MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



161 



it is attached to wooden frames, which occupy as much time in taking off 

 and putting on as wooden shutters, and are much less durable. 



447. Asphalte covers have lately been used for protecting glass roofs, and 

 promise to be a very suitable, and, at the same time, cheap and durable 

 material. The following account of a trial of this article at Dalkeith, near 

 Edinburgh, by Mr. M'Intosh, is abridged from the Gardeners Chronicle of 

 Feb. 13th, 1841. Pocock's patent asphalte roofing is sold in pieces 16 in. 

 by 32 in., at 4ld. each, or about if d. the square foot. Its weight is only 

 sixty pounds to the hundred feet square. It has been exposed to severe 

 frost and to a heat of 220° without injury : being a non-conductor of heat, 

 it is alike useful for protecting from cold and for shading from the sun. In 

 texture the material resembles the improved patent felt, and appears to be a 

 combination of hair and long fibrous substances, intimately united by exces- 

 sive pressure, which gives it strength, durability, and an even surface ; and 

 being saturated with an asphaltic composition, it is completely waterproof. 

 Mr. M'Intosh has used it to cover 300 feet in length of cold pits ; and he has 

 also a number of shutters made of the same material for covering the lights 

 of forcing pits. Frames are formed of a top and bottom rail, and two side- 

 rails, 1^ inches thick by 2^ inches broad : to the top and bottom rails two 

 pieces of wood, 1^ inches by 11 inches, are fastened, and another of like size 

 at the middle of the frame across it, attached to the side-rails. To these the 

 asphalte covering is secured by copper tacks, but iron or tin tacks, made 

 warm and cooled in oU, will answer as well ; thus forming shutters 6 feet by 

 4 feet, weighing 241bs., and costing 6s. each, that is, 2s. 3d. for asphalte 

 covering, 2d. for tacks, and 3s. 7d. for timber and labour. These water- 

 proof shutters Mr. M'Intosh finds vastly preferable to Russia mats, and has 

 no doubt they will last for ten or twelve years, if not longer ; for while not 

 in use, they can, after being well dried, be stored in a dry, airy loft or shed. 

 From the nature of the material they will not take oil paint with advantage ; 

 but may, perhaps, be improved if thinly coated with tar and strewed over 

 with white sand every three or four years. It is evident that temporary 

 coverings to plants against walls, or in the open garden, might as readily be 

 formed of these asphalte covers as of boarded shutters. 



448. Oiled-paper frames were formerly much used, both as protection 

 from cold, and as shades from the sun. They are made by gluing paper 

 to a wooden frame, divided into panes in the manner of a window by narrow 

 thin laths. The paper used is what is called fine cartridge, but unsized : 

 printers' demy will do. A ream of this consists of 480 sheets, each 1 ft. 10 m. 

 by 1 ft. 5 in. ; so that the panes of the frame should be made of the latter 

 dimensions. They are oiled with common linseed oil boiled, and mixed 

 with a little white lead, being previously pasted on with a paste made of 

 starch boiled up with a little glue. Frames of this kind may be used with 

 advantage as a substitute for glazed frames in covering newly-sown seeds, or 

 in striking cuttings ; for though oHed paper excludes light, it is a powerful 

 conductor of heat. Oiled-paper sashes have been also extensively used for 

 growing cucumbers and melons, and, above all, for protecting fruit-trees 

 while in blossom. For the latter purpose the length of the frames may be 

 made in lengths equal to nearly the height of the wall, and each frame 

 hinged on one side to a temporary rafter, and kept fast at the other by a 

 turn button of wood. When the frames are to be kept open, they can be 

 tied to stakes in a simple and expeditious manner, such as will readily occur 

 to every gardener. 



