1 1 8 M ISC EL LA NEO US A RTICLES USED IN HOR T I CULTURE. 



wall immediately under it, or on the top rail of the uppermost sash 

 of the roof. This cord must be at least twice the length of the mat, 

 in order that, when the mat is drawn down and rolled up, the end of 

 the cord may be within reach of the operator on the ground at the 

 front of the house. Another ring ought to be fixed to the centre of 

 the lower end of the mat, for the purpose of fastening it to the front 

 sill when it is drawn over the roof. When the mats are removed from 

 the roof, and rolled up during the day, the cord is loosened from the 

 ring, and lies on the roof, ready to be re-fastened to it, to draw the mats 

 up the next evening. A second layer of mats might be drawn up 

 over the former, in a direction across the sashes, so as to throw off the 

 rain in the manner of thatch, by attaching a cord to one corner of 

 each end of the mat, passing these cords over two pulleys, and laying 

 the mats on like tiles on a roof. Drawing up two mats, however, the 

 one immediately over the other, would be much less trouble, and 

 would, excepting in the cases of heavy rains or thawing snows, keep 

 out the cold sufficiently well. Where the roof is divided by wooden 

 rafters, the mats should be exactly the width of the sash, so as to tit 

 in between them : but where it is not so divided, the mats should over- 

 lap one another in the manner of slates that is, one-half the number of 

 mats should first be drawn up, leaving half the width of a mat between 

 each, and afterwards the remaining half should be drawn up so as to 

 caver the intervening spaces, and overlap a foot over the mat at each 

 side. It is much to be regretted that mats of this kind are so little 

 used in England, especially in country places, where straw is abun- 

 dant and cheap ; for being made at a time when little other work can 

 be done, and of a material of very little value, and retaining heat 

 much better than any other covering, they would prove a great saving 

 of fuel and of the labour of attending on fires, as well as ensure the 

 safety of plants. Mr. Shennan, a gardener of great experience, who 

 used these mats extensively, observes, in the * Gardener's Magazine' 

 for 1827, that he considers the revival of the old system of covering 

 with straw or reeds, and the system of heating by water, as the greatest 

 improvements that have been introduced into the forcing department 

 in his time. Such mats are now in general use in many gardens. 

 They are frequently made with the aid of wooden frames the size of 

 the lights and space to be covered. Such reed, or straw, or felt 

 coverings, are readily lifted off or on by two boys or men one at top, 

 and the other at bottom and they form most efficient and durable bar- 

 riers against cold. Neat straw mats are universally employed about 

 Paris for covering frames, pits, and low houses; they are cheaper, 

 neater, and in every way better than the bast mats used in England. 



Wooden shutters form an excellent covering for the sashes of pits 

 and frames ; and though they are the most expensive at first, yet from 

 their great durability when kept well painted, they are found by 

 market-gardeners to be the cheapest of all coverings in the end. 

 Boards do not retain heat so effectively as reeds or straw, but they 

 exclude rain and wind better than those materials ; and by being kept 

 an inch or two above the glass by the cross-bars which bin.d the 



