362 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. February C. 
PLANTING A RUSTIC BANK OF BOOTS, &c. 
“I have made a hank about twenty feet in length, and 
four to five in height, formed of stumps of trees, intending 
it for Flowers and Ferns; it is partly under some high Scotch 
Firs. Will you kiudly tell me what are the Flowers and Ferns 
most suitable for it ?—Y. P. and II. N. E.” 
[If the high Scotch Firs shade the bank much, none of the 
best-flowering plants will succeed in that part of the block- 
bank, and that would be the best place for the Ferns. Where 
there is no shade, most of the popular herbaceous plants 
will do as well among the blocks as they would on a flat 
border; and some, as the different varieties of Antirrhinums 
and Dianthns , will live longer, resist more frost there than 
they would on the level. All the Potentillas, and all the 
Campanulas, are well suited for this bank ; also most of the 
Saxifrages, and all the Delphiniums or Lari,spurs, Iris, Sedums, 
Rockets, lupines, Penlstemons, Lychnis, Linarias, Iberis, all 
the hardy Heaths, particularly Erica stricta and hcrhacea, 
Eschscholtzin, Chclune, Calananche, and Aquilcgins. Along 
the top of the bank you ought to have some double- 
blossomed Gorse or Furze. It is just the place for half-a- 
dozen of thorn, also Evergreen Berberis ( B. aquifolia). The 
strong-growing Erica stricta should be along about the 
middle of the border, and Erica hcrhacea along the bottom. 
Yours is a fine place for spring Gentian (G. acaulis), Silene 
Scliujla, double Daisies, double and single best Primulas, 
with at least twenty kinds of Dianthns, which you can get 
from seeds. Erinvs Alpinus, and most of these Diantlmses, 
with Moneywort, and Aubrelia purpurcu and deltoides, anil 
every one of the Saxifrages, will do on the blacks, if you 
can get little hollows for them to begin ivitli. We once 
nailed pieces of such plants to blocks, such as yours, and 
our block-border was the safest place for all new plants for 
trial, as we never dug it, only stirred the surface once a year, 
and put on an inch or so of fresh soil. Avoid all strong 
creeping plants, especially such as creep much at the roots. 
Crocuses, and every one of the common hardy bulbs, will 
grow well on a block-bank, little plants of five or six kinds 
of Helianthemums, or Bock Boses, will do to stick, here and 
there, into the top or side of a block, and they will creep over 
it, and bloom to perfection. Blocks are better for them 
and for the finer kinds of Alpine Dianthns than rock-work. 
If you had asked what plants would not do for a block-bank, 
we should be fixed, and we should merely say, avoid marsh 
and water-plants. Every plant which is mentioned in The 
Cottage Gardener for rock-work will do equally well on a 
blockery, and some of them much better. All the bedding Ge¬ 
raniums, and Verbenas, and Calceolarias, will do among blocks, 
if the soil is good, and if it is not good, no plants will live 
there for any length of time. Batches of annuals, here and 
there, look well among blocks, and all the odds and ends 
and remainders may be tried there, to see what they will 
come to. One thing you must always keep in mind, and 
that is, that mice are fond of root-work, and figure-4-trap, or 
a brick, with a Pea, and a string fastened to two sticks, are the 
best traps for them.] 
VINEBY, CUCUMBER AND MELON-HOUSE. 
“ I beg to submit the following plan of a lean-to green¬ 
house to grow Vines, Cucumbers, and Melons in, for your 
approval or modification. 
“ The aspect is due south; there is a high wall at the 
back and west, and a low one at the east end. 
“ The dimensions to be twenty-four feet from e. to w., and 
eleven feet from n. to s. The height to be as you advise. 
I intend to place the door at the front, three feet from the 
west end, and a three feet wallc to go straight across to the 
main one, also three feet wide, so as to leave a bed at the 
west end, and along the back, three feet across, for the 
Vine roots (a large and vigorous Black Hamburgh, already 
growing), and one along the front, five feet wide, for Cu¬ 
cumbers, <fcc. 
“ I intend to heat it with a flue across the east end (the 
fire being in the s.e. corner, but fed from without), and two 
hot-water pipes along the bed at the front (or in lieu of 
pipes, do you think a bark-bed would answer better?). 
