The sets for the early crop are then covered with a spade to the depth of two inches, and subsequently covered at two or three different times to the depth of about five inches. The second and third crops are usually covered with the plough.

Some lay the potatoes intended for plants early in the year, before they are wanted to be cut, loose and separate on straw, or on warm boarded floors, and others put them on flakes or frames in warm situations near the fire, for the same purpose, in order that they may sprout, and when so sprouted to the length of half an inch or an inch, they are then carefully cut as described, assorted and planted.

Some of the growers, who take great pains in the early production of this potatoe, obtain in Manchester market two or three shillings per pound, and from their delicacy they are worth the money.

You will not fail to observe, that part of the potatoe near the root or runner end, as per section, is of no use whatever for sets or plants, yielding only stems, and small potatoes not worth cultivating: in cutting the sets this part is usually thrown into a fourth vessel, and given to the pigs.

Perhaps the Lancashire mode of dressing early potatoes may not be unacceptable to some of your readers. "Brush off the skins, set them on the fire in cold water: when boiled, pour off the water completely, add a little salt, and dry them well on the fire." An iron pot, I conceive, is the best vessel for the purpose, and the sooner they are eaten with cold butter the better.

London, Feb. 11. 1826.

I am, Sir, &c.

R. W.

ART. XIX. Description of a Pine Pit, to be heated by Steam, erected in Shugborough Gardens, Staffordshire. By Mr. ANDREW JOHNSTON, Journeyman Gardener there.

Sir,

I ENCLOSE the following plan of a pine pit, (figs. 82. and 83. engraved from sketches, remarkably well delineated,) which I hope you will consider not unworthy of a place in your very valuable Magazine. It has not as yet appeared in any publication, although one of a very similar nature has been sent by Mr. McMurtrie to the Horticultural Society; and, I dare say, will soon appear in their Transactions: but as their reports

have but a very limited circulation, when compared with that of the Gardener's Magazine, permit me to hope that a few brief observations on the steam-houses in Shugborough Gardens, together with the plan and references of the one that is submitted to your inspection, (which only differs from those here by being formed on a still more economical plan,) may not be unacceptable to the generality of your readers, particularly such as are not members of the London Horticultural Society.

The steam-houses at Shugborough were originally built for the cultivation of the melon and cucumber, both of which do remarkably well in them; better, I think, than I ever saw them do in a hot-bed frame. But this will not be a matter of surprise when it is understood that both fire heat and steam can be applied together or separately as necessity may require. But what is still more worthy of remark is the astonishing growth of the pine-apple plant in these houses. It will hardly be credited when I assert that they do much better in them in winter than they do in the dry-stoves in summer. The best proof that I can give of the truth of my assertion is, that we have this season, on the 1st of August, cut a New Providence pine weighing twelve pounds and a half avoirdupois weight, outweighing the one cut last year by twelve ounces. This is one instance out of many that might be adduced to prove that they are the best houses for the pine; and not only for the pine, for they are equally well calculated for the melon and the cucumber, and also for the early forcing of asparagus and other plants.

Every practical gardener is aware that the vine grows much more luxuriant in a moist heat than in a dry atmosphere; of necessity, the vine will require a larger house than any of the preceding. The simplicity of their construction is a matter of no little consequence, no engineer being necessary; almost any bricklayer and plumber are sufficient for the undertaking.

The steam pine pits, of which the following is a plan, are now building in the gardens of the Earl Talbot at Ingestree. They were designed by Mr. M'Murtrie, and only differ from those in the gardens at Shugborough by having the back part of the roof covered with slates, which will be less expensive and more durable than glass. It may also be necessary to add, that the boiler for a house of this size should boil thirty gallons of water, and be supplied by a ball-cock: the lid should be screwed on tight, that no steam may escape, unless by the pipe into the chamber; the diameter of the aperture of which should be six inches, so as to admit the steam freely, and render a safety valve quite unnecessary.

