NERIOLOLGUQ TUNIS PL E LE d 
le RIAL ‘BOTANIC SOCIETY OF LONDUAN.— 
^84—1846.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
563 
HIBITIONS IN 1847,— The Fellows of .this- Soci 
dre informed that the days fixed for the Exhibitions of PLANTS 
‘and FRUIT next i ir Garden. i 
take this SRRDNORUT of publicly thanking the Growers of 
Plants and Fruit for their exertions, anid inviting them to com- 
Pete again on nearly similar terms. 
J. De C, SowERBY, Secretary. 
The exacueners? Chronicle, 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 1846. 
MEETINGS FOR THE TWO FOLLOWING WEEKS. 
Tumpar, Sept l—Horcülturl v we a SRM. 
aman > i 
s uden anri yd TO Ri, 
We now proceed to lay before our readers the 
lan of PorxaxsE Hearine, carried into effect by 
r. Merk, and we trust that the details are such as 
will enable any one in possession of a little inge- 
nuity, to adapt it to his own peculiar case. At all 
. eyents, intelligent builders and hothouse warmers 
will know exactly how to proceed. 
The cost of this apparatus may be stated thus :— 
Gl-inch slate ventilators sesti eteresescie S110 0 
16 3-inch ditto for sides, each 1 foot square . » y Xa EAT 
Half a hundred, duchess slates, for roofing itia 
flue ane .. 
400 bricks to make cold 100 
8 jinch cast-iron p 
making 16 super. 210 0 
at 18s, per CWf, e eese ee eee antro d 
2 Sylvester, doors. and. damper, .set of fire 
bars, wrought-iron evaporating dish, 
2.00 
Chimney, &c. +s. 315 0 
Double roofing of hot chamber, wi 55 
and }-inch Valencia slate, with sawdust 
between... 110 0 
Labour for buildi 2 0 
Total 1266 eso oo es ooo raten 10.12 110 
-.. There are various ways of economising this cost. 
Fewer bricks might be used; many of the items 
"would be requisite if hot water was employed ; in 
“Ground line 
Scale of feet. 
E! 
J 
ö 
ELLI 
fact, the last 122, or a considerable portion of i 
must necessarily be expended for a hot-water ap- 
-aratus, and we know the.great expenses of fitting 
pipàs, We do not titok ihat pouei i oM 
bu. ~ ~ requisite quantity of pipe for the atmo- 
heat and ano D y duy pose De 
n ù cluding expenses of elbows, 
provided and fixed, u.. asia hires melio 
unions, boiler, fixing, bru” 2 lo gH oiler- 
chamber, &c., for less than dor gods i 
fact, it appears that since the heat distributes itself, 
the expense of distribution is saved. Mr. Merx 
practised no economy, and we believe that an ap- 
paratus fo answer the purpose might be. put up for 
halfthe sum ; but Mr. Mzex wishing his stove to 
be a kind of model, spared no expense, Of we? 
economy of its working there is as little deubt. 
It will be observed that no stoke-hole is provided 
y Mr. Merk, nor is one required. By careful 
packing and building of the walls and roof no heat 
escapes into the open air, except the small amount 
that radiates from the furnace-doors, which is too 
inconsiderable to deserve serious attention. It will 
also be seen that the fire-place is covered in with an 
iron plate. This enables heat to pass off into the 
hot-air chamber quicker than it would if the roof of 
the furnace were a brick arch, and it effectually pre- 
vents all possible escape of gaseous matter into the 
house—a circumstance which requires tobe carefully 
guarded against. But for many purposes such a precau- 
tion is needless ; and we can conceive a hundred 
forms of house in which occasional warmth only is 
required, which may be very well warmed by an old- 
iashioned brick oven, heated by faggots burnt in 
the inside. d £ 
5 ~th, 
These points, however, ana 02275 of a like nature, 
c 
Tig. 2. 
Fig. 1. 
Fig. 1, PI 
drains, hot 
with furnace, chimney, and direction of currents; a, a, cold 
ir drains, and direction of the currents ; d, 
cold air drains ; e, bottom heat chamber. 
de. ce built of ge br 
inches of sand, and covered over wi 
will be varied according to the objects and caprices 
and purses of men. One individual builds a plain 
brick house, another stuccoes it, a third coats it with 
stone, and a fourth enriches it with carved work and 
gilding. Yet each of these buildings answers the 
purpose of a mere house as well as the other. So 
it will be with Polmaise heating : all sorts of con- 
trivances, from a simple briek arch to a costly stove 
and eomplieated fittings, will no doubt be put in 
use ; and one will answer the purpose as well as the 
other.’ All that we are concerned in is to have ex- 
plained the principle of Polmaise, and shown the 
practical application of it. Everything beyond that 
we leave in the hands of our correspondents—for 
the present. 
