478 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 20. 
an occasional steamer upon its surface. Nothing broke the 
solitude, save the wild cries of the sea-birds, the hark of a 
dog, and the lowing of the cattle. The fields are divided by 
a broad margin of turf, and the soil is neither bog earth 
nor vegetable mould; but a black silt, resembling the soil 
of Holland, in which our Dutch flower-bulbs are grown. Iu 
many places I could pass my walking-stick down to the 
handle. The ploughmen appeared to have been tempted to 
their work more by the fineness of the day than by the 
fitness of the soil; for a previous shower had rendered 
it tenacious, and it drove down before the breast of the 
plough, instead of lying in ridges. Who knows, but that 
one day a railroad to this Island may convert it into a 
nursery ground for the supply of fruit and vegetables to 
Covent Garden ; an outside petal to the “rose.” At present, 
the produce finds its way to London principally by barges, 
land conveyances being both difficult and dangerous. 
Flocks of sea-gulls attend upon the ploughs, and cheer 
the labourer in his work; their white and silvery-grey 
plumage contrasting strongly with the newly-turned up 
black soil; those lagging behind to secure some favourite 
morsel will again fly forward and dive into the centre of 
their companions; when startled, the flock rises with a blaze, 
makes a short circuit, and then settles as before. They are 
a great boon to the farmers, devouring quantities of grubs, 
insects, and their larva. These birds are half domesticated ; 
tame enough to feel at home, yet wild enough to fly some¬ 
times quite away. 
Crops ripen earlier here than upon the mainland ; and it 
is customary for gangs of labourers, from the higher parts 
of Essex, to take their first harvest here, and return to their 
second at home. Irishmen, also, find their way to the [ 
island, and make not only a second harvest, but finish with , 
hop-picking in Kent: they then usually entrust their gains I 
to one or two of their companions, and the remainder will 
either beg their way back under false pretences, or else 
procure passes at the parish expense. Fraud is an oblique 
movement, discreditable alike to industry and frugality. 
Of late years, Artesian wells have been introduced with 
success, good water being very scarce. From the depth of 
400 feet, blue clay comes up, incorporated with rooted fibres 
and vegetable substances. These subterranean revelations 
throw a light back upon the past, and forward upon the 
future. It would promote science, and benefit neighbour¬ 
hoods, if a long glass tube was filled consecutively with a 
specimen of each stratum, and be still better if the thickness 
of each was recorded. Draw-wells should have a bucket 
holding two pailfuls (the usual quantity required), with a 
valve at the bottom, to open and fill itself, and to rise and 
fall with a spring, after the manner of a carriage-blind, and 
such as are now adopted in some coal-pits. 
There is a drear, wild charm belonging to this island; 
its silence and solitude; its inhabitants and sea-birds; its 
slow, but progressive improvements; its contiguous delta of 
marshes and rivers, with their tides and currents; one 
wants to bring the whole away with one, like a huge fossil, 
to examine it at home and at leisure. A person may seat 
himself upon the sea-wall, to the foot of which the tide flows, 
and as it ebbs, watch the aquatic birds as they arrive in 
Hocks, and settle upon the sands at his feet to pick up the 
small marine fry left by the retiring waves. Every twelve 
hours their table is spread, and fresh provision supplied to 
them by the hand of Nature; an evidence of the Divine 
protection and love. Birds have been poetically called 
“flowers with wings;” this would convert a sandbank, 
dotted over with them, in their varied plumage, into a 
garden. An ornithologist might here get a better practical 
lesson on their habits than he could gather from books. 
The sea on the south east embraces the island with two 
arms, and where these meet at the north west, a ridge of 
shingle is thrown up,forming a narrow causeway, which con¬ 
nects it with the main laud. This may be two or three miles 
long, and can only bo traversed when the tide is low, and 
that by persons well acquainted with its dangers; strong 
winds drive up the water suddenly, and woe bo to the unwary 
traveller who is caught midway; ho would have but a small 
chance for escape to relate his journey. Neither precaution 
nor experience can always bar accidents. Our host, sub¬ 
sequent to our visit, was getting a drove of bullocks over to 
the island, when the waters rose and entangled them, twenty 
were drowned, and their dead bodies, as they floated about, 
were hauled ashore by boatmen on the following day. 