ART. XX. Remarks on the Treatment Under-Gardeners receive from their Masters. By G. R. G. Journeyman.

Sir,

I HERE venture on giving you some remarks upon the treatment under-gardeners are subject to from the gardeners, their employers, in noblemen or gentlemen's gardens; not taking these from how I am at present situated, but partly from my own past experience, and partly from my knowledge of the treatment of others. You remark, in your introduction, that “it is a common complaint amongst gardeners that they are not sufficiently paid, and that a man who knows little more of gardening than a common labourer, is frequently as well off as a man who has served a regular apprenticeship to his business. This is perfectly true, where the gardener is nearly or equally devoid of elementary instruction with the labourer." Here I would ask, do gardeners who have men under them stimulate or encourage the taste which the employed men have? Do they at all study to disseminate that knowledge amongst them which themselves have acquired? No, they fall very far short of acting in such a generous way; nor are they by any means the more assiduous in urging them on, although they may have obtained "elementary instruction." That good fruit may be produced for market, care and attention are required by the cultivator, let the soil or climate be ever so good. On the same principle I would urge the tuition of gardeners, even if employed in firstrate places. It is a thing, which too frequently occurs, where there are four or eight hands kept, that one in the former number, or two in the latter, may have it in their power to improve themselves; while all the remaining individuals are deprived of the possibility of making a single effort for their improvement. Whereas, were the master to act discriminately, he, without curtailing his own privileges, or contracting the advantages of the one or two mentioned, or in the least degree acting unjustly towards his employer, might, with a very few exceptions, enable all under him ultimately to arrive at what is so particularly your wish-the full capability of filling first-rate situations with advantage to the proprietor. March 17th. G. R. G.

Want of room prevents us from inserting the whole of a second communication received from G. R. G. on the same subject. Being desirous, however, of encouraging every effort in a young man to improve himself, and of assisting to Mac

adamise the road, as G. R. G. expresses himself, for the improvement of others, we quote his leading argument. "One thing only is wanted in order to render under-gardeners intelligent and moral, and that is, pay for their labour at the same rate that other journeymen tradesmen are paid for theirs." G. R. G. has entered into various details to show that the wages of gardeners ought not to be inferior to those of bricklayers and carpenters, and one of his arguments is, that gardeners require fully as much previous education as they do. Our young friend, however, should not overlook the difference between the prospect of a journeyman carpenter and those of a journeyman gardener; the former, in general, can look forward to nothing beyond that of a journeyman, or, if he becomes a master, it is in consequence of having been so long a journeyman as to have saved money: the journeyman gardener, on the contrary, after he has been two or three years out of his apprenticeship, mounts at once into the condition of master, and, if he has attained a first-rate situation, he is perhaps as well off at twenty-five as an industrious journeyman carpenter at forty-five, because it would probably require that time before the latter could save sufficient money to enable him to become a master. The fact is, that while other tradesinen require both skill and capital to assume the condition and reap the advantages of a master, the gardener requires skill only. Knowledge, therefore, to the gardener is money as well as knowledge; it is both skill and capital; and it will not be denied that skill can be acquired by labour of the mind sooner than capital by labour of the body. Hence the profession of a gardener has peculiar advantages for those who engage in it with a proper degree of scholastic education; and hence also, if gardeners were as well paid as carpenters and bricklayers, the market would soon be overstocked with them. The price given for any description of labour will, in the long run, always be found a just price. But while we state this, we know it to be perfectly true that a journeyman gardener can barely exist upon his wages. We consider it highly commendable in G. R. G. to use every argument in favour of raising them, and we certainly think if they were raised, the masters would be gainers as well as the journeymen. In all businesses a man works according as he is paid; and all political economists agree that it is better for a country that the wages of labour should be high than low. We have received a clever paper on this subject from "SENSITIVA," which we regret we have not room for in this number. In the meantime, as no general improvement in the wages of journeymen