JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTOKE AND COTTAGE OABDENER. 



C Januarr 9, WK. 



I will now compare a narrow npan-roof with this. The average 

 maximum (or Chiswick last May was 09° ; to this I will add 

 lo , makinR 8r. The niiuimum will be u' above the atmo- 

 sphere, or sr. I ciinnot tcive the temperatures of a south wall 

 for the months of .lune ami July, and so will pass on to those 

 of August and September, which are given as the same as May 

 — from 100' to 120'. The average maxima for these months 

 at Chiswick were 74' and IS' ; if I add 15' it will make 89' and 

 93', which should represent the day temperiitures of these 

 months in a small span-roofed house. I will now try to com- 

 pare the nights. Mr. Bivers says, '• But radiation during the 

 long nights" (not during these months) " tells forcibly, so that 

 in the morning the ' tender mercies ' of the wall have not pre- 

 vented the thermometer from going down to 45 or 40 ." Does 

 this mean that radiation has carried off all this extra heat? 

 At Chiswick the average minima for last August and September 

 were 46° and 45° respectively ; the night temperature in a 

 narrow span-roof I do not know. A thermometer with a black 

 bulb exposed to the sun rise.s 50° above the atmosphere in the 

 fhade, and often goes down to 15 below it in the night. I 

 should very much Uke to know if it was owing to this latter 

 cause — extra night radiation, that prevented the experiment 

 mentioned in the " Theorj- of Horticulture," blackening garden 

 walls, from being of any advantage. But this has no reference 

 to our present subject — we are not discussing the relative radi- 

 ating powers of colours ; and a black bulb to a thermometer, 



having no substance to retain heat, is soon cooled. How is it 

 with a thick wall that has been heated to 120° ? I notice the 

 explanation that the trees in the liedge hnuse are retarded b; 

 the cool night air rushiug in, which in this case counteracts 

 the advantage of radiation from the soil. Will not a narrow 

 span-roofed house, with the ventilators open at each side, be 

 retarded in the same way ? 



Mr. Bivers is surprised that I should have given the heat of 

 his large house as 9U°, for at 5 feet from the ground it was 

 only K8' ; but this, he said, " wos under a dense shade ;" in his 

 letter of October the 10th he said it usually ruled 10° to 15' 

 above the open air, which he gave as 80° ; again, in this last 

 letter he says a span-roofed house 18 feet wide, the sides of 

 which are formed of hedges 2) feet high, at 5 feet from the 

 ground averages from 15' to 20' above the open air. I did not 

 intend to misquote. 



I hope Mr. Bivers will be able to obtain some information 

 upon the climate of New .Jersey. I do not know how he ac- 

 quired his impression that Mentonc has a moist climate. Dr. 

 Bennet says that, according to his experience, the average 

 number of days or nights during which it rained little or much 

 at Mentoiie was SO, at Torquay 155, Greenwich 155. I wish 

 Dr. Bennet could be induced to give us a little more informa- 

 tion on these subjects, including the heat of _ the soil as the 

 Vines start. — G. H. 



A WELL-KEPT garden is the best ornament the outside of a 

 house can have ; it promotes health, and in it one can con- 

 template the goodness of the Maker of all things in administer- 

 ing to the various requirements of man. There are no asso- 

 ciations stronger than those connected with a garden. Let a 



A WINTER AND SPRING FL0\M3R GARDEN. 



man be a thousand miles from home, still his mind will at 

 times revert to and haimt, as it were, his old favourite spots. 

 To strengthen, then, those fond links of home, let us try and 

 make home more interesting, cheerfxJ, and gay, especially in 

 the dreary months of winter and spring. 





To lay down a definite rule respecting the extent and arrange- 

 ment of a flower garden would be a most dillicult matter, as no 

 two places are alike. It is necessary, therefore, to exercise 

 great judgment in the formation of a garden, and the designer 

 should not be wholly guided by his own fancy ; the size of the 

 mansion should be taken into consideration, for a small aoiise 

 and a large garden never correspond well, and everything 

 about a place should be as nearly as possible in proportion. 

 Another matter to be taken into consideration is the means at 



command to supply plants enough to furnish the] garden, 

 because it is much better to have a small garden well kept 

 than a large one ill-kept. In a garden, as in any other place, 

 there should be " a place for everything, and everything in its 

 place," and in endeavouring to carrj- out fully this old sa\-ing. 

 I have designed a plan well adapted for a small place, and 

 especially for the front of a suburban villa, where there would 

 be room enough for the design and a good wide border at each 

 side for herbaceous plants, or, otherwise, a grass verge. By 



