February 10, 1863. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



119 



running parallel and on one Bide only. These I have placed with 

 the holes downwards, lest they might become filled with earth. 

 The drains are laid in rows 4 feet apart, from the back wall to 

 the extremity of the border in front, each drain thus being 

 from 36 to 40 feet long. Each junction of the 20-inch pipes 

 is supported by a brick 12 inches long, placed on its end, not to 

 occupy too much room in the border. These rows of drain- 

 tiles have openings to the surface by junction tile-pipes placed 

 perpendicularly at the extremities, and at one or two places in 

 the middle. 



I had two objects in view in constructing these drain-tiles, or, 

 rather, I should call them supply-tiles. I can supply the roots 

 of my Tines with any quantity of liquid manure, and can also 

 admit or, stopping the drain ends, exclude the outward air. 



If "D., Deal's" only object is additional supply of air, I 

 would reoommend drain-pipes of 10 inches in diameter, as the air 

 will circulate in greater quantities and more freely than in 

 smaller pipes. As his hothouse has glass only at one end, a 

 good-sized triangular window at its upper corner would cause 

 much air to circulate from the openings at the bottom venti- 

 lators and drain-tiles. I have these windows in both ends of 

 mine. — Edwaed Swaine, Crescent, York. 



[The arrangement of the flues we must approve of, as they 

 are just what has been so often recommended in these pages. 

 Your mode of ventilating at top is much the same as that 

 described by Mr. Eish as existing at Rockfield, near Kells ; 

 whether it will be sufficient or not will depend on the size of 

 the ventilators. Even with the windows at the end, a foot 

 opening would be necessary, unless a large amount of air is 

 admitted through the drain-tiles that pass beneath the border. 

 This plan was also adopted at Rockfield. Though we approve 

 of this mode of ventilating at top, chiefly because the air is 

 much mollified before entering the house, we cannot recom- 

 mend it on the score of economy, as a simple hinged ventilator 

 at the apex would be much cheaper than theBe openings in the 

 back wall, coming out beneath a top coping. You would also 

 find that the mode of taking air through the border was prac- 

 tised at the gardens of the Vice-Secretary, Phoenix Park, Dublin. 

 On the whole we generally approve of your arrangements ; with 

 enough of top air you will be all right.] 



HOKSE CHESTNUT. 



I AM induced to write this letter from the observations made 

 in your last week's Journal relative to the name of the Horse 

 Chestnut. 



The prefix " Horse " is not, I think, as Gerarde imagines, 

 because horses may have been fed or physicked on the nut, or to 

 denote its powerful flavour ; but from the simple fact tbat at 

 every joint in the branches is an exact resemblance of a horse's 

 foot, and not only the foot but the fetlock-joint, the pastern, 

 hoof, shoe, and even the nails. 



r All persons whose attention I may have called to this fact 

 have expressed themselves equally surprised at the correct like- 

 ness to the horse's leg and foot, and that it should not be 

 more generally known. 



I have enclosed one that is lying at hand, and although it has 

 been cut off some time and is not a good specimen, yet it will 

 show you at once what I mean. — B. B. 



[This illustration is a very good one, and we have others in 

 our possession with a very close pourtrayal of the knee and fet- 

 lock-joints, pastern, hoof with nails of the shoe, and frog ; but 

 we do not think such resemblance originated the name. We 

 believe, aB we said last week, that the term " Horse " was pre- 

 fixed by our ancestors to anything that was a coarse resemblance 

 of something else, as " Horse- radish," " Horse-laugh," " Horse- 

 oucumber," " Horse-mint," " Horse-play," &c. — Ens.] 



IMITATION OF GEANITE. 



Having read an account of the result produced at Woodstock 

 by mixing granite with Portland cement, I should be obliged 

 by your informing me how it was used, and what gives the 

 appearance of stone to such buildings in London as the Great 

 Western Hotel, which is, I believe, only Portland cement. Is 

 it a wash of sand applied to the last coat ? — A Stjbscbebeb. 



