278 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 14, 1863. 



are cot easily satisfied, and many more little things might he 

 done to satisfy our desires, but for an idea that gentlemen hare, 

 that if they admit so much as our little finger they may make 

 up their minds to let in our whole hand. 



The main range is 175 feet in length, consisting of Peach- 

 house, stove, small greenhouse, and three -vineries. The height 

 of these houses at hack is 12J feet, width 11£ feet, and height 

 in front 3J feet. There are also a very nice forcing-pit 36 feet in 

 length, and a Melon-pit 44 feet in length j and though last, not 

 the least valuable, there is a capital span-roofed orchard-house 

 80 feet in length, 20 feet in width, 10 feet in height from floor 

 to ridge, side walls 4J feet in height to the eaves, with venti- 

 lators about the middle of the Bides. There is a door in the 

 centre of each end, and over the doorway a ventilator 1 foot by 

 2 feet, and that with the openings in the sides is found quite 

 sufficient. The house inside has a bed along the centre 7 feet 

 wide, divided into two by a cross-walk, where there is a ciBtern 

 for water and a force-pump. There are also a border on each 

 side, 2 feet 10 inches wide, and a walk 3 feet wide all round. 

 These borders are raised above the pathways 16 inches. On 

 each central bed are two large Peach trees planted out, and the 

 rest for filling-up are grown in pots. On the side-beds several 

 trees of Peaches and Plums are planted out, and the rest are 

 retained in pots, and all were looking veiy promising. When 

 red spider makes its appearance at all, Mr. Lind generally uses 

 the sulphur and lime remedy recommended by Mr. Rivers, but 

 says it must be used cautiously, and that the leaves, &c, cannot 

 well be too dry. As a wash for fruit trees in a dormant state, 

 he uses a solution of lime fresh from the kiln and flowers of 

 sulphur, and iB seldom troubled with any insects. The wash 

 crumbles and peels off during the season, and no insect likes to 

 come near the duBt that is left. We should not wonde»if, after 

 after all our fine mixtures, we go back again to some of the old 

 and Bimple ones. 



The mode of heating the houses is well deserving of notice. 

 It is not by common flues and furnace, nor by any system of 

 hot water or steam, nor yet by any combination of Polmaise, or 

 any modification of the hot-air chamber of Mr. Kidd, or of the 

 iillogie once propounded by that natural genius, Mr. Alexander 

 Porsyth, v. ho seems of late to be keeping his light under a 

 bushel. No, by none of such means, but simply by old-fashioned 

 flues heated by limekilns. Under Mr. Lind's supervision the 

 system answers admirably ; the plants in the Btove, &c, looked 

 in excellent health, and Peaches are generally gathered in the 

 beginning of May, and Grapes cut in the beginning of June ; 



1. Open shed over each kiln. 



2. 2. Solid stone work. 



3. Eye of the kiln. 



4. Damper. ■■■- 



5. Flue passing fctlow the floor of the houses to be heated. 



Strawberries, &c, being obtained proportionately early, though 

 they could also be bad earlier if required. 



A great deal of lime is wanted on the estate, and the system 

 has been adopted as one of great utility and economy, it being 

 believed that the houses are heated much more cheaply than 

 they otherwise would be, and that the lime is a substantial gain 

 besides. 



The annexed is a section of one of the limekilns, which are only 

 used when heat is wanted for the houses, showing the open shed 

 over it, and the flue passing at first underneath the ground level. 

 The * marked on section represents the place where the workman 

 wheels his fuel and limestone, and tilts them into the kiln. Each 

 kiln iB 7 feet deep, tapering to a narrow base at bottom, where 

 the eyehole is placed for removing the burnt lime with a shovel 

 in the usual way. The middle of the kiln is 3£ feet wide, some- 

 what egg-shaped, and the top is 2\ feet wide, and covered with 

 a stout iron griddle or lid 1 inch thick. The sides of the kilns 

 inside are lined with firebrick, which is supposed to last at least 

 four years without any repairs. When heat is wanted the kilnB 

 are never out, unless when such repairs are needed, and Mr. 

 Lind spoke of one that had been worked continuously for three 

 years, and never been out, and to all appearance might work 

 on ever so much longer without any repairs being necessary. 

 When heat is not wanted in some of the houses in summer, the 

 kilns are allowed to go out, the object being to make the lime 

 only when heat is wanted. Prom November, when more heat 

 is required, the lime is very good, and used solely for building 

 purposes. On an average each kiln produces six bushels of lime 

 per day. 



The fuel used is cinders and ashes from the mansion, culm, 

 and inferior coal from Queen's County, abounding in Bulphur, 

 slack, small coal from the dep6t, and braize or refuse from the 

 Dublin gas works, which answers better than any of the others, 

 but cannot always be obtained. The limestone is brought from 

 an estate of Lord Cloncurry's, and is carted to the canal bank 

 for 2s. per ton. Prom thence the limestone and fuel have to be 

 carted half a mile to the garden. At the canal bank the culm is 

 obtained at 12s., the slack coal at 12*., the braize at 8s. 6d., and 

 the limestone at 2*. per ton. Mr. Lind kindly furnished us 

 with the following data, as a meanB of judging of the power of 

 the different kinds of fuel, and the value, economically, of the 

 whole process : — 

 One ton of culm at 12s., will produce 31 barrels of lime. 

 One ton of slack at 12s., will produce 27 ditto. 

 One ton of braize at 8s. 6i., will produce 35i ditto. 

 The barrel is a local measure holding 11 stone avoirdupois, 

 we think, of lime. The price of lime delivered also at, the canal 

 bank, is from 10s. to lis. per ton. By taking the price of lime- 

 stone 2s. per ton, the price of braize 8s. 6d., and the value of the 

 thirty-five and a half barrels of lime, at eleven stones per barrel, 

 it will be no difficult • matter to arrive at a conclusion on the 

 economical aspects of the question, so as to be worthy of the 

 consideration of those who can obtain plenty of limestone or rough 

 chalk without costing much except the labour. 



As to the management, Mr. Lind Btated that the kilns were 

 rather troublesome in windy weather, but that otherwise he 

 would as soon have them as common furnaces and flues, and 

 that when managed regularly by one person they constituted a 

 source of scarcely more anxiety than heating houses generally 

 does. It is expected that when at work the kilns will be in good 

 order— that is, the fire well up through them at five o'clock in 

 the afternoon or soon afterwards. Suppose this to be the case, 

 the houses will want looking to about seven, and most likely the 

 heat will want regulating by the damper. At ten o'clock the 

 houses will bo looked to again and the heat regulated for the 

 night, which generally leaves the house just warm enough in the 

 morning, as when this attention is given the heat is very regular. 

 If the heat is too much the damper can be put in for a time, 

 and the cover to the kiln moved partly or altogether, just as in 

 a similar case in a furnace we would open the fumace-dcor. In 

 either case, of course, the extra heat is lost, but in each dike the 

 damper is the regulator when there is exesss of heat. Our 

 friends who so strongly contend for hot water in all cases, may 

 rest assured there are many modes of heating effectually, if the 

 operators, as in the present case, bring intelligence and a Bpice 

 of enthusiasm to bear upon the subject. 



With darkness in the gardens, and a cheering cup of tea from 

 Mrs. Lind, and a pleasant converse afterwards, terminated ore of 

 the most delightful and instructive of days in a gardening point 

 of view. 



