THE 



GARDEN 6fJI©E s 



>c >.--o; ; 



OCTOBEB, 1860. 



OTHOUSES FOP. THE MILLION, as invented 

 and patented by Sir Joseph Paxton, M.P., have 

 been the subjects of frequent inquiry in letters 

 addressed to us of late, and we embrace the 

 present opportunity of offering a few remarks upon 

 their adaptability to the various necessities of 

 private gardens. The leading feature in the con- 

 struction of these houses is their portability. They 

 are put together on a plan which gives them the 

 solidity and strength of permanent structures, but 

 which allows of their removal with as much ease as 

 the striking of a tent, and thus, at the first start, they commend themselves 

 to the attention of tenants at will and those who hold their gardens on 

 short leases. The whole of the w r ood and iron-work used is on one 

 uniform pattern, and produced by means of machinery, and, by a peculiarly 

 ingenious method of forming the ends, the houses can be put up at any 

 angle, and at any time are easily altered to any other angle, so that a 

 house in use this season for pines can be adapted next season for orchard- 

 house trees or for bedding-plants ; and in no case is it necessary that a 

 single inch of the structure should become a portion of the freehold. It 

 will be seen by the cuts that there are no side-sashes, the top-lights come 

 to the ground, and the gutter rests on a bank of earth, which, being raised 

 above the general surface of the garden, forms the border inside, and 

 allows of a sunken path without excavating. Another peculiarity, and for 

 which, perhaps, the inventor has the best claim for a patent, is in the 

 method of ventilating. Instead of sliding-sashes, or shutters on hinges, 

 ventilators are let in between the lights, so as to admit air transversely from 

 the ground-level to the ridge-board (Fig. 1). These ventilators were at first 

 made of wood, but, to avoid loss of light, they are now made of iron frame- 

 work and glazed, and they open from within by the same simple method 

 generally adopted with front sashes. In houses of great length, the lever- 

 age of the ventilators is connected, so as to allow of the opening of the 



VOL. HI. NO. X. J J 



