100 MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION. 



want of success in the useful results, and want of permanency 

 in the structure itself. In every country, no doubt, such cases 

 are numerous, but here, they are more numerous probably than 

 in any other, arising, no doubt, from that want of attention to 

 the details of horticultural architecture, and to the still unde- 

 veloped principles of science, upon which it is based. 



The temporary and inferior character of the workmanship 

 generally bestowed on horticultural erections is a source of great 

 loss to those erecting such buildings, and demands the serious 

 attention of all who contemplate the construction of them. The 

 remarks, which have been applied by a popular writer on farm- 

 ing in regard to farm-buildings, are still more applicable to build- 

 ings for the purposes of horticulture.^ Buildings, manifestly 

 intended to be permanent, are put up to stand for a year or two, 

 when it becomes absolutely necessary to their continuation, to 

 spend a sum upon them equal to one third the cost of their 

 original erection, which acts as a drawback upon the progress 

 of horticulture in this country, as many suppose that this early 

 additional expenditure is merely the consequence which the com- 

 mon tear and wear of time entails upon all such structures ; and 

 hence they are considered too expensive to keep in order, even 

 though willing to go to the cost of original construction. Now 

 experience has taught us that structures, substantially con- 

 structed at the first, and of good materials, will stand for at least 

 twenty years without any additional outlay, save a few coats of 

 paint during that period, which increases their durability, the 

 oftener it is applied. 



We have been induced to dwell longer on the subject of 

 workmanship, from the numerous examples which have come 

 under our own observation, and from the trouble and annoyance 

 to which we are almost daily subjected on this account. In 

 small erections, the inconveniences arising from bad workman- 



* Few things serve better to distinguish the habits, and even the 

 characters, of the progeny from the parent stock, the Americans from 

 their English ancestors, than the more perfect and durable character 

 of all their mechanical works, machinery, and buildings. There, things 

 are made to endure ; here, they are made to answer the purposes of the 

 day. [Ed. Farmer's Library.} 



