CHEAP GLASS STRUCTURES. 



to break joint. This wall is six and a half feet high, and is covered by a board, 

 X, which serves for a coping, and is supported, from sash to sash, by pieces of 

 wood, y. . -In the coping boards are fixed hooks which hook into two eyes on each 

 sash. The sashes rest upon oak posts, z, fixed in the ground to the depth of three 

 feet three inches. Each post supports the ends of two sashes, which rest partly 

 on the one and partly on the other, as at tv. The sashes, S, are made of pine, 

 and are framed and glazed in the oi'dinary way. The intervals between the posts 

 are closed up, in severe frosts, by straw mats, t, t, t, which can be removed at 

 pleasuj-e. They are kept from blowing in or out by being tied to laths nailed to 

 the posts. 



This is so easily moved, that the whole of it, though fifty-eight feet four inches 

 in length, can be removed by two men in eight minutes, and again replaced in 

 twelve minutes. When the movable part of the structure has been taken down, 

 there only remain the posts, the use of which no one would suspect. Besides 

 effecting its principal object — the protection of fruit-trees, such as the peach, 

 apricot, and vine, &c. — the structure serves, at the same time, for the production 

 of early vegetable crops, for which purpose a border three and a half feet wide is 

 available. 



The expense of the entire structure was, at Brussels, V. Os. 9c?., or about 2s. 5rf. 

 (or, say sixty cents) per foot run. It is composed of the following items : — 



Carpenter's wages 



Cost of TTood (oak and pine) 



Smith's work 



Oil, white lead, and putty . 



Straw .... 



Glass .... 



Gratuity to the gardener 



The glazing, painting, and making the straw mats, having been done by 

 the gardener at spare times in winter, are not taken into account. 



Total expense . . . . . . .£7 9* 



— Charles Van der Straeten. 



The straw mats might be decidedly objectionable in a cold climate ; but they 

 may readily be replaced with glazed sashes. 



Here we were about to be content in having offered a plan of constructing a 

 grape or orchard house for sixty cents a running foot ! when another Gardeners^ 

 Chronicle brought us the confirming fact, to strengthen an old crotchet of our 

 own, that there is no need of expensive houses to produce premium fruit. The 

 Chronicle says: — 



" Wonders will never cease. All the great grape growers were beaten the other 

 day by an interloper. Seldom have practical men received a more heavy fall. 

 Great rules were violated ; the wisdom of our forefathers was thrust aside like a 

 piece of useless lumber ; and maxims sanctioned by age, wisdom, and the most 

 resolute routine, disappeared like sparkles of Captain 13oxer's fireworks. About 

 a hundred exhibitors of grapes grown in vineries in all parts of the country, pro- 

 duced the evidence of their skill at the last exhibition in the llegent's Park, and, 

 melancholy to relate, were beaten by fruit from a glass shed in a London nursery 

 garden. It is incredible, though true. The large silver gilt medal, the highest 



offered for grapes, was awarded to Mr. Glendinuing, of the Chiswick 



Nursery — for three dishes of grapes. Our pen shrinks from recording the event. 



" The business of a nurseryman is to grow vines for sale, not grapes for exhi 



* In our money, about $35. 



