THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Maech 23. 1858. 379 
LITTLE HINTS EOR LITTLE GARDENS. 
i 
Peach Teee Blossoms shrivelled. 
“ The weather being so cold and frosty, I was obliged 
to put on good fires, to keep up the recommended 
degree of temperature ; and the sun coming out power¬ 
fully, I gave a great deal of air, and yet the blooms 
near the openings were shrivelled and parched up, as 
if they had been burnt with a strong current from an 
oven.” Exactly so. The Peach tree is impatient, 
especially in its earlier stages, of much fire heat. When 
in bloom, and in such cold nights as we have had 
lately, it would be safer to have the house below 50° 
in a morning, than many degrees above it. A high 
temperature at night has ever a weakening tendency, 
as it encourages mere exhaustion, without addition of 
solid material. Though average temperatures may be 
spoken of, with great propriety (and in ordinary circum¬ 
stances must be adhered to), still, in extraordinary cir¬ 
cumstances, they are better kept in the breach than the 
observance. For instance, we shall suppose that it is 
desirable that the night temperature of a house should 
be 60°, in ordinary circumstances (and that is 5° higher 
than I should wish a Peach house to be), until all the 
fruit are set and swelling ; but a sudden fall of the 
thermometer, out of doors, of 10° or 20° takes place, 
accompanied with a searching wind; and, in such cir¬ 
cumstances, if I could not protect the house by any 
means, I would prefer to allow the inside temperature 
to fall 5° or 10°, rather than debilitate the plants by a 
dry atmosphere, or keep the heat and moisture in 
unison by a needless waste of fuel; recollecting that 
though, in such circumstances, I can raise a suitable 
amount of moisture in the atmosphere by evaporation, 
that yet all evaporation exerts a cooling influence on 
the body from whence it comes, and thus cannot be 
secured without an extra poke at the furnace. By 
acting on this principle, you can safely allow the house 
to rise with sun heat, during the day, some 20° or so, 
and with but comparatively small openings for air; and 
thus no drawing, or weakening, of the tissues of the 
plant takes place, because the expansion by heat is 
neutralised, by the assimilating powers imparted by the 
sunbeam. Peach and other trees, thus treated, will 
ripen their fruit rather sooner than those kept to a 
high uniform temperature at night, whatever the out¬ 
side weather. 
If, instead of being sunny, the day should be dark 
and lowering, after such a frofty night, it is an easy 
matter to raise the house from 5° to 10° during the day, 
by a little fire heat; as, though dull, there is more light 
then than at night, and the slight rise will not only be 
natural, but be attended with no debilitating conse- 
j quences. Eire heat should not, then, be given, to 
any extent, until it is pretty evident that there will be 
little or no sun : every good fire attender ought, there- 
I fore, to be able to judge pretty correctly of what the 
weather will be for the day, at least. How often, on a 
cold morning, are the fires set going vigorously the 
first thing, without ever feeling the pipes or flues, and 
without ever so much as scanning the sky, to judge 
what the day is likely to be. Need we wonder, then, 
that such things, as our correspondent complains of, 
take place ? The pipes or flues are well heated, the 
atmosphere thus also, very likely, extra dried ; a bright 
sun, with its heat, penetrates the house; the fire heat 
and the sun heat meet—the thermometer gallops up ; 
air is given, and then more and more ; the dry heated 
air rushes out, and the dry frosty air rushes in; and, 
by the two dried currents, the tender flowers are pretty 
much as well drained of all their available juices, as if 
you had repeatedly brought a plate of hot iron in near 
contact with them. Of course, I am speaking of a day 
! when, though the sun be shining, the air is piercing 
and dry enough to crack the hands of those exposed to 
its influence. I am not alluding to a day, V.'heii the 
air is mild and moist; but, in that case, neither W6hld 
there be any necessity for strong day fires. 
Elad I authority, 1 would wish it to be established, 
as one of the first principles of forcing, that “ a strong 
fire heat and a strong sun heat should not meet toge¬ 
ther.” In large houses, containing their thousands of 
cubic feet of air, the breaking of this rule Will be 
attended with less danger. In all small houses, quickly 
heated and quickly cooled, such a meeting of heating 
forces, and especially in the weather referred to, will 
always be liable to produce injurious results; to say 
nothing of the extra fuel consumed. Supposing that 
our inquirer, on glancing at the sky in the morning, 
had come to the conclusion that the sun was likely to 
be bright, and would be on his house ere long j then, 
if there was any heat at all in his pipes, it would not 
be desirable to increase it, unless the house was very 
low indeed. The atmosphere would thus escape being 
extra dried ; the sun would raise the heat gradually • 
and, if the wind was very piercing, it would be ad¬ 
visable in this case (and indeed in every case) to give 
a little air early, and just a little more when required, 
but giving altogether in such circumstances as little 
as possible, so that the house did not get too high; 
and it is very little air that is wanted to secure that, 
if the openings are made early, and the heating medium 
is next to cold. In extreme cases, when the wind is 
sharp and dry, instead of openings above a few inches 
in width, it would be advisable to slightly shade 
the house. Even throwing a little water over the out¬ 
side of the glass, with a syringe, will often be useful. 
Much injury is often caused on a bright sunny day 
(and having a keen dry air), from thinking that hardly 
too much air can be given in such circumstances, 
whilst less than is generally given will be quite suffi¬ 
cient, if the house is kept comparatively cool at night; 
and the heating medium is coolish before the sun 
strikes the house. I do not at all undervalue fresh air 
when speaking thus. Were I near a coal pit, I would 
never have plant-houses, or forcing-houses, thoroughly 
shut. I believe they need fresh air at night, quite as 
much as during the day. The giving of air early in 
the morning is just a compromise, between utility and 
pounds for fuel. Eor want of that compromise, how¬ 
ever-refraining from opening the ventilators, until 
you could scarcely pass through the house for heat, and 
giving it freely then—many a fruit has been scalded, 
or arrested in its growth, by the sudden change. 
Then, how would you proceed in such weather as 
we have lately had? Well, here is a Peach house, 
in bloom, with a roof at 45° slope, ten feet high, and 
ten feet wide. In the frostiest nights, the temperature 
(with evaporating pans on the pipes, to give moisture 
to the atmosphere) was scarcely 50°. In frosty sunny 
days, the pipes are allowed to get cold. A very little 
air, say an inch at every alternate light, is given, as the 
glass approaches 60 °; as much in the other lights as 
it nears 70°; and about one inch and a half, or two 
inches 'all over at midday, if the glass ranged from 70° 
to 85°, and even a little higher for short periods; with 
water syringed over the pathways and floors, that the 
air passing out may be so moist as to moisten the dry 
air as it enters. Not a flower, nor leaf, would grumble 
at such treatment. Put a roaring fire on in the morn¬ 
ing, and pull your lights down from six to twelve 
inches in such a sunny cold day, and I should expect 
something of what our correspondent complains of. 
One thing is certain, that fire was hastened to do, what 
the sun would have done far better. Of course, in a 
mild day, the atmosphere moist, and the outside ther¬ 
mometer ranging from 40° to 50°, or more, such rules 
as to air giving do not apply. However, when houses 
