PLANT-HOUSES. 



475 



effect. One side and the roof should, at all events, be glazed ; but, if both 

 sides be glazed, the effect is much better than if one is opaque ; provided, 

 however, that the roof is glazed, and the width of the house is as great as its 

 height, or nearly so. Fig. 347. 



shows the ground plan, and 347 



Jig. 348. the side elevation of 

 a plant cabinet of this descrip- 

 tion ; and fig. 349. shows the 

 elevation of the end, with steps 

 leading down to the garden. 

 In fig. 347. there is a bed in 

 the centre for planting camel- 

 lias, and there are holes left in 

 the wall at a for the admission 

 of vines or other climbing 



plants, the roots of which are to be in a bed outside the house. Plants will 

 thrive in a house with all its sides opaque ; it being understood that the 

 house is as wide as the side walls are high, and that the plants are placed on 



J 10 ft. 



348 



349 



a stage, or on the floor, so that the light may fall in direct lines on the upper 

 surface of their leaves. The sides, when of glass, may be framed and glazed 

 in any mode considered as in character with the windows of the house ; and 

 the roof may be glazed like a common span-roofed hothouse : but, if the panes 

 of glass are above 8 in. wide, they ought to be of extra-thick crown glass, or 

 of the thick rough glass, such as is now sold in London for conservatories ; or 

 of plate glass. One or more sashes in the side or sides, or one sash in the 

 farther end, ought to be made to open at top and bottom, for the sake of 

 ventilation ; but this may be accomplished without having the sashes hung 

 with cords and pulleys, by having two narrow sashes made to slide past each 

 other, or even by having a pane in the upper and lower part of each window 

 to open. In general, all hinged sashes or panes should open outwards; 

 because then they are not in the way of the plants within. 



521. Where a plant cabinet faces the north, and the situation is much ex- 

 posed to north winds, it would be very desirable if the glazed sides and roof 

 were made double. This construction would retain the heat much better in 

 the winter time ; and during summer the inner sashes might be taken away 

 altogether, and used for growing cucumbers or melons in the garden or yard 

 behind the house, or, if there were no room there, on the roof, if that were 



