496 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



ported on hollow cast-iron pillars ; and all the walls on both sides, except the 

 outer wall, may be lath and plaster, or glass, so as to allow persons passing 

 along the walks to see into the houses without entering them. The fruit- 

 room should have a ventilator at the tpp, and a window in front with a wire 

 cloth screen, a wooden floor, and a small charcoal stove at one end ; and 

 it should be fitted up with two tiers of shelves 18 in. apart, leaving a walk in 

 the middle, 4 ft. wide. The tool shed is to be fitted up with a rack, in which 

 all the long-handled tools should be placed, with the handles inwards, so that 

 they can be selected from, and inspected at a glance ; and there should be a 

 few large drawers, in which small tools, such as hammers, &c., may be kept ; 

 this shed should have a window in front, and a loft over it. The potting shed 

 should be paved with stone, it should contain a table 9 ft. long, 2 ft. 9 in. 

 broad, and 2 ft. 6 in. high; and it, also, should have a window in front, and a 

 loft over. The potting shed should have either a pump, or water laid on by 

 pipes, with waste-pipe, &c., for the convenience of washing the flowei--pots ; 

 and there should be a water tank built with bricks and cement, attached to 

 each house. In arranging the plan for these houses attention was paid to 

 their probable appearance in an ornamental point of view, as well as to 

 their utility. A house of grapes looks best from the front, when the upper 

 side of the leaves above the trellis, and the broad side of the clusters below, 

 can be viewed at once : peaches look best when seen on a line with the eye ; 

 and flowering plants should be in the same position. Cucumbers are most 

 ornamental when trained to rafters, with the fruit hanging down. Pine- 

 apples should be arranged like an amphitheatre, the tallest at the back ; and 

 melons, though they should be looked down upon, should have the fruit 

 raised a little above the foliage. Houses for forcing fruit are generally con- 

 sidered eyesores in gardens; objects of utility, it is true, but which should 

 be concealed as much as possible. By attending, however, to limits given 

 above, forcing houses need no longer be considered as blemishes and neces- 

 sary evils, but they may be made positively ornamental. 



The houses were made to join each other to save heat; for it is obvious 

 that if each had stood separately exposed to the eflfects of the weather, much 

 more fuel would be required to heat the whole, than by the plan proposed ; 

 according to which the warm dry walls of one house serve to dry the walls of 

 another. As it is also known that light and heat pass through glass in greater 

 porportions, and to more profitable purpose, when the rays make right-angles 

 with the surface of the glass, the roof should be elevated to an angle equal to 

 the latitude of the locality. Peach-trees require a comparatively low tem- 

 perature, much light, and a fi-ee circulation of air ; therefore, a span-roofed 

 house, running north and south, will be found most suitable, and the trellis 

 for the trees should be circular at both ends. The orchideous house may have 

 ferns and mosses at the back, and over a circular brick stand in the centre. 



