286 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



Part II. 



astonishing how much this lessens the power requisite either to fill 185 

 the syringe or empty it. A child may do with Read's engine, 

 what requires a man in the common kind. Tliis instrument may 

 be considered as superseding not only the common hand-syringes, 

 but even the barrow-engine, and other machines of tliis kind to 

 which the same improvements are not applied. 



SuBSECT. 3. Utensils of Protection. 



1420. Utensils of shade, shelter, and exclusion are the cover, 

 shade, blancher, hand-glass, and bell-glass. 



1421. Plant-covers are of diiFerent species. 



1422. The portable cloth cover or shelter is of different species: 

 it consists of a frame of wicker-work, of any sizp, from tliat 

 of a hand-glass, to six or eight feet high, which is covered 

 with gauze, oiled canvas, matting, and sometimes entirely with 

 wicker-work. It is used for protecting half-hardy shrubs and plants 

 in the winter season, and when recently transplanted. 



1423. The jwrtable paper cover or shelter is a email frame, like 

 the skeleton of a hand-glass, covered with oil-paper, and is used 

 for protecting cauliflower-plants, striking cuttings, &c. 



1424. Shades are of three species. The place-umbrella (Jig. 186.) 

 resembles the domestic instrument of that name ; but instead of 

 the ordinary handle, has a pointed rod, shod with iron, for insertion 

 in the ground. It is used for shading tender plants from the 

 sun, or sheltering them from the rain. For both purposes it is conve- 

 nient to have a joint in the stem, so as to incline the cover accord- F\ 

 ing to the situation of the sun and the direction of the rain. They 



are much used in the Paris garden, and at Monza, in Lombardy. ^ 



1425. The portable luire shade is a bottomless cage of wire or wicker work, to place 

 over tender plants, to protect them from excess of wind, sun, and rain. Tliey are a 

 good deal used in the botanic gardens of the continent, for moderating the direct influence 

 of the sun on plants of cold climates. 



1426. The earthenware shade {Jigs. 187, & 188.) is in the fonn of a flower-pot, 

 but with a section cut from one side to admit the air and light. This open side in the 

 case of auriculas and Alpine plants, is placed to the north, and in the case of tender 

 plants to the south, or other points. Tliese utensils are exceedingly useful in transplanting 

 tender plants, and in cultivating Alpine plants. One species (j^g. 188.) is entirely per- 

 forated with holes, for shading ferns, mosses, and fungi. Common pots are often used 

 for sheltering and shading newly transplanted articles Avith the greatest benefit. 



1427. Blanchers are any close utensil that when whelmed over a plant will exclude tlie 

 light. The most common is the blanching-pot, which is used to exclude light from sea- 

 cale and rhubarb-stalks, and some other culinary vegetables, where the green color is to 

 to be avoided. In the Pyrenees they are used for blanching celery. 



1428. T/ie conic blanching-pot is in the form of a sugar-loaf, and is used in France for 

 blanclung lettuce and endive. (Lasteyrie.) In Valentia, asparagus is blanched stalk 

 by stalk, by portions of reed viath a knot or joint placed over each. (Ibid.) 



187 



1429. The hand-glass is of various species. 



The leaden hand-glass is a small portable glazed case, formed by grooved strips of lead, and is eitliet 

 square or polygonal in the plan and roof. It is used for the protection of culinary and other plants, 

 during the winter months ; its first cost is less than that of any other hand-glass. 



The copper hand-glass (Jig. 189.) is a very light and elegant variety of hand-glass, m which the bars are 

 formed of copper, the sides bevelled, and the top or roof sometimes projects over the latter, with glass 

 eaves. The lead hand-glass is the cheapest, but this is by far the most elegant ; they are manufactured 

 by Jorden, and others, in Birmingham, and constitute one of the most elegant utensils used m gardenmg. 



The cast-iron hand-glass {fig, 190.) consists of two parts, the sides either square or polygonal, and the 

 top of suitable shape.' Each side is cast separate, with screws and nuts; the four sides are afterwards 



