181 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTOBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( August 27, 187i 



earnestness and success to copy the lessons which she teaches 

 — not so much when she presents herself in wild and rugged 

 beauty, as in the softer and more pleasing aspect of flowing 

 lines and harmonious tints. The work is a healthy and elevat- 

 ing one, and is far more generally appreciated than many 

 parsons appear to be aware of. It never palls upon the mind 

 or grows tame ; it appeals to our common nature so forcibly 

 that whenever I see a well-kept and highly-finished flower 

 garden, with the rich yet soft harmonious blending of its 

 t-olours, the exquisite neatness of its keeping, the pleasing 

 relief which the skilful intermixture of plants of stately or 

 graceful aspect imparts, I invariably recall the exclamation 

 which a bluff old nurseryman made years ago when speaking 

 of such a scene, "Paradise, sir, paradise!" — Edward Luck- 

 nniiST. 



CONSTRUCTING GEEENHOUSES— No. 1. 



This is the usual season for erecting these structures, and 

 many of our readers are now asking us for suggestions and 

 directions. The late Donald Beaton wrote to us so fully on 

 the subject that we republish his notes, and add some plans 

 that our readers may select one that best suits their places and 

 purposes : — 



The best aspect for either a greenhouse or pit is south, but 

 east or west aspects will answer. The angle of the roof is best 

 when low, say about 30' ; the width inside from 12 to 11 feet. 

 Oreenhouse plants always do best when the roof is pitched 

 low. The usual objection to low roofs is, that the wind will 

 Jrive in the rain between the glass, but that is easily got over 

 by having the laps of the panes puttied. A higher angle for 

 the roof than 30 is apt to draw the plants too much to one 

 side. You always see nurserymen, who are good judges of 

 what is best for theirplauts, use flat roofs to their greenhouses. 

 The roof-sashes should be in two lengths, and the top ones 

 one-third shorter than the bottom ones ; they will thus be 

 lighter for sliding up and down in giving air to the house. A 

 better plan, however, would be to have all the roof lights or 

 sashes fixed, and in that case they would be better in one 

 length ; but that could only be done well when a good dry 

 shed is placed against the wall behind the greenhouse ; into 

 this shed large openings might be made at the top of the back 

 wall for giving air. One of the greenhouses at fehrubland Park 

 is thus constructed, and answers very well. This very house 

 and shed may be described as an example of one very econo- 

 mical and useful for an amateur. This house is 12 feet wide 

 inside, the back of it 13 feet high, and the front G feet, con- 

 sisting of '2i feet of brickwork, and the rest of glass. The 

 front sashes move on hinges, by which they are fastened to the 

 top plate, and when opened for giving air are retained in their 

 position by a thin piece of flat iron 1.5 inches long fastened to 

 the bottom frame of each sash. This flat handle, as I may 

 call it, is pierced with ten holes along the centre, about an 

 inch apart, and there is an iron pin li inch long fixed in the 

 lower wall-plate, which fits these holes. Xow, when you want 

 to give air you take hold of this handle, lift it from the pin, 

 and push out the sash with it, say to the length of six holes ; 

 drop down the handle then over the iron pin, and your light 

 stands open G or 8 inches wide. Xo wind or accident can alter 

 it backwards or forwards till the handle is let go off the pin. 

 There is nothing in this contiivance to get out of order, and it 

 is the simplest thing possible. All the front sashes may be 

 opened to 14 inches wide, and, with the door open, the plants 

 are neaily as free as if they were in the open air. The roof 

 sashes are all fixed, and just und(r Ihe top angle there is an 

 opening into the back shed under each light. These openings 

 are 3 feet long and a foot wide, without any shutters to them ; 

 there they are wide open day and night, winter and summer. 

