JOUENAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ July 6, 1871. 



and then I could Ecarcely ever cut a respectable frnit. So I 

 venture to ask, Has soil, temperatnre, watering, &c., anything 

 to do with the Cucumber disease ? My own experience replie.--. 

 Nothing whatever. 



As regards remedies, I think there are none, for I tried every- 

 thing I could think of. At first I thought, like many others, 

 the disease must be caused by something being wrong at the 

 roots, and, if I remember aright, the first application that I 

 used was lime and wafer. I soon found this had no effect, 

 although I was advised to try it by a great grower of Cacum- 

 bers. After this failed I thought of the wonderful effects of 

 charcoal on some kinds of plants, and I at once tried it. I 

 had a lot beaten up almost into powder, put it into a tub of 

 water overnight, and in the morning used it after adding suffi- 

 cient hot water to make it warm. I used charcoal several 

 times, both in water and in the soil, but to no purpose. The 

 disease was as bad as ever ; and other liquids of ciifferenl 

 natures were of no use. I had, as I have stated, plenty of 

 room and houses for my purpose, therefore I tried everything 

 I thought likely to prove a remedy at the same time. One 

 house I kept very wet, the atmosphere damp, the temperature 

 high ; next to it I kept a house with, say, the soil dry, the at- 

 naosphere damp, and the temperature low, and I went on 

 changiug in different ways in eight houses, some a long distance 

 from others, and some iu the same range, but I have seen very 

 little difference ; if there was auy, I think it was in favour of 

 keeping the soil rather dry when the disease made its appear- 

 ance, and preserving a moist atmosphere and cool temperature, 

 and, as should always be done, giving air early. It seems 

 strange, but I could grow a crop of Melons without seeing the 

 least sign of disease in the same house. The Cucumbers so 

 badly infected, had only been taken out three days previous to 

 planting the iilelon?. In fact, I never saw the least sign of dis- 

 ease on the Melons, and I hope I never shall. — Animo et tide. 



ICE-HOUSES. 



The practical rules to be observed in the harvesting, storing, 

 and preservation of ice may be briefly summed up as follows : — 

 1. Secure the purest and most solid ice ; it should, particu- 

 larly, be free from organic substances. 2. Get the ice when it 

 is coldest; it is decidedly beneficial to store it with a tempera- 

 ture considerably below the melting point. 3. Put it up in a 

 compact and solid body, so that the least amount of surface 

 may be exposed to extraneous influences. 4. Do not directly 

 surround or cover it with organic substances, such as straw, 

 shavings, and sawdust. 5. Preserve considerable space about 

 the body of the ice, and ventilate the same ; that no water 

 should be allowed to stand around or below it, is a matter of 

 course. 6. Eeep the organic substances forming the non-con- 

 ducting material in the walls and roof of the ice-house dry, in 

 order to prevent any evolution of heat from decay or rot. 



A knowledge of the fact that heated air rises, and the cold 

 air remains on the lowest pkne of a room, led to the expedient 

 of placing the ice over a room intended to be cooled. But next 

 arose the question regarding the most economical and efficient 

 method of transmitting the cooling effect of the ice through the 

 ceiling into the room below. Wood was first used, but this 

 allowed little of the coolness of the ice to be transmitted into 

 the room below. Then the ice was so packed as to have flues, 

 with holes through the ceiling below them, where the air com- 

 ing in contact with the ice was cooled, and this lowered the 

 temperature of the room beneath. By this arrangement, how- 

 ever, the ice wasted rapidly, and the fines soon became so large 

 as to prove of no benefit just at the season when the cooling 

 effects of the ice were most desirable. Lastly, some one con- 

 ceived the idea of making the ceiling of iron, which would most 

 directly cool the uppermost air in the room and cause it to 

 descend, making room for other air to be cooled and descend 

 iu like manner. These ceilings were most eagerly taken hold 

 of, and praised as perfection. But their use has developed 

 many great defects. The galvanising scales off, allowing rapid 

 corrosion of the metal ; the seams become broken, allowing the 

 water to run through ; the room below is not properly venti- 

 lated ; the condensing of the vapour iu the room upon the sur- 

 face of the iron causes a constant shower ; besides, they are 

 very expensive. 



To overcome these objections, and reduce the amount of the 

 first outlay to a minimum, an ice-house is proposed, the con- 

 struction and arrangement of which are as shown in the annexed 

 diagram. 



The acoompanjing engraving ehoiva an upright ciosa section 



of an ice-house, with cooling-room A. a a are trussed timbers 

 placed about 4 feet apart, for the support of slat floor e, upon 

 which the ice is placed, allowing the air beneath to have direct 

 contact with it. Space c, is a cold-air chamber, with water-light 

 bottom, which is inclined, in order to collect the ice water in 

 troughs following the sides of the structure. Space r, over the 

 ice, should be about 2 feet, and the ceiling should be covered on 

 the under side of the joist with common bjards, and be filled 

 from 8 to 10 inches thick with loose shavings, the object being 

 to allow the air to pass in finely-divided currents from space 

 D into F. On the top of the roof is the- injecting ventilator e, 

 and in the walls are flues terminating into ejecting ventilators, 

 li. The movements of the air will naturally be as indicated by 

 the arrows. The warmer air in a will rise, and ascend through 



the apertures d, into chamber c, touch the ice, become cooled, 

 and fall back into a through aperture f. The atmospheric air 

 will enter space d, and divide itself through ceiling j, into space 

 F, pass over the exposed surface of the ice, and descend along 

 its four sides through the slat floor e, into chamber c, and 

 thence into room a, for use. An equal quantity of foul air 

 must needs be allowed to escape through openings g^ and eject- 

 ing ventilators /;. 



The advantages of this arrangement may be briefly enume- 

 rated as follows : — 1. It is cheap. 2. It is durable. 3. It is in 

 strict accordance with physical laws. 4. It accomplishes the 

 necessary ventilation of the ice in two ways : it sends the cool 

 air from above and around the ice, which would otherwise be 

 totally lost, into the room a ; and since the air is continually 

 supplied from the atmosphere, preserves the purity of the air 

 in room A. 5. The cold air in chamber c is peculiarly ad- 

 vantageous, since it allows the transmission of cool air into 

 rooms located by the side of cool-room a. — (American paper in 

 EnijUsli Mechanic and TVorld of Science.) 



[We have carefully looked over this plan for an ice-honse. 

 The chief thing valuable we see in it, is " Do not directly sur- 

 round or cover the ice with organic matter, such as straw, 

 shavings, sawdust, &a." There are two things that seem to us 

 veiy objectionable; first, we see nothing of the cheapness 

 spoken of, for to have an ice-loft, a building must be con- 

 structed with a cooling chamber beneath, quite as large as the 

 ice-loft over it; and again, by tho plan proposed, the atmo- 

 spheric air, however finely sifted, must pass over the body of 

 the ice before it gets to the cooling chamber. We can fancy 

 what air between 70° and 80° would soon do when passing over 



