December 10, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOBT1O0LTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



517 



for other purposes. What could seem more feasible ? and 

 accordingly it was done, and the house well filled the next 

 winter ; but the enlarged house was emptied fully six weeks 

 earlier than it used to be before. Since then the waggon-loads 

 of straw packed against the walls inside, and the trouble, 

 would soon cost more than the double wall, and, after all, with 

 far inferior results. Few things are better non-conductors 

 than straw, especially if not much bruised by the flail or 

 threshing machine, as every space between the joints is so far 

 a sealed-up air-tube ; but let that straw get thoroughly soaked 

 inside a house, and its non-conducting powers would not only 

 be gone, but vapour always rising from it would keep a damp 

 fog always resting upon and melting away the ice. I have no 

 faith, therefore, in straw as a non-conductor inside a house 

 unless it be kept dry. I have a large house which, when filled, 

 generally secures pretty well a two-years supply ; that, too, 

 had been built, I believe, with hollow walls, and the inner one 

 was removed, before I knew it, to increase the size ; but I soon 

 gave up using packings of straw, having come to the conclu- 

 sion that, on the whole, from getting damp it did more harm 

 than good. When either a stone, brick, or wood house is 

 raised partly or wholly above the ground level, covering the 

 single wall, whatever it is, with from to 9 inches of straw 

 neatly fastened on the outside, and with the eaves of the roof 

 projecting far enough to keep that straw dry, will be the best 

 substitute for a double wall ; and if the ears of wheat are re- 

 moved, so as not to entice birds or mice, the straw will last a 

 number of years. 



Thus by using hollow walls, or a non-conducting medium, it 

 will be seen that regular ice houses may be as well partly or 

 wholly above ground as below it ; and in the circumstances 

 of 'soils retentive of moisture, much better above than below. 

 When so built, and near the mansion, they could be turned to 

 many useful purposes as respects keeping meat and vegetables 

 with more economy as to ice than when the ice has to be 

 brought in pails and barrowloada to the house. 



So much for the place : now for the filling. The chief 

 thing is to get ice from good clear water, and pound it well 

 outside, but chiefly inside, of the house. If the water is not 

 clean the ice will be unfit for preserving many things where fine 

 flavour is an extra consideration. Every space of air enclosed 

 between pieces of ice will hasten the decay of the ice whenever 

 these spaces can gain access to the air above them. When 

 filling in frosty weather it is a good plan to use a little water 

 for filling up the crevices, which soon freezes the whole into a 

 compact mass. All ice with leaves and pieces of wood in it is 

 to be rejected if better can be had, as they wUl make a sort of 

 free space round themselves long before the summer is past. 

 In packing it is advisable to keep the centre the lowest, and 

 the outsides the highest, so that the moisture contained may 

 find its way to the centre and there be frozen, instead of pass- 

 ing through the ice at the outside and escaping. This same 

 rule should also be attended to in taking the ice out of the 

 ice house. It is impossible to break the ice too fine — the more 

 like sleet and snow the better, and the firmer packed the 

 better. This is even more necessary when the house for keep- 

 ing it is small. 



However built, the sides must not be too steep, or the cover- 

 ings will not be easily kept on. When finished as firmly on 

 the sides as possible, it is advisable to wait for a frosty night 

 before covering it ; and if that should not come a good shower 

 will do it good, as it will make the outside a dense sheet of ice. 



Snow rolled in heaps when well consolidated, and a little 

 water used to enable the workmen to compress it, is little 

 inferior to ice, either for ice wells or ice heaps. When a good 

 fall takes place, and there is an open park to go to, it is easy 

 to get a great quantity of it when fresh fallen, or when there 

 is a sHght thaw. When hardened, however, a little on the 

 surface with frost or wet, it is vain to attempt to roO it into 

 heaps. 



The heap being made and finished, the next thing is to 

 cover it up securely. A layer of 3 inches or so of clean wheat 

 straw should be placed all over it. After that, when possible, 

 the covering next the straw should be of an open nature, and 

 the very outside rather of a close nature. Provided the out- 

 side air does not penetrate, the more air enclosed between the 

 outside covering and the ice the better it will keep. Thus, 

 after the straw, we have seen 9 inches of rough stubble put on, 

 and the outside formed of 9 inches of tree leaves. Again, we 

 have known small spruce or larch faggots used above the straw 

 for a foot in depth, and then a thatching of straw from 9 to 

 12 inches thick, and both answered well. Where tree leaves 



can easily be obtained, I would prefer 3 or 4 inches of clean 

 straw, and then li inches of leaves at first, increasing the 

 amount gradually to 12 or 18 inches of leaves, according to the 

 heat of the summer. When these are once settled it takes a 

 very strong wind to dislodge them, and if the sides are mode- 

 rately steep rain passes freely down the outside without 

 penetrating to any extent. If the above amount of leaves 

 were put on at once, they might be liable to heat. Vermin 

 rather dislike burrowing in the tree leaves. Any other sub- 

 stance will do, provided the same conditions are observed. 



