GLASS HOUSES. 125 



The late Mr. Wilmot had an immense extent of frames, and was 

 very successful in cultivating melons. I took notes upon the 

 spot of the angle of his glass and the light his plants received, 

 and I found that a sash 6 feet by 4 roofed a space of the same 

 size, minus only an inappreciable quantity for the frames, and 

 had just slope enough to carry off rain ; and as there were only 

 opaque sides, he grew fruit well in dark walled cells with flat 

 roofs. The orchard-houses which I saw at Sawbridgeworth had 

 no light except from above, and the roofs were at a very low 

 pitch ; but there is a flower-garden under glass at the Exeter 

 Nursery that surpasses anything in the way of flower-growing 

 which I have ever seen, and it has light only from the top ; the 

 stone walls of this magnificent temple of Flora being illuminated 

 with a blaze of camellia blooms. I have seen more flowers in 

 this gigantic camellia-house than could have been got together 

 if ten of our largest gardens had been stripped of every blossom 

 they possessed. Surely, then, these well-attested examples may 

 sufflce to show that for very many fruits, as well as for very many 

 flowers, less glass will serve than has hitherto been deemed 

 necessary. 



In growing French beans and strawberries in old-fashioned 

 lean-to houses, the top-shelf was sure to be the best place for 

 setting the fruit, and indeed for the general purposes of culti- 

 vation. Now, Mr. Wilmot's melon-frames were all top-shelves, 

 so is Mr. Rivers's orchard-house. In short, there is a zone or 

 belt of air in a glass house (similar to that atmosphere wherein 

 animal life exists on the earth's surface) that is not to be de- 

 parted from with impunity ; for too far from the glass, or tuo 

 near it, are errors so common and so well known to all practical 

 men that I need not say a word on the subject in a work of the 

 nature of this Journal. But an important step in the imjirove- 

 ment of glass house building is now being taken, and one which 

 is fraught with advantage to horticulture — I mean the getting 

 rid of the open lap, of the many closed laps — in short, of all 

 laps, for the lights now before me have none. We have been 

 long fettered with these laps, which require a slope to be given 

 to tlie roof in order to keep the house diy, in the same way that 

 all tile and slate roofs require to be steep to prevent the rain 

 from beating in between the pieces ; but when sheets of lead are 

 used, we find that, being composed of very few pieces, the pitch 

 of the roof^ instead of rising several feet, rises only a few inches, 

 and tlie apartments under such a roof run up to within a few 

 inches of the lead, whereas, in the case of the tile and slate 

 roofs, there is an apex in the shape of a useless garret, a great 

 part of w^hich is not sufficiently high for a person to stand 

 upright in ; consequently, the triangular-roofed garret would 



