June 25, 1874. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



505 



stone, and afterwards faced with bricks. Next, we have walls 

 built of concrete, and faced with some hard subetanco such as 

 cement. This system is on its trial, and is now being adopted 

 by many, but how it will answer for fruit-growing has not yet 

 been conohisively proved. I have had some experience with 

 the plan, and hope soon to refer to it again fully in a separate 

 paper. I believe it is cheaper than bricliworli, but not so 

 durable. The plan is very expeditious, as by it a wall may be 

 very cjuickly built up. It has rather a fancy appearance, and 

 for a handsome or ornamental residence where all surrounding 

 buildings are executed in a fancy style, a garden enclosed 

 after this plan will be very appropriate ; but up to the present 

 time I am unable to recommend to amateurs anything more 

 suitable than a good substantial brick wall. Such walls are 

 lasting and neat, warmer than anything yet in use, and most 

 suitable for the training of trees securely and to the required 

 form. As before stated, where stone is more plentiful than 

 bricks much of that material may be worked in, and yet be as 

 strong as if all were bricks, though it might involve a thicker 

 wall, owing to the uneven proportions of the stone. 



After the material is decided upon, it will be necessary to 

 determine the height and thickness of the wall. The one ought 

 to be in proportion to the other, the higher the wall the thicker 

 it ought to be. Walls are seldom less than 8 feet nor more 

 than 12 feet in height above the surface of the ground ; for 

 the former height it is proper to have them 14 inches in thick- 

 ness, but if higher 18 inches or even more will leave them 

 sufficiently strong. I disUke to see a wall supported by but- 

 tresses or pins; these take up the room, and do not look so 

 well. These are things worth thinking of in connection with 

 an amateur's garden of an acre. I do not approve of very 

 high walls for small gardens ; if a high wall is wanted let it be 

 on the north side ; indeed, it will most likely be an advantage 

 to have the walls of diiiferent heights, particularly if the garden 

 is on a level. In this ease the north wall ought to be the 

 highest, say 10 feet, the east and west wall 9 feet, and the 

 south wall 8 feet. The garden will not then look so heavy, 

 and will be much better for the crops growing inside ; but 

 should the ground be on a gentle slope the difference in the 

 height of the wall will not be so necessary. 



Take care that first of all good and sound foundations are 

 put in ; they should be a few inches wider up to the earth's 

 surface than the rest of the wall in order to render it more 

 secure ; and I need hardly mention that at all doorways or 

 other entrances the wall should be considerably thicker, in 

 order to give it extra strength. 



The next thing to think of is to provide the walls with a 

 good coping, which should be as substantial as that of the wall. 

 These necessaries have been treated of previously, and by re- 

 ferring to the illustrations given of various designs a suitable 

 one can be chosen. A coping is necessary for the proper pro- 

 tection of the wall, and for a 10-feet wall it may project C inches 

 on each side — not quite on a level, but sloping a little so as to 

 throw off the water. This is for the protection of the trees 

 growing on the wall as well as the wall itself. This is to be 

 regarded as a fixed coping. The top or main coping for a 

 substantial brick wall ought to be of paving stone shaped out 

 highest at the top and sloping to the sides, to carry the wet 

 off. These are the most durable copings of any, and may be 

 obtained in lengths of 2 or 3 feet, so as to have as few joints 

 as possible along the top of the wall. — Thomas Record. 



NOTES ON FEOST AND ITS EFFECTS. 



I ALWAYS — in common, doubtless, with most of your readers — 

 peruse with pleasure and profit the communications of my 

 friend Mr. Kobson. Bat I must ask permission to object 

 in toto to the first eleven hues of his very interesting article 

 upon the above subject, and to show tliat those whom I hold 

 to be worthy of the terms " scientific men " and " philoso- 

 phers," do not act in the strange way which he describes. 



If Mr. Ilobson will some day devote five minutes to the 

 meteorological instruments in the herbaceous garden of the 

 Eoyal Botanic Society, which were erected as a typical set for 

 the gardener's use, he will find that arrangements are made for 

 the detection of the two classes of frosts — air frosts, and grass 

 or radiation frosts ; the former by a thermometer screened 

 from radiation but freely exposed to the air, and the latter by 

 a thermometer resting upon and almost forming a portion of a 

 grass plot. This grass thermometer will in promptitude of 

 action leave all my friend's "wet mats," etc., far behind, and 

 is an exact quantitative measure of the grass itself, and of 



similarly-foliaged plants in its vicinity. The upper or air 

 thermometer shows the lowest temperature of the air at that 

 height (4 feet), above tho ground, where, as every gardener 

 ought to know, it is often 5' or 10° warmer than on a grass 

 plot. 



