General Notices. 637 



together with the door of the room, a sufficient current of air for ventilation 

 will be produced. 



In all cases the room must be built on a dry bottom. If the situation is 

 low, the foundations must be raised in proportion, so as to elevate it com- 

 pletely above the damp of the earth ; and if it is floored with " concrete," 

 or some substance impervious to moisture, and in which mice cannot burrow, 

 so much the better. It must be dry. 



Supposing that space enough can be afforded, the fruit-room would be 

 improved by being divided into two or three compartments, to separate the 

 ripening fruit from that which will be later. In such a case, the door should 

 be at the end of the fruit-room, and the fruit which first ripens should be next 

 the door, while that which is latest should be stored up in the furthest com- 

 partment. The reason for such an arrangement is, that the compartment next 

 the door may be ventilated without opening the other divisions ; and, as 

 ripening fruit requires more ventilation than such as is still immature, this is 

 an important provision. Then, when the first division is empty, the second 

 can be opened and ventilated without interfering with the third. In such a 

 case, however, where a chamber is over the room, the second and third com- 

 partments must have chimneys carried through the floor of the chamber. 



In situations where the fruit-room can be built adjoining a hothouse, it 

 would be advantageous to construct an additional closet, which may be warmed 

 by the flue of the hothouse, in order to receive winter pears. These are all 

 exceedingly improved if gradually introduced into a temperature of 60°, or 

 thereabouts, in which to ripen. The chaumontel, in particular, which in 

 common fruit-rooms remains incurably gritty, becomes as melting as the deli- 

 cious specimens from Jersey. {Gard. Chron., vol. i. p. 643.) 



The interior should be fitted up with shelves of open-work of white deal, or 

 some other wood that will not give an unpleasant taste to the fruit. There 

 should be a table on which to place the baskets when the fruit is first brought 

 in, and also for taking it out; and there should be wooden boxes, or earthen 

 jars, in which to pack particular varieties. (Ibid., p. 643.) 



Ventilation of Plant Structures. — Introducing fresh air into hothouses by 

 means of small pipes in the centre of hot-water pipes, practised by Mr. Weeks, 

 is much approved of. The hot-water pipes are 4 in. in diameter in the in- 

 side, and the air-pipes fixed within them are 2 in. in diameter. " This inner 

 pipe is put into the large one in lengths of about 4 ft., each end of which 

 is turned through the large hot-water pipes, one outward and the other inward. 

 The end that is taken outward is passed through the front wall, and the other 

 end into the house ; thus the air passes through the small pipe into the house. 

 Now it will be seen that the large 4-inch pipe, which is fixed in the usual way 

 above ground, for the purpose of heating the house, and which is full of hot- 

 water, has an internal pipe for air : the air being introduced from the outside 

 of the wall, has to pass through the body of hot water, and by so doing it gains 

 such a degree of heat that, by placing the ball of the thermometer close to the 

 end of the air-pipe inside the house, it will rise to 160° or 170° ; and the cir- 

 culation of air is so quick, that the leaves of plants are kept in constant 

 motion by a stream of fresh and heated air coming in at every 4 ft. I 

 have paid attention to the manner in which the air is heated and circulated, 

 and am satisfied that the result will be most beneficial." {John Green, in Gard. 

 Chron., vol. i. p. 597.) 



Tanner^ s-Bark Walks. — Fresh tanner's bark makes a pleasant winter walk, 

 particularly on tenacious soils, as it never adheres to the shoes, either during 

 rain or after frost; half an inch in thickness, I think, is sufficient. It likewise 

 makes a soft and pleasant summer walk, and, from its loose nature, is readily 

 cleared from weeds. If not wanted during summer, it may readily be swept 

 clean off after a few dry days. It is invaluable for covering walks or foot- 

 paths in the kitchen-garden, where there is much wheeling of manure or soil to 

 be done during frost, which is too often obliged to be suspended after ten or 

 eleven o'clock, when there is a clear sunshine, from the ground getting soft 



