September 1, 1863. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOETICTJLTUEE ABD COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



16S 



that case, we would have the shelf 8 inches or so below the 

 level of the wall-plate, which will allow plenty of light for 

 the plants, and yet screen the pots from the direct action of 

 the sun's rays. The lower your sheH the better will you see 

 the plants, and the less wUl you see of their pots. Did yoix 

 want to make the most of the shelves, and have only a path 

 in the middle, you might make each of them 4A feet wide, 

 and that would leave you 3 feet for walk in the centre. Then 

 over that, if the roof was high enough — say 8 or 9 feet, you 

 might either have a shelf or baskets, &c., suspended. The 

 only drawback against this plan would be, that in a platform i 

 formed either of wood, or a border of brick and earth, and 

 ashes for the bed, the width is too gTeat to enable you to 

 see and handle all the plants conveniently fi'om the passage. 

 StOl, as a mere repository for growing plants, the arrange- 

 ment would be a good one. 



For mere show, the proposed width of 25 to 3 feet for 

 your shelves would answer better, and the height of these 

 may be regulated so as to be below the wall-plate just 6 or 



8 inches, and then you would require to keep low plants in 

 fi'oiit. In fact, were your house only GJ feet or so at the 

 ridge, you would need no shelves at all. The pots might all 

 be on the ground level. In this case, -svith such narrow plat- 

 forms, you would have fi'om 6 to 7 feet of pathway ; but in 

 that you could set tall plants on the floor, and so arranged 

 as to prevent monotony. 



But for youi' objection to a centre stage or platform, we 

 would have the side walls at least 4i feet high, the ridge 



9 feet, a shelf all round 2 feet wide, and a table or platform 

 in the centre 4 feet wide, with a two-feet walk all round. In 

 such a case we would make the fx-ont platform and the 

 centre 15 to IS inches below the ridge-board. 



Did we want not merely to grow but to show the plants 

 off in such a house to the greatest advantage, then we 

 woiild make a different arrangement. Suppose yoiu' walls 

 at the sides were 2; or 3 feet to the sQl, then we would 

 put 2 a or 3 feet of upright glass between that and the 

 wall-plate ; height at ridge 9 or 9i feet. Then suppose 

 this house was at the end of a drawing-room, or the 

 door of a dining-room or parlour, as soon as the door in 

 the centre of the end was open, you might see the plants at 

 once to the best advantage. We would not have a shelf or 

 a level platform, but a sloping stage on each side 4i feet 

 wide, the highest shelf of which would be next the waU- 

 plate, and the lowest shelf close to, if not formed of the floor 

 next the pathway. Only a few of the taller plants at the 

 sides next the upright glass would be above the eye. The 

 great proportion would be under the eye, and as you looked 

 down on the banks of flowers and foliage on each side, little 

 of the pots could be seen. The great amount of light in 

 low span-roofed houses wUl prevent the shortest plants near 

 the pathway in the centre being di'awn. Although we have 

 spoken of banks of flowers, there is no necessity for having 

 them uniform, as they may be thrown every week into iiesh 

 combinations. In looking at such plants from a slight 

 elevation, or merely from the level floor, the effect is much 

 more striking than when you must look up to them on a 

 level platform, or a merely raised stage, as the more the 

 stage is raised just so much the better are the pots seen. 

 This plan can scarcely be followed successfully unless there 

 is side glass, as well as the top lights. We would advise 

 our correspondent to try the effect of such an arrangement 

 before fixing her shelves. High plants at the sides, and low 

 plants close to the path in the centre, would show the effect 

 at once. — E. F.] 



COMBINATIOiSr OF GREENHOUSE, STOVE, 

 AND PITS. 



In yoiu- Number of July 21st is a very neat forcing-house 

 which I think could be turned to great account, but it is 

 not delineated sufficiently for me. I want to have a lean-to 

 house, and I could make an outside border for Vines if I 

 choose. 



Fu-st, I want a border aU round to be heated as you 

 describe ; but what width could I make it to be heated 

 sufficiently, and what is the leaf mould to rest upon, and 

 what depth of water would requii-e to be in the tank ? 

 Would the tank require to be often supplied with water ? 



If so, I think this would be most troublesome. Wordd not 

 Caithness sawn pavement cemented make an excellent tank 

 for the water for top moisture, also for sides next walk? 

