HareH 9, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIGULTUSE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



179 



three-eighths and half an inch thick, and sheet, 26-oz., 21-oz., 

 and 15-oz., with crown glass, and all the breakage from frost is in 

 the last three descriptions, none of the other four being in any 

 way acted upon injuriously by frost. It is only right to say, 

 ■that of the 21-oz. not one pane per cent, is cracked, but of the 

 15-02. most, and they are the smallest panes with the greatest 

 laps, consequently I attribute all the breakage to the laps. 



A lap of any sort I consider a great evil. Laps are causes of 

 drip, let out a great amount of heat, and in time there is 

 •formed an ugly dirty band at the lap, or where the panes meet, 

 and this is anything but neat, and is a great propagator of 

 ■moss on the glass, which obstructs not only the sun's light, 

 but heat, to a greater extent than many imagine. Mr. Pearson 

 condemns " jumped " joints — i.e., the edges placed together ; 

 but, then, as he says, "in stormy weather a roof so glazed 

 admits water at every joint." This statement I can confirm ; 

 for the ends of a greenhouse, to say nothing of the roof, in 

 which the glass is so arranged, admit a remarkable quantity of 

 water in wet windy weather. Notwithstanding, I believe it is 

 "the true principle of glazing, and though I would not advocate 

 wider panes than 15 inches for 21-oz. sheet, I would in all cases 

 of glazing with more than 26-oz. sheet, or with plate glass rough, 

 or ground and polished, have no sash-bars but simply rafters, 

 2 feet 3 inches to 2 feet 6 inches apart, for 32-oz. sheet and 

 quarter-inch plate, whilst for three-eighths and half-inch plate 

 I would have the rafters with 3-feet intervals. We have some 

 polished plate in panes 4 to 5 feet, by 3 to 4 feet, and they are 

 in appearance very much superior to those of which four would 

 be required to make one of the other. The glass I would have 

 half as long again as wide, and divide the lengths so as to have 

 the panes equal in size. Where the panes met directly I would 

 have a chamfered cross-sash but without the rebates, having 

 it quite fiat on the upper surface, and so let into the rafters 

 that its upper surface would be level with the bottom of the 

 rebate in the rafters, which need not be mof e than half an inch or 

 five-eighths of an inch wide, and a quarter of an inch deeper than 

 the thickness of the glass. The cross-sash need not be more 

 than an inch wide — three-quarters of an inch would be sufficient 

 —and should be so placed that the panes would meet exactly 

 in its centre. Bed the glass in white lead, also the small cross- 

 bar, and the lead will be forced through and fill-up any opening 

 where the panes meet ; and outside, over each joint, we have 

 only to place a strip of lead-leaf no thicker than lead paper so 

 as to cover the joint, and this being white-leaded on its side 

 next the glass, and where it covers the joint, will endure, no- 

 body knows how long. Oatside we have continuous-" looking" 

 glass, inside neat, French casement-like panes, no cold air 

 blowing in, nor heated air passing out, and there is no lap for 

 the water to pass under, consequently no ice, no frost-cracked 

 squares. This mode of glazing would answer for smaller as 

 well as larger panes, only if the glass be 21-oz. or 15-oz., it 

 ought not to be wider than 15 inches for 21-oz., and 12 inches 

 for 15-oz., and the cross sash-bar may be smaller, or dispensed 

 ■with. 



Mr. Pearson's preventive — namely, having the glass cut with 

 ■a slight curve, I have no faith in. I remember its being lauded 

 a quarter of a century back, and have seen more than one 

 structure glazed in that way. It was thought it would prevent 

 drip by taking the water to the centre of the panes, and so 

 keep it from being blown inwards and running down the rafters 

 in stormy weather. This mode was principally used for cur- 

 vilinear roofs, but fell into disuse from the waste in cutting, 

 the difficulty in repairing, and, as I remember, from the fre- 

 quency of broken glass. Unless the lap is small there is not 

 much difference between glass cut with a slight curve and that 

 ■cut straight ; both hold water enough to form suftieient ice to 

 break glass in frosty weather. The capillary attraction of the 

 ■lap is fully as great in panes cut curved as those cut straight, 

 as regards the water under the lap, but that coming on the out- 

 side is conveyed by the upper cut-edge to the centre of the 

 pane, and may run off, but if the lap is not full by capillary 

 attraction, the water passes under the lap, and there remains 

 until it is displaced by wind, or augmented by more till the weight 

 is greater than capillary attraction will retain. — G. Abbey. 



-CALCEOLARIA CULTURE FOR BEDDING-OUT. 

