342 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



plants for sale, and where it might be expected arrangements that are 

 calculated to reduce the expenditure of fuel and manual labour to a 

 minimum ought to be a matter of the first importance, but where, 

 instead, inconvenient arrangements and expensive working must re- 

 duce the profits very greatly indeed. 



One of the most striking instances of blundering in connection with 

 the recent erection of a quantity of new glass came under our notice a 

 few days ago. Evidently the proprietor was in the humour for a very 

 liberal expenditure in the way of graperies, &c. To the site chosen 

 no very particular objection can be urged. It was a level piece of 

 ground lying on a very deep subsoil of strong clay. A range of 300 

 feet of vineries was one of the items decided on. And, wonderful to 

 tell, an immense excavation, sufficient in length and width for the 

 whole houses, and their borders, was excavated to the depth of 6 feet, 

 and in this level are the vineries and borders placed. Literally buried 

 out of sight to a great extent; and the result is damp ! damp ! and mil- 

 dewed Vines. To increase the grotesqueness of this arrangement, a 

 series of span-roofed houses is perched on the natural ground — level, 

 right in front of these semi-subterranean vineries. And in heating 

 the sunken range the boiler is placed at one end of the range instead 

 of in the middle, to work right and left and simplify the arrangement 

 of pipes. We know of plenty of old hothouses which have been fool- 

 ishly sunk in damp subsoils, but could scarcely believe our eyes when 

 we saw the modern range in question. 



This sinking of hothouses so much below the ground-level is always 

 an error attended with many evils. To say nothing of the dampness 

 for a great portion of the year, sunken houses are most inconvenient 

 to work, from the fact that several steps have to be ascended and 

 descended every time they are entered for any purpose whatever. If 

 there are to be steps at all they should be upwards ; but even then, in 

 ordinary cases, there should not be more than one. Another great 

 evil attendant on sinking hothouses is, that they necessitate deep 

 stoke-holes that are difficult to drain, and inconvenient in many other 

 respects. 



When there are many glass-houses, they should as a rule be placed 

 compactly together and in parallel lines, and varying very little in 

 their base-levels. They are thus much more easily heated and con- 

 veniently attended to in every respect. Another matter which saves 

 much labour and time in working hothouses is the manner in which 

 efficient ventilation is provided for. The way in which this very 

 important matter is arranged in some cases is very simple and effec- 

 tive ; in others it is the very reverse. We recently inspected a new 

 range of glass, 300 feet long, composed of lights 4 feet wide, in which 