The inhabitants are, for the most part, a sturdy and 
amphibious race ; and as much at case in the management 
of a boat as in guiding the plough. They appear less in¬ 
debted for their happiness to intellectual than physical en¬ 
joyments. Their cup may be full, but its capacity is not large, 
and its contents are neither varied nor refined. Of what 
we are ignorant, we do not desire; but knowledge, and not 
ignorance, is the principle of good. 
We returned to the cottage with appetites not destined to 
be disappointed, for a repast was provided so ample, that one 
might on the following day, without much inconvenience, 
have dined on the savoury remnants of it. A long and 
social chat with our host finished the evening, and an hour’s 
sail brought us to Paglesliam, from whence we reached 
Kochford to lodge.—S. P., Rushmere. 
ANOTHER MODE OF HEATING AN AMATEUR’S 
HOTHOUSE. 
Ahotjt two years ago, I became a subscriber to your very 
useful weekly publication, and from the very precise mode 
in which the treatment of the various plants ure conveyed, 
I became more and more anxious to try my hand in following 
out your directions, but my great drawback was the want of 
a hothouse. I resolved to supply this want, and alter 
enquiries, as to price, &o., I then resolved to set to work 
myself. I have the mornings and the evenings unoccupied 
in my business, and during two or three of the last summer 
mouths I thus had time to complete my small house. I 
was never a day in a wright’s shop, or in any mechanical 
shop, yet I neither applied to nor had the assistance of any¬ 
one, except nearly two days of a mason, building in the 
furnace and the small brick-wall to place the glass frames 
in. I went to the saw-mills, ordered my wood to be cut. I 
ordered the glass, purchased a few tools, and then went to 
work, as carpenter and glazier, and without boasting of my 
work, 1 made a very neat and strong house of it. It is ten 
feet long, seven feet wide, and five feet high at the sides, 
with span-roof above. Should any of your correspondents 
wish for information as to how I proceeded, or as to the cost, 
Ac., I shall be very glad to write again. I may mention, that 
I am only a tenant, and I so planned my structure, as that 
I would easily remove every bit of it, and, hence, my device 
of the heating apparatus. I heat by a small furnace placed 
at the north-west corner (outside) by a pipe going round the 
inside, and through the roof at the north-east corner. I got 
at the foundry two small furnace-doors, one to go above the 
fire-brander, the other below it; and from the winter’s ex¬ 
perience, I find that the two are of the utmost importance, 
as by opening, shutting, or keeping ajar, I could regulate 
my fire to a nicety. Then, the first turn of the pipe was 
built to the back of the hrander, and so round, as above. 
The pipe is six inches diameter inside, about one inch 
thick, and glazed inside. It is the pipe used for conveying 
water. Each piece is about a yard long, with a turned-out 
socket at one end, for allowing the other end to slip in for 
two or three inches, the open cavity is filled with thinnisli 
mason’s mortar, to prevent the smoke getting out. The 
corners are turned like the half of the letter S, thus C- 
I, of course, required four of these turned corners ; and two 
of the ordinary pipes, placed upright, on the north east 
corner turn, go up through the span-roof. These pipes are 
very strong, and one great advantage is, that the house can 
be heated in less than ten minutes from the time of ; putting 
on the Jire. Not the smallest particle of smoke escapes in 
the inside. The expense of these pipes was Is. Od. each; 
the corner ones 2s. lid. each. I paid for the whole needed, 
.£1 Is. 3d. The turn nearest the furnace I have covered 
with sand, so as to form a forcing- bed. 
In conclusion, and for the encouragement of amateurs, I 
have to assure them that suoh a house requires very little 
trouble. My fire was scarcely out all the six weeks of frost; 
and although my house was completely filled with Pelar¬ 
goniums, Fuchsias, Ac., with scarcely a foot walk up it, yet 
I have not lost above three or four young Fuchsias during 
