ICE 



323 



IMP 



inch thick should be laid, and a board 

 fitted down tight to keep the filiing-in 

 from stopping up the water as it leaves 

 the ice. On top of square, joists with 

 floor on, is laid and covered about 2 

 feet thick with tan-bark. A ventilator 

 should be made through the upper floor 

 and roof about 2 feet square. 



" The closet or recess formed on 

 each side of the small doors, leading 

 into the ice, may have hooks to hang 

 meats, or shelves, on which anything 

 may be set. This closet, or cold room, 

 is 3 feet 3 inches, by 3 feet 6 inches — 

 5 feet high, two doors in centre, each 

 18 inches wide, made of a single board, 

 and made to fit closely. 



The ice may be put in on either side 

 just under the upper joists; an opening 

 18 inches by 2 feet is sufficiently large, 

 with two doors, or shutters — and the 

 space between, when the ice is in, 

 should be well stuffed with straw. No 

 straw to be used in filling ice-liouse — 

 except on top, when a good supply will 

 be of service. 



" The milk-house should be well 

 white-washed. The room above milk- 

 house should be lined on inside of 

 shedding, and the space between filled 

 with tan-bark or charcoal. The cover- 

 ing may be a shed-roof, or any other 

 form best suited to the convenience of 

 the location. The door of my ice-house 

 is within a few steps of my back kitch- 

 en door. An arbour of grape vines adds 

 much to the comfort and coolness of 

 the establishment. 



*' In filling the ice-house, much pains 

 should be taken to pack the ice closely. 

 The ice is taken out by entering from 

 the milk-house through the small doors, 

 and any child who can use a hatchet can 

 procure ice for the use of the house. 



" The ice-water, if the troughs are 

 made tight, (and they ought to be per- 

 fectly so,) will keep them full, or nearly 

 so, and during south winds may over- 

 flow a little. The milk-room is too 

 cold to do the work in, therefore there 

 is no water but the ice water to get 

 clear of, whicli will disappear without 

 giving any trouble." — Rural Register. 



For an interesting article on this sub- 

 ject. See Downing's " Horticulturist." 



ICE-PLANT. Mesembryanthemum 

 cryslalUniim. 



ICHNOCARPUS frutescens. Stove 

 evergreen twiner. Cuttings. Peat and 

 loam. 



ILEX. Holly. Fifteen spccice. 

 Chiefly hardy evergreen trees ; but 1. 

 pai-aguensis and 7. salicifoUa require 

 the shelter of a stove; and /. august if o- 

 lia, 1. chinensis, and /. perado, that of a 

 green-house. Cuttings, budding, grafting, 

 and seed. Deep light loam. ^i:e Holly. 



ILLICIUM. Three species. Half- 

 hardy evergreen shrubs. Cuttings and 

 layers. Light loam. 



"IMPATIENS. Balsam. Nine spe- 

 cies. Hardy, half-hardy, and stove an- 

 nuals. /. naians is a stove aquatic ; 

 seed, rich loam, in water. 7. scapiflora 

 is a stove bulb ; offsets ; light rich loam. 

 Half-hardy annuals sow in a hotbed, and 

 hardy in borders. {Paxton's Bot. Die.) 

 See Balsam. 



IMPREGNATION. " No seed ever 

 attains the power of germinating, un- 

 less the pollen from the stamens in the 

 same, or some nearly allied flower, has 

 reached and impregnated its pistils. 



" In favourable seasons, when genial 

 warmth and gentle winds prevail, im- 

 pregnation is readily effected by the 

 plant's own provision. The pollen is 

 never shed from the anther of the sta- 

 men, until the stigmaof the pistil is fully 

 developed, and this soon withers after 

 the contact. 



" Their all-provident Creator has in- 

 variably arranged efficient assistance. 

 The agents usually called in are insects ; 

 these, in their search after honey and 

 wax, visit the inmost recesses of flowers, 

 and bear from the anthers to the stigma, 

 and from ilower to flower, the fecun- 

 dating dust. Here, too, I may remark 

 upon another instance of that Provi- 

 dence which makes all things fitting 

 and appropriate; for those who have 

 made the bee their study, relate that 

 though this insect does not confine it- 

 self to one species of flower, yet it re- 

 stricts its visits during each ramble to 

 that kind which it first visits. How 

 this facilitates impregnation is obvious, 

 when it is remembered that no flower 

 can be fecundated but with poUea from 

 a kindred species. 



" This efficient agency of insects sug- 

 gested, that in hothouses, from whence 

 they are almost totally excluded, other 

 artificial means might be adopted with 

 success to render flowers fertile that 

 had hitherto failed in producing seed. 

 Thus the gardener always finds the ad- 

 vantage of using the camel hair pencil 

 to apply pollen to the stigmas of his 



