120 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 10, 1863. 



renewed again in that short time. But for these ten years past 

 we have had abundance for the cook, butler, and dairymaid all 

 the summer. We have now at least thirty cartloads, and last 

 year the same. 



The hole when empty holds 170 or 180 cartloads, but 80 or 

 100 cartloads, in addition to what was remaining in it, have 

 filled it for some years past. 



The carts are not large, or rather they are not loaded with more 

 than what lies easily on, as we have only 40 yards to cart it 

 from the pond to the stack. Two carts are used, and fourteen 

 or fifteen men fill the hole in a day. The carts, when the ice 

 comes up to the level of the ground, are driven over the top of it, 

 and eight or ten men are kept breaking it with wooden mallets. 

 When the ice is so high that the horse cannot get up, it is 

 thrown up with shovels as high as it can be raised, and then 

 covered over with straw laid on about 2 feet thick, in bunches 

 and made a little smooth ; a few straw ropes are thrown over 

 this, and these ropes are tied to a piece of stick at each side to 

 prevent the wind from blowing away the straw. Both the 

 iee-house and stack are in a plantation shaded from the sun 

 with large trees. The soil is a wet, cold, clayey gravel. When- 

 ever I see frost set in I remove all the straw from the old ice, 

 and clean all the ground about it, that the soil may be all 

 hardened by the frost. This enables us to keep the ioe clean. 



Had I been disposed to enter into the theoretical principles 

 of ice-keeping and to spin a long roundabout article on the 

 construction of ice-houses, ventilation, &c, I had here a good 

 opportunity, but I think it of more use to keep to a plain state- 

 ment of facts ; and from what I have observed here, if ever 

 I were asked the best way to keep ice, I should reply, Let it 

 be kept in any such hole as I have described where there is 

 drainage to take away the water, shaded with trees if possible ; 

 or add more straw, for drainage could not be had then on the 

 Burfaee ; but in that case it would be more expensive to get in, 

 as it has nearly all to be thrown up with shovels, whereas in 

 the hole a comparatively small quantity is required to be thrown 

 up with, the shovel. 



The pond from which we procure the ice contains a superficial 

 surface of 1000 yards. When the ice is 4 inches thick that on 

 the pond fills the stack, which gives us the above number of cart- 

 loads — 170 or 180. On one occasion we had a fall of snow of 

 about 3 inches, which, was partly wetted and then slightly frozen 

 again on the top of the thick ice, when 130 cartloads were only 

 required j as more could be laid on each cart, the half-melted 

 snow causing it to lie better on the cart. Thus, in order to 

 give a correct idea of the quantity of ice put into a stack, much 

 depends on the Bize of the cart and the state of the ice. A 

 thousand yards 4 inches deep give us 111 cubic yards of solid 

 ice to put into our stack, and this supplies all demands made 

 upon it, and no less quantity need be attempted with any- 

 thing like success. I would say that in England, where the 

 temperature during the year is higher than here, it would take 

 20 or 30 cubic yards more to be secure against all contingencies. 

 — Alex. Sheabeb, Tester. 



determine what it is intended to represent. If single organs 

 are worth figuring at all they should be done on a scale which 

 enables every detail to be shown — as, for instance, the section of 

 a flower three or four times the natural size, showing the pistils, 

 the insertion of the stamens, and the apicular anthers. Then 

 there might be a section of an achene exhibiting the situation of 

 the small embryo in the large mass of albumen : these would be 

 illustrations at once instructive and valuable ; but those that 

 are given on the plates might just as well not be there. The 

 figures of the plants themselves are, however, unexceptionable. 



The botanical part of tho letterpress has been undertaken by 

 Mr. J. T. Boswell Syme, lecturer on botany at the Charing 

 Cross and Westminster Hospitals. Mr. Syme is well known in 

 botanical circles as an accomplished British botanist, and the 

 way in which he has performed his task in the first Number of 

 this re-issue will not detract from his reputation. He has evi- 

 dently entered on the work with all his might, and he has per- 

 formed it most ably. Mrs. Lankester takes the popular and 

 historical portion, and she furnishes some agreeable information. 



The work is arranged on the Natural System, and will, when 

 completed, be a valuable addition to British botanical literature. 

 The Number before us contains twenty-four plates of plants be- 

 longing to the order Ranunculacese. 