We neve, on-a late occasion, mentioned with 
favourite Pero a of the Porato tops when they 
are first attacked by the disease. Although we 
cannot say that we possess muc, further informa- 
tion concerning the advantage of that practice in 
checking the murrain, yet we have nothing to report 
to its disadvantage. The time that has elapsed 
since our own experiments were commenced, is far 
too short to justify a conclusion. We have, how- 
ever, to report that upon the whole the Potatoes 
left in the ground where the tops were pulled up, 
look better in some cases than where the tops re- 
main, and in no case worse. It is clear, too, that 
they are undergoing a rapid change, the flesh be- 
coming firmer, and the water escaping through their 
sides.“ In fact, they are ripening, while those to 
which the straw remains attached are as watery as 
ever. These are decidedly points in favour of the 
practice of pulling up the haulm,’ We also find that 
PHA Feaselsciun e ht eruere lY fest 
ne Arenci aie reporung ravourably of the plan. 
| Tetha disease in this crop is in any way connected 
with the atmiosphere, the advantage of removing 
the stems. becomes intelligible ; nor does it matter 
in practice whether the injurious matter is repre- 
sented by moisture, or miasm, or the vitiated juices 
of the Potato plant itself. In any such case the 
stems and leaves will absorb it or convey it down 
into the Potatoes, there to act upon tissue in an 
altered and highly susceptible state. The removal 
of the stem and leayes prevents this effectually. 
We doubt, however, whether mowing off is so good 
asactually pulling up the infected stems. 
It.may. seem. premature to speak at present of 
storing the crop for winter. Nevertheless, there 
are those who are already anxious to be informed 
upon that point. We shall, therefore, at once an- 
nounce that of all the experiments that were tried 
last year, nothing answered so well as cold. In the 
presence of a low temperature the chemical changes 
connected with the disease cannot go on ; and we 
entertain, no doubt, that if it were practicable to 
keep Potatoes in a temperature of 35° they would 
remain perfectly safe. It is within the knowledge 
of many persons that Potatoes left in the ground, 
especially in cold heavy soil, remained all the winter 
long without the disease making progress. Indeed 
we ourselves had specimens in March, from which 
all the diseased parts had rotted out, leaving a large 
portion sound, but honey-combed. Cold was to all 
appearance one of the great causes of this ; but 
not the only one. Exclusion. of air was also im- 
portant, and this was tolerably secured by leaving 
the Potatoes in the ground. 
That moisture was fatal tothe Potatoes was true; 
but it was moisture combined with warmth and 
exposure to air. That mere wet exercised no 
injurious influence was shown by what happened 
to Potatoes thrown into bog-holes ; they were pre- 
served in the water better than if they had not been 
immersed. That access of air was very detrimental 
was manifest in what were called ventilating pits, 
which aggravated the evil they were intended to 
cure, whenever the temperature rose. No venti- 
lation could be more perfect than where Potatoes 
were packed dry and clean in sacks, standing in an 
, entrance for cold | s 
open shop, and yet we all know how much the 
finest samples suffered in those situations. 
For these reasons, as it would not be advisable to 
leaye Jand oceupied all winter with an underground 
crop, nor indeed is it necessary to do so, we recom- 
mend Potatoes to be clamped on the following plan. 
Select a piece of land well shaded by trees or on 
the north side of a building, or in the coldest place 
that ean be found, to which the sun has no 
access, Then form the clamp by making a floor of 
earth of any convenient size. Upon it spread the 
Potatoes in a single layer, so as not to touch each 
other. Cover them well with earth trampled firm ; 
en form another layer, bed it well in earth as 
fore, and thus go on till the clamp is finished in 
ongitudinal section of house, showing hotaircham- | the usual form. Over all place earth to the thick- 
rick and vi 
ick and; h 2 | a) TRAG Aiao 
th a halfinch iron plate in | Bess of 2 feet, banking it up well, treading it firm, 
three widths ; the cistern is made of iron, 4 inches deep, in two | and sloping it at an angle of 459. 
divisions, and fed through a pipe from above; the root has a | 3 
cavity to be filled with sawdust, to prevent the escape of heat 
¢, entrance for hot air ; d, furnace. 
A clamp thus formed will consist of Potatoes and 
` earth thoroughly mixed; there will be no access 
