway 

 affect the germinating power of the seeds, neither is it injurious 

 to anyone eating the vegetables. I have coloured Peas with it 

 before sowing to protect them from mice, but after a short 

 time it is useless for that purpose, as 1 have found my rows of 

 Ringleader Pea partly destroyed just when beginning to ger- 

 minate. I have soaked the seeds in turpentine, one teaspoon- 

 ful to a quart of Peas, with a like result. 



I have found the following plan for trapping mice answer 

 well. I procure some glaztti earthenware jars, the same aa 



