ORCHAKD HOUSES. 



A BOUT the year 1849, the late Mr. Thomas Kivcrs erected at Sawbridgeworth, 

 * _ Herts, a rough lean-to shed, supported by larch-poles sawn in half, boarded at the 

 back, front and ends, with sliding shutters at the front and back for ventilation, a door 

 at one end, and a fixed roof formed of rafters 20 inches apart, glazed with large 

 panes of sheet-glass, for the cultivation of peach trees in pots. This was the first 

 orchard house and it more than realised expectations. A span-roofed shed was next con- 

 structed 20 feet wide, 12 feet high in the centre to the ridge-pole, and 5 feet at the 

 sides. This house was provided with deal boards on hinges running the length of the 

 structure on both sides, and was a still greater success. The next house was a span- 

 roof, 14 feet at the ridge-pole, 24 feet wide, and 100 feet long. This size is considered 

 the most convenient. It was built in 1855, at a cost of 140, and has produced 

 annually for the last thirty-three years from 3,500 to 4,000 peaches and nectarines, 

 the harvest of fruit extending from the beginning of July to the first week in October. 

 This house contains of peaches and nectarines alone, 10 1 trees, 31 pyramids, from 8 to 

 10 feet high in 18-inch pots, ranged in three rows down the centre, and 76 half- 

 standards and bushes on both sides, ranged in two rows alternately, the pots 3 feet 

 apart. These trees comprise the permanent residents, but in addition, the house 

 will hold and protect against frost an equal number of pears, plums, and cherries, all 

 of which can be removed to the open air about the end of May. Up to this time no 

 difficulty will be felt in overcrowding, and the trees will not have made sufficient growth 

 to incommode each other. The advantage of thus utilising an orchard house will be 

 at once seen, as sometimes there is a general wreck of outdoor fruits from spring frosts, 

 and entire destitution can thus be escaped. 



Such, in the words of Mr. T. F. Eivers, was the beginning, development, and advan- 

 tage of the orchard house. These structures are simple and, as compared with fruit houses 

 with brick walls and movable side and top lights, inexpensive. The orchard house is, 

 according to the original intention, a glass structure erected on the most economical scale 

 consistent with stability. The main object of orchard houses is that of providing 



