August 16, 1SG1. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



133 



are flues, the tot air passing along one end and the front 

 first, and then along the back. Melons to afford a late crop 

 may be planted as late as the beginning of July, and if they 

 set their fruit in August they may be ripened by fire heat, 

 no more of that being employed than is necessary. In this 

 way Melons of moderate flavour are obtained in October, 

 and up to Christmas, but not equal to those ripened in 

 summer, when there is a longer continuance and greater in- 

 tensity of light and sun heat. 



Fig. 6 is what may be termed an open pit, being nothing 

 more than earth dug out a yard deep, and a single brick 

 wallj a o, run round the outside ; b consists of wood faggots 



Kg. 6. 



piled up to a height of 3 feet, and round them hot dung, 

 leaves, or other fermenting materials are placed at c c, 

 pressed firmly, and carried up to a height of 5 feet, so that 

 the dung may be 2 feet higher than the wood faggots, and 

 partly at the sides, and partly above them, as in the figure, 

 only the bed there shown a foot too low, in order to represent 

 the appearance when the frame is put on. d is an ordinary 

 garden frame placed upon the bed thus made. 



By this system the violent heating at first of a dung-bed 

 is obviated, and a saving of material effected; by filling 

 the open spaces, e e (first the front, and in ten days or so 

 afterwards the back of the frame), with grass mowings, 

 weeds, or old rubbish of any kind, additional heat is obtained, 

 and it readily passes among the faggots b. "When it becomes 

 necessary to have a renewal of heat, it is only necessary to 

 turn over e and c, moistening them if dry, and adding a little 

 fresh material if at hand. In a week or ten days the opposite 

 lining may be served in a like manner. The utility of a pit 

 of this kind will be apparent, for it not only presents a place 

 for rubbish, but is a means of turning its decomposition to 

 advantage, whilst its value as a'manure is much enhanced 

 by the process. — G. Abbey. 



(To be continued.) 



COOLING WATEE IN HOT WEATHEE. 



It may seem needless to ask for scientific means for. 

 making and keeping water cool, just when the late fall of 

 rain will probably bring a cooler atmosphere naturally. 

 Nevertheless, I apply to you to know whether there is not 

 some comparatively easy way of causing a bottle of water 

 to become almost iced by evaporation. If so, why can I not 

 succeed ? I have tried the red porous earthenware jugs, 

 but they give a disagreeable taste to the water; then a 

 machine something like a hat, but the butter seemed nearly 

 as liquid when taken out as when put in. Lately, I tried 

 hanging a glass bottle in the sun in .a thorough draught 

 with a wet worsted stocking drawn over" it, and even durin<* 

 the late hot weather we have had plenty of wind near the 

 river where I Uve, but the water was little if at all cooler in 

 consequence. 



I have long been convinced that a fortune might be made 

 by some person ingenious enough to make a simple, in- 

 expensive, and not bulky machine for storing ice. Ordinary 

 refrigerators cost .£4, and take up far too^much room for 

 small houses. 



Wenham ice may be cheap enough in London, but in my 

 neighbourhood it can only be had at a cost of 3d. or 4d 

 daily, and then only for one meal, as there are no means of 



keeping it between meals, besides the troublesome necessity 

 of ordering it beforehand. And yet what a comfort it would 

 be to invalids, and, indeed, to everybody to have cold things 

 to eat and drink in summer ! 



We have a sort of out-house room which has been con- 

 demned as too damp for any one to sleep in, and the floor is 

 taken up. Could not this be turned into an ice or snow- 

 house by draining away the meltings ? It is rather below 

 the surface of the ground, but has two cross windows, east and 

 north, and a chimney, so it ought not to be damp. Can you 

 help me either for the future or for the present ? — H. H. Y. 



|_VVe heartily wish some of our scientific readers would 

 try and help our correspondent and oblige us at the same 

 time. Personally we know little more of the matter than 

 was stated in a late republished article on ice-houses, &c. 

 A thick deal bos with a secure lid would keep ice a consider- 

 able time, and these any carpenter might make to order. 

 Our whole experience as to cooling water inside of bottles, 

 glassware and earthenware, is opposed to the results you 

 have found. We one time had a sort of passion for cool 

 water in summer. We had the water from a running brook, 

 put it into common wine-bottles, pulled a woollen stocking 

 over them, and suspended them full in the sun, with a large 

 pail fised above them from which two pieces of wool list 

 depended over each stocking, just preventing the stocking 

 getting dry. Had we not stopped this pleasant practice of 

 quaffing large quantities of this cooled water, we should not 

 have been alive to write these notes. We got in a bad way, 

 and a friendly doctor told us. that these cooling draughts 

 taken too frequently give a terrible check to the circulation 

 of some persons, and we believe from our own experience 

 that he was perfectly right. 



We know no reason why you should not turn your spare 

 outhouse into an ice-house or snow-house, but we do not 

 think you will succeed unless you do away with the windows, 

 obtain a double door, and either have a double wall and 

 roof, or cover the whole outside with a coating of a foot of 

 straw neatly laid on. Then with drainage we believe the ice 

 would keep as well in an outhouse as in an ice-well or. ice- 

 house. In fact, in the late article, an ice-house is described 

 as wholly above ground. Your outhouse would be of little 

 use if the sun shone, or the wind played on a common roof, 

 or a common wall, and, of course, the windows would soon 

 settle all.] 



Belfast RotalBotakic Gardens. — At a very numerously 

 attended meeting of the Directors on Wednesday, the 3rd 

 inst., Mr. William Hooker Ferguson was appointed Curator, 

 as successor to his late lamented father, who so long and 

 worthily filled that situation. It is very much to the credit 

 of Mr. William Hooker Ferguson, and speaks strongly for 

 his abilities and pleasing disposition that the Directors 

 were unanimous, and that the letters of recommendation 

 and certificates read from Sir William Hooker, Mr. Smith 

 (the late Curator of the Royal Gardens, Kew), &c, were 

 highly satisfactory. A letter was read from one of the 

 Directors, who had been waited on with a proposal that a 

 deputation from the local nurserymen and gardeners should 

 attend on the Directors to express a wish that Mr. Fergu- 

 son would be appointed. This is a strong evidence of the 

 good feeling entertained towards him ; and with every good 

 supporter of the gardens the hope is strong that tinder his 

 management and with increased finances they will go on 

 and prosper. 



WOEE FOE THE WEEK. 



KITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Continue to plant out winter and spring vegetables 

 wherever there is room. Cabbages, another sowing of the 

 different kinds may be made for spring planting, and lik e 

 wise of hardy Cos and Cabbage Lettuces, selecting a similai- 

 spot for the seed-beds as recommended for Cauliflowers. 

 Cauliflowers, towards the end of the week the principal spring 

 crop of Cauliflowers and Walcheren Broccoli should be sown. 

 Sow thinly in an open place and not on too rich a soil, or 

 the plants will become gross and less capable of standing 

 the winter. Endive, plant out : where the ground is wet 

 this crop should be planted on raised slopes facing the south, 



