726 Queries and Answers. 



belongs to no man or writer in particular, but to the plain common sense of 

 the thing. One word more, and I have done. I believe it to be a great 

 error not to prune the Scotch fir, by taking off a tier or two of boughs 

 every two or three years. As for experience, I beg to say that, though the 

 spruce fir, when it comes to the sawpit, will show no knots in the plank, 

 however large its lateral boughs may have been, the Scotch fir uniformly 

 does ; and so much so as oftentimes to render it wholly unsightly, as well 

 as unfit for flooring and other purposes. If forest deal timber is cleaned, 

 because competition in growth destroys its lateral boughs, why not effec- 

 tually imitate nature, by gradually reducing the stem to the same state ? 

 We have had spruce and Scotch fir of great magnitude in our sawpit not 

 long since, the former planted by my grandfather, and the latter by my 

 great-grandfather : the spruce, however covered with boughs, makes clean 

 planks ; the Scotch, clean planks only so far as the boughs had formerly 

 been periodically removed. May not Q. E. D. be put after this, as a solu- 

 tion of the fir-pruning problem ? Thus much, therefore, for the present, of 

 candle-making, as Agronome says ; in which, if I have any way succeeded 

 to his wish, I shall be truly gratified ; and beg leave to subscribe myself your 

 obedient humble servant. — William Mason, junior. Necton Hall, Norfolk, 

 August, 1800. 



Erratum. — Sir, In the notice of my two melons (p. 338.) I see my 

 employer's name is misspelt. His real name is Tunno, instead of Punno. 

 Should you think my other letter worth publishing, you will no doubt, after 

 this, state it correctly. Such mistakes are easily made ; and the blame, if 

 any, is more likely to rest with the writer than the compositor. — J. Hol- 

 land. Taplow Lodge, September 15. 1830. 



Errata.— P. 495., for " Arniston Hall " read " Ormiston Hall." P. 601., 

 line 7 from the bottom, for " scale " read " scape." 



Art. IV. Queries and Answers. 



GLAZING ivith Lead Laps. — In answer to " A Subscriber" (p. 500.), I 

 can assure him, from long experience, that glazing with lead between the 

 squares (lead laps, as they are called) will prevent their cracking. I know 

 a large green-house, the roof of which is glazed in this way, which was done 

 twenty years ago, and to this moment not a pane of glass has been cracked 

 in it, unless by accident; and I can further assure him that no green-house 

 preserves more plants through the winter than the house alluded to. This is 

 a subject that has undergone a great deal of discussion, and many fantastical 

 shapes have been recommended for the form of the squares ; but these did 

 not break the spell : where the glass came in contact many of the squares 

 would be cracked. I am at a loss to assign the cause, and I do not think 

 it occasioned by the frost, though certainly a very rational way of account- 

 ing for it ; for, to the best of my recollection (now many years ago), on my 

 first erecting a green-house so many of the squares cracked that I had the 

 lights taken down and reglazed with lead laps, long before the winter had 

 commenced. Yours, &c. — Cultivator. September 30. 1830. 



Proper Size for an Ice-house. - — Sir, Three years ago I had an ice-house 

 built, of the following dimensions ; viz. 3i ft. diameter at bottom, 7 ft. at the 

 widest part, and 10^ ft. deep. The well is sunk in a bed of gravel, 8 ft. 

 below the surface ,• the bottom of the pit is paved with a drain of 3 in. 

 square, which carries the waste ice into the gravel, as will be seen in the 

 annexed sketch, {fig. 140.) The ice-house is entered through a passage of 

 8 ft. in length, with sliding doors or boards next the wall ; and 3 ft.from that 

 is another oaken door, the interval I always fill with straw. The first year 



