74 STRUCTURES ADAPTED TO PARTICULAR PURPOSES. 



worth your while going in, for there is nothing there to see ! " 

 A humiliating acknowledgment, but full of truth. 



It is foreign to our purpose to enter upon the present condi- 

 tion of green-house gardening, and the mariner in which these 

 structures are managed by gardeners. Our present object is to 

 treat of their construction, and of the means of adapting them 

 the most easily to the culture of flowering plants, either during 

 winter or summer. 



It is a well known fact, that plants that are grown in what 

 are called lean-to green-houses, have exactly the character of 

 the house in which they are grown, i. e., they are one-sided ; 

 nor is it possible, without a vast amount of labor and attention 

 on the part of the gardener, to grow them otherwise. In this 

 respect the cultivator does not imitate nature, but rather the 

 monstrosities of nature. Trees and shrubs only grow one-sided 

 when their position precludes the access of light and air around 

 them; but they grow naturally into a compact bush, which is 

 universally allowed to be the most beautiful form that plants 

 can assume. 



Even a handful of cut flowers have their beauty, and are 

 generally admired, but when seen upon the living plant, 

 whatever shape or form the latter may possess, how much 

 greater their charms ! If, therefore, we add to these natural 

 beauties the additional charm of a positively beautiful form, 

 surely it will double their claim to our admiration. And we 

 may here add the gratifying fact, that this claim is now gener- 

 ally recognized by all who can appreciate the superior beauty 

 f well-grown plants. 



The principles upon which plant structures ought to be built, 

 are somewhat different from those which regulate the erection 

 of forcing-houses, culinary houses, &c., and as their purposes 

 are different, their shapes and forms are generally also different. 

 Plant-houses admit of a greater variety of shape and design 

 than any of the kinds previously mentioned, and as they are 

 generally erected in private grounds, for ornament and display, 

 they should have a more artistic character than the others. 



The size of the green-house may vary according to the extent 

 of the collection to be cultivated, but it should always have a 



