270 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 31, 1800. 
was allowed to lie in a shady place for thirty-six hours. By 
that time the clay wa3 drying and blistering off. The process 
was helped by drawing the shoots gently through the fingers, 
and then syringing and washing until all was clean. Glue water 
just as strong as, when at a temperature of 60°, to feel slightly 
sticky when the thumb and finger were placed together, put ail 
over the plant with a soft brush, the plant kept in the shade, and 
the application repeated the next day, and the following all well 
washed with clean water at about 75°, had the same effect of de¬ 
stroying all the insects, large and small, and doing little or no 
injury to the plant. In neither case would I allow the washing 
to get iuto the soil the plant was growing in. R. Fish. 
SEVERITY OF THE WEATHER IN SUFFOLK. 
I have been expecting to see more accounts of the late severe 
frost than the one which Mr. Errington has kindly favoured us 
with. 
Mr. Errington and his neighbours in Cheshire, must have 
suffered to a great extent, owing to the absence of snow. Ilcre 
(Thornham), twelve inches of snow fell on December 14th. 
December 15th, the thermometer registered 12° ot frost. 
33 
16th, 
33 
33 
26° 
i) 
17th, 
33 
33 
29° 
a 
18th, 
33 
33 
14° 
j) 
19th, 
33 
33 
30° 
3) 
20th, 
33 
33 
23° 
Thus it appears that the frost was more intense here than in 
Cheshire; and yet (thanks to that best of all protectors, snow), 
we have not suffered so much as our Cheshire friends; but the 
following trees and shrubs are much injured on the south side of 
each, owing to the snow being melted by the sun:—Evergreen 
Oaks, Sweet Bays, Leycesteria formosa and Laurustinus, all 
much injured. Tinus insignis , Rhododendrons, Cedrus Deodara, 
Cedar of Lebanon, Portugal Laurels, Common Laurels, Thujas, 
and Common hews, all damaged on one side. Broccoli and such 
things being close to the ground, have escaped tolerably well.— 
John Perkins, Thornham Hall. 
[What gardeners term “ degrees of frost,” are so many degrees | 
below the freezing-point; that is, below 32°, the freezing-point of ! 
water.— Eds. C. G.] 
DEFORMED CUCUMBERS. 
I HAVE a Cucumber-pit thirty feet long heated by hot water 
with a hot-water tank under the beds; and in order to allow the J 
escape of steam, and so have a moist atmosphere in the house, my j 
gardener has inserted two-inch drain-pipes into the tank in 
several places. The heat in the house seems to be all that can be 
desired. It is easily regulated, and kept in an even temperature, j 
The plants show plenty of fruit, which at first looks well; but 
the fruit soon begins to swell at tire points, and seems hide- ’ 
bound in the centre, so that as it grows it assumes the form of a j 
shoe’s sole, and is, of course, valueless. Will you tell me what , 
is the cause of this, and how it may be remedied ? 
My gardener says it is owing to the want of sun heat this 
season that the seed-vessels form at the points, and continue 
growing while the rest of the fruit is stationary. I fancy there 
must be something wrong at the roots, or in the management.—• 
An Old Subscriber in Kent. 
[We think that both you and the gardener are right. It is 
easy giving heat under such circumstances ; but the more heat 
you give the less able are the leaves, in the dull weather we have 
had, to elaborate sap sufficiently. This is one cause of the Cu¬ 
cumbers not swelling equally. This does not take place so 
readily in a span-roofed house as in a pit, because there is light 
on all sides. If there is nothing to prevent the roots getting to, 
or very near to, the tank-heating medium, the scalding of the 
young roots will prevent the due swelling of the fruit. A third 
cause of the phenomenon described is using too long kinds for 
winter use. A short, hardy kind—as Sion House or Kenyon 
Improved —- is the best for winter. A fourth cause at this 
season is fertilising the fruit in the usual way, and succeeding 
in doing it as you seem to have done; for, if we mistake not, 
every one of these knobs is full of seeds. What there is of the 
Cucumber, if any size, is not useless, though mis-shapen. We 
would leave the consideration of these things to yon, and chiefly 
to the gardener, as it would seem his practice is all right. We 
have only two remedial suggestions to offer in addition ; and, as 
we have found them effectual under such circumstances, we should 
like to know the results with you, if you give them a fair trial. 
