ORCHARD HOUSESCONSTRUCTION OF A SPAN-ROOF. 



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and south-west for the ends, so that the house may have the full benefit of the sun 

 throughout the year, and, though a sheltered situation is desirable, nothing must 

 interfere with the free access of light and air. The small span -roof house (Fig. 60) is 

 G feet high at the sides, 10 feet from the path to the ridge, and 14 feet wide. The roof 

 rests on oak posts 5 inches by 3 inches, 5 feet apart, but deal posts let into iron sockets 

 are preferable ; rafters 3 inches by 1^ inch, 20 inches apart, are tied together 

 at the apex of the roof by a light flat iron tie screwed to every fourth bar. The 

 path is down the centre, and the rows of trees may be placed on each border 3 feet 

 from stem to stem. The house can be of any length, and is an agreeable and economic 

 structure. 



A cheap large ppan-roofed house, 20 feet wide and 12 feet from the ground to the 

 ridge, may be built as follows : Oak or deal 

 posts in cast-iron sockets, G inches by 4 

 inches and 7 feet long, should be placed 

 flatwise, so as to stand 5 feet 3 inches out of 

 the ground, and the soil well rammed round 

 them, or concrete poured in so that they 

 stand firmly. These posts should stand in 

 two rows 20 feet apart, 6 feet asunder in the 



Fig. 60. SMALL SPAN-ROOPED ORCHARD HOUSE. 

 TOWS. On these nail the plates, 4 inches by References :a, iron socket ; 6, boards to the ground ; 



3 inches, to receive the rafters a inches by c \ tilating shutters : d > glass 18 inches wide ; e > iron 



tie bars. 



1| inch, which must be nailed to the ridge- 

 board, 7 inches by lj inch, at the apex of the roof, placing the rafters 20 inches apart, 

 that is, to receive glass that width. The sides and ends should be formed of f -inch deal 

 boards. For ventilation a shutter 18 inches wide, made into 15-feet lengths and opening 

 on hinges downwards, the lower edge 18 inches from the ground, should be placed on 

 each side ; and for top ventilation an aperture 1 foot deep at each end just under the apex 

 of the roof, and to this a shutter on hinges should be fixed ; these shutters ought to be 

 kept open from the beginning of June till the end of September. The roof should be 

 supported and kept rigid either by light " collar beams " of wood to every sixth rafter, 

 by iron rods, so disposed as to tie the roof securely, or, best of all, by two rows of 

 iron pillars formed of 2-inch gas pipes, G feet from each side, the lower ends let into a 

 small square of brickwork and cement in the ground, the upper ends let into the 

 purlin. These pillars should be about 10 feet apart. A house built after this method 



