190 Retrospective Criticism. 



Art. IV. Retrospective Criticism. 



Mr. Niven's Stove for various Purposes. — I am sorry that Mr. Niven has 

 declined answering " Catius " concerning his " Stove for various Purposes." 

 Mr. Niven declines on the plea of " Catius " not having given his real name 

 and address. Now, what's in a name? I should have thought that Mr. Niven 

 would have been glad of the opportunity of defending his stove and its arrange- 

 ments. For my part, I think that Mr. Niven was rather premature in giving 

 us the glowing description that he has done of his stove. Had he waited a 

 little longer, we would have had something at least a little more practicable. 



Mr. Niven says that the house had only been a few months at work when 

 his account of it was written. Now, Sir, is it at all likely, that the experience 

 of a few months only was sufficient to enable him to judge of the working of a 

 house filled with the plants Mr. Niven describes ? We shall see ! 



Well, then, to begin with the musas. They occupy recesses in the back 

 wall, the depth of which are, I suppose, 16 in. or so ; this will give a little 

 room ; be it so. A full-grown plant of Musa Cavendish^ will cover a space 

 with its leaves, the diameter of which will be 9 ft. ; therefore the row of 

 musas along the back of Mi - . Niven's stove will shade the two back rows of 

 pines in the pit. The musas were young when Mr. Niven wrote about them, 

 but what are they now ? The plant has beautiful foliage, certainly; but it takes 

 up too much room to be grown in a pine-house. 



The granadilla comes next, and is a very desirable plant, certainly, provided 

 you have room for it. Mr. Niven will find this rather scarce if his musas 

 have grown well. 



The guava is next in order, and, to grow both guavas and musas well, a 

 difference of from 20° to 30° of Fah. is necessary 



The next in Mr. Niven's assemblage is the pine-apple, in growing which 

 Mr. Niven thinks he has found a panacea for all the ills attending the " old 

 burning system." What makes it a burning system ? It is not so when pro- 

 perly managed. Indeed, with all Mr. Niven's additional expense of chamber- 

 ing, piping, &c, he has to use 2 ft. of half-decayed leaves, and they are 

 not got for nothing; when they are rotted down, they must be taken out and 

 replaced again with more half-decayed leaves. Now, with the " old burning 

 system" 3 ft. of tan are enough, and 18 in. of fresh tan are sufficient to be put 

 in at one time, turning it into the bottom, and bringing up the half-decayed 

 to the surface to plunge in ; by so doing, I am never troubled with any of the 

 burning effects of tan. Mr. Niven here treats us to something new, or, rather, 

 he gives us an old friend with a new face. Mr. Niven's pine plants were chiefly 

 queens, and " were, of necessity, started at only two years of age ; which plants, 

 notwithstanding their youth " — here we may stop. Who was Mr. Niven writ- 

 ing for when he penned the above about the queen pine? If it was for the 

 gardeners of the present day, he has certainly drawn largely on their gullibility. 

 I should like much to know what Mr. Niven considers a fair age for queen 

 plants to be started at, if 24 months be a youthful age. From 6 months to 12 

 and 16, is ample time to grow the queen plant ; and I would take a well grown 

 15 months old plant against Mr. Niven's 24 months, and beat it too. We 

 hear nothing of the weight of the fruit grown in Mr. Niven's stove. 



The curvilinear metal roof is considered essentially important by Mr. Niven 

 towards the proper maturation and flowering of the pine-apple in Ireland. 

 Now if it had not been proved over and over again, that pines, both large and 

 highly flavoured, have been grown in common houses and pits built of wood, 

 there might be some reason for this ; in the present case there is none whatever. 

 It seems that Mr. Niven has advised the growing of black Jamaicas instead of 

 queens in future. I suppose the queens were not very large, owing to their 

 youth. 



Then come the cucumber and melon ; and here Mr. Niven comes out, and 

 no mistake. " In the course of six weeks after the seeds were sown, cucum- 



