174 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



L August 29, 1865. 



admit more and purer light than any others I have ever seen. 

 The superlative importance of light has only recently been re- 

 cognised. Most of the old houses excluded a third, many one- 

 half, of the direct Ught of the sun. What with pondrous 

 rafters, heavy sash-bars, -n-ide laps, with the usual accumu- 

 lations of dii-t on each side of them, and small squares of glass, 

 I believe I have placed their illuminating power too high at half 

 of their smface. Considering that Mr. Beard has abohshed 

 rafters and laps, and used only iron ribs of the smallest possible 

 scantling consistent with the requisite strength, and that his 

 glass is wide, I believe the transparent parts of his houses to 

 the opa(iue would be as ten to one. It is impossible to ex- 

 aggerate the immense importance of this great accession of 

 light. Heat is not more useful in stimulating the vital forces 

 of plants than is light in consolidating and moulding them 

 into useful and ornamental forms. Light is the great manu- 

 facturing power of the universe. It works up the crude raw 

 materials of natm-e into portable, beautiful, and edible forms, 

 and lays at our feet, as trophies of its skill, flowers of surpass- 

 ing loveliness, and that food which is the sustenance of om- 

 existence. Yes — 



*' All the world's beauty that delights our eyes. 

 Is but of light the several liveries ; 

 Thou the rich dye on them bestowest. 

 Thy nimble x'encil paints the landscape as thou goest." 



If aU this is true, and it is, it is surely of the first import- 

 ance to secm-e evei-y possible ray of Light for the full develop- 

 ment of tropical plants in glass houses. Some of Mr. Beard's 

 have been erected long enough to prove their superiority over 

 others in this respect. At our last show his plants were re- 

 marked upon for their compactness of growth and high colour 

 of flower. Doubtless, part of this was due to the skill of j\L. 

 Snelling, Mr. Beard's intelligent gardener. We all remember 

 that he used to show good plants grown in ordinai-y houses in 

 his last situation. StiU some of the characteristics noticed 

 were, doubtless, attribut.ible to the houses in which the plants 

 were gi-own. I saw at Mr. Beard's a row of Scarlet Geraniums 

 that had stood for several months on the ground floor against 

 the back wall in one of his houses. They continued as dwarf 

 and compact as could be desired, and were one mass of 

 bloom. In a similar position in one of our houses they 

 would have been a yard high, with only a few flowers. This 

 fact may convince many, whom neither theory nor poetry 

 will influence, that light fonns flowers and produces fruit, and 

 that the more light there is given the more there will be of 

 both, and the greater the brilli.ance of the former, and more 

 luscious the qualities of the latter. 



These houses also afford more space for their size than any 

 others. The glass coming down to the ground line, every inch 

 of the gi-ound is available for cultural purposes. In a house 

 20 feet by 10, there is a clear gain of '20 feet cultural area fi-om 

 the absence of bricks. 



The vital question of price remains to be noticed. Most 

 things have an absolute and a relative value. The first is their 

 intrinsic, the second their comparative, worth when pitted 

 against other tilings that wUl serve similar purjioses. Few care 

 to discover the fonner, as the Latter forms the basis of trade ; 

 Mr. Beard's houses can afford to be judged by both of these 

 tests of value. Lpt us look at their absolute price first. Ac- 

 cepting the hor,- ■■ in the Botanic Garden as an example of 

 price, as it is • i structural and cultiu'al excellence, I find by 

 measurement that it contains 580 square feet. It is glazed 

 with sheet glass, weighing •28-oz. per foot ; the price is £50, or 

 barely Is. 9(;. per foot. I very much doubt whether ordinary 

 wood-fi-amed glass houses can be as well finished at the price. 

 I am, of course, awai'e that the Paxtonian and other houses are 

 offered for kss, but it is well to bear in mind that there is a 

 grea: difference in value between mere frames and elegant 

 plant-houses. Looldng at their relative value, compared with 

 other houses, this price must be largely reduced. In this light 

 then- completeness and durabUity assume a money value, and 

 become equivalent to a reduction in prime cost. The ventilat- 

 ing apparatus alone would cost £5 ; the substitute for trough- 

 ing and piping, and the iron door-step, are worth another poimd. 

