252 



GARDEN SiAJN i.g£:.ie:>t. 



68^. The cap or ridge screwed on, and tlie ends properly fixed, it onlv 

 remnins to replace them with, suchborder^ :>o are considered suitable for the tree^ 

 or 1 lants to be grown in them. The soi: of the border, both outside and in, 

 should be flush with the level of the gutter or wall-plate, so as to exclude the 

 external air ; and it should slope outwardly so as to throw off moisture. With 

 these observations we dismiss a very efficient and inexpensive style of horticul- 

 tm'al building. 



684. Practical men consider these houses admii-ably adapted for fruit- 

 cultivation and vineries, or, indeed, anything that requires training parallel 

 with the glass. For potted plants, or shrubs requiring head-room, some 

 consider them objectionable and difficult to manage, the roof springing from 

 the soil of the border rendering it difficult to get at the plants at the sides. 

 This is a well-founded objection, and as the whole argument in their favour 

 is involved in this feature, which gives simplicity and economy to their erection, 

 it is probably calculated to limit their use to vineries, and very narrow fruit- 

 houses requiring an acute inclination. The simplicity of their structure, 

 and the ease and rapidity with which they can be put up and removed, will 

 recommend them to many who hold their houses on shorter uncertain tenures ; 

 while the fact that the side-styles and sash-bars are undoubtedly of the best 

 material, and ofa strength calculated according to their length, will recommend 

 them as preferable to any make-shift systems. 



VIII. — sectio:n^ op gekenhouse asd cold-pits. 



685. In the construction of horticultural buildings there is no economy 

 inferior workmanship applied to the first erection. While we point out the 

 various kinds of structure and the most approved modes of erecting them, 

 with some approximation to their cost, it is not to be doubted that the course 

 to be pursued by any person desirous of erecting horticultural houses, would 

 be to get proper estimates for the work after specification of the attendant 

 circumstances. In order to facilitate any such application, we have asked 

 Mr. Messenger, horticultural engineer, Loughborough, to furnish a design and 

 estimate for a range of houses, including forcing-house and green -house, each 

 20 feet by 18 feet ; four forcing-pits, and a like number of cold-pits, with 

 his several patented appliances, which we now submit to our readers. 



