STRUCTURES ADAPTED TO PARTICULAR PURPOSES. 75 



length proportionate to its height and width. There is a great 

 inconvenience in having the green-house very capacious, and 

 where it is desirable to have a large collection of plants, it is 

 best to have a conservatory for the growth of the larger speci- 

 mens, or a stove for the palmaceous families of plants. We 

 shall, however, allude to what is properly termed the green- 

 house. 



A first-rate green-house should be completely transparent on 

 all sides ; lean-to houses are decidedly objectionable, for the 

 reasons already given. Houses that are only glazed in front, 

 and have glass roofs, but otherwise opaque, are also objection- 

 able, as plants can never be made to grow handsome. They 

 become weakly and distorted by continually stretching towards 

 the light, neither do they enjoy the genial rays of the morning 

 and evening sun, and only perhaps for a few hours during mid- 

 day. If such houses be large and lofty, they are still more un- 

 manageable, as no culture can keep the plants symmetrical and 

 of good appearance. 



A green-house should stand quite detached from all other 

 buildings, and may be of any form the fancy may dictate, or the 

 position suggest. It may be circular, oval, hexagonal, octagonal, 

 or a parallelogram, with circular or curved ends. The house, 

 to be proportionate, should be about fifty feet in length by twenty 

 in width, and fourteen feet high, above the level of its floor; if 

 more effect be required from the external view, its parapets may 

 be raised, to give the house a loftier appearance. The parapet 

 should be not more than two feet high all round, the upright 

 glass about two and a half or three feet more, including base, 

 plate, and sash bars. The house should be surrounded by a 

 shelf, two feet wide, level with .the top of the parapet wall. 

 This shelf is of great importance to a gardener, and is gener- 

 ally the best place for the finer kinds of plants ; being sur- 

 rounded on all sides with light, and being near the glass, they 

 grow bushy and dwarf in habit, in which state they are most 

 pleasing and attractive. Next to this shelf comes the pathway, 

 three feet wide at least, (having just enough room between the 

 roof for the tallest individual to clear the glass and rafters;) 

 then the stage, or centre-tables, of stone or timber, and arranged 

 7* 



