Aagnrt 1, 1865. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



93 



advisable to adopt this plan for all larpe Rabies, as there is 

 thereby a great saving in being enabled to cut largo gables out 

 of small sheets. 



I'lau 8 is another, but not so good plan for gable ventilation. 



Closed. 



Plan 8. 



(*pfn. 



Plan 9, for gable ventilation, is accomplished by inserting 

 a rod of wood or iron between the gable 

 and the glasses behind it at such height 

 as will leave the size of aperture recjuired. 



Plan 10 includes several modifications 

 for lean-to houses, which I need not par- 

 ticularise. I shall need a few months' 

 further experiment before I can speak 

 of lean-to miniature orchard-houses as 

 a success. I have tried low brick walls without mortar and 

 this year glass walls with metallic surfaces as reflectors. The 

 glass walls are nearly perpendicular. In the following en- 



Plan 9. 



If the last one does not keep out the frost I must give it up, 

 and though I do not on tlu; instant sec my way to an effective 

 ventilation for these and the A))ricot-Iiouses, I feel sure that 

 half an hour's thinking will resolve the jiroblem. Should the 

 subject be thought worth experiment I shall be glad 

 from my two-seasons (experience to risply on any point 

 wanting further elucidation, but my ho])e is that if 

 I have struck a useful chord I may hear of useful 

 applications and improvements effected beyond any- 

 tliing my short gardening experience can evolve. — Wm. 

 JIcGowAN. 



ErutATrM. — From a transposition of the sheets of the copy 

 the article at pajjo 72 in our last Number has been rendered all 

 but iinintelliffible. On reaehiuK the close (i( the sentence terriunatinR 

 with " to <i and n '" in colunui 1, on the ninth line from the bottom, the 

 reader must pass on to the parakfaph in the middle of column 2, com- 

 meneing witii "At each of the points," and on reaching the close of the 

 paragraph in colunm 1 page 73, terminating with •• of the dotted line x,'* 

 he must turn back to the sentence near tho foot of page 72 column 1, 

 beginning with '• Fix a wire, &c." 



Plan II. 



Plan 10. — Back of a Lean-to. 



graving of the back of one, the lines a a are uprights, the 

 double hnes are wires after the manner of the gable wires. 

 Most of my other plans I have rejected for some of the fore- 

 going. Throughout the whole of the twelve mouths in a well- 

 reg:ulated garden there need not be a sheet of glass out of use 

 except for a day or two. I find it will be convenient to have 

 racks of galvan- 

 ised iron fitted 

 up at different 

 parts of the 

 garden to save 

 trouble in carry- 

 ing large sheets. 

 After the Straw- 

 berries ripened 

 this season I 

 used the glasses 

 for Cucumbers 

 and Tomatoes, 

 as well as Cherries about to ripen. In the latter part of the 

 year, more especially in a wet September, they may be used 

 to cover choice Strawberry- 

 beds and secure well-ripened 

 buds. I shall, however, this 

 year experiment at that time 

 mainly on late Apples and 

 Pears, but my way of treat- 

 ing these is too outrageous a 

 %-iolation of natural laws for 

 me to say anything of it at 

 present, so let it rest. Plan jo. 



In spring, spare glasses 

 answer admirably for double-glazed miniature orchard-houses 

 for Apricots and Peaches, somewhat after this fashion (a ver- 

 tical section), the double 



line being an upright. (See ^ 



Plan 11.) 



The interval will not be 

 quite air-tight, but wiU at 

 all events exclude a few addi- 

 tional degrees of frost. To 

 carry the idea even farther, 

 as there is little use for many 

 ridge-wires, except on the 



outside of all, excellent pro- P]j,„ 13 



tecting-houses for bedding- 

 out and other tender plants may be very readily formed, thus, 

 (Plan 12, or even as in Plan 13.) 



HOW TO fiROW VARIEGATKI) (JIORAXIU-MS. 



Many persons say they cannot grow some of the new and 

 very beautiful Geraniums, such as Mrs. Pollock and Sunset. 

 Thinking it a great pity that these beautiful plants should not 

 become common, I will give my experience in the hope that it 

 may be of assistance to some who have not succeeded so well 



as they wished. 



We have always a heap of rich soil prepared in the following 



manner : — A foot of good sandy loam covered by a foot of good 

 i> stable-manure, again covered with soil, and again by manure, 



and so on till the heap is finished. The heap is turned several 

 times during tv.elve months, and always comes in useful 

 whenever soil is required for potting. Ha-\-ing removed the 

 soil of the bed intended to be planted with Variegated Gera- 

 niums a good spade's depth, an equal quantity of compost was 

 prepared by mixing a little white sand and cocoa-nut fibre with 

 the soil of the heap before mentioned, and with this the bed 

 was fiUed. A variety of Geraniums, amongst which are a good 

 number of Mrs. Pollock and Sunset, are growing in this bed 

 almost as freely as Tom Thumb. Some few older varieties, 

 planted with them for contrast, are twice as effective as those 

 planted on common soil. It appears as if a rich open soil is 

 what these new Geraniums require. Perhaps those who have 

 tried cocoa-nut fibre, and been dissatisfied with it, have for- 

 gotten that its effect is merely mechanical, and if added to a 

 poor soil, it of course makes it still poorer. My bed is so beau- 

 tiful I feel quite proud of it, and seeing what can be done with 

 these new Geraniums, am anxious others should grow them 

 successfully. — J. K. Peakson, Chilwell, Notts. 



POTATO SCAB. 



I HA%'E grown a large number of unusually fine Ashleaf 

 Kidneys on some new ground this season. The tubers are 

 very large, and excellent when cooked, but they are so scabby 

 as to be quite disagreeable to look at when dug. My gardener 

 tells me it is caused by the little thread worms which abound 

 in the soil, owing to its having been manured with some rotten 

 stuff from an old Cucumber-frame. I should be very glad to 

 know the real cause of this scab, which is, as you say, only 

 skin deep.— T. C. H. 



I QUITE agree with the Editors in their answer to the query 

 of " J. W." as regards lime causing the scab in Potatoes. 

 Some years ago, in the vale of the Humber, we had very fine 

 Potatoes manured with farmyard dung, and generally free from 

 scab. Leading into our fields was a long lane always repaired 

 with limestone, the scrapings from which one winter were spread 

 over about an acre and a half, and ploughed in ; the foDowing 

 season was rather dry, and the Regents and other rough- 

 skinned kinds were scabbed very much, but we thought they 

 were no worse in quality, and not much less than usual. The 

 Kidneys and other smooth kinds were very little scabbed. We 

 thought, but might be wrong, that the lime passed into the 

 rough parts of the skin and caused the eruption. I would ad- 

 vise " J. W." to obtain a change of seed from, a distance, aiid 

 from a different soil from his own, to manure moderately with 

 farmyard dung, and perhaps a little guano, but to use no ashes 

 nor Ume. — W. C. 



