226 



JOOENAL OF HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ September 24, 1868. 



were also " Fenn's Breakfast Honey Glasses," filled with honeycomb, 

 with run honey patherej by the bees from the Sycamore and Lime 

 tree blossoms ; white and yellow wax, with accompanying cream, for 

 the purpose of cleaning furniture ; dubbing for waterj)roofing shoot- 

 ing boots, ttc, made from the wax ; metheglin or mead — the drink of 

 our forefathers ; honey beer (brewed the same as for malt liquor, by 

 mixing water with honey to the specific gravity of about 120 for table 

 beer, and "220 to make a *' sweet wort " for ale. It is then boiled with 

 1 or 1^ lb. of hops, to about SO gallons of the wort, and the fermenta- 

 tion is carried out through the agency of yeast exactly as for a brewing 

 of malt and hops) ; and vinegar made from honey. These productions 

 iad been awarded special first-class certificates at former shows of the 

 Koyal Horticultural Society. Mr. Fenn has also published his system 

 of bee-keeping in Nos. 639, 652 {old series), and 4, 10, 21, 22, 29, 40, 

 43, 4tJ, and 48 of The Journal of Horticulture. 



Mr. James Morris exhibited some of the finest glasses of honeycomb 

 we ever saw, for which he gained the first prize ; and Miss Heynes, of 

 Woodstock, exhibited even superior samples of better finish, but in 

 glasses of a much smaller diameter. The honey was produced on the 

 above system. 



HYPOCAUST HEATING AT LEEDS CASTLE, 

 IvENT, 



THE SEAT OF C. WyKEH.ilI-MABTIN, ESC, M.P. 



The importance of artificial heat obtained in an economical 

 manner by the aid of an efficient apparatus, can be nowhere 

 more fully recognised than in the southern counties of England, 

 remote as they are from the coal districts, those dear " black 

 diamonds," the command of which at a cheap rate enables our 

 northern brethren to boast of their splendid collections of Or- 

 chids, and other plants requiring a high temperature. That the 

 method of heating invented, or rather resuscitated by Mr. 

 Wykeham-Martin, possesses great merit, and likewise offers 

 many advantages, I am now fully convinced. It is not, how- 

 ever, my purpose to attempt any description of the heating ap- 

 paratus or houses, as that has already been done by Mr. Robson, 

 in page 361, Vol. XI., but rather to offer a few notes of what is 

 heing done, and also as to the results already obtained. 



The house to which the hypocaust system was first applied, 

 is an ordinary lean-to, and is used chiefly for the cultivation of 

 Pine Apples. The Pine plants are planted out in a bed on the 

 floor of the house, the sides of which are formed iu an orna- 

 mental manner of cement. This bed only occupies the centre 

 of the house, leaving ample space for pathways, and for other 

 purposes. Some good fruit have been cut, and the plants at 

 the present time have a fair crop. Although, owing to some 

 Blight misadventure, the fruit is not of a large size, yet it is 

 quite good enough to prove that first-class Pines can be grown 

 by this system of heating in a much more economical manner 

 than by any other. Not a particle of coal or cinder has been 

 used in any of the fires ; indeed, as illustrative of the easy 

 way in which heat can be had, I may mention, that when the 

 soil was first placed in the Pine-bed, one entire faggot was set 

 £re to in the furnace, over this faggot a (luantity of sawdust was 

 thrown, and by the tin-e this vfaa burned up the soil was 

 heated to 75". 



A new house has been lately added to the range, and is, I be- 

 lieve, intended for an orchard house. The roof has a very light 

 appearance, as it is a fixture — without moveable sashes, and no 

 heavy rafters have been used. It is ventilated by means of the 

 front sashes, and by shutters in the back wall. This house is 

 heated by a hollow chamber under the footpath, which is paved 

 with slabs formed principally of Portland cement and broken 

 bricks. These are made by Bow, of Maidstone, and are said 

 to be very cheap and durable ; they certainly form an admirable 

 material for paving purposes. 