One thing we must guard against, as a cause of failure. 

 Some people, extra careful, put a rough frame over their ice, 

 and the covering over it. I never saw one case in which such 

 a mode answered well. When the ice sinks the frame does 

 not sink with it, vacancies are formed between the ice and the 

 coverings ; these get filled with moist vapour and melt the ice, 

 or sometimes holes are also formed in the covering, by which 

 the warm air outside has free entrance to the heap. By 

 placing the covering at once on the ice, the covering sinks as 

 the ice sinks, and no space is given fur damp vapours, nor yet 

 much chance for any openings being formed. At any rate, I 

 have never seen these kindly-intentiuned rough frames used 

 but disappointment more or less was the result. It would be 

 better to construct a wood house at once, and have an air- 

 tube in the root and doorway. In heaps nothing should come 

 between the ice and the covering. 



One word more. When ice has to be taken to the mansion 

 for various purposes, the preserving of it as long as possible is 

 a matter of some importance. Ice tubs are, therefore, very 

 useful for the superintendent of the kitchen or the cellar. 

 They may be made of any size or shape. We have a very use- 

 ful circular one near the cellar, 3 feet in diameter at bottom 

 outside measure, 30 inches in diameter at top, and 3 feet in 

 height. The bottom is formed of wood some 4 inches thick, 

 the sides of the same 3 inches thick, lined inside with oork 

 1 inch thick. It is suppUed with two lids, one thick, and 

 similarly lined, that fits into a groove, so as to be on a level 

 with the circular outside ; the other to go over that, and come 

 down a couple of inches over the outside. It used also to be 

 lined with woollen cloth, but that seemed to be of little conse- 

 quence. It is painted outside of whitish colour. There is a 

 small iron vessel fixed inside that would hold somewhere about 

 two gallons of water; and, there being a pipe from it com- 

 municating with a tap outside, there is always a ready com- 

 mand of ice water during the summer. Bottles of wine, &c., 

 are merely placed among the ice. Though this tub stands in 

 an airy place, the ice keeps a good while if the lid is not often 

 opened. 



AMERICAN BLIGHT ON APPLE TREES. 

 My employer, John Mclnnes, Esq., having bought Heath 

 Bank two years ago, we found the Apple trees in a sad state, 

 literally white all over with American bug. We were at a loss 

 to know what to do with them ; we tried spirits of petroleum, 

 which killed the pest at once. The petroleum is applied with 

 a painter's brush to the part|of the tree that is affected with 

 the bug ; it may be applied to the whole of the tree without 

 injuring it in the least, as it evaporates soon after being put 

 on. After getting rid of the American blight we cut out all the 

 cankered wood, and this year the trees have made new clean 

 wood full of fruit buds, and no bug to be seen. I think the 

 adoption of this remedy would be a great saving in nurseries, 

 where I have seen hundreds of young trees with the bug on 

 them. I think train oil is very injurious to any tree, though 

 I have seen it recommended in a previous Journal. The 

 petroleum has been tried by several gardeners here with the 

 same result. We have a Louise Bonne Pear on a wall covered 

 with scale. I intend trying the petroleum on this tree iu the 

 spring, and will let you know the result. — I. Povall. 



Messrs. Sutton's Stand at the Smithfield Clue Cattle 

 Show. — The principal contributors to the stand of Sutton and 

 Sons are :— Her Majesty the Queen ; H.R.H. the Prince of 

 Wales ; Lord A. Hill ; Lord James Butler ; the Earl of Warwick ; 

 LordBridport; Lord Calthorpe; Admiral Sir G. N.B. Middleton; 

 Sir H. Dashwood; Sir Paul Hunter; John Walter, Esq., M.P., 

 and Professor Buckman. The roots exhibited are those to 

 which were awarded the principal prizes at the Royal Berkshire 

 Root Show, 1874, and include specimens of Sutton's Mammoth 

 Long Bed Mangel, weighing upwards of 40 lbs. each, and to 

 which has been awarded the first prizes at the Birmingham 

 Show for the past six years, those grown by Sir G. N. B. 



