36 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



simple and most common form of garden 

 structures. 



" THE I/EAK-TO OECHAED-HOUSE. 



" Its length may be from ten feet to one 

 hundred or more, according to means and 

 space ; but its breadth and height should 

 be according to the following dimensions, 

 unless any improved plan may be sug- 

 gested which will insure greater advan- 

 tages at the same cost. 



" I will suppose that an orchard-house 

 thirty feet long is required. A ground 

 plan, thirty feet long and twelve feet six 

 inches wide, should be marked out ; then 

 six posts of oak or good yellow deal, five 

 inches by three and nine feet six inches in 

 length, or of larch poles sixteen inches in 

 girth cut in two and the Hat sides placed 

 outwards, must be firndy fixed two feet in 

 the ground ; the ground ends before fixing 

 should be charred two feet six inches from 

 the bottom, and then have a coat of boiling 

 coal tar, which adds much to their dura- 

 Mlity. They will form the back line of 

 posts, standing seven feet six inches in 

 height from the surface of the ground. 

 For the front wall six posts of the same 

 thickness, four feet six inches long, must 

 be firmly fixed eighteen inches in the 

 ground, so that they stand three feet out.* 

 Two posts will be required at each end ; 

 at one end (if only one door is wanted) 

 these will form the door-posts. On these 

 posts, both at front and back, must be 

 nailed a plate, four inches by three, on 

 which the rafters are to rest ; the posts 

 are thus arranged in two lines. Now then 

 for the rafters ; these must be fourteen 

 feet long. A nine-inch deal, i.e., a deal 

 nine inches wide and three inches thick, 

 will make four, each four and a-half inches 

 by one and a-half, or nearly so. These are 

 light, strong, and the most economical of 

 all. Instead of ' ploughing' the rebate for 

 the glass, which is great labour and waste 

 of material, on the upper side of each 

 rafter, exactly in the centre, must be nailed 

 a slip of half-inch board, half an inch 

 wide ; this will leave half an inch of the 

 rafter on each side for the glass to rest on, 

 not too Ttiuch for glass twenty inches in 

 width. The rafters are so prepared for 

 glazing, but not yet fitted on the plates 

 at top and bottom of the projected house ; 

 no mortices must be made, but the rafter 

 fitted to the back of plates by cutting out 

 a piece in front. They must then be 



* These respective heights of front and back 

 are a matter of choice ; they may be exceeded, 

 for I find that trees in pots make most vigorous 

 growth. 



strongly nailed to the front and back 

 plates, leaving a space between each rebate 

 of twenty inches. A piece of three-quarter- 

 inch deal board, six inches wide, should 

 be nailed along the top to the end of each 

 rafter, so as to bo even with their upper 

 edges, and in this should be a groove to 

 receive the upper ends of the pieces of 

 glass. At the bottom, a piece of board, 

 one inch thick and six inches wide, must 

 be let in, by sawing a piece out of each 

 rafter for the glass to rest on, and to carry 

 off the water. We have thus formed a 

 sloping roof seven feet nine inches (with 

 the plate) high at back, and three feet 

 three inches high in front. The glazing is 

 now to be thought of. The most econo- 

 mical glass is sixteen-ounce British sheet- 

 glass, which can be bought at 2^d. and 3d. 

 per foot, and the size to be preferi-ed, 

 twenty inches by twelve, placing it cross- 

 wise, as the rafters are twenty inches 

 asunder. The laps should not exceed a 

 quarter of an inch, and they need not be 

 puttied, as the ventilation is more free 

 when they are not. I find that scarcely 

 any breakage takes place from frost, owing 

 to the large pieces being clastic. On and 

 outside the back posts three-quarter- inch 

 well-seasoned deal boards should be nailed. 

 In the back wall thus formed, shding 

 shutters in grooves, three feet by one foot, 

 must be fixed, to act as ventilators, two 

 close to the roof and two about three feet 

 from the surface of the ground ; if two 

 more be added to the right and left of the 

 lower shutters, all the better. In summer 

 it is impossible to give too much air, 



" The front and ends (except the door- 

 way) must have also three-quarter-inch 

 boards, nailed on oiitside the posts ; one 

 of them, the upper one in the front, to be 

 on hinges, so as to let down the whole 

 length of the house ; these, with the back 

 shutters, when all open in hot weather, 

 will ventilate thoroughly. To add to this, 

 and it is all required in summer, the 

 boards will shrink and let in air ; a fierce 

 sunlight is thus admitted by the large 

 glass, and abundance of air, in which all 

 fruit-trees thrive to admiration. The 

 boards and rafters should be painted with 

 stone-coloured paint, which will give the 

 house a very neat appearance. So much 

 for the timber and glass ; but when one 

 sees that to walk along the centre of the 

 building, which is about four feet nine 

 inches in height, a person must be of very 

 diminutive stature, the inquiry arises, how 

 is head-room to be made? Simply by 

 making a trench two feet six inches wide, 

 fifteen or eighteen inches deep, in the 