 The shed behind is always dry, being used to hold large Myrtles, 

 Fuchsias, &a., during the winter, and as a painter's shop and 

 lumber-room in summer, so that a current of dry air plays 

 over the plants all the year round. When the shed and green- 

 house are closely shut up in frosty weather tho current of air 

 goes on nearly as strong as when all is open, by a very simple 

 contrivance. The floor of the shed is (i inches lower at one 

 end, and here a hole is made through into the greenhouse; 

 this hole is directly over the furnace which heats the green- 

 house flue. As the air cools in the shed it rolls down to this 

 opening, and is sucked into the greenhouse by the heat of the 

 furnace; it then ascends over the plants till it escapes into 

 the shed again by the top openings. For the economy of the 

 thing the back wall is only made up of posts and strong boards, 



plastered over on the greenhouse side, and whitewashed with 

 lime on the shed side, and being always kept dry, will last a 

 lifetime. 



A shelf 30 inches wide runs along the front and one end of 

 this greenhouse, and under this shelf the flue passes all the 

 way. The shelf is 2 feet 3 inches high from the level of the 

 path, the bearers which support it being cross-pieces let into 

 the second course of brickwork next the top ; the shelf thus 

 standing one brick lower than the front glass. The path ought 

 to be 2 feet 10 inches wide, or if you give it a yard it will be 

 aU the better. KecoUeet there will be a shelf on each side of 

 it, and when your friends come to see your success in growing 

 plants they have to walk, stand, or turn round in the path; 

 and if there are ladies in the party their dresses are sure to be 

 made so full that a narrow path will not allow them to pass 

 without pulling down your pots and plants on either side of 

 the way, and instead of getting any praise for your plants and 

 for the laying-out of your new greenhouse, you will be told, 

 and very properly too, that "you have made a poking place of 

 it after all." Let us therefore have a wide comfortable path 

 at any rate, though by doing so we encroach a little on the 

 shelves. The front shelf need not be wider than 18 inches, 

 just to cover over the flue, if you are tied for room, as no tall 

 plants could occupy that part for fear of intercepting the light 

 from the rest of the plants. The roof sashes are best made 

 4 feet wide, or as near to that as the size of the glass will 

 allow ; let them be made of the best red deal, primed, and 

 once painted before the glazing is done. The reason for giving 



Fig. 53. 



two coats of paint is, that after the glass is in there must be 

 no more painting allowed for full three months. Now, if you 

 contract with a buUder to erect the house, recollect to enter 

 this clause about the painting in the specification, as he will 

 be sure to urge you to finish it off at once. The reason for 

 the three-months delay is that the putty may get dry through- 

 out before it is fit to be painted. Of course you will be told 

 this is all fancy, and that ninety-nine persons out of a hundred 

 never think of such a thing, and that a little white lead mixed 

 with the putty wiU make it set hard in a few days ; and so it 

 would, but have nothing to do with that sort of putty. Gar- 

 deners never allow the use of that old kind of putty in these 

 days, because once it gets dry they can hardly cut it when 

 repairs or alterations are to be made afterwards. We have 

 seen a good glazier break four squares of glass trying to mend 

 one broken one, besides spending an hour and a half at the 

 job, which a mere lad could do in five minutes, and without 

 any breakage, if proper putty had been used in the first in- 

 stance. 



Hothouse putty is made with whiting pounded down and 

 sifted very fine, and boiled linseed oil, making it into dough 

 as the bakers do their bread ; the more the dough of putty 

 is worked the better it will be, and it should be at least ten 

 days old before it is used ; in that time a large lump of it 

 will " sweat" — that is, slightly ferment, which is necessary to 

 give it the proper adhesive power. When this soft putty, as it 

 is called, is allowed to dry thoroughly before it is painted over, 

 it will last as long as the hardest white-lead putty, and at the 

 end of twenty years be soft enough to be cut away with your 

 knife. If, therefore, yon wished to remove your greenhouse at 

 any future time, you could easily take out the glass, pack it in 

 boxes, and the timber-work could then be handled and packed 

 without tho risk or annoyance of breaking the glass. We often 

 see very neat well-built greenhouses in Eill respects, except that 



