EDIFICES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 195 



other means; and conveniences for liquid manure, lime-water, &c., &c., 

 must not be forgotten. In short, whatever is wanting for the cultiva- 

 tion and management of a garden, exclusive of plant-structures and the 

 gardener's house, should be provided for in the back sheds ; and, as a 

 general principle, it may be laid down that every plant-structure that 

 has a back shed should have a direct confoiunication with it by means 

 of a door in the back wall. By means of this communication much 

 time is saved in conveying articles from the shed to the house, and the 

 contrary ; fires can be more promptly attended to, and above all, 

 plants in pots can be taken into the shed and examined or shifted, 

 without exposing them to the open air. 



The tool-house should adjoin the seed-room, and should be fitted up 

 as before indicated. The potting-shed should contain, facing the 

 windows, benches for potting on, and ample space for pots, crocks, 

 potting trowels, stakes, ties, tallies, bell-glasses, and a variety of other 

 articles. It should, however, be well lighted alike from the front and 

 the roof; sashes should likewise be placed here. Soils are in general 

 fresher, and in a better state, when kept in the open air; but still 

 there ought to be bins for sand, peat, leaf-mould, and some other 

 kinds in constant use. 



Open Sheds. A portion of the sheds open in front ought to be set 

 apart for tanner's bark, and other portions for hotbed-frames and such 

 like portable structures, or articles that would be injured by exposure 

 to the weather when not in use ; one for sticks for peas, props for 

 plants, mats, coal or wood for fuel, and for other purposes. In short, 

 there can hardly be too much shed-room ; for besides all the ordinary 

 purposes mentioned, a portion of it may be sometimes required for 

 preserving deciduous greenhouse plants through the winter for which 

 there is not room in the plant-structures, such as large Fuchsias, 

 Brugmansias, Pomegranates, and many other plants which are turned 

 out into the open garden during summer. If there is no regular 

 mushroom-house, that vegetable may be grown in the open shed, on 

 dung ridges covered with hay and mats. Tart rhubarb and sea-kale 

 may be forced there, protected by mats supported on hoops ; peas and 

 beans for early crops may be germinated before being transplanted 

 into the open garden ; and indeed there is no end to the objects that 

 may be effected within open sheds, while on their roofs onions may be 

 dried in wet seasons a practice very general in Scotland and in the 

 north of England. 



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