 A pretty lengthy experience has also taught me, that ordinary 

 wood and glass roofs cannot be kept sightly and in repair for 

 less than Id. per square foot per aimirm. By the most eco- 

 nomical management, the 14,800 feet of glass here cost us 

 over £60 a-year. Then, surely, Mr. Beard's enamelling process, 

 which prevents the necessity of .this outlay, is worth six years' 

 purchase of repairs, or Gd. per foot. This amounts to a re- 

 duction of £14 10s. on the house in the Botanic Gardens. All 



these items put together would reduce the price of this house 

 from £50 to £30, or Is. 0J((. per foot, a price which can scarcely 

 fail to astonish many, and satisfy aU purchasers. 



Perhaps I ought to state, in conclusion, that I have no 

 pecuniary interest in these houses, that these letters have been 

 written %vithout Mr. Beard's knowledge or authority, and solely 

 as a duty which I felt pleasui-e in discharging to a most useful 

 invention, which promises to promote the prosperity of the 

 town, the improvement of gardening, and the good of the 

 public at large. — D. T. Fish, Gardciwr to Lady CuUum, Sard- 

 wick. 



[The chief part of this conimimication appeared in the 

 Bury Free Press, but has been sent to us for publication, with 

 some additions by Mr. D. T. Fish. — Ens.] 



TLANTING VLNTIS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE A 

 VIXEKY. 



Will you teU me which is considered by experienced gar- 

 deners to be the best mode of cultivating the Vine ? Is it better 

 to plant in a border outside of the house, or inside the vinery? 

 The former is, I believe, the old-fashioned style, the latter 

 came into vogue of late years. By best, I, of course, mean the 

 most productive, and, therefore, the most profitable mode. 



A fiiend of mine has planted his Vines in the house, but 

 there are arches in the front wall of it, to admit of the roots 

 going outwards if they choose. On a line with the frontage he 

 has, perhaps, nine or ten lights heated by one pipe connected 

 with those in the vinery. In these he grows his Cucumbers, 

 and in winter keeps his bedding plants. His Vines, which 

 are young, do not seem to mc so healthy and strong as they 

 should be, and I am rather inclined to attribute this to the 

 absence of the good old-fashioned border outside, and to the 

 cultivation of Cucumbers .and Melons so close to the house, 

 which I should fancy must di-aw a great deal of the "goodness" 

 of the sou, and thus impoverish the Vines. This, after all, may 

 be a prejudice on my p.art, and for this very reason (coupled 

 with the intention I have of erecting a vinery upwards of 30 feet 

 in length), I am induced to write and ask you for yom' opinion 

 on the two modes of Vine eultiu'e. — W. B. A. 



[We decidedly prefer planting Vines inside a vinery, even if 

 the border chiefly be outside ; but the inside border must be 

 higher than the outside one, and the roots must not descend to 

 get under the arches, or beneath the wall plate. Of coui-se, if 

 you use youi' outside border for Cucumbers, or preserving bed- 

 ding plants, that is a diiferent matter, and the soil must be 

 rendered more or less unfit for the roots of the Vines.] 



GLEANINGS FROM ROCK AND FIELD 

 TOWM'>DS ROME.— No. 4. 



To strangers in Eome St. Peter's is the first great point of 

 attraction — the sun, from which streams the Ught of the minor 

 stai'S. I may never forget my first view of the interior of this 

 gi-eat temple ; it stands out alone in my memoi-y, surrounded 

 by a bright halo of its own. The exterior was at all times 

 disappointing to me, and I entered the vast doors with a fear 

 lest the same feeUng might foUow me witliin. The church 

 was nearly empty, but I did not note it. There fell upon me 

 instantly, and with wonderful power, a sense of my own utter 

 nothingness, that bowed me to the earth with irresistible force. 

 It seemed as if th.at miglity building, so vast, so imutterably 

 magnificent in its tremendous proportions, awed me as the 

 contemplation of eternity awes ; and my whole being cried out 

 for the God in whose honom- tliis temple was raised — a temple 

 that seemed .almost woi-thy of being " the gate of heaven." I 

 rose from my knees, filled with this same strange awe, to see 

 a crowd of people hurrying in one tlirectiou. What great 

 attraction was there '? On reaching a given point they fell on 

 then- knees, crossed themselves, and, then rising, approached 

 some object, which they reverently kissed, and pressed to fore- 

 head and lips with tenderest devotion. I went to the spot. 

 There was no cross, no representation of the Crucified. I saw 

 only a hideous black statue, said to have been that of some 

 old Eoman emperor, but now called St. Peter ! 



I was told that a Flora of the piazza of St. Peter's had been 

 printed, but I have never seen it, nor did I gather one wild- 

 flower specimen there. The shrine, beneath which the bones 

 of St. Peter lay, was adorned by no bright wreath of fading 



