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BOOK III. 



PLANT- HOUSES. 



506. Houses for the protection of plants axe of various kinds; some merely 

 useful, and others useful and ornamental ; some for plants from climates only 

 a little warmer than our own, and which, consequently, require no means of 

 heating, as they are only necessary to protect the plants they contain from 

 severe frosts, and from the excessive damps of our climate ; others, which re- 

 quire to give a little warmth, as well as shelter, to the plants placed in them ; 

 and others, which are intended for the plants of tropical climates, which must 

 be provided with the means of equalling the heat and moisture of climates of 

 that kind. In the present work, attention will be principally paid to those 

 houses which are intended for ornamental plants, as the houses for growing 

 and forcing fruits have been already amply described in the twin work called 

 The Horticulturist. 



SECTION I. 



USEFUL PLANT-HOUSES. 



507. The merely useful plant-houses described and treated of in the present 

 work, will be only those which are required for propagating greenhouse plants, 

 and keeping them through the winter ; those used for the plants of very hot 

 climates being considered partly useful and partly ornamental. The plant- 

 houses used in floriculture, which are merely for use, not ornament, are prin- 

 cipally pits, or low greenhouses ; but this division also includes rough frames 

 for protecting walls and trellises in severe weather, which are removed in 

 summer. 



508. Protected trellises are chiefly used for growing peaches and nectarines, 

 but they may be applied to ornamental plants, or a conservative wall. The plants 

 are "planted in a slanting position, and trained to a trellis 12 ft. wide, about 

 2 ft. 6 in. from the groimd at the back, and 1 ft, in front ;" strong posts are 

 inserted in the ground, one beyond the trellis, both in front and behind, and 

 on these posts is nailed a frame to receive the lights; the posts and the frame 

 being of rough wood, sawn at the Brentford Saw-mills. The details are 

 given at length in the Appendix to Rivers's Miniature Fruit Garden, but the 

 plan is not new having been practised many years ago at Hylands, Strath- 

 fieldsaye, and many other places ; the only new features in Mr. Rivers's plan 

 being the employment of rough wood, and rough plate glass, in panes 2 ft. 

 long, and 1 ft. wide ; whereas, at Hylands and Strathfieldsaye, the frames and 

 trellis were not at all unsightly, and the glass the same as that in ordinary 



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