MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



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rye or wheat straw, or of reeds, and only in the winter time, when the 

 weather is unfit for working out of doors. They are made in frames in the 

 following manner : An oblong square (fig. 89) is formed of four laths, along 



Fig. 89. Mode of making stratc mats. 



the two ends of which, a, a, are driven as many nails as you wish to have 

 binding cords, 6, 6, of which the usual number is six to a width of four feet, 

 as the strength of the mat depends chiefly on the number of these cords. 

 The cords are of tarred rope-yarn ; on these the straw, or reeds, is laid in 

 handfuls, and bound to each longitudinal cord by other cords, which, for 

 greater convenience, are made up in little balls, c, c. These cords are also of 

 tarred rope-yarn. When a mat is finished, the cords are tied together at 

 the top or finishing end, the mat is then detached from the frame, and its 

 sides chopped straight with an axe. These mats are more conveniently 

 made by two men than by one man ; and by placing the frame upon a raised 

 plank or bench, than by placing it on the ground, and obliging the men to 

 stoop. When straw is used, that of rye is the best, and will last, even in 

 Denmark, three years : reeds last longer. In the most severe weather these 

 mats are rolled on the glass lengthways of the mat ; that is, from top to 

 bottom, by which the direction of the straw is at right angles to that of the 

 sash bar, which prevents the glass from being broken; and over this covering, 

 in very severe weather, reed mats may be laid with the reeds in the same 

 direction as the sash bar, so that the water may run off them as it 

 does off the thatch of a house, and keep the mats below quite dry. Where 

 reeds cannot be got, mats of rye or wheat straw may be substituted ; 

 because it is evident, that having the straws or reeds laid in the direction 

 of the slope of the glass, must be attended with great advantages by 

 throwing off the rain instead of absorbing it. (Gardener's Magazine, vol. 

 v. p. 416.) The usual dimensions of these mats are six feet by four 

 feet, because that size answers for covering frames and pits of the ordinary 

 dimensions ; but when they are to be used for covering the sloping glass 

 of hothouses, they should be made of sufficient length to reach from the 

 coping to the ground, covering the front glass or front parapet. A ring of 

 twisted wire should be placed exactly in the centre of the upper end of each 

 mat, and to this ring a cord should be attached, for the purpose of being 

 passed over a pulley to be fixed on the coping-board, or on the back wall 



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