July 10.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
233 
common sorts, tlie valves being very roughly made, and not 
being provided with soft leather to deaden the noise, the 
clank-clanking of the valve shutting and opening con¬ 
tinually by the action of the currents is very annoying. 
The design given in the present article, the invention of 
Mr. Bryan, of Edinburgh, is one in every way worthy of 
general adoption. A recent writer on ventilation, Burn’s 
Practical Ventilation , says, “ a more elegant (in principle), 
simple, and thoroughly efficient contrivance, could not be 
adopted for the ventilation of private apartments. It is 
decidedly by far the best we have yet seen or examined.” 
The way to make the ventilator is as follows:—Make a hole 
within a few inches of the ceiling, as near it as possible, in 
the chimney breast, or that part of the wall above the fire¬ 
place. For a room of twelve or fourteen feet square, a hole 
of six inches diameter will be sufficient:—suppose tbe thick¬ 
ness of wall to be twelve inches; widen out the side nearest 
the room to a diameter of twelve inches outside, and sloping 
funnel-shaped, as shown in tlie sketch ; so that half of the 
thickness of the chimney breast, 
■.yi or six inches, shall be left of the 
diameter of the original hole, or 
six inches. Make a zinc funnel 
to fit this funnel-shaped hole in 
the wall, and fasten it therein by 
good cement. At the large end 
in the apartment, fix a lid, or 
cover, hinged on one side, and 
■U.J fastened on the opposite side by 
a small knob. The whole of this 
lid must not be solid, but a centre piece of diameter larger 
than the small hole only :—suppose the hole in the wall, 
nearest the chimney, to be six inches, the solid centre piece 
of the cover should be six-and-a-half inches diameter; and 
care should be taken to have this centre piece exactly opposite 
the hole. Bound the solid centre piece, pierce a number of 
small holes, or make this part of perforated zinc. 
Thus fitted up, the action is as follows :—By a reference to 
the figure, the bad air from the room is seen passing in 
by the dotted lines, thiough the small apertures in the cover, 
and by the upward current in the chimney, pulled along 
the tube and delivered up tbe flue. If a blow down should 
take place, and force the smoke along the tube towards the 
room, it strikes against the solid centre piece, expands in the 
wide part of the funnel, and is carried back to the chimney 
by the force of the renewed draught. If the blow down is 
apt to be continuous in any chimney in which this is fixed, 
a “top” must be placed at the outside of the chimney flue 
to prevent these down draughts. We shall, in the present 
series, shew an admirable and cheap contrivance for this 
purpose. Where the chimney is what is called a “ good 
drawing one,” a better ventilator than the one we have de¬ 
scribed could not be adopted: there are no moving parts 
which are liable to be deranged, and once set up it continues 
working without further supervision. Where put up they 
have been eminently successful. B. 
KILLING WEEDS ON GRAVEL-WALKS. 
I find the best thing to kill small weeds and lichen, on 
fine-rolled gravel-walks, is vitriolic acid; the common ma¬ 
terial used in manufactories, at about a shilling a gallon. 
Get an old thruvn-mop, and dip it into a bucket of water 
infused with about a quart of the acid, or as much more as 
you chose to afford; lightly dab the wetted mop on the 
tops of the weeds in the walk, and the acid will effectually 
kill them. Avoid the box-edgings by using as little liquid 
as possible. But as ladies’ dresses and shoes are in danger 
from the operation, the walk should be stopped up until a 
good shower of rain falls, or if you get a bucket of water the 
next day, infused with the common washing soda, and apply 
it in the same manner with a mop (but rather more plenti¬ 
fully) you neutralize and render harmless the acid; but not 
until after it has killed the weeds. I am not now referring 
to thoroughly untidy walks full of weeds, but to neat walks 
partially infected with them. A Worcestershire Man. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Yellow Rocket. —Will S, who offered slips of this, oblige us with 
his address. 
Liquid Manure (A Novice ),—No “ chemical liquid manure ” is 
equal to that made from sheep’s-dung, of which you could obtain a 
supply from any butcher. Y r our garden having been long out of cultivation, 
should be for that reason more fertile than if hard cropped, but if still 
“ poor,” be assured nothing will grow there satisfactorily until you have 
improved it by a good dressing of slowly-decomposing manure, such as 
that from stables. The best “ chemical liquid manure,” is sulphate of 
ammonia, but it must be applied very weak, a quarter of an ounce to a 
a gallon of water, and this will not be a recompence for a deficiency of 
decomposing matters in the soil. 
Wild Flowers (H. M. B.). —There is no “ cheap, yet illustrated and 
comprehensive work on English Wild Flowers.” Smith’s English Flora 
is the best, but it is not illustrated ; Sowerby’s English Botany is highly 
illustrated, but very high priced ; Mrs. Loudon’s British Wild Flowers, 
is published in monthly parts, is illustrated, and tolerably comprehensive. 
You can buy a part and decide for yourself, whether it meets your wishes. 