 I HAVE been a suocessfal cultivator of Calceolarias, for I 

 scarcely ever lose a plant during the summer. I differ very 

 much from Mr. Clark, who says, at page 137, "I insert them 

 in large 60-pot3, six in a pot, using equal parts of leaf mould, 

 drift sand, and chopped moss, with plenty of drainage." This 



amount of trouble and time I should iiot like to expend. I 

 use a plain wooden pit facing the south, 8 feet in depth at the 

 back, and 2 in front ; I fill it with decayed dung, placing over 

 it 6 inches of loam beaten firmly. I insert the cuttings during 

 the last week of September and the first week of October, 

 keeping the boards shut down, and sprinkling every night and 

 morning in fine weather. Should it be showery I tilt the lights 

 and let the cuttings have the rain. It must be understood that 

 the boards are on hinges, which makes it a very usefal pit for 

 bedding stuff', especially in the spring. 



In this pit I keep my Calceolarias till the middle of March, 

 pinching them once ; then I remove them to the openest plot 

 in the kitchen garden ; there I open a trench 4 feet wide, 

 placing the soil on each side as a bank for protection, at the 

 same time wheeling in 4 inches of decayed dung, and forking it 

 up with the soil at the bottom. In this I plant the Calceolarias, 

 leaving them there till the second week of May, when I remove 

 them to the flower garden, taking up each plant just ready 

 to flower with a fine ball of earth ; the check they receive in 

 removing them throws them into flower. The only evil of 

 which I have to complain is that they cease flowering so early 

 in the autumn ; and, like Mr. Eobson, I should be glad if any- 

 one would recommend some method by which constant flower- 

 ing could be insured. I shall this season try cutting off the 

 first blooms, for the plants come into flower long before the 

 Geraniums. I should like to know if anyone has tried this 

 method, for it would be a great boon if we could find one which 

 would prolong the Calceolaria's flowering, for without it large 

 flower gardens would not look much, as we have no substitute 

 equalling it. 



The varieties I use are Kayii, an old and well-known kind, 

 and Aurea floribunda. The former is that which I would re- 

 commend to everyone who has experienced any difiicnlty in the 

 cultivation of the Calceolaria ; it is of strong, robust growth, 

 and is an excellent companion to Stella Geranium. It is the 

 variety I prefer for extensive flower gardens. 



The reason I object to use glass lights over my Calceolaria ■ 

 cuttings is they become drawn up, and will not withstand the 

 rough treatment they are exposed to in planting out in the 

 kitchen garden. If grown properly they need no protection 

 after the middle of March ; a few deal boards placed across the 

 pit will save them from the cutting wind. I have no doubt 

 that the failures of which so many complain arise from what 

 is called coddling, for however much air is given, the plants are 

 always weakly under glass. 



I visited a gardener friend last March, and in looking through 

 the frames he pointed out to me the fine Calceolarias he had ; 

 they were so at the time, but they were very weak. He trans- 

 ferred them to a pit in the kitchen garden the same as mine, 

 and there they received a severe check, but he brought them 

 through it, and planted them out in the middle of May as fine 

 plants with good balls, but in July he had not one-half of them 

 alive, and his ribbon borders were consequently disfigured. 

 For this reason- 1 condemn glass lights for the growth of the 

 Calceolaria, and anyone trying a boarded pit will find himself 

 on the right side. — E. Eames. 



SOME PREDATORY INSECTS OF OUR 

 GAEDENS.— No. 4. 

 Certain persons when they found that the worthy gentle- 

 man Mr. Micawber purposed going into the Medway coal trade, 

 concluded at once that it would be decidedly necessary he 

 should visit that agreeable river. Possibly they were right ; 

 but I am sure I was justified in coming to the conclusion that 

 when I purposed writing something about the wireworm (about 

 as definite a phrase as if one were to say, " the caterpillar "), I 

 had better make personal acquaintance with one. True, I had 

 remembrances of interviews with certain "grubs," in years 

 gone back, reputed to be " wireworms," yet I could not have 

 drawn a portrait of one of these from memory either with 

 pencil or pen, nor did any notable fact remain in connection 

 with the same, saving and excepting that one was shown to me 

 by a gardener, whose naturally long visage gained so much 

 extra length from the disgust with which he viewed this special 

 enemy, that had I possessed a portable photographic apparatus 

 I should have entreated him to remain motionless, that I 

 might secure a " phiz " that was remarkable if not admirable. 

 Books are all very well, but they have their errors. What was 

 to be done ? The weather precluded country excursions ; 

 could a "wireworm" be obtained close at hand? I recollected 



