THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE AND COUNTEY GENTLEMAN, June 1, 1858. 129' t 
prize for a new plant, but I booked it long 
since. Campylobotrys argyroneura, another Melas- 
tomad, after the style of Calyptraria. Theophrasta 
macrophylla and imperialism Nedularia pictum, Arabia 
Sieboldi, and some others of less note. After these 
a standard of Rhododendron Aclclandi. A white- 
llowercd kind, from Mr. Gaines, had a third prize. 
The odds and ends included many things, and some 
very good specimens of culture, but I shall “ catch 
it,” for leaving so little room for the dessert. I 
actually fancied the fruit would be consumed before 
one o’clock; such watering of teeth I never witnessed 
before. If I see the state of your dessert, after 
i dinner, I would forfeit a share of it, if I could not 
tell how your “ company ” stood in the peerage ; and 
if I could not tell how high a man stood in the peerage, 
by merely seeing him look at a fruit stand, I would 
forfeit the use of my eyesight, or my whole head on 
; the block; but it would never do to tell tales that 
way. This was the first time I had seen Cucumbers 
growing in pots exhibited, plants and all. There were 
also Tigs, Easpberries, Strawberries, with green 
Peaches, and green Apricots, exhibited in pots. A 
cockscombed Providence Pine, over 6 lbs., had the first 
prize for them, but the weight of the second prize 
Pine was not given. Three good bunches of the 
C/iasselas 'Masque Grapes, from Mr. Fleming, Tren- 
tham, showed that ho had overcome the bad habit of 
cracking, in this most delicious Grape. An extra 
| prize was given to Mr. Bailey, of Shardeloes, for three 
bunches of Grapes called Muscadine , but surely they 
were not Muscadine, and I could not reach over to 
taste. All the principal Grapes and Pines looked very 
evenly grown ; some not extraordinary, and some not 
worth looking at. Figs and Cherries the same ; and a 
very small netted Melon, which was cut by the 
Judges, appeared to me to be very near the old ori¬ 
ginal Green-flesh Egyptian Melon, the best-flavoured 
Melon I have yet tasted. 
The garden was alive with Tulips, the great body of 
them being planted in the mixed style, which cannot 
give “ effect ” more than a bed of florists’ Tulips. 
The most insipid bed, to my eye, which I can recollect, 
was a prize Tulip bed on the west side of Manchester, 
but the owner told me it cost him over seven hundred 
pounds. Such is the difference between fancy beds 
and flower garden beds. 
A new move is on the wing, for the planting of the 
terrace centre this season. All that is yet planted, is 
the bottom row of beds, in which the Acacia and Eho- 
dodendron standards make the circles into pincushion- 
beds. Well, these pincushion-line of beds are to be 
alternately of Tropceolum elegans and Calceolaria 
aurea floribunda, which we lauded last year in The 
Cottage Gardener. The long, oblong beds between 
these, are also in a new arrangement. Five rows of 
Tom Thumb in the middle, and a band of purple Ver¬ 
benas in two rows on each side , but not across the 
ends of the beds. They will give just four feet of 
scarlet, and a foot of purple at back and front, the 
exact dimensions which I could fathom from one of 
the most exact masters, or rather mistresses, of plant¬ 
ing in England, and which I lately booked. But I 
shall not anticipate a grand review day among all the 
beds there, when they are in the glitter of their new 
uniform. D. Beaton. 
AIE-GIVING TO GAEDEN STEUCTUEES. 
There is scarcely any subject connected with prac¬ 
tical gardening, which lias received so little attention 
as this—one of the most important proceedings con¬ 
nected with our profession. This seems an extraor¬ 
dinary affair. Is it that the thing is in its nature, or 
character, mysterious, and indefinite ; or that it cannot 
be reduced to anything like system ? Certainly, it will 
not be expected, that avc can, in such a case, lay down 
cut-and-dry rules, and state the amount and character 
of the ventilation to be pursued on any given day. 
This is impossible, inasmuch as our climate, although j 
mainly divisible into four somewhat distinct seasons, 
yet is liable to amazing vicissitudes in most of them} 
and, of course, modes of ventilation must be modified ! 
accordingly. I may here, at the outset, state the objects 
ot ventilation. They are mainly two—the escape of 
accumulated heat, and the correction of a vitiated at¬ 
mosphere by a circulation of pure air. But the way 
in which these two objects are carried out are various, 
and dependent entirely on circumstances. Those who' ( 
will consider the matter fairly, should first of all look j 
into the science of pneumatics, and ascertain the charac¬ 
ters belonging to what is called the air, its relative 
gravity, modes of interchange, &c. One broad fact 
may be here named as a prelude to succeeding expla¬ 
nations—that the admission of air in severe winter 
weather is a procedure requiring much more caution 
than at other periods ; the frosty breeze is of insidious 
character, and this, too, enhanced in proportion to the 
discrepancy between the respective temperatures of 
the inside and outside. Most of the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener must be aware of this latter fact, 
by observing the effect of draught through crannies, 
wiien, perhaps, the Yule log is blazing, and the air out¬ 
side a keen north-easter, of some 20 3 of frost. What 
could there be but a rapid interchange; the room within 
at a temperature of 60° to 70° ? Here we have a dis¬ 
crepancy of some 50°, or nearly so. Well may the good 
folks inside complain that they cannot keep their feet 
warm. I may here, in returning to our garden struc¬ 
tures, state the consequences which generally ensue 
from a neglect of ventilation. They are as follows :— 
The plants draw, or become weak and long jointed ; 
a corrupt atmosphere gives an unhealthy colour to the 
foliage ; stagnated damps are engendered in parts of 
the structure, frequently giving birth to mosses, and 
other cryptogenric productions ; the flowers are paler, 
and lose a proportion of their aroma ; an indisposition 
to produce blossom, is generally a concomitant; insects 
of all kinds increase more rapidly; and fruits are 
deficient in flavour. These are the evils which may be 
expected to ensue from bad ventilation : of course they 
do not all happen on every occasion, but receive their 
being and character according to the aggravation of 
those circumstances which engender them. In looking 
over the principles of ventilation, we may at once see, 
that in endeavouring to teach the uninformed, it is 
necessary to adopt some division of the subject. This 
is not a very simple task, but since I have travelled 
thus far, I must endeavour to do so to the best of my 
abilities. 
First, then, I may observe, that there are general 
principles of ventilation common to nearly all seasons ; 
and next, that there are many special cases which form 
an exception, either in mode, or degree, or both. The 
special cases to which I allude, consist mostly of singular 
tribes, or families of plants, such as Orchideous plants. 
Ferns, &c. But certain other families, which, for the 
most part, submit to the most ordinary treatment, have 
periods when a departure from the ordinary routine is 
of much benefit. Thus the Camellia : at this time my 
Camellia house is almost constantly shaded; but this 
is not the general practice. It is also kept very damp. 
But these would be serious conditions when the plants 
were in blossom through the winter. The house is 
scarcely ventilated at all whilst they are making their j 
young growth: this, too, would not be the case at other 
periods. But these are only a few solitary cases : 
enough, however, to show to those unpractised in j 
rx? 