[The result obtained is very different from any mere covering 

 with cement, and then drawing the surface into the resemblance 



of blocks of stone. This, of course, is done by Mr. McDonald, 

 but the granite appearance is given by the mixing. There is, 

 however, a feeling of delicacy and a sense of regret as to giving 

 the minutise of details. Our correspondent is quite right in 

 asking, and in the legitimate way, through our Editors. Other 

 inquiries have come in a private way desiring answers to be 

 given in our serial, as to the expense of granite polishing, 

 and the very minutiffi of the treatment of those Vines so sum- 

 marily dealt with ; one gentleman saying he cannot see how 

 such severed Vine-6tems with merely a few inches stuck in the 

 ground, could be made to grow and fruit under any ordinary 

 treatment. Of course they had more than ordinary treatment. 

 I can pretty well see every move that was taken, but then I did 

 not actually see the moves. No class of men have ever so freely 

 communicated their experience for the general benefit as gar- 

 deners, and too often with but spare thanks for their liberality. 

 A friend told me the other day, " We are used like an orange 

 — get well sucked, and then are treated as the rind is." We have 

 little of the morbid, and do not believe we could keep any- 

 thing like a secret of our own, if we tried ever so much. We 

 think, however, that the owner of the crange Bhould have the 

 privilege of squeezing out the juice ; and as Mr. McDonald is 

 sure to see this, we must leave the minutise to be dealt with as 

 he judges best. — R. E.] 



VEEBENA CUTTINGS. 



Is it generally known that Verbena cuttings will strike in sand 

 equally well and quickly with or without a second joint below 

 the surface ? If not, it should be made known, as the number 

 of cuttings made available by this means is very much increased. 

 Also, I may state, that early in October I put a pan of cuttings in 

 in this way, and although the frost had previously nipped them, 

 they were all well rooted at the base of the cut (not from the 

 joint, though that was below the Burface of the sand), early in 

 December. They stood in the greenhouse, a cool one, without 

 any glass, &c, over them, and the only attention given was 

 keeping the sand moist. — H. C. E., Mectory, Sereford. 



[The above fact is well known, also that every Verbena joint 

 will make two cuttings by splitting the shoot through the joint ; 

 but it is useful to remind people of such things at this season. 

 We thank you for the hint, and we shall enlarge on it soon.] 



ICE-HOUSES AND ICE-EIEEPING. 



Haying had some experience in ice-houses and ice-keeping, 

 perhaps that experience may be of use- to some of your readers. 



I have assisted in filling several large ice-houses — those built 

 in the usual way in the form of an egg with brick and stone, 

 which must have at least from 400 to 600 lbs. ; and it was 

 only in certain seasons that the ice kept longer than August, 

 even when none was taken out for use — partly, I think, because 

 they were not large enough. It was certainly the case with 

 the one here, and which was done away with owing to alterations 

 which were made on the ground near it. 



Seeing the failure of the expensive brick and stone one, my 

 employer was determined to try one of the form that the Cana- 

 dians used, made of wood. It was put up exactly according to 

 plan and specification, and cost somewhere about £40 or £50. 

 It held about seventy-five or eighty Scotch cartloads. It certainly 

 kept ice better than the old one, but not sufficient for a full 

 supply. 



Within a few yards of this house was a long hole 26 feet in 

 diameter and 5 feet deep — in fact it was the first hole made for 

 the Canadian ice-house ; but the sides slipped in before the 

 framework could be put in, and it was thought the best and 

 easiest way to make another, where only two sides of the hole 

 had to be dug. Previous to its falling-in a drain had been 

 made to take away the water, and three feet of sandstones had 

 been put in the bottom for drainage. 



After filling the ice-house, and having plenty of ice, we 

 smoothed down the sides of this hole, and filled it with ice, think- 

 ing it would supply the demand throughout the summer and 

 reserve that in the ice-house ; but it turned out tbat the stack 

 supplied all the demands of the family, and we had ice there 

 when it was all done in the house. We kept filling both for 

 five years with the same results, until the wood of the house 

 was completely rotten, and which would have required to be 