“ Also, will glass, fifteen ounces per foot, and cut twelve 
inches wide, be strong enough for the roof? and instead of 
sashes, will not bars of deal, one inch wide and two inches 
deep, supported at each end and in the middle, suffice ? 
with three ventilators one foot square at the top, and two 
swing sashes at the front. 
“ If you approve of the hot-water pipes, will not three- 
inch draining-tiles well luted with clay, and a metalic pipe 
to turn through the fire, the other ends entering an open 
tank, answer as well as if the pipes were all metal?— 
W. IV.” 
[See an article on greenhouses by Mr. Fish. Your con¬ 
templated house is not a greenhouse, but a hothouse, or 
forcing-house. We think we understand your contemplated 
plan. A raised border of three feet for Vines, at back; a 
walk of three feet, and then a raised bed in front of five 
feet, for Cucumbers, Melons, &c. We would advise a foot 
or eighteen inches more for the Vines, to be curtailed from 
the Cucumbers. 
Now, the form of your house must depend upon the fact, 
whether you wish things very early or not. We presume you 
can go as high as you like against the back-wall, say from 
fifteen to seventeen feet, then, if your front height was from 
five to six feet, you would have a good house for general 
purposes. But, suppose you wanted early Cucumbers and 
early Grapes, then I should recommend your back wall to 
be fifteen feot, and your front wall to be three feet, with 
lower ventilation in the wall, or some of the glass moveable. 
In the latter case, I would not take the rafter or sash-bar 
close to the wall at top to make a very acute angle there, 
but fix them to a ridge-board, about one foot from the wall. 
This would make a great difference in the matter of room 
at the top. By making several strokes upon a piece of 
paper, you will see the different appearance of such houses 
at once. Now to your questions. 
We have no faith in a bark bed in such a position, because, 
without your bed be on arches, and the tan often renewed, 
you could not get bottom-heat nor yet top-heat; a flue 
carried right round underneath the beds would be better. 
We have no faith in earthenware pipes so treated. What, if 
one cracked, or burst, or got broken ; what would you do 
with Cucumbers and Melons, and those roots above it? We 
have as little faith in a metal-pipe stuck in the fire and its 
ends entering an open tank, because the force in the tank 
would keep up no great circulation afterwards. To do the 
thing effectually, you would require a boiler similar to the 
one mentioned to-day, and you would require, at the very 
least, two flow four-inch pipes, and two return, if early work 
was wanted, and one return, in moderate circumstances. We 
would take these flow-pipes below the bed for the Cu¬ 
cumbers, and return them in the house where most con¬ 
venient, or under the bed intended for the early Vines. For 
either of these purposes, the pipes should be enclosed next 
the path by a wall; a rough grouted chamber should 
enclose them ; slides should be in the wall, to let out heat 
to the atmosphere as wanted. Above the grouting should 
be drainage, and holes left in the wall to let out extra 
moisture. The wall by the side of the path should be as 
high as would be necessary for soil. When a moist heat 
was wanted, means should be taken, by means of a pipe, to 
have moisture into the rough brickbat-chamber in which 
the pipes are placed. 
See what is said on rafters and sash-bars, in the article 
referred to. Your’s will not be strong enough for a flat roof. 
For a steep one, with a width of twelve inches apart, I 
should think that one-and-a-half and two-and-a-lialf inches 
would do, with an iron-rod going along the centre of the 
house, each rafter sash-bar fastened to it, and, perhaps, 
three or four pillars, equally divided from the two ends. 
Your ventilation at the top will not be sufficient, nor 
hardly half enough in summer. Mr. Fish has alluded to 
opening sashes in front. With such a house, threo feet in 
front, and some fifteen or sixteen feet at back, and so heated, 
you will grow good Grapes against the back wall and the 
highest part of the roof, and Cucumbers nnd Melons on the 
lowest part. We have found that the latter did well even in 
such steep-roofed house in summer, as they then received 
less direct sunshine than houses with flat roofs. You 
must have an eye to rod spider, or woe to the Vinos. Had 
wo the managing of such a house, we should divide the 
front and back bed into as many boxes, or little pits, as there 
wore lights, and then the changing or removing of one 
plant would not affect the others.] 
