June 2G. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
21? 
nearly as strong as the first, and then let them both go 
on equal terms, all would go on well : but we cannot 
stop growth one moment in the growing season—the 
right season for stopping; for as soon as we “top” 
a shoot, if only by breaking a bud, the next buds below 
will yield to the force of the rising fluid or sap imme¬ 
diately, and many of the summer practices are founded 
on this knowledge; as, for instance, a Rose-bud of last 
autumn is now a one-shoot plaut, and very apt to be 
blown over by the wind or other force; but stop it at 
the top, and out it brauches in ten days, and will soon 
make a beautiful round head. Those who neglect to 
take advantage of this may get one shoot from a bud 
up to three feet in length ; but what is the good of that? 
they must be cut down to four or five eyes next winter; 
and it will be this time next year before a head, such as 
our present head, can be had. Almost all nurserymen 
spoil, or lay down the foundation for the ruin of, Peach 
and Apricot trees, by leaving the original bud to form 
one gross shoot the first year, instead of stopping it 
when it is nine or ten inches long, and take five shoots 
from the next start for wall-trees,- and four shoots only, 
and of equal strength, for pots and Orchard-house work. 
D. Beaton. 
Crystal Palace Street. —We shortly alluded to this 
a week or two since, and the plan, since then, has been 
made public. We heard it wittily observed upon this 
plan, that “ Sir Joseph had now a glass too much;” but 
it is by no means clear to us that “when Peace returns 
once more,” such a Crystal Boulevard will not be con¬ 
structed. 
We copy the following particulars from The Times :— 
“ Much interest has been excited by the publication of the 
plan understood to have been in preparation for some time 
by Sir Joseph Paxton for effecting a new and thorough 
communication between the city and the west end, and its 
ultimate extension in the nature of a boulevard round Lon¬ 
don. The proposal embraces a carriage arcade of the same 
breadth as the transept in the old Crystal Palace, which was 
wider than that of the present one, starting from the 
Mansion-house towards Southwark-bridge, crossing the 
river, running to the South-Western Railway station, and 
thence across the river near Hungerford-bridge to the 
Regent-circus, the communication by this route being nearly 
the same in point of distance as that by the Strand. At the 
same time a line of similar character would branch from a 
point near the South-Western Railway to the Houses of 
Parliament and Victoria-street by a bridge at Lambeth, and, 
as at the back of the houses on each side atmospheric lines 
of railway are to be constructed, the transit between Bel¬ 
gravia and the Bank would thus be reduced to about eight 
minutes, and between the Bank and Charing-cross, or the 
Regent’s-circus, to about five or six minutes. This railway 
would be at an elevation to enable it to pass across the 
various streets which it would intersect without interfering 
with any of the existing roads, and the system would involve 
a constant succession of express trains as well as of stopping 
trains at every half-mile or less, so arranged as to be per¬ 
fectly noiseless. The carriage-way of the arcade, it is con¬ 
templated, should be closed against waggons between 9 in 
the morning and 0 at night, to insure the facilities for quick 
passenger traffic as well as for increasing the attraction of 
the costly shops on each side, and among the prominent 
recommendations of property on the line would be the pro¬ 
tection afforded to all kinds of goods by its cleanliness, 
equable temperature, brightness of light, and immunity 
from weather as a promenade and drive in summer and 
winter. The estimated cost of this improvement, which Sir 
Joseph Paxton considers would be the largest thoroughfare 
in the world, and such as to make London the most mag¬ 
nificent and convenient city in existence, is Til,300,000, 
and the calculated returns from rents and railway revenue 
are T938,000, or between 8 and !) per cent. To insure its 
completion, however, in the best manner for the interests of 
the nation, it is contended that the co-operation of Govern¬ 
ment should be obtained, and that this should consist in a 
guarantee of 4 per cent, interest for GO years, on condition 
that a half of one per cent, should he set aside annually to 
redeem the capital within that period, and that all receipts 
above 4. per cent, should be equally divided between the 
State and the company. Under this it would appear that, if 
the property were to yield the anticipated return of 8 per 
cent., the transaction would result in the nation receiving an 
annual payment of more than T200,000 for 60 years, and at 
the end of that time being put in possession of the entire 
property, without ever having incurred, an expenditure of a 
shilling, while the public would gain three free bridges and 
the removal of delays and obstacles which have been esti¬ 
mated to cause an annual money loss of upwards of a 
million sterling to the trade of the kingdom. The ultimate 
extension of the undertaking as a boulevard encircling Lon¬ 
don, and connecting all the railway stations, would increase 
the total cost to T34,000,000, but it is obvious that the grand 
point of bringing the city and the west end into rapid com¬ 
munication should be the first to command attention, and it 
is an advantageous feature of the plan, that this object, 
which appears free from uncertainty, can be accomplished 
by itself, leaving the remainder to be carried out as a neces¬ 
sary consequence of its success.” 
A GOSSIP ABOUT PITS. 
A great many enquiries having lately been made on 
this subject, I will endeavour to meet a number of them, 
as the sooner all building operations are decided upon, 
the better order will the structures be in for giving good 
service in winter. The severity of the last winter has 
made many anxious to improve their various receptacles 
for plants, and no time should be lost in effecting them. 
TURF PITS. 
“I have a small turf pit, in which I managed to keep 
many bedding plants lust season, while I lost many, or 
the most of those wintered in a brick pit, which 1 had 
built at great cost. Shall I be wrong in extending my 
turf pits? Have you any suggestion to make? The pit is 
eighteen inches deep in front, and three feet behind, 
half below and half above the ground level, posts having 
previously been knocked in every four feet, on which a 
stout rail was fixed top and bottom, to receive the 
sashes. The great enemy is damp.” Where success is 
gained, that in general proves that the means employed 
cannot be far wrong. The construction of turf pits has 
frequently been recommended in this work to those 
where economy and utility were paramount objects. A 
pit made of turves, or even of earth, fifteen inches in 
width, will be a better security from frost than a com¬ 
mon brick wall nine inches thick. The turf is better 
than mere earth, because, until it becomes quite decom¬ 
posed by age, it will retain more confined air, which 
will act as a non-conductor. This is what is to be 
guarded against in a cold pit with brick walls in very 
severe weather. The conducting powers of the bricks 
will, ere long, cause outside and inside temperature to 
agree, if nothing is done to protect the wall. I 
know of several instances of ruinous results this last 
winter, because, though the glass was sufficiently pro¬ 
tected to keep out almost any possible amount of frost, 
the enemy entered by the side w r alls, which were left 
exposed. Here, again, the turf and earth walls have an 
advantage, independently of their inferior conducting of 
heat powers. It will be easiest to build them on the 
outside in a slanting position. For instance, if the wall 
is to be from two to two-and-a-half feet above the surface, 
I would make it eighteen inches wide at the base, and 
only nine inches at the top—the inside being upright, 