But it is to the heated bed, which has no regular glass roof, 

 and is as much exposed as any other plot of ground, a miniature 

 kitchen garden in fict, to which I would wish more particularly 

 to call attention. Most kinds of vegetables have been hero 

 produced, both early and in excellent condition, and they have 

 only been protected from frost and cold winds in the early 

 spring months by means of thin wooden screens raised on legs 

 about 15 inches above the soil. These screens are also, doubt- 

 less, most useful in checking radiation quite sufficiently to 

 guard the young and tender crops from any chill to which they 

 might otherwise be subjected if fully exposed to the cold night 

 air. Of the crops taken this year — Onions were fit for use on 

 April 6th ; Potatoes, April 2ud ; Turnips, May Cth ; Carrots, 

 May 6th ; and Peas, May 21st. At the time of my visit, August 

 29th, Tarious crops were growing in the bed, and not the least 

 interesting were some excellent crops of the Scarlet-fleshed 



Pine-Apple Melon, of which both the foliage and fruit were all 

 that could be wished. The Melons, and some Cucumbers, are 

 grown under a useful kind of span-roofed portable frame, in- 

 vented by Mr. Wykeham-Martin. The frames are made entirely 

 of iron, and are glazed from top to bottom with 15-oz. glass, 

 which gives them a very light appearance. They are (J feet 

 long by 2 feet 8 inches wide, and the span-roof rises about 

 18 inches or 2 feet high. The span-roof is separate from the 

 lower part, and is lifted off and on by two iron handles at each 

 end. The principal merit of these frames consists in the use 

 of T and angle n irons, which can be bought in London at 55s. 

 per hundredweight. The entire cost of each frame when glazed 

 and completed, is £2 5s. The accompanying sketch represents 

 one of these frames, of which six are now in use on the bed in 

 question. 



As regards fuel, as I have already stated, nothing in the 

 shape of coal is ever used. In the severest weather abundance 

 of heat is obtained by using logs of wood, for the furnaces are 

 so commodious that whole trees require but very little sawing- 

 up to tit them for fuel, and during the present summer, what 

 little artificial heat has been required, has actually been ob- 

 tained by burning old Cabbage stalks, Potato haulm, or, in 

 fact, any garden refuse which could be had, so that it will be 

 seen that after the first expense of building, the cost of fuel is 

 of very little moment. 



What gardener is there who would not hail with delight the 

 idea of a constant supply of steady bottem heat, aye, even if 

 applied to that snug warm border so called, but to which he 

 would always welcome a little more solar heat to hasten on his 

 tardy spring crops ? Moreover, now that bedding plants are 

 required in such enormous quantities for the flower garden, 

 what can be more serviceable than a plot of heated soil, over 

 which a glass case has only to be placed to form, without any 

 further care, one of the most excellent propagating houses it is 

 possible tohave ? — Edward Ldckhubst, Eijcrton House Gardens, 

 Ki'iit. 



CAUSE OF COLOUR AND FLAVOUR IN FRUIT. 



With reference to the letter of "J. F." (page 204), I would 

 say that the high colour and racy flavour, which are observed in 

 fruit ripened under favourable circumstances in the open air, 

 arise probably, at least in part, from a cause which, I believe, 

 has not hitherto been brought into notice — namely, that the 

 chemical solar rays, which are quite distinct from the luminous 

 and heating rays, pass with difficulty through glass. — G. S. 



GRAPE VAGARIES. 



In a span-roof vinery here measuring UO feet long, in three 

 divisions of 30 feet each, and which was planted in 1862, the 

 roots being inside, the Black Hamburghs used to be ripe by 

 the 1st of August. This year, however, though the Vines were 

 forced as early, and there was no visible difference in the treat- 

 ment, while some bunches are ripe, many are merely colouring 

 now in the two houses nearest the stove, although in the 

 same houses Muscats, Lady Downe's, and other sorts, were 

 quite ripe some time ago. In the third or end house (on three- 

 year-old and small Vines), there has been merely sun beat since 

 July, yet there the Black Hamburghs were quite ripe a month 

 ago, and black as sloes. The Vines are heavily cropped, but 

 not much more so than usual. 



Two Muscat Hamburghs, oue on its own roots, the other in- 

 arched on a Black Hamburgh, have set their bunches well, but 

 every one contains about one- tenth of berries, quite as large as 

 the rest, that are merely coloured, and acid, while the others 

 are blue black, and were ripe long ago. I see no difference in 

 the stoues in the two kinds of berries, ripe and acid. Both 

 sorts of berries seem perfect except as to ripening. 



How can I best make a two-year-old Trentham Black Vine 

 take the place of a Muscat Hamburgh six years old, on its own 



