THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 1, 1859. 
69 
south aspect. The border is forty feet long and fourteen feet 
wide. I wish to divide the house in the centre,—say twenty feet. 
The west division to be again divided betwixt wall and extremity 
of the border,—say seven feet. Melon-pits to be erected in the 
front section ; the back part to be occupied as an orchard-house. 
The east twenty-feet section to bo used for Peaches, Camellias, 
Plums, &c., in pots. There are Peach trees at present on the 
fifteen-feet brick wall, and down the east wall to the width of the 
border, which is to be all covered by one roof. Should the 
trees be removed from the wall, the wall plastered, and trained to 
a wire trellis ? The boiler is set at present eighteen inches below 
the surface. IIow am I to heat my Melon-pits ?— Pumpkin. 
[The moving of the trees from the wall, plastering and wiring) 
arc mere matters of taste, convenience, and luxury. The trees will 
do equally well nailed against a back wall, fresh whitened with 
lime every year, darkened a little to take off the glare. If the 
trees be removed, the holes in the wall daubed up, the wall then 
washed with lime, and in a month painted with anti-corrosive, or 
other paint, it would be cheaper than plastering, and the wires 
should be fixed some six inches apart previously. The chief ad¬ 
vantage of the wiring is, that it prevents holes being made, which I 
are a secure lodging-place for all sorts of insects. Of course, 
you mean your orchard-house to be quite distinct from the 
Melon-pits. The front wall of the former might do for the back 
wall of the latter. If you wish a pathway between, and a separate 
back wall for the Melon-pits, the latter will be made all that 
narrower. As to heating the pits, that must depend chiefly on 
the arrangements made with the boiler. The pits must be more 
of a house than pits ; for if your boiler, the top of it, we presume, 
is only eighteen inches below the ground, then you should not j 
sink more than nine inches or a foot for the pits. Two pipes 
would be necessary for bottom heat, and two for top heat. Pour 
inches, if the pit were seven feet wide, and three-inch pipes if the 
pit were four feet and a half or five feet wide. Your pits would 
require to be four feet and a half high at the back, and three feet 
three inches or three feet six inches in front, and from nine 
inches to a foot of that might be below the level of the surface 
soil, which would make them easier to get at. This would give 
room enough for a layer of clinkei’s, brickbats, &c., over the 
bottom pipes to a depth of nine inches or a foot, from fifteen to 
eighteen inches for soil, and a similar space for foliage. The easiest 
mode of heating would be to take the flow-pipe to an open 
cistern, and from thence take a pipe to a each place; connecting 
all the returns with the main return near the boiler. The farther 
house on the east side, we presume, will be the cooler, and being 
farthest from the boiler might be heated by a continuation, with 
valves to stop when necessary the upper pipes of the Melon- 
pit. By this mode you could not heat the east section without 
also heating the Melon-pit; but that would bo no loss, as when 
Melons were not growing it could be filled with something else. 
It will be necessary, however, to have the top heat in the Melon- 
pit distinct, so that the water may circulate without going farther. 
But for this east section, the top pipes in the Melon-pit might 
return under the bed, and thus do away with the necessity of j 
another valve at the cistern.] 
S Till KING CUTTINGS. 
I have been reading an excellent article by Mr. Fish, in The 
Cottage Gardener, replying to numerous inquirers who are I 
in trouble about their cuttings. 
I venture to add a word or two, in no presumptuous spirit, 
but on the principle that one schoolboy may sometimes help 
another with a perplexing task more effectually than the master, 
with his vastly superior knowledge, has been able to do. 
Amateurs (by which term I here mean novices in gardening), 
want treating, not only with extreme simplicity, but also very 
decidedly; giving them as few processes to choose from as 
possible. For they are apt to get bewildered, or they fail in the 
attempt to combine several systems. 
As to cuttings, for instance. Will you permit, and will Mr. 
Fish take it good-naturedly, that I should say to the simplest of 
your readers that wishes to strike cuttings of the ordinary bedding 
plants in August and September, 1860, do this :—Procure, if you 
have it not already, a frame of one or two lights, according to 
your requirements, and have a slight liotbed made up in March. 
This will do for Cucumbers ; but better still, in your case for 
Asters, Zinnias, and other half-hardy annuals to be sown in 
drained-pans, and the seedlings pricked out in light soil with 
which the bed should be covered to the extent of about six 
inches. For this a mixture of two-thirds from the ground where 
your driest early Potatoes grew, with one-third of leaf mould, will 
do as well as anything, and the same with a dash of sharp sand 
for the seed-pans. 
