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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



whole of the ventilators at once. The ventilation is in these houpes most 

 completely under the control of the cultivator. If the wind blows from 

 the cast, the ventilators en the vest can he opened alone, and if the wind 

 is from 1he west, air can he given on the east side. These houses have 

 heen described as fitting together with hooks and eyes; in truth, they hold 

 together hy the force of gravity alone, and the more wind the more thinly 

 do they maintain themselves on their foundations. "We have lately in- 

 spected several of them, erected in Sir Joseph Paxton's private garden, and 

 among them is a lean-to (Fig. 4), stocked with orchard-house trees, which 

 Mr. Heremann assure el us had not a single holt of any kind to keep it to the 

 wall. Indeed, the ejucstion has heen raised in a court of law whether the 

 patent was not an infringement of ihe Building Act, the promoters of the 

 indictment assuming that the lights must he holted to the wall, or in some 

 way fixed hy the wall-plate ; hut it was proved that there was no fixture 

 of any kind ; that, within the meaning of the act, these houses are not 

 huildings, they rest above and on the surface of the earth, and require a 

 wall only to lean upon, not to he fastened to, and thus, ahove ground, as 

 well as below ground, they give the freeholder not the shadow of a claim. 



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Fig. 1. 



One of the most useful forms of houses for amateur cultivators who have 

 not much room for glass is the one made with twelve-feet lights, at an angle 

 of 45°. A house of this pattern in Sir Joseph's garden is furnished with 

 grapes trained under the glass, with standard plums planted out in the bor- 

 der, and dwarf peaches, nectarines, and cherries in pots on the border. We 

 thoroughly enjoyed the walk through this house, and were well satisfied, 

 in the healthy condition of the trees and the fine condition of the heavy 

 crop of fruit, that the method of construction is in thorough accordance 

 with the requirements of the plants, both as to light and ventilation. 

 We need hardly say that the raised border is most convenient for getting 

 at the trees, and that there is a large store of sun-heat in the soil, with 

 the full exposure of the border to the light. A slight variation of this 

 form and the adoption of fourteen-feet lights, give a house admirably 

 adapted for standard trees, which, if of considerable length, and the border 

 raised four feet above the ground-level, affords a delightful glass prome- 

 nade, and, when the trees are in bloom, unique for its interest and beauty. 



We have remarked that the principle of portability is carried 

 out in every detail, and in. no respect is this more ingeniously managed 

 than in the construction of the ends. Take, for instance, a pine-pit 



