Retrospective Criticism. 731 



built, and heated in the manner alluded to, which I find to answer most 

 completely ; and I have since obtained permission to build as many more 

 as may be required for melons, cucumbers, asparagus, sea kale, &c, and to 

 heat the whole in the same way. 



A melon ground heated on this principle will, I think, be found to pos- 

 sess many advantages over the one in general use. The most obvious of 

 these will be, the order and neatness which can at all times be maintained 

 in this department. Instead of wading up to the knees in litter, to get 

 near the pits, which is often unavoidably the case in the early forcing of 

 cucumbers and melons with fermenting dung, there may be clean flao-- 

 stones or gravel to walk upon. I have lately had a pine-stove heated 

 on the same principle, but have not yet tried it a sufficient time to enable 

 me to offer any remarks, beyond merely stating that 1 can at pleasure raise 

 or lower the temperature of the bark bed with the greatest ease ; an advan- 

 tage, by the by, which will be only apparent to the pine-grower. Having 

 extended my remarks thus far, I beg leave to advert to one very important 

 improvement which may be contemplated from this mode of heating; 

 namely, the facilities which it affords for getting rid entirely of the hideous 

 black chimney-tops that disfigure so many gardens with their dense vo- 

 lumes of smoke, which they are every now and then sending forth during 

 the whole of the winter and spring months ; a nuisance, in garden scenery, 

 which nothing but necessity and habit could have made at all tolerable. 

 Only one chimney-top would be required in the largest forcing-establish- 

 ment ; and, presuming that Witty's patent furnace answered the purpose 

 for which it is so highly recommended, even in this solitary chimney there 

 would seldom be any smoke. I may, at some future time, be able to add 

 a few more remarks on this subject, should you think them worth your 

 acceptance. — Robert Marnock. Bretton Hall Gardens , July 14. 1832. 



A Method of transplanting large Trees is mentioned by Edw. Jesse, Esq., 

 deputy surveyor of His Majesty's parks, in his amusing Gleanings of Natural 

 History, p. 309 — 313., who states that it has been attended with "great 

 success," and, he believes, " will be found infinitely cheaper, and more 

 generally to be depended on, than the plan of Sir H. Steuart. ... Of 

 some hundreds of trees which were taken up and replanted in Bushy 

 Park, in March, 1831, not one had died [up to what period Mr. Jesse does 

 not state, but his book was published in March, 1832], though many of 

 them were of a large size, and some of them laurels from 10 to 12 ft. in 

 height, showing their blossoms at the time they were transplanted, which 

 was not at all checked by the operation." Mr. Jesse's plan is, to " exca- 

 vate the earth at some distance from the tree, leaving all the principal 

 fibres, and the earth adhering to them, in a compact ball, undermining it as 

 much as possible, and taking care not to shake or injure the ball, by 

 twisting the stem of the tree, or using it as a lever to loosen the tap roots." 

 These deeds performed, and a hole prepared to receive the tree, to effect 

 its removal the following are the apparatus and process : — " Two pieces 

 of iron must have been previously formed, of the breadth and thickness of 

 a common cart-wheel tire, 3 in. or 4 in. wide, and rather more than half 

 an inch in thickness, and about 6 ft. long, bent as in fig. 151. c, which 

 will reduce it to 3 ft. across. This size will do for trees requiring from two 

 to four men to lift them ; but a size larger, and stronger in proportion, will 

 be wanted for trees that will require from eight to ten men, or more, to carry 

 them. Put these irons under the ball of earth, as near the centre as pos- 

 sible, leaving a space between them of about 2 ft., and for larger trees a 

 little more. Take two strong poles, about 8 ft. or 10 ft. long, and 3 in. or 

 4 in. in diameter, and smaller at each end, and apply them as shown in the 

 sketch (a), to each side, passing them through the bends of the irons, so as 

 to form a complete handbarrow. The tree may then be readily lifted 