NEW BOOK. 



English Botany ; or Coloured Figures of British Plants. Third 

 Edition. Edited by John T. Boswell Syme, F.L.S., Sfc, with 



Popular Descriptions, by Mrs. Lankester. 

 wicke. 



London : Hard- 



WOEK FOE THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Before the general routine of cropping commences mark out 

 all the divisions, so that two crops of the same sort may not 

 follow each other. It is a good plan to label every crop when 

 sown or planted, so as to refer to afterwards. Cabbage, fill 

 up any vacancies in the autumn-plantation ; also, make fresh 

 plantations of the autumn-sowing if necessary. Old Cabbage- 

 ground which has been under sprouts since last August will now 

 become available for other purposes. Where plenty of Cole- 

 worts-have been provided, some of the latest of the July sowings 

 will supply their place and stand over for early Cabbage. Old 

 Cabbage-ground should be trenched and pretty well manured, 

 as the Cabbage is a scourging crop. The general system is to 

 follow with a second sowing of Peas, the Peas in their turn being 

 succeeded by Celery-beds, and this course prepares again for any 

 of the BrasBica family. Cauliflowers, those under hand-glasses 

 and in frames must be fully exposed during the present mild 

 weather, or they will button-o£f in the spring. Sow seed on a 

 south border to succeed the autumn-sowing. If any have been 

 potted they may now be turned out of their pots, putting five 

 strong plants under each hand-light. See that the spring-sown 

 do not " draw ; " if raised on heat, let them be pricked out 

 betimes. Celery, sow seed in boxes, and place them in heat to 

 produce plants for an early crop. A portion of the old may be 

 taken up to check running to Beed, and laid-in by the heels very 

 deep. Garlic and Shallots, where the soil is not wet and stiff, 

 they should now be planted, if not done in the autumn. Plant 

 in rows at 6 inches apart. Lettuce, those in frames must have 

 the glasses off them day and night while the weather continues 

 so mild as it is at present. Make a sowing on a south border to 

 succeed the autumn-sowing. Peas and also the Beans sown in 

 pots or boxes to be hardened by degrees in the cold frames, pre- 

 paratory to transplanting to the open ground. Rhubarb, pots 

 may now be placed over the roots and covered with dung or 

 leaves. Spinach, a small Bowing of the round sort may be made 

 between the rows of early Peas. 



H.OWEB GABDB1T. 



The plans for the coming season of gaiety should now be fully 

 settled. All alterations should now be carried out without 

 delay. Now is a fine time for the formation of beds for Bour- 

 bon, China, and Tea-scented Roses. These classes of Roses will 

 bloom throughout the summer and autumn months. To have 

 them in perfection it is necessary to take the soil out- of the bed 

 1 foot deep, and to fill-up with rotten dung. Tread it firm as 

 the bed is filled-up ; place 3 or 4 inches of soil on the rotten 

 dung, and plant in the usual manner. Prepare the Ranun- 

 culus bulbs for planting by removing all small roots. These 

 should be immediately planted by themselves, and as but few 

 will bloom the coming Beason, they will gather strength and size 

 for the next. In arrangement diversify the colours as much as 

 possible, and as there is such a great diversity, the character of 

 which is now described in most catalogues, it renders the 



This is a re-issue of the work long known as "Sowerby's 

 English Botany," with additional plates of the species, or forms 

 of species, which have been discovered since the last edition was 

 published. In addition to the figures of the plants themselves, 

 aome of the plates are furnished with new dissections of the 

 floral organs, and the fructification ; and in this respect we should 

 have expected to see illustrations of a more modern character 

 than those that are adopted. Botanical illustration has in these 

 latter days made as great progress as the science itself ; and, we 

 certainly expected to have seen these dissections treated somewhat 

 after the style of Fitch in the "Botanical Magazine," and by 

 many of the continental artists, instead of the old-fashioned and 

 contracted manner of those of the last century. Let us take, for 

 instance, Plates ii. and iii., in which, with the exception of a 

 fruit and a stamen, all the other figures are of the natural size ; 

 a single flower no larger than those better represented on the 



panicle, a calyx of the same dimensions, and a figure whioh 



even a pocket lens is no assistance to enable the uninitiated to 1 amateur's task comparatively easy. See to even small plants 



