THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 6. 
300 
PRESERVING A SMALL QUANTITY OF ICE. 
In answer to your request, I beg to lay before you the 
plan I adopted for the keeping of a small quantity of ice, 
from winter till the middle of August; being perfectly satisfied 
that if a large quantity were stored in the same way it may 
be kept till ice again makes its appearance on our lakes and 
ponds the following winter. For my part, I see no reason 
why, if properly secured, it should not last or keep as long 
as if in an icehouse. 
The method adopted was as follows :—The hands em¬ 
ployed were limited; I had, therefore, to work accordingly. 
I got fifteen cart loads to the spot selected for slacking. This 
was one day’s work, the ice being left in largo pieces as we 
got it from the pond. The spot selected was a little above 
the surrounding level, in order to insure perfect drainage. 
We next proceeded to breaking, which was well done, one 
man continually throwing it on the stack, whilst the others 
broke it; and, notwithstanding what Mr. Robson says to the 
contrary, we succeeded in forming a good roof; of course, 
some would fall down in the act of breaking, but this was 
broken and thrown up after. The ice on the outside was 
then beaten very small and firm. It was then covered with 
straw, and allowed to remain till a frost set in, which 
happened a night or two after. Between 10 and 11 r.ai. I 
went to the stack and uncovered it. I then took a large 
watering pot of boiling water and spread it equally over the 
ice ; then left it till next day, and then had it covered with a 
coating of straw about six inches thick. Then round the 
base I proceeded to dig a trench about three feet wide, for a 
two fold purpose, the soil being thrown on the covered ice, 
and the trench to serve to carry away or drain the stack 
more perfectly. The whole was then thatched neatly. 
Some of your clever and intelligent writers and readers 
may not agree with me in the application of hot water. I 
applied it upon recommendation, although no reason was 
assigned why it should be of any utility. If it be of use, I 
take it to be this,—the outside being beaten fine, the hot water 
then poured on melts a small part, which with itself is soon 
cooled to the freezing point, and forms one mass; this 
coating then fixes the air contained in the stack, and prevents 
communication with the external, consequently, I think, 
nearly all the melting or wasting takes place at the bottom. 
Those who condemn the theory may admit the practice. I 
do not know but that cold water would do as well, but, 
certainly, think one of the two desirable.—J. R. 
PEACH-BLOSSOM DESTROYED BY ANTS. 
We have, at present, one of our Peach-houses in full 
bloom ; but ants (Formica) are making a sad havoc among 
them. I was not at all surprised at seeing them very busy 
over the trees at this stage, as it is not uncommon, parti¬ 
cularly if the green-fiy has made its appearance. What first 
took my attention was, that all under the trellis was covered 
with petals, stamens, &c. This led me to a minute exami¬ 
nation of the trees, and to my great mortification, I found that 
very few blossoms had escaped them; of some, the stamens 
were eaten or cut out; in others, all the parts were taken 
away; and in other instances, the anthers only were cut off, 
which the ants carried away in the direction of where they 
seemed to have their nests. 
On examining one of the damaged flowers with a magni¬ 
fying glass, I could plainly see the skin of the embryo de¬ 
stroyed and eaten, in appearance like what I have seen 
wood-lice eat out of apples and such-like. For my own part, 
I never knew ants harm the flowers like this. Still, it may 
not be of rare occurrence. 
I may state, that I have been very successful in trapping 
them. I was going to try honey, as recommended in The 
Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary, but having none at command, 
I substituted molasses, and the effect was all I could desire. 
I caught and killed thousands. I coated the inside of 
several flower-pots with molasses, and placed them in 
proximity with their nests. I also put some all round the 
stems of the trees, and the same on the bearers of the 
trellis. In a very short time after there were evident signs 
of confusion among those still on the trees. I gave the 
trellis a smart shake, which had the effect of increasing 
their alarm, for the rest of the time I watched they showed 
no inclination to resume their former depredation. In six 
hours after there were none to be seen on tbe trees, except¬ 
ing those that got fast in the molasses put round the stem. 
I think many of them must have made their exit by tbe top, 
or any other way as best they could, without coming in con¬ 
tact with the molasses. 
I may add, that there were no green flies in the house; 
for it had been well fumigated a few days previously to the 
blossoms expanding, and we keep no plants in the house. 
I should feel obliged for a hint about this case in your 
“ Notice to Correspondents,” if it is only a common mis¬ 
fortune ; if not, it may interest some others.— A. McLeod, 
Wentworth Gardens, near llotherham. 
[Have any of our readers met with an instance similar to 
this ? IVe have always considered ants beneficial rather 
than injurious, except in malting free with ripe fruit.] 
GROWING CUCUMBERS IN A PINERY. 
Seeing so much on Cucumber-growing in your numbers, 
I beg to state what l am doing at the present time, in a 
stove about thirty feet long, heated by “ Pannell’s Appa¬ 
ratus,” in a very simple way, with plain pipes for both top 
and bottom-heat. I cut fourteen Cucumbers and three 
Pine-apples for Christmas, and I have cut five-aud-a-balf 
dozen of Cucumbers, and ten Black Jamnica Pine-apples, 
this month (January), and there are fifty more Cucumbers 
now coming on. They are called the Sion House ; but 
many of them were eighteen inches long, and fine, hand¬ 
some fruit. 
They are trained up to a trellis, along at the back of the 
Pines. The temperature of the house has been kept from 
C5 U to 70°, and the bottom-heut about 80°. I have, also, 
a half-dozen Cucumber plants in my succession Pine pit, 
and they are trained up in the same way, along the back of 
the Pines, to a trellis which comes partly over the walk. 
The heat here has been only 00° at night, and the Cu¬ 
cumber plants look very clean and healthy, and are now full 
of fruit, but they do not come on so fast as those in the 
stove, and the fruit are much shorter, and more the colour 
of the Sion House, though the plants were all from the 
same seed. 
I find, from what I have seen around this neighbourhood, 
that success in growing winter Cucumbers depends more 
on a pure, wholesome atmosphere, than a high temperature, 
which only exhausts the plants.— Henry Barnes, Park Hall, 
Chesterfield. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
THE OLDEST VARIETY OF THE APPLE. 
‘‘Which is the oldest variety of the Apple known to be 
existing in England ?— Hebeeoed.” 
[This is not a question so easy to be answered as at first 
sight it appears ; for who can prove that the Pearinains and 
Golden Pippins of our days are the same varieties, as the 
Peamiains mentioned in the time of Edward the I., and the 
Pippins grown by the gardener of Henry the VIII? All 
that with certainty can be said, is that we have well-known 
Apples bearing the same names. Mr. Hogg difl'ers from 
this our opinion, and thus speaks of The Winter Pearmain, 
in his “ British Pomology.” 
“ This is, I believe, the oldest existing English apple on 
record. It is noticed as being cultivated in Norfolk, as early 
as the year 1200,—what evidence against Mr. Knight’s 
theory! In Blomefield’s History of Norfolk, there is 
mention of a tenure in that county by petty serjeantry, 
and the payment of two hundred pcarmains, and four 
hogsheads of cider of pcarmains into the Exchequer, at 
the feast of St. Michael, yearly. It is the original of all 
the Pearmains, a name now applied to a great variety of 
apples. Much doubt has existed as to the origin of this word, 
aud in a communication to the ‘ Gardener's Chronicle ’ for 
