140 VILLA GARDENING part ii 



venes between the different houses. The cost of heating, too, is 

 generally less when they are erected in a compact group or block 

 than when scattered. The best materials and workmanship will 

 in the long run be the cheapest, and the ventilation should be as 

 perfect and as quickly applied as machinery and skill can make it. 

 In the old days that I remember so well, a man had to go from 

 light to light, cariying a long stick with him, as he might have to 

 give the light a good shake with it before it Avould move. Often 

 the stick woidd slip if the operator was clumsy, then a hole 

 appeared in the glass, and the glazier had to be called in. Now, 

 in all modern erections, a whole house can be ventilated by just 

 moving a lever. 



The Annual Expense of repairing and maintaining the glass- 

 houses in a first-class villa-garden is considerable, and any system 

 of construction which tends to reduce expenditiu-e on this item 

 without any sacrifice of efliciency must ultimately win its way. 

 Several systems for the attainment of this object have been intro- 

 duced of late years, whereby the roofs of glasshouses may be so 

 constructed as to place all the perishable materials under the cover 

 of the glass — nothing but the glass and the metal bars on which it 

 rests being exposed to the weather ; and putty, that greatest of 

 all nuisances in hothouse building, is entirely absent. I feel 

 convinced that in the future horticultural buildings can and ■will 

 be constnicted on some improved system, whereby the enormous 

 expenses of painting and repairs may be much reduced. Active 

 minds are giving close attention to this matter, and sooner or 

 later the problem will be worked out and brought to a satis- 

 factory issue. Several systems embodying these ideas to some 

 extent are in operation, and any one desirous of testing or get- 

 ting further information on the subject will meet with every 

 facility for doing so. No one, I think, can look upon the present 

 system of fixing the glass in position by so inelastic a substance 

 and one so liable to crack and peel oS' as putty, as perfect. It 

 did better when the timbers of the roof were heavy, and the 

 rabbets on which the small squares of glass rested were wide ; 

 but that era has been left behind, and putty in connection witli 

 the roofs of hothouses ought to disappear, as it is not adapted for 

 the larger squares of glass and lighter timbers in use at the 

 present day. Something more elastic and enduring is required. 

 After the putty has cracked (and the action of the wind in a gale 

 may — in fact, does — cause putty to crack), if it does not peel ott" 

 directly it is worse than useless in keeping out water, as it holds 

 the water back, and in a measm-e conducts it inside the house 

 instead of facilitating its escape. 