 Then I could have the centre of the house for plants standing 

 on either a cold bed or stage, and no earth. 



What would be the most substantial material for the 

 house, wood or iron ? I want it 30 feet long. I would 

 require it to be from 12 to 14 feet in width within. What 

 height should I requii-e to make the back wall above ground 

 level for such a house ? My aspect would be south-east. 

 "WTiat width would the paths be ? Woidd a single pipe 

 running tlu'ough the tank be sufficient to heat it? What 

 size of pipe would it be necessary to run thi-ough it? Would 

 the path require to be elevated to let the pipe run through 

 it to the border ? What would be the cost of heating such 

 a house ? What woidd be the cost of a lean-to house made 

 of Memel Pine, the wood part, of course, aU plain — no or- 

 namental work ? — J. O. G. 



[The plan at page 51 of this Volume is very good for a 

 combination of greenhouse, plant-stove, and pits outside, 

 heated ; but unless oui- employer allowed us and wished us 

 to dip deep into his pocket, we should not think of such an 

 aiTangement for a vinery, thoixgh no doubt it would answer 

 well enough. We have the other week given some instruc- 

 tions on tank-making. It matters not what they are made 

 of— stone, slate, or wood — if made watertight. We have 

 seen wood 1^ inch thick last more than twenty years. The 

 wood was well beat at the corners, as for a brewer's cooler, 

 and placed fii-mly together with red or white lead ; and water 

 being always in it there was no chance for leakage. We 

 think the pipes through the tank a good precaution, though 

 not absolutely necessary. If yoiir tank is securely covered, 

 you get no more top moisture fi'om a tank than from a thick 

 metal pipe. If you msh vapour from the tank or steam, 

 you had better leave places to open for the pm-pose, and, 

 of course, these must be shut when you wish for a di-y heat. 

 But now, if you merely wished a vineiy 30 feet by 14, and 

 the border outside to be heated, we should simplify the 

 whole affair and have nothing to do with tanks. Allow us, 

 however, to say that heating your border outside will be of 

 little use unless you can cover it with glass or tarpaulin,. 

 &c., with litter below it. Now, for such a lean-to house, 

 14 feet wide, we would have the back wall 12 or 13 feet in 

 height, and the height in front, with wall and glass, 6 feet, 

 — half wall and half glass. In such a place we would build 

 the back wall of fourteeu-inch work, hollow. Then, if we 

 must gi-ow the Vines in such a house, without an outside 

 border, and early Grapes were a chief consideration, we 

 would take out the earth to the depth of 3 feet ; concrete 

 the bottom ; jjlaee three four-inch iron pipes, about 00 feet, 

 for bottom heat; leave them in a chamber 1 foot deep, 

 cover with slate or stone, and then the soil above; or 

 cover over the pipes with a foot of loose rubble and brick- 

 work, then finer gravel, and afterwards the soil. Openings 

 from that chamber into the house would be desu-able. Then 

 for the top heat, for early forcing, you woidd need about 

 120 feet of foiu--inch pipe. If Vines are i^lanted at the back 

 wall of such a house and then trained down the roof, you 

 will be thoroughly independent of aE outside borders, and, 

 to a gi-eat extent, of all outside weather. Had we the 

 chance of bmlding an early vinery, we should follow some- 

 thing like the above mode. 



Exactly the same mode may be followed even with the 

 help of an outside border, and that may be made in the 

 same way. In your cUmate we would decidedly recommend 

 inside planting, even though you plant yom- Vines in front 

 in the usual way. In that case youi- front wall should be on 

 piers or on arches ; and then suppose that your inside border 

 is 5 feet wide or so, you might make the outside one 6 or 

 7 feet wide, and to be heated in the same way. Mind that 

 below the concrete there should be means taken for thorough 

 di'ainage. For late Grapes coming in in autumn there will 

 be no necessity for heating the border at all. For bringing 

 them in in May it will be a great advantage, and the good 

 substantial foui'-inch pipe is the best material for doing it 

 with, such as may be had fi-om 9d. to Is. per foot. The 

 great point to make sui-e of in such an an-angement is to 

 see that the inside border is an inch or two higher than 

 the outside one. On such a plan the border outside will 

 make a capital pit to be covered with glass, and it will be 



