20 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
OCTORER 0. 
' doubt, is only beginning to exert its interest and legiti- 
j mate influence. In the elevated nursery on the coni- 
I mou, in addition to commoner things, were large quar¬ 
ters of Araucaria, the sight of which confirmed me in a 
notion long entertained, that there are two separate va¬ 
rieties, as, even now, many plants were as green as 
leeks, while others standing beside them were quite 
brown from the roughening of the previous winter; 
also, rows of variegated Turkey Oak, and beds of Ghent 
Azaleas and the better kinds of Rhododendrons, grow¬ 
ing in the common soil. Those who visit the E.xhibi- 
tions are aware that the later-introduced Rhododendrons 
come in great force from this nursery. Where heath- 
soil is not to bo had, it is of some importance to know 
that, as here, most soils will grow the Rhododendron, if 
destitute of chalk and matters from the common dung- 
yard. Our own experience and observation would lead 
us to conclude, that next to a good heath-soil, kept moist 
enough, these Azaleas and Rhododendrons do best either 
in a sandy loam or a very craggy loam, preferring either 
to what might be called a good kitchen garden soil. j 
I shall now, at random, select a few particulars. 
ORNAMENTAL STANDARD PLANTS. 
I noticed great numbers of the Portugal Laurel, Rho¬ 
dodendrons, grafted Azaleas, and weeping Poplars, 
Elms, &c.; but the chief thmg about them was their 
comparative height, many of the Laurels, &c., having 
six, seven, and eight feet of a clear stem. Mr. Lane 
acts upon the principle, that to preserve the standard 
character, the stems must be of a considerable height, as 
otherwise, when the head increases in size, the standard j 
character is lost, and you have merely a large bush on a ' 
short, stumpy leg. His description brought vividly j 
before me an old Bailie—so rotund above, and so dimi- ; 
nutive below, that people never thought about his legs; j 
and he himself had never seen them for years. Now', i 
supposing we commence with a Standard Laurel-tree, j 
four or five feet in height, and allow the plant to extend i 
as much, at least, in diameter, the stem would soon be ' 
reduced, in appearance, to some eighteen inches in 1 
height, or even less; and thus all the pains would go | 
for next to nothing, as a bush touching the ground ( 
would be almost as effectual, in an artistic point of view. ' 
GUTTERS, OR WATER SPOUTS FOR HOUSES | 
AND PITS. ' 
Plow unsightly, inconvenient, and expensive, are many ! 
of the modes adopted! I need not particularise them. | 
Mr. Lane seems to adopt one mode throughout, though i 
varied in shape and form, according to circumstances. | 
'I’ho wall-plate, in every case I noticed, formed the | 
gutter. A slight inclination was given, hardly noticed 
by the eye, but sufficient to cause the water to pass off 
freely to the part desired. In narrowish houses, the 
fruit part of the wall-plate was hollowed out in a semi¬ 
circular form. In larger houses, the gutter was made ! 
wider, but not so deep. In, or what will soon be, a ' 
group of three span-roofed houses, twenty-one feet in i 
width by sixty in length, and now chiefly filled with the | 
specimen Azaleas that so many have seen in Ijondon, ’ 
; the wall-plate of the outer two serves as the wall-plate of 
; the middle one, and is merely hollowed out in the 
i middle. When kept painted, the gutter lasts as long as 
any of the rest of the wood. Wall-plates for these large 
j houses are from throe to four inches in thickness. 
I ISIr. Lane humourously remarked, with respect to the 
' central house of the three, that it cost him little but the 
glass roof, as the other two were erected previously; so 
I that he got, as it were, side-w’alls and wall-plates for 
nothing. I observed that all the water was conveyed 
to tanks, but that instead of entering below ground, as 
I is generally the case, and which often causes great 
trouble in getting out stoppages, &c., the water w'as 
conveyed in pipes a little beneath the surface, and then 
rose and flowed over the top of the cistern ; thus pre¬ 
venting any need of interfering with the cistern, be it 
metal, slate, or brick-work. A little litter thrown over 
the ground in winter w'ould prevent all danger of frost 
injuring the pipes. 
MODIFIED rOLMAISE HEATING. 
I was anxious to see one house here, because it was 
one of the first cheap houses, with fixed roof, that I had 
seen or heard of. I forget how many years it is since 1 
saw it, just when it was finished, and listened to Mr. 
Lane’s enthusiasm for the Polmaise system. I have 
been asking every year about it since, and have always 
received favourable reports from Mr. Wright, the intel- ! 
ligent foreman. The house is span-roofed, some twenty j 
feet in width, and, I should say, about seventy feet in [ 
length; height to the span from the floor about eleven 
or twelve feet. Several stout larch poles support the 
centre. The side walls are four feet in height, or nearly 
so. Larch poles here again support the wall-plates, and 
the walls themselves consist of half-inch boards, put in 
weather-board fashion, and seem as good as ever. Near 
the wall-plate in the wooden wall are hinged wooden 
ventilators, to open and shut at pleasure. The roof is 
formed of glass, twenty inches by twelve inches, resting 
on sash-bars, some three inches-and-a-quarter by two 
inches-and-a-balf, and far enougb apart to take in the 
twenty inches length of square. Air is given at the top 
by small hinged windows, some two feet in length, and 
of the width between the sash-bars. There is no stage 
in the house. About twenty feet of one end of the house 
is shut off by a glass division, and in this division there 
is a pit in the centre, and smaller ones on the sides, a 
narrow path dividing them. Any of our younger friends, 
with a few strokes on paper, can thus bring the house 
vividly before them. It has been used, and I have no 
doubt will be, for a great many purposes, most success¬ 
fully. I give the description to enable readers thoroughly 
to comprehend the very simple mode in which it is 
heated. I may remark, previously, that most of the ends 
are of glass; so that, with the exception of the wooden 
sides, the whole space enclosed presents a glass surface. 
To heat this huge barn-like building, a small furnace is 
placed inside the house, near the glass division, and fed 
in the usual manner from the outside, connected with a 
commoji-sized flue that passes along the greater part of 
that side of the house, and terminates in a chimney. 
The flue, altogether, will traverse from one half to two- 
thirds of the length of the house on one side, and does 
not enter at all into the end divided by a glass division. 
It is found, that when a fire is applied, that in the whole 
of this house (glass separated division and all, when it 
is deemed desirable) there is a striking equality in a 
healthy temperature, such as could not be expected from 
such a single short flue in ordinary circumstances. 
The principle adopted hy Mr. Lane, call it Polmaising, 
or what you will, makes the whole affair certain and 
simple. The furnace is surrounded by large flre- 
lumps, and a chamber is formed all round it. On 
the top of tlm furnace and chamber a wooden box is 
placed, but destitute of bottom and top, its use being 
to throw the heat that rises strongly there at once to the 
top of the house. An open space at the bottom, around, 
and, I believe, into the chamber, allows plenty of cold 
air to rush in and take the place of that which is ex¬ 
pended, and rises upwards from the effects of the heat. 
The flue runs along within a few inches of the wooden 
side. A few inches from it, on the side of the bouse, a 
four-inch w'all is huilt, and, perhaps, six inches, or so, ' 
higher than the top of the flues. On this wall, and on i 
a supported medium, near the fruit, common house slates | 
arc placed; the divisions being crossed by others. The 
