60 STRUCTURES ADAPTED* TO PARTICULAR PURPOSES. 



For the purposes of grape-growing, we think a loss of surface is 

 sustained by the position of the gable ends. In fact, from a series 

 of calculations, bearing directly on this question, we have found 

 in some houses that stand apart from other structures a loss 

 equal to one third the extent of the roof surface. Some houses 

 may be less, but some more, than this amount. In growing 

 grape-vines for instance, we know that the rafters — or the slop- 

 ing part of the house — is the principal area for the fruit-bearing 

 branches of the plant. Now, supposing that your house be 50 

 feet in length, 15 feet wide, and as many feet high, then, by 

 having no vines of any account growing on the ends of the 

 house, you lose a transparent surface equal to nearly one half 

 the extent of the whole roof. If it be asserted that the perpen- 

 dicularity of the gables is necessary for the admission of hori- 

 zontal light, we think this wholly unwarranted ; for experience 

 has fully proved that horizontal light, entering by the medium 

 of upright glass, is powerless, comparatively speaking, for assim- 

 ilating the juices, either in proper quantity or quality, for the 

 production and maturation of fine fruit. Many of the oldest and 

 most experienced gardeners prefer hot-houses having no upright 

 glass at all in front, placing the roof directly upon a parapet IS 

 or 20 inches in height. 



By way of remedying the objection here pointed out, we have 

 •desio'ned a house which combines the advantao-es of a curved 

 roof with those of a plane surface, rendering the whole of the 

 house available for the production of fruit. By this plan a 

 greater training surface is obtained, for the same extent of glass 

 surface, than by any other we know, or in any other structure 

 of similar dimensions. This we consider the most perfect form 

 of a hot-house that has yet been erected. 



Fig. 19 is intended to convey a clearer notion of the kind of 

 house we have referred to. This house is 100 feet in length, 

 20 feet in height at the back wall, with a perpendicular rise of 

 five feet. The roof rises in series of successive planes, from the 

 upright front, and presents a continuous surface for training the 

 vines to, from one end to the other. Fig. 20 shows the ground 

 plan of the house, which may be made of any dimensions, as 

 easily as any of the common forms. 



