PLANT-HOUSES. 473 



panes of glass put in at right angles to the bars at Ic. There are openings 

 under each ridge, in the back wall, and also in front, for ventilation. 



Fig. 343. is a ground plan of a portion of this house, showing the entrance 

 at c ; a partition, by which a part of the house may be treated as a stove, 

 h h ; the hot water pipes, c c ; the stage for gi-eenhouse plants, d; cistern for 

 water in the stove division, e j and box for Musa Cavendishii, /. The cistern 

 and the box are formed of slabs of slate, held together by iron bolts, which 

 pass through the two opposite plates, and are made fast with screws and 

 nuts : h, g, h, show a vertical profile of part of a ridge on a large scale, in 

 which g is the ridge piece, or crown of the ridge ; and h h the gutters or 

 furrows. The width of these ridges, from furrow to furrow, is about 6 ft. ; 

 and the height, from the level of the furrow to the crown of the ridge, is 

 about 3 ft. 



SECTION II. 



ORNAMENTAL PLANT-HOUSES. 



518. Ornamental structures for containing plants are of various kinds, and 

 of every size, from the little plant cabinet to the large conservatory or winter 

 garden. Some of these plant-houses are not provided with any means of 

 heating ; others may easily be warmed moderately ; and others are regular 

 hothouses or stoves, supplied with abundance of artificial heat, so as to imitate 

 the hottest climate of the tropics. In the present work the designs given 

 will be chiefly of rather small houses, which can be erected and kept up at a 

 moderate expense ; and only one or two of a costly description will be 

 admitted. 



SuBSECT. I. — Plant Cabinets. 



519. Plant cabinets are the most common of all the kinds of greenhouse ; 

 and they are generally considered more as ornamental appendages to houses, 

 than as places for rearing or keeping plants. In fact, the plants they contain 

 are generally grown and kept in some other place till they are ready to flower. 

 A plant cabinet may be described as a small chamber, built on tlie outside of 

 a town house or suburban villa, and constructed principally of iron, brick, or 

 wood, but having a glazed roof, and frequently glazed sides. It is generally 

 entered by a glazed door or window from the staircase or landing. As it is 

 chiefly intended for preserving plants which have been brought forward else- 

 where, it is of no great consequence whether it is placed against the north, 

 west, or east side of a house ; though the south and south-east sides are 

 doubtless the most favourable, and the north-east the least so. In street 

 houses, it is often very conveniently projected from a staircase window, either 

 on the drawing-room floor, or the floor above. In other cases, it is sometimes 

 joined to the back parlour, which is made to open into it ; or it is placed over 

 the entrance porch; and, occasionally, it forms a projection, supported on 

 pillars, from the back drawing-room, Fig. 344. shows the elevation ijig. 345. 

 the section ; and^^. 346, the ground plan of a plant cabinet of the simplest 

 kind, attached to one of the houses in the Palace Gardens, Kensington. In 

 Jig. 346. a shows the entrance from the drawing-room, and b a flight of steps 