In June, the seedlings will have left your bed; and the heat, 
though much diminished, will not be quite extinct. Level the 
surface, and you may have a frame full of scarlet Geraniums 
(Tom Thumbs, and equally, I have no doubt, their successors 
Mr. Beaton tells us of), well rooted, and ready for potting singly 
in small pots by the time you want to put in your autumn 
cuttings ; and this, by planting them out like Lettuces, seeing that 
they do not want for water, and keeping the lights off' entirely. 
About the middle of August, having cleared out your Gera¬ 
niums, rake off all the top soil from your bed; taking with it, if 
you like, a little of the now-decomposed dung, as it will make 
altogether, with the addition of some silver-sand, a capital com¬ 
post for your pot Hyacinths, &c. Save this under cover, and 
upon the bed thus bared put a few inches (say four), of coal 
ashes for the cutting-pots to stand on when charged with cuttings. 
In the preparation of these, giving air and shading, follow the 
advice of Mr. Fish, and you will not have to trouble him again 
in this matter. His time is too valuable to be spent in the repe¬ 
tition of lessons to us of the junior classes, when the seniors 
would be glad of the supervision of a master mind; so we must 
try to “ coach ” one another. At some future time, if space be 
given me, I may say a little more.— Geo. R. Taveor. 
[You will oblige us by saying “a little more” very soon and 
very often.—E ds. C. G.] 
BRITISH PQMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
A Meeting of the British Bornological Society was held at 
the Hanover Square Rooms, London, on Thursday, the 27th ult. 
Robert Hogg, Esq., Vice-President, in the chair. 
The following gentlemen were elected ordinary members:— 
Ralph Sneyd, Esq., Kcele Hall, Staffordshire. 
R. P. Spice, Esq., Heidegger House, Richmond, Surrey. 
C. M. Campbell, Esq., Hart’s Hill, Stoke-upon-Trent. 
Mr. George Miles, the Abbey, High Wycombe. 
Mr. Thomas Burnett, Baynard’s Park, Guildford. 
Mr. J. Webster, Gordon Castle, Fochaber, N.B. 
George Hilton, Esq., Flemings, near Wickford, Essex. 
A paper was read by F. J. Graham, Esq., M.A., of Cranford, 
on the ravages of the grub of Zeuzera TEsculi, on young Pear 
plantations, and was accompanied by a figure of the insect, and 
a specimen of the stem of a young Pear. The stem had been 
completely eaten all round under the bark, and beyond the 
alburnum, causing the whole of the upper part of the tree to 
die off. The paper entered fully into a description of the insect 
and its transformations ; the method of its burrowing into the 
wood of the Pear; and explained Mr. Graham’s view of the 
process by which the insect managed to turn itself in its burrow, 
so that the head of the imago should be towards the aperture 
when it emerged from the chrysalis state. The thanks of the 
Meeting were unanimously voted to Mr. Graham tor his ex¬ 
cellent communication, with the request that it should appear in 
the proceedings of the Society, which was assented to. 
C. M. Campbell, Esq., of Hart’s Hill, Stoke-upon-Trent, 
offered a prize of Two Guineas for the best dish of late Grapes, 
to bo competed for at one of the spring Meetings. And II. G. 
Bohn, Esq., of Twickenham, offered a prize of Three Guineas for 
the best collection of Muscat-flavoured Grapes, not being Muscat 
of Alexandria, or any of its varieties. 
Considering the unfavourable season, there was a large show 
of fruit, some of which were very fine. The collection of Grapes 
was unusually large, and included three forms of White Tokay, 
from Mr. Hill, of Iveele Hall, Staffordshire; six varieties ol 
Black Hamburgh from Messrs. Lane and Son, of Berkhampstead; 
four distinct varieties from Mr. Wright, of Twickenham ; and 
some remarkably fine specimens of out-door Grapes, among 
which, the best were Black Hamburglis, grown against a wall 
without any protection, by Captain Hopkins, of Surbiton Hill, 
Surrey. The largest bunch weighed 1 lb. 6 ozs., the berries were 
large, well developed, highly coloured, and very well flavoured, 
rivalling many examples of the same variety grown under glass. 
Mr. Snow, of Wrest Park, exhibited a very nice bunch of 
Muscat Hamburgh, grown in a pot in a cool vinery without fire 
heat. The flavour was very rich and delicious, but the Muscat 
