264 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 
Januaky 6. 
top spit, not more than four or five inches thick, is the 
best. This should be carted home, laid up in a long, 
rounded heap, and turned over (chopping the tiu’f into 
pieces) three or four times during a year. In that time 
I it will be fit for use. This kind of loam may generally 
be procured from some nurseryman mellowed down 
ready, if the amateur cannot procure it, or wait till it 
is prepared. The next article is some well-decomposed 
manure, such, for instance, as hotbed-manure a year 
old. Then a portion of vegetable mould, made from 
decayed leaves of trees, and, lastly, some sand, either 
that called silver, or some from a river-bed finely sifted. 
The proportions are—four-parts loam, one-part manure, 
one-part leaf mould, and about one-tenth part of sand. 
The whole to he thoroughly mixed at the time of using, 
without sifting, excepting the river sand. While the 
mixing is going on, any stones, roots of weeds, wire- 
worms, ikc., should be carefully j)icked out and thrown 
away. Use the compost in a state neither wet nor dry. 
This compost, used in a proper state, and of a right age, 
will grow Auriculas strong, and bloom them satisfac¬ 
torily, all the other points of culture duly and properly 
attended to. These j^oints must be the subject of my 
next paper. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
CONSERVATIVE WALLS. 
{Continued from page 225.) 
Trusting my former remarks on these walls have at 
least set our readers thinking on the subject—and, let 
me hope, some few will not only think but actually 
try the experiment of erecting one aud putting it to the 
uses I have hinted at—I now proceed to answer the 
question—Should this wall bo heated ? and this query 
involves the very natural one—By what means? 
In our uncertain climate we have some winters that ! 
are so mild that numbers of half-hardy plants pass j 
through that season with very little injury against a 
wall, even without heat; but then, every seven or ton 
years, we have one of our old-fashioned winters, such 
as that never-to-be-forgotten one of 1837-8, in which 
the thermometer sinks down to zero! and then the con¬ 
stitution of our plants is tried to the utmost. I need 
not remind our readers, that in that season the common 
Laurels, the Laurustinus, Sweet Bays, and many others i 
so-called hardy shrubs or trees, were cut down to the I 
earth, and in some cases completely killed. Now, as 
no one can foretell, or be certain, that such another 
season will not happen again, I answer the query by 
saying, emphatically,—most certainly. Yes. Let this 
conservative wall be provided with the means to be 
heated. If the season proves mild there will be no 
necessity to light the fire; but should it be severe, or 
if there is any likelihood of its being so on any night, 
I or successive nights and days, then the gardener is pro- 
1 vided against its injurious effects, and will feel perfectly 
secure and easy in his mind, that he has the power to 
preserve his cherished plants, let what weather will 
come. The owner, too, will feel glad, in the event of a 
severe frost, that he has been induced to heat his walls, 
and by that means preserved his rare and beautiful 
plants that have, jierhaps, for years delighted himself 
j and his friends with their beauty and aromatic 
I perfumes. 
The walls, then, whether for fruit or plants, having 
been determined to be built, and, furthermore, to be 
heated, the query next to be answered is. By what 
means? It has been mentioned that the walls at 
Osmaston Manor (see page 183) are heated by hot-water 
pipes, and that, I can aver from occular demonstration, 
most effectually; and, inasmuch as those walls heated 
with hot-water answer admirably, it follows that the 
best means of heating a conservative or any other kind 
of garden wall, not even excepting glass ones, is by hot- 
water pipes. These points being settled, the ne.xt 
query in rotation is-—Should it be covered with glass ? 
The answer to this query requires some consideration. 
Though glass is much cheaper than it used to bo, 
still, to cover a wall, perhaps a hundred feet long, the 
cost will be, as a Yankee would say, “tarnation con¬ 
siderable ; ” and besides, the mode of doing it might be 
still more expensive. As it is, a wall for ornamental 
purposes, the covering of glass, to be in character, should 
be ornameutal also. It would not be at all advisable to 
put up the glass cover in the rough manner of Mr. 
River’s orchard house merely for the sake of economy, 
or, in other words, for the saving of a few pounds 
to cover it at the least possible expense. No, if it is 
determined to clothe it with glass, let it be done hand¬ 
somely, something in the style of the often-referred-to- 
one at Chatgworth, which is a handsome object, independ¬ 
ently of the fine specimens of rare plants it contains. 
The principal considerations in favour of covering this 
wall with glass is the more certain protection to the 
plants, and the comfort of walking under it in wet or 
stormy weather. It might then be connected with the 
sitting rooms of the house, and would be a most agree¬ 
able promenade in all kinds of weather. All this I must 
leave to the consideration of the owner. The covering 
with glass is not absolutely necessary, but it is absolutely 
advisable to determine, previously to commencing build¬ 
ing, all these piarticulars. 1st. Whether to build it at 
all. 2ndly. If it is to be built, to have the wall hollow. 
3rdly. To heat it with a boiler and hot water pipes; 
(these pipes should be placed near the bottom, inside 
the wall, aud the inside should be contrived so tliat the 
heat will have access quite to the top; the pipes are 
placed near the bottom for the convenience ol' circula¬ 
tion, the heat being sure to rise, from the well-known 
fact that heat always rises, provided no solid body 
iuterrupts it.) 4thly. To cover it with glass carried 
out so far from the wall that there will be space for a 
walk at such a distance from the plants that they 
can be easily seen and examined. Supposing it is 
determined to make a thorough good job of it, and 
do it well, handsomely, and effectually, so as to an¬ 
swer the purpose aud be a coml'ort and pleasant 
recreation, then procure an estimate from a respect¬ 
able builder, with proper specifications, and let it be 
put up during the spring and summer months, in time 
to be planted before the cold weather commences. 
T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR. 
Having arrived at the close of a year, the autumn of 
which has been one of extraordinary wetness, a great 
deal of outdoor work has, in many instances, been de¬ 
layed; aud we fear that much that has been done, has 
been accomplished under circumstances which very 
much impair its utility. The heavy and almost con¬ 
tinuous rain has so soddened the ground, that all 
operations must have so consolidated it, as to render 
it almost impervious to the influence of the atmo¬ 
sphere. Now, bad as this is, I am far from thinking 
that a piece of ground, hardened by being trod upon, 
or otherwise pressed down, is the worst condition that 
it can be in at this untoward season, as it must be 
apparent, the more solid it becomes, the less water it is 
likely to hold, as is easily seen by turuiug-up a spade¬ 
ful. Now, though at certain times rain water imparts 
a fertility to soils (apart from the refreshing effects it 
has on the plants growing there), still, when adminis¬ 
tered in too great a quantity, its utility is like that of 
