AttgttBt 8, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



113 



this mlvistHll.Vi becaiiso the conscientiouK lunn would not per- 

 form any labour, iilivKically or meutnlly, that would interfere 

 with the regular performance of his duty to those to whom lie 

 is ostensibly a servant. It is common to meet with some who 

 make short work of such mutters. They nuike it up to their 

 owe satisfaction that they are underpaid for their services, as 

 most gardeners are, and they eon.-ider themselves justified in 

 using a part of their woi'kiiig time for other purposes. Now, 

 all Bueh conclusions are in our opinion just so much treading 

 on very dangerous ground. A servant is hardly safe in engag- 

 ing in any such work without the laiowledgo of his employer, 

 and if satisfied (and that often is easily done), that he is much 

 underpaid for his services, it would he nnich more honourablo 

 to seek remunerative emiiloyment elsewhere, and to dissolve 

 the connection in an honourablo manner, than to keep grumb- 

 ling at the circumstances of our lot, or endeavouring by other 

 employment to add to an otherwise scanty income, by any modes 

 except those which are patent and open to every inspection. 



Almost every gardener that we have known, who has done any- 

 thing for the gardening and general press, is a man lUstingished 

 for his attention to business, and who makes his writing hours 

 a substitute for what many others spend in other recreations 

 and amusements. 



Hence, no doubt, the propriety of the law laid down by our 

 Editors, that no one is to write to their coadjutors — alaw, how- 

 ever, whieli a good many think may pro])crly be broken in 

 their own individual ease, and that, too, as our old friend Mr. 

 Beaton used to complain to us, without even sending an en- 

 velope or a postage stamp ! — a matter of no moment if such 

 letters were to be numbered by units, but no trifle when they 

 soon amount to scores and huncb-eds ; and yet when your 

 proverbial good nature and courtesy are appealed to, what can 

 you do at times but WTite a few lines and disobey so far the 

 excellent general rule laid down by the Editors, who knew 

 human nature well before they saw the necessity of requiring 

 all inquiries to be sent directly to them? 



The WTiters of inquiries of a week or two past have mostly 

 kindly wished that we would allude to the matters in this part 

 of the Journal, which, they say. they always read, but which 

 we heartily wish were more worthy of their perusal than ever it 

 has appeared to us to be. These have chiefly reference to the 

 following points : — 



1st, Patents. — " Do they not retard, rather than advance, 

 tiseful practice ? "' Well, on the whole, we think they do. We 

 do not think that, in general, they do good to anybody except 

 the Patent Office. Forgive the use of the authoritative editorial 

 we, instead of the insignificant /, but we would give aU the 

 authority we could to our conviction that, in general, the 

 pubUc have come to have something like a horror of those 

 inventions, discoveries, and improvements that are protected 

 by patent. Did we discover something grand ourselves we 

 would be disposed to throw it open to the public, and to trust 

 to the general run of trade to remunerate us for the discovery. 

 At the same time it is perfectly just and honourable, that the 

 man who has spent much money in perfecting a system worthy 

 of a patent should have the power of deciding as to the best 

 means of rewarding himself for the outlay in money, and 

 thought, and consideration. If, then, as a general rule, we 

 would not recommend people to trouble themselves with 

 patents, we have no right, and no desire, to find fault with 

 those who thus protect themselves. In some cases it is the 

 only plan by which the inventor can receive an adequate remu- 

 neration for his time, skill, and many experiments. We would 

 wish it, however, to be clearly understood that, so far as we 

 have the opportimity of noticing, the word "patent" has lost 

 its charm — nay, more — that from the frequency of its use many 

 people come to distrust what is recommended to them by such 

 a high-sounding title. The inventor must be considered the 

 best judge as to how he is to protect his own interests. 



2nd, " Could we not use the same non-conducting materials, 

 over and under the glass, as Mr. Beard uses in his iron houses, 

 without infringing his patent? " We do not know, as already 

 instanced, the particulars of the patent ; but our beUef at 

 present is that you could not do so. If this constitutes a chief 

 port of Mr. Beard's patent it might suit his pm-pose to sell the 

 use of it, as, even on the score of glazing alone, many of those 

 who build cheap wood orchard-houses might see the advantage 

 of using the elastic substance under and above the glass 

 instead of putty. That, however, is a matter between the 

 builder and the patentee. We know no more than was stated 

 last week. 