Dublin (An Early Subscriber).—Tux Cottage Gardener inva¬ 
riably leaves our office on Tuesday, per rail, to be ready for delivery on 
Thursday. When delay occurs, it must be in the steam-packets, over 
which we have no control, and we cannot send off earlier than Tuesday. 
Your Petunia is of good form, but not new in colour (straw-coloured 
self), and the petal is very thin. The great desideratum now in Petunias, 
is to get more substance into the petal. Form and size are already 
attained. 
Gas Lime (K .).—We should not mix gas lime with stable or other 
dung; but if mixed with earth it forms an excellent top-dressing for 
grass land, especially if spread just before rain. 
Taylor’s Hives ( W. Jebbett). —For the advantages of Taylor’s Bar 
Hive, see The Cottage Gardener, vol. i., page 306, a figure of it is 
there also given. It would be less expense and trouble to make a Taylor’s 
Bar Hive at once, than to convert a Nutt’s into one ; indeed, it could not 
be done correctly. If guide-combs are placed upon the bars, as directed 
by Mr. Taylor, in his Bee-keepei-s’ Manual, the bees will never work 
across the bars; cork may be used, if you please, for floating in your 
feeding-pan, but we have had the same piece of wood in use for this pur¬ 
pose for seven years, and it still keeps afloat. 
Bees. —A correspondent (S.) says:—“On a vigorous stock of bees 
I placed, during April, a super, which was not taken possession of until 
the 20 th of May, but by the end of the month it was so nearly filled with 
comb, that I thought it best, on the 5th of June, to insert between the 
two boxes, a triplet. Since that time, nothing appears to have been done, 
but the combs, some of which are sealed, have gradually been deserted, 
that on the last bar remaining unfinished, and without honey. What is 
the cause of this cessation from labour ? The openings to admit the 
slides, I found were large enough to admit the bees entrance and exit; 
for a day or two ago, I saw numbers of bees going in laden with pollen, 
besides others. Does this prove that brood are in the super ? and have I 
done right to stop up these side entrances ? Since doing so, i. e., this 
morning, I have observed new comb begun in the triplet, but not on the 
guide-comfi. Perhaps, if the floor-board of tbe super had been removed, 
the delay would not have occurred ? or would it not have been better to 
have deprived the bees of a comb or two, rather than have given the ad¬ 
ditional comb ? June 24th. On examining proceedings this morning, I 
find that there is a comb on every bar in the upper box, and that six out of 
the eight, are the entire length, and down to the floor-board, the re¬ 
maining two are nearly completed, but most of the comb is empty, 
perhaps two combs are sealed. There is, what appears to me, a queen’s 
cell there also, it is affixed to the back of the centre comb, and is nearly 
perpendicular. The bees are now building in the centre box, but not 
nearly so vigorously as they did in the first super. What would you 
advise ? ” The cause of the cessation from labour you complain of, arose 
from your supplying the triplet too soon ; both boxes should have been 
filled with bees and honey, and signs of swarming shown by clustering at 
the mouth, before you added the triplet; indeed, it is only to be used in 
such emergencies, when swarming is anticipated before the proprietor 
has opportunity to take out a box or two of honey. (Taylor’s Bar Hive, 
we presume, you are speaking of.) Y'ou have done right in stopping up 
the openings ; one is quite sufficient, and better than more, for any hive. 
If you can take out the leaf of comb having the queen’s cell upon it, it 
will be as well, and if it contains brood, cut off the queen’s cell, and 
return the bar with the brood. 
Bees (A Country Vicar). —The bees of your “ unusually large swarm ” 
will not require feeding. If the “ old hive ” sends out a cast (the pro¬ 
bability of which you may ascertain by the queen’s piping) you can hive 
it into one of Taylor’s Bar Hives, and in the autumn unite the bees from 
the old stock with it. It is probable, though not at all desirable, that 
your strong swarm will throw off another; if it does, by all means unite 
it to the cast in Taylor’s hive. You did wrong in putting the cap upon 
the swarm, you should have -waited eighteen or twenty days ; as it is, 
you will, in all probability, have it filled with brood, instead of fine 
honey, as it would otherwise have been. 
Bees (H. T.). —Y r our proposed plan is quite correct, and will answer 
perfectly. Fuller reply next week. 
Watering (B - le - B.). — You ask if and why “it is injurious 
to water during hot sunshine,” and we reply that it is injurious because 
it excites the roots to increased absorption, and consequently, the leaves 
to increased transpiration of moisture; then, immediately after, the 
surface of the earth becomes caked, and the root-moisture is evaporated; 
yet the excited leaves go on with their increased transpiring, and flag 
and parch worse than before. Naturally, abundance of water in the 
form of vain, never comes to the roots of plants, except when the air is 
saturated with moisture, so that though there is an increase of water to ; 
the roots, less is given off by the leaves. To imitate this dictate of 
nature as nearly as possible, gardeners give water of an evening just as 
they are closing their glass, for this secures a damp atmosphere at the 
same time. 
London: Printed by Harry Wooldridge, Winchester High-street, 
in the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, No. 2, Amen Corner, in the Parish of 
Christ Church, City of London. —July 10th, 1851. 