As for a " scientific man " putting a mercurial minimum, or, 

 indeed, any thermometer, on a window-ledge and booking the 

 result, I can only say that I should like to catch anyone doing 

 so, and that I hope the sun caught the thermometer and burst 

 it. — Cr. J. Symons. 



P.S. — If any of your readers would like to see engravings 

 and descriptions of the instruments and arrangements above 

 mentioned, I shall be glad to forward the same on receipt of a 

 line addressed to me at Camden Square, N.W. 



THE ELECTION OP BOSES. 



In spite of the unkind season which threatens, at any rate 

 with us, to give few Roses worth looking at, I wish to state as 

 early as possible what I propose to do this year, with the con- 

 sent of the rei'jning powers at 171, Fleet Street, in reference to 

 the election of Roses. 



Last year's election was of the comparatively new varieties, 

 whilst many of our old friends were of course unmentioned. 

 It seems but fair this year to see how far these latter keep up 

 their positions, and therefore I propose this year to hold a 

 " general election." The poll will be declared as soon after 

 the blooming season as I can possibly make out the lists, but 

 I propose to hold the poll open till the last day of August. 

 The one question to which I invite replies will be this. Name 

 what you consider the best fifty Roses in cultivation, and of 

 these underline the twenty you consider to be the best of those 

 best.' — Joseph Hinton, Warminster. 



THE SEASON. 



Fkost on 13th Jone. — I briefly noticed last week another- 

 instance of the vicissitudes of our season — namely, a frost on 

 June 13th. The weather had been very fine and warm the 

 greater part of the month up to the 10th or 11th, when the wind 

 veered round to the N.E., and was very cold night and day, 

 with a bright sun shining during the latter part of the twenty- 

 four hours. On Saturday morning there was, as remarked, an 

 unmistakeable frost between four and five o'clock in the morn- 

 ing. The wind was very dry, so that I could not trace any 

 effects of frost on damp mats and similar materials, but at 

 places a few miles from here the frost was more severe. 

 Assuie:i!y such unusual weather must be very injurious tO' 

 vegetation. The long continuance of cold north-east wind is 

 alone productive of an immense amount of harm to all kinds 

 of crops, checking everything; and the prospects of the fruit- 

 grower which at one time were most promising, are now just 

 the reverse. The cold weather up to May 22od having been 

 followed again by a cold period in the middle of June, E. 

 great deal of fruit has fallen off, while the unkindly look the; 

 trees present, with the encouragement given to vermin, leaves 

 but scant hopes of a crop, and every day makes matters worse. 

 At the time I write, the evening of the 15th, the wind blows 

 more like March than June, and grass and all other crops 

 begin to assume that bluish tint which everyone knows is the 

 ruin of a healthy state of things. Water for domestic use lE 

 also, I am told, scarce in places. — J. Robson. 



I CAN, in a measure, confirm the remarks made by Mr. J. 

 Eobson on frost and its effects. I live in a valley in the south 

 of Kent peculiarly subject to late frosts. We had a sharp 

 white frost last night (.June 21st), and little more than a week 

 ago water congealed when exposed out at night in pans. 

 Potato crops belonging to my neighbours have been sorely cut 

 up and blackened. All along this valley Potatoes, Peas, and 

 Beans show signs of severe damage. I am but a few feet higher 

 than my neighbours, but I have a belt of trees to the east and 

 north ; this not only protects my kitchen garden from the keen 

 north-east wind we have been having for the last month, but 

 keeps off " the fever." The morning sun does not, in the case 

 of my kitchen garden, act upon the vegetable plants until the 

 frost has disappeared, consequently my Potatoes look healthy, 

 whereas unprotected crops of my immediate neighbours are . 

 all drooping. The damage done by cold cutting winds is, I 

 suspect, even worse than by late frosts. Last night the wind 

 was so cold that my gardener tells me he was glad to jump 