 3rd, " Much obhged for what you say of Mr. Beard's houses ; 



but it has annoyed mo too. I thnuglit I could manage a wooden 

 house this year on tho orchard-house or fixed-roof principle, 

 and I cannot atTord more. A friend of mine is putting up one 

 with glass at from Hr/. to 1{<I. per foot" — more is the pity — 

 '2il. or :J(/. would lie cheaper in tho end — " but then my next 

 neighbour will have none of these paltry orchard-bouses. If 

 he has one at all, he will have one of Beard's, if it cost double 

 or treble as much. What do you think will be the difference 

 of the first expense 7 " 



Here is a dilemma. Now, taking lean-to houses in both 

 cases, wo believe we could put up a wood-and-glass-house for 

 about one-fourth of those metallic-houses of Mr. Beard's; and 

 if wo were short of cash, and wished to liave all the enjoy- 

 ment we could for some thirty years, with an anniuil outlay for 

 repairs, wo would do so ; but if we wished our houses to be 

 always nice, lasting, itc, and escape the horrors of chipping 

 and painting, then decidedly we would join issue with your 

 friend, and have houses of a more pernmnent character. Wo 

 have not lost our senses in the matter at all. We have as 

 much respect to-day for Mr. Rivers, for making glass houses 

 accessible to tho many, as we have for Mr. Beard in making 

 these houses lasting, and without the common annual outlay 

 which such houses generally involve. We would wish each 

 system to stand on its own particular merits. 



3rd, and lastly at present. " What an idea, the having a 

 glass-covered flower garden ! Wh.it and who could live in it 

 with the heat in a bright day ? ^\^lo could make a roof to 

 shut close when you pleased, and to open vertically when you 

 pleased, to let rain and dews in at pleasure?" After the 

 Crystal Palace and the huge conservatories of Chatsworth, Kew, 

 Enville, and the low ridge-and-furrow-roofed one at Trentham, 

 there can be little doubt of the feasibility of such an achieve- 

 ment. By pivot-hanging and leverage power, and other modes 

 which our great builders know so well how to use, they would 

 tell you that the only difficulty in the matter would be to secure 

 to them the order. The building would soon appear like a fairy 

 scene. Only a short time ago we saw a small dome-roofed 

 glass house, where the dome was thrown open at pleasure. A 

 clever gardener said the ventilation was wrong, just because 

 the rains would come in ; but there is no reason why they 

 should not be admitted or shut out at pleasure. Where there was 

 abundance of water there would be no necessity for letting 

 rains in at all. We alluded to it as being woi'thy of consider- 

 ation in dry places, and as a saving of labour in watering, but 

 the feasibility does not depend at all on the letting the rains 

 and dews in, as all the water that falls on the glass can be 

 secured in tanks to be used again by pail, engine, or hydropult. 

 As to the heat, who has not felt a relief in moving from the 

 terraces of the Crystal Palace in a hot daj', into tho Palace 

 itself? AVith plenty of ventilation, and the help of climbers, 

 and by-and-by of coloured glass, that will let light through and 

 keep back part of the heating-rays, the atmosphere will be 

 every way more mUd and enjoyable under glass than in the 

 open air. 



The using of coloured glass in plant-houses is, as yet, oiily 

 beginning to attract attention. What a charm it lends to the 

 fernery of Mr. Bewley, near Dublin ! How striking the azure- 

 blue tint of the dome of the conservatory at Woodstock, in 

 Ireland ! Would that Mr. McDonald and others who have 

 studied and experimented on the subject, would give us the 

 results of their experiments. It is amazing that coloured glass 

 has not become more one of the luxuries of the age. But, 

 with or without such coloured glass, there need be no question 

 as to the coolness that can be obtained under glass in summer, 

 any more than of the warmth that can be secured in winter. 

 The time will come when those jjossessing wealth will see the 

 propriety of having an Italy, a Madeira, fee, at their own 

 residences, instead of taking long voyages in seeking after the 

 great boon of health. What a help to medical men would such 

 covered gardens be if placed in connection even with hospitals, 

 where those afflicted with the worst diseases are obliged to 

 congregate ! 



Without, however, entering into such weighty reasons, we 

 would advocate such glass-covered gardens for giving greater 

 variety to a demesne ; affording more space to hardy plants 

 that, once planted, would pretty well look after themselves, and 

 he gi'owing in interest and beauty with only the slightest mini- 

 mum of our help and interference ; and lessening the great 

 anxiety the gardener must now often feel about the weather. 

 For instance : for a week or so, up to the 31st of July, our flower 

 garden was very fair, and of a number of intending visitors we 

 were anxious they would come then, but scarcely any made 