The first is, as the fruit shows so plentifully, thin them out 
freely, so as to allow a few only to remain in each light. 
As soon as the flower at the end of the young fruit shows any 
length, and before it has a chance to open, tie a string round it 
to keep it close, so as to prevent ants, flies, bees, or men fertilising 
it from the pollen of the male flowers. This will prevent your 
getting seeds from such fruits ; but, most likely, they will swell 
equally all their length. In such dull weather moderate the 
temperature. See several ideas on that subject published in not 
very-far-back numbers.] 
OBJECTIONS TO CLOSE-GLAZING. 
I venture to write again on closc-glazing ; but, first, I have 
another charge to bring against the open laps for the cold ends 
and back of plant-houses. In the glass-house I mentioned there 
are Camellias all round as near to the glass as possible without 
touching it. They bloom from November to May; the white 
ones always in December and January, and if there conic a 
sharp frost and strong wind together, the cold air is driven 
through the laps, and before it can get warmed reaches those 
blooms that are near the glass, and turns the edges of the petals 
of a dingy yellow colour. I am aware that it might be pre¬ 
vented by frigi dorno or calico tacked on the inside ; but I object 
to these, because they darken a house at the time when plants, 
growing and blooming, require all the light possible. I believe 
the best remedy would be close-glazing those walls of the house 
which are exposed to the coldest winds. The south or front wall 
and the roof I would by no means have close-glazed. 
As projecting horizontal bars would be very objectionable in 
plant-houses, on account of the water, dirt, and insects that 
would lodge on them, I will attempt to describe a plan which 
is easy to adopt, would be quite efficient, and very cheap. To 
the woodwork I would add horizontal bars of good red deal 
cut three quarters of an inch square, w’hich when planed would be 
little more than half an inch. They need not be rabbeted, but 
merely planed and let into the upright bars, and might bo 
fastened with a sprig at every joint to admit them. The upright 
bars might be cut to about one-sixteenth of an inch from the 
inner edge of the rabbet. Thqt space, the sixteenth of an inch, 
would be filled up with putty, and the inside of the glass would 
rest exactly on a level with the inside of the horizontal bars : thus 
they would form an even surface from top to bottom, down 
which the water would drain, and might be conducted into a 
small spout of zinc let into the wood immediately below the 
glass.. It might be made to drain into a vessel, and be kept 
full also, if necessary. A joiner who has built greenhouses, &c., 
assures me that the extra expense of the horizontal bars such as 
I have described, placed eighteen inches apart, would be less 
than Id. per foot.—T. Oxley, Spondon. 
DOWNWARD CIRCULATION OF HOT WATER. 
BY R. BUIST, ROSEDALE NURSERIES, PHILADELPHIA. 
It has always been doubtful whether hot water in heating 
greenhouse structures w'ould descend just at the boiler and 
allow a walk to pass over it, and then rise again and flow freely. 
We undertook this disposal of the flow-pipe with a new boiler 
just put up here. Whilst doing it, several practical men from the 
other side, as well as others in this country, all prophesied it 
would be a failure; even some of them affirming that it had 
always been a failure, even when tried at the boiler, but not so, 
if it occurred at the extreme end. I did however get one, and only 
one, to encourage a hope of success ; that hope, however, was 
so faint that we left all the implements to cut out the dip next 
day, fully expecting a failure after such a “ balance of power” 
against us. In twenty minutes after the fire was applied to the 
boiler, I found circulation commencing, and in less than an 
hour all was acting like a charm. The top of the bfiiler is 
two feet above the walk, the flow-pipe dips and allows the walk 
to jiass over it, rises two feet and a half, and goes on ns freely 
as the flow that has no dip.—( American Gardeners' Monthly.) 
[There is no difficulty in this instance, for the boiler-top was 
above the level of the walk. If it had been as is usual, below 
that level, the hot water would not have circulated,— Eds. C. G.] 
