THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 5, 1861. 
337 
belonging to it empty and ruined ; but though the garden was 
quite covered with weeds, there remained among them manifest 
footsteps of its founder. They found there the Borago latifolia 
sempervirens of Caspar Bauhine; Polygonatum vulgare lati- 
folium, C.B.; Aristolochia clematitis recta, C.B.; and the Dra- 
contium of Dodoens. There were then remaining two trees of 
the Arbutus, which from their being so long used to our winters, 
did not suffer from the severe cold of 1739-40, when most of 
their kind were killed in England. In the orchard there was a 
tree of the Rhamnus catharticus, about 20 feet high, and nearly 
a foot in diameter. There are at present no traces of this garden 
remaining. 
“ In the Ashmolean Library is preserved (No. 1461) a folio 
manuscript (probably in the handwriting of the elder Tra- 
descant) which purports to be ‘The Tradescants’ Orchard, 
illustrated in sixty-five coloured drawings of fruits, exhibiting 
various kinds of the Apple, Cherry, Damson, Date, Gooseberry, 
Peares, Peaches, Plums, Nectarines, Grapes, Hasell nutt, 
Quince, Strawberry, with the times of their ripening.’ 
“ Tradescant’s house, and the house adjoining, where Ashmole 
lived, previous to his taking possession of Tradescant’s house 
after Mrs. Tradescant’s death (see Ashmole’s ‘Diary’), are still 
standing, though they have undergone many alterations. Even 
there, the name of Tradescant seems forgotten; the venerable 
building is only known by a nick-name, derived most probably 
from its antique chimneys. I had many weary pilgrimages 
before I discovered the identical edifice. I have not seen the 
interior, but am aware that there are some traces of Aslimolo in 
the house, but none whatever of Tradescant in either house or 
garden. I had a conversation with the gardener of the gentle¬ 
man who now occupies it; he appeared to have an indistinct 
idea that an adept in his own profession had once lived there, 
for he observed that, “ If old What’s-his-name were alive now, 
the Potato disease could soon be cured.’ Oh! what we anti¬ 
quaries meet with! He further gave me to understand that 
‘furriners sometimes came there wishing to see the place, but 
that I was the only Englishman, that he recollected, who ex¬ 
pressed any curiosity about it.’ ”— {Ibid., iii., 394.) 
SHEPHERD’S POT CARRIER, 
By Mr. James Eadie, Bldla. 
This is a very simple contrivance to carry large pots of 
flowers or plants. It consists of two common hand-spikes, in 
this case about 6 feet long, 
1^ inch thick, and 31 inches 
wide, with a slit or mortice 
in the centre through the side 
to receive freely the cross or 
tie-pieces ; and two, what I 
will call the pieces, being 
o,2. boards 1 inch thick, and wide 
enough to be strong, with one 
end fastened with a pin or 
bolt so as to work on a pivot 
in the mortice of the liand- 
spoke; the other end made 
with a bevel of about 40°, 
or enough to close the tie- 
pieces as fast as the hand¬ 
spikes are closed ; then a pin 
on the outside of the hand- 
^ spike put through a hole in 
the tie-piecefastens thewhole 
together. The end of the 
mortice is made to fit the 
bevel of the tie-piece, so that 
the pressure of the pot can¬ 
not push it back. To take 
it off the pot, you draw out 
the pin from the hole on the 
outside of the hand-spike, 
and draw the tie-piece out 
of the mortice. The pins are 
fastened to the hand-spike 
by a string or chain, so that 
they cannot get lost. The 
curve or circle in the tie- 
pieces need not fit the circle of the pot exactly, but may be 
about a medium of what is intended to carry; if intended to 
carry from ten-inch to eighteen-inch pots, the curve might be 
7 inches wide or 14 inches diameter. 
DESCRIPTION OE FOREGOING- CUT: 
No. 1 shows the manner the tie-pieces lie in the mortice; a a 
are the two ties; b b are the mortices ; c c are the permanent 
pins; d d are the pin-holes to hold it together; e e are the 
closing slides. 
No. 2 is a side view of the hand-spike, showing the size of the 
mortice. 
No. 3 is a cross view, showing the manner of catching the 
pot; f f are the two pins holding the hand-spikes together.—• 
{American Gardener’s Monthly.) 
CHEAP SEEDS. 
It is generally admitted that 1860 has proved the most un- 
propitious season for seed-saving known for many years : con¬ 
sequently we buyers must be prepared for a few of the disap¬ 
pointments which the most careful and experienced of us meet 
with occasionally, but which it is our duty to guard against in 
the best way we can. With this object, I say, Bo not buy cheap 
seeds. Depend upon it, let the articles be what they may, cheap 
drapery, cheap cutlery, cheap provisions, or anything else—in 
fact, in the way of “awful sacrifices,” they are delusive, and, in 
general, the word “sold” is as applicable to the purchase!’ as 
to the article purchased.— John Steyens. 
ALTERING- TO THE KIDDEAN MODE OF 
HEATING. 
I have read the several articles on the Kiddean hot-air 
system with much pleasure, and in a few days hope to try it in 
my small house. Like Mr. Beaton’s, however, my furnace is 
almost on a level with the flues in the greenhouse, and this is 
my greatest source of doubt; for, unless the volume of hot air be 
sufficiently above the entrance for the cold air, it is certain that 
the draught will be limited. 
In carrying out my ideas I shall form a hot-air flue on the top 
of the present furnace-flue about 2 inches deep and 8 inches or 
9 inches broad, covering the whole with flags. At intervals I 
shall insert small dampers lying horizontally on the surface of 
the flue, by which the hot air can be conducted to any part of 
the house and distributed throughout with the greatest exactness. 
The advantages which would appear to me to be derived from 
this method would be—First, the non-interference with the 
present method of heating by flues, the whole operation being 
performed whilst the flues are at work in the old way, except a 
few hours for the rebuilding of the fireplace and hot-air flues 
at sides; and, secondly, the great saving of heat which must 
necessarily ensue by combining the flue with the Kiddean hot-air 
system. Thejair in the hot-air flue being considerably rarefied 
by being confined to the surface of the furnace-flue. 
Suppose the draught obtained by admitting the cold air about 
3 feet below the exit of the hot air into the greenhouse be in¬ 
sufficient, then I would adopt Mr. Beaton’s suggestion and raise 
a short length of pipe above each hole occupied by a damper, 
placing the latter on the top of it. I shall make use of small 
circular dampers in the shape of a star. 
Even with a furnace on a level with a pit or house, it would 
be easy to obtain a difference in level of some 3 feet or 4 feet 
between the entrance for the cold air and the outlet-pipes in the 
house, and this difference there can be no doubt would be 
sufficient to cause a considerable draught.—W. P. M. 
[I have just made exactly the same proposition to obtain 
draught, which will be in the bands of the printers along with 
this.° (See next article.) There is no advantage in carrying the 
rarefied air from the chamber along the flue ; for as soon as hot 
air enters a house from one end, as in the conservatory under 
Mr. Kidd, or from under the centre of a conservatory, as at Pit- 
maston, or from the top of the back wall, as was Mr. Penn’s 
first plan, it diffuses itself immediately over the whole house. 
Now, however, that the hot air is fairly on the move, I must tell 
of a move of my own to set it a-going. I made a mistake in the 
first article I wrote on the subject without giving it a thought, 
for I only took up the subject from a conversation with Mr. Kidd 
at a Christmas party, and he had no idea that I should tell it 
