TTTTC COTTAGE GARDENER AND country GENTLEMAN, Notembeu 9, 1858, 
81 
retired from business before I left Suffolk. The “ muff J 
boiler” was soon made: that was the original name, 
on account of the boiler being exactly of the shape of a 
lady’s muff It was 4 feet long, and, I think, nearly 
3 feet in diameter ; and the bricklayer (Scopes) set it j 
exactly as represented in Mr. Thomson’s sketch. It 
turned out so well, that two years after, when another 
old boiler gave way at the forcing-houses, Sir William ' 
Middleton requested me to get Mr. Hurwood to make 
just such another boiler for the stoves ; and my successor j 
made that second boiler do the work of a third boiler in ' 
the same range. All the parties are alive to this day, j 
and the thing can easily be seen, or proved, if that were 
necessary. I recollect having at the time an article in 
manuscript, on the subject of the new boiler, for publi¬ 
cation ; but family affliction interposed, and put the 
whole thing out of view, till Mr. Thomson sent me his 
account of the same boiler. I am satisfied that Mr. 
Thomson had no idea of Mr. flurwood’s boiler; and 
knowing that Mr. Hurwood had no intention of making 
it a business matter, I said nothing about it till this day, 
except among private friends. But suppose the case 
otherwise, and that both Mr. Hurwood and Mr. Thomson 
had claimed the invention before the Patent Office, would 
it not have been more pleasant to do the thing as I am 
doing it in this weekly article, and thus avoid all appear¬ 
ance of misunderstanding ? In these days of fast-headed- 
ness, one is not sure three days running of what is the 
newest, or in progress, or is brewing, or is likely to come 
to pass, before the week is out. 
Before Mr. Rivers finished the writing of the first 
edition of his “ Orchard House,’’ he heard of a newer 
plan, which expanded his ideas in a moment, and he ex¬ 
claimed,—“ What glorious orchard-houses may be built 
on his (Sir Joseph Paxton’s) ridge-and-furrow-system 
of Crystal Palaces!” That suggests a third inquiry 
about these orchard-houses, as to what is the best span of 
ridge, and the best width of furrow or valley for an 
orchard-house ? Say that one has a space of ground, from 
ton to twenty or thirty feet wide, between two division- 
walls,—such as a back garden to a suburban villa ; and 
that it is wished to cover so many feet of this space with 
a ridge-and-furrow roof,—what is the most practicable and 
easiest roof for such spaces P If the walls are 5 feet high, 
they will do just as they are; if they are higher, all the 
better; or if lower, they must be raised, to give head room 
below the furrows ; but that could be done for any height 
under seven feet, by raising the ends of the furrows on j 
blocks ; and the spaces between the top of the blocks and 
the top of the wall would do for end ventilation ; and 
the whole of the glass roof, in that case, could be fixed. 
And, here is another fix. How is the ridge-and-furrow 
roof to be supported between the walls ?—by props or 
pillars ? Either way, will that not fix them for landlord’s 
fixtures P Therefore, I want three things for this kind of 
house:—First, the best width or span for the different 
ridges; second, to know whether, if the ridges, or rather 
valleys, are supported on posts fixed in the ground, the 
house is, or is not, a landlord’s fixture ; and, third, can a 
ridge-and-furrow roof be stretched across thirty feet, 
from wall to wall, without any posts, studs, or columns, to 
keep up the roofs in successive ridges P 
The next house, and the last to day, is for quite a dif¬ 
ferent purpose, and landlords will have no claims on it, 
no matter how it is fixed. It must be seventeen feet 
wide, neither more nor less, and may be a hundred feet in 
length ; but, say, to begin with, forty feet long, all on the 
orchard-house system of no heating apparatus. The walls 
for this house are up, and only four feet high; but over 
them, perpendicularly, we must rise twelve feet more with 
glass, or boards ; and then one span-roof, forty feet long, 
in the usual way ; or many spans across, in the Crystal 
Palace style. Ilow many spans in the forty feet? And 
what should it cost, on a rough estimate, to be put up just 
as rough and ready as Mr. Rivers’ first orchard-house, 
and no painting included P What would be the difference 
of cost, between weather-edged boarding, of the best red 
deal, and glass of the commonest description ? and lowest 
price? And how, within twenty miles of St. Paul’s, or 
London Bridge, would be the best way to go to work on 
any of these structures P I think the whole put together 
would cover, and keep dry for use, 500 questions which 1 
had put to me for the last five years : and the greater part 
of them were from readers of The Cottage Gaui)Enkh. 
We all put down Mr. Fish ns the canniest and most trust¬ 
worthy writer on economic building and heating, taking 
economy, in the same sense as Cobbett, to mean good 
management, and not the lowest figure, which is, oftener 
than not, just paying through the nose for a thing. 
Mr. Rivers says, that boiling coal tar with slacked lime 
will make a shining surface on woodwork, and walls of any 
clay, or turf, which is as imperishable as stone : it is, there¬ 
fore, better than all the paints in the world for the outside 
work of these houses ; and I have proved that rough 
surfaces may be made in his way as durable and hard 
as cast iron, by using the dust from a smith’s forge 
over the tar, as soon as it is brushed on. I had six 
wooden spouts, each 18 feet long, 4 inches wide, and 
6 inches deep, for a particular purpose, and the man who 
supplied them (God forgive him !) assured me that they 
would last three lifetimes, if they were kept painted. But 
they soon turned so leaky, that a painter, with nothing 
else to do, could not make them hold their parching jaws 
for an hour together in bot weather: so I took the painting 
of them into my own hands, and gave them three good 
thick coats of hot tar, and as much of the forge dust 
everytime as the tar could suck in. From that day to 
this, these spouts have been as sound as a bell; and when 
I rise tar for paint, I dust it immediately with that smithy 
dust, and brush off what is not fixed after the tar is quite 
dry. H. Beaton. 
THE CHARACTER AND CULTURE OF THE 
VARIOUS BEETS. 
Feom the complaints so frequently heard of Beets 
being bad, there can be no doubt that there is a very 
considerable difference in the quality of Beets. This is, 
doubtless, a real fact, and deserves some attention on the 
part of cultivators. 
Their value in the culinary department, or in salads, is 
most considerable, as the readers of The Cottage Gae- 
denek well know. I need not, therefore, labour to prove 
that. I may, however, offer a few remarks on what con¬ 
stitutes a good Beet; and the converse of this, if correct, 
will shew forth a bad one. The first point I consider 
colour; the second, and scarcely second, flavour ; the 
third, texture ; and the last, size and symmetry. 
As to colour, some prefer the scarlet, some the black 
Beets, and some choose both. But, whatever colour, that 
colour should be uniform: there should be no stripes, 
shading, &c.,—a decided colour. The flavour should be 
delicate, not earthy, nor tasting of any extraneous matter. 
Next, we have texture. Here I need scarcely observe, 
that it must be tender and uniform, not harsh or sticky. 
Lastly, size and symmetry. Huge Beets, looking as 
though they were only a few degrees removed from 
Mangold, are vulgar in the extreme : their sections 
constitute most unmanageable circles. If too small, they 
are pithy: moderate sized, about two to three inches 
diameter at the crown, are most generally esteemed. 
Symmetry is of some importance. If they are twisted, or 
crooked, the sections will not be handsome. 
Now, it behoves me to show what all these matters are 
dependent on. The following, then, are the principles we 
have to deal with :— So/7, Period of Sowing, Light, Air, 
and Distances. 
As to Soil, there can be little doubt that a light one is 
far preferable to a stiff, or clayey soil; but almost any 
pliable ordinary garden soil will do very well. Here let 
