May 26, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



379 



socket end of the knife a crane neck ia attached, rising not per- 

 pendicularly but obliquely 1 inch from the blade, as shown at B, 

 and, entering the shaft, is covered over there for security, with 

 an iron ferule of 3J itches in length. The handle c is made of 

 well-seasoned deal bo as to be light, ia 8 feet long, three-quarters 

 of an inch in diameter where the socket of the blade ia fixed, and 

 1J inch in diameter at the extreme end. With the crane neck 

 placed as described, when the lower side of the knife rests level 

 on the ground, the extreme end of the handle will be about 

 3} feet perpendicular from the ground. When the man Inking 

 the handle in both hands, the end just resting against his side, 

 sweeps the blade right and left of him, he will clear the lawn of 

 daisies as he marcheB along for a width of 15 feet easily, and with 

 much less trouble and toil than he would clear as many inches 

 with the lumbering daisy-rakes. Of course, the knife merely 

 decapitatea the sweet, modest, wee things, that would be beauti- 

 ful anywhere else than on the green lawn ; but if tlie sun shines 

 the daisies will soon be shrivelled up, and unseen and forgotten, 

 like many other things that are good and beautiful. 



AMMONIACAL LIQUOE AND OTHER GAS 

 REFUSE AS MANURES. 



1 know you will be glad to learn that I read and practised 

 from Mr. Johnson's pamphlet on the refuse from gasworks ; 

 but as far as my experience goes 200 gallons, as there recom- 

 mended, is too much to appiy at once to an acre. I find that 

 50 gallons do better; and if you contrast the strength of guano 

 with that of gas liquor, it is manifest that 600 lbs. of guano will 

 introduce about 50 lbs. of ammonia to the ground, and 200 gal- 

 lons of the liquor will give 200 lbs. of ammonia. I am also 

 using the lime and the tar of the gasworks, and I find them of 

 great benefit. 



To give an idea of the Talue of the tar, I may Btate that I 

 manured an acre of ground with farmyard manure of a good 

 description and another acre with the tar, and I had five cocks of 

 hay from the farmyard manure, and seven cocks (rom the tar. — 

 C. Rbtnoids, Parish Priest of KildalJcey, Ireland. 



[As we never knew any gas liquor so rich in ammonia as that 

 specified by Mr. Reynolds, we wrote to him expressive of our 

 doubtB as to his accuracy on that point. He has not cleared 

 away our doubt, but his reply contains some useful information. 

 The following are extracts : — 



" I have a vessel which holds 30 gallons, and apply it to an 

 acre with the best results. I mean 30 gallons of the liquor as it 

 comes from the gashouse, diluted with as much water as may 

 seem needful. From my observations I am certain that 1 gallon 

 in winter contains as much ammonia as 2 gallons do in summer. 

 I never found the same observations in any book that has fallen 

 into my hands. 



"With regard to fixing ammonia, Liebig, in his 'Agricultural 

 Chemistry,' page 180, Bays, ' If we fix it, if we deprive it of its 

 volatility, we increase its action twofold.' The method used 

 by Liebig to fix the ammonia is to mix the liquor with gypsum ; 

 but it can be done as well by spreading it on the ground in 

 winter, as the rain washes it into the ground. In summer the 

 heat of the sun makes it volatile."] 



of a figure, and which begins and ends at two opposite angles, 

 aa B v,fig. 2, and G s,fig. 3. 



GEOMETRY APPLICABLE TO GARDENING. 



{Continued from page 314.) 

 LINES. 

 Side-lines are those which encompass any sort of figure, be it 

 either a square or a polygon, as does ABC J>,fig. 1. 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 2. 



W 



A diagonal line is that which passes through the very centre 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 6. 



The diameter usually signifies a line that passes through and 

 touches the centre of a circle or oval, as does the line I K, in 

 fig. 4, and i M, in figs. 5 and 6. In an oval there are two, cal led 

 the transverse and conjugate diameters. I M is the transver se. 



Fig. 7. 



R 



Fig. 10. 



The chord or subtense line is a line that cuts off only a smaller 

 part of a circle from a greater, or is, more plainly, like the Btriag 

 of a bow, which is part of a circle, as ia the line N o, fig. 7, the 

 bow of which is jt o p, and the remaining part of the circle ia B, 



fig. io. 



Fi &- 8 - Fig. 9. 



A tangent line is that which touchea any figure (whether 

 circular or polygonal) without dividing it, and without being 

 able to divide it, although it were prolonged never so far, as are 

 the lines s T, in figs. 8, 9. 



A secant line is that which divides or crosses any circle, oval, 

 or polygonal figure, the said oval or other figure remaining 

 whole, and is plainly demonstrable by the lines T u, in figs. 8, 9. 

 {To be continued.) 



WHAT IS AN ORCHARD-HOUSE, AND WHAT 

 SHOULD BE EXPECTED EROM ITP 



We have much argument on either side as to the merits and 

 demerits of " orchard-house culture," but no one seems to have 

 attempted anything like a judicial summing-up of the question. 

 Let me, however feebly, attempt this. The first question is, 

 What is orchard-house culture ? From Mr. Rivers' exposition 

 we may define it as " the growth of fruits in a cold house, and 

 that not in, but through, pots." The house must be cold, or it iB 

 a forcing-house ; and the plants must grow through the pots, or 

 the question resolves itself into a contention between the ad- 

 vantages of culture in pots in a cold house, and culture in pote 

 in a hothouse. 



From the evidence it appears that trees planted out in a cold 

 house, will, in their season, yield fruitB, many large and good- 

 flavoured, which if inferior to those planted out in hothouses in 

 size and earlineBS, are Buperior to them in cheapness. 



But it would seecn that many amateurs have attempted the 

 cultivation of fruit trees in pots in cold houses, and have failed ; 

 and thereupon the cultivators in forcing-houses (who are mostly 

 professional gardeners) — first telling us that even with the aid of 

 their expensive appliances and skilled labour, they have found 

 culture in pots attended with 100 per cent, more trouble, and a 

 diminution of 50 per cent, in Bize — proceed to draw comparisons 

 between their planted-out trees in hothoutee, and the trees in 

 pots in cold houses. Now, such a comparison as this is inadmis- 



