570 Domestic Notices : — England. 



for the press. He will add an entire volume of trees that were omitted by 

 Michaiix, with plates equal to those of the original work. Dr. Gray has just 

 returned from a pretty long journey into the mountains of North Carolina, an 

 account of which will appear in the next number of Silliman''s Jouriial. — John 

 Torrey. New York, Aitg. 9. 1841. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



The Greenhouses in the Walcejield Nursery. — In your Magazine for June 

 1836, No. 85. p. 312., there are,a perspective view and a short account of a 

 range of greenhouses belonging to Mr. Barratt, nurseryman, St. John's, Wake- 

 field. Having been favoured by the proprietor with an account of the cost of 

 these houses while they were erecting, I urged him to send you a sketch, 

 with the details of the cost, which I was in hopes would have been laid be- 

 fore the public ; because I know that a great many persons are prevented from 

 indulging themselves with a very rational luxury, from an indefinite fear of the 

 expense of a plant-house of the commonest kind ; and that others, who re- 

 quire that elegance should be united with utility in an erection of this kind, 

 are not aware for how small a sum a very beautiful greenhouse may be built. 

 Having explained my views to Mr. Barratt, I must do him the justice to say 

 that he entered most fully into them, and with great readiness furnished me 

 with all the details, which I shall proceed to give you. The walls of these 

 houses are built of brick, 9 in. thick ; the roof of the long house is con- 

 structed in the first instance of iron ribs (f X Ijin.) 3 ft. 7 in. apart, strengthened 

 by two horizontal bars (i in. square) 2 ft. 4 in. apart ; between the first ribs 

 every 6 in. are fixed deal ribs {\ in. square), which are bent to the proper curve, 

 and tied to the horizontal bars. Upon these the glass is laid, and thus forms 

 a complete and entire surface of glass of great strength. The ventilation is 

 effected by openings in every fourth sash, 1 ft. 4 in. deep, and the whole 

 width of the sash. (See the fig. in p. 313. Vol. XII.) The whole expense of 

 this long house, 85 ft. long by 10 ft. 6 in., was only 170/., that of the dome, 

 41/. You will see that there is a walk 3 ft. wide, with a border for plants on 

 each side, 85 ft. long, and a square, surmounted by a very handsome dome, 

 14 ft. 6 in. wide, the whole cost of which is under 220/.; and when it is filled 

 with Mr. Barratt's very numerous collection of calceolarias in full bloom, or 

 with his still more numerous collection of beautiful fuchsias, it not only 

 leaves at an immense distance the unsightly " lean-to " houses that nursery- 

 men usually erect, but far surpasses in real beauty many conservatories that 

 have cost twenty times the sum. The first half only is at present completed, 

 as shown in the perspective view. The other half is now covered with a span 

 roof, formed of the lights from Mr. Barratt's former garden ; and though cer- 

 tainly not so picturesque a house as the curvilinear one, is still very orna- 

 mental, and of course less costl}'. I feel sure that a house on this plan, 18 ft. 

 long, and 1 1 ft. wide, might be finished for less than 25/. These papers will 

 be brought to you by Mr. Barratt himself, who can, and I am sure will 

 cheerfully supply every information I may have omitted ; and I feel sure you 

 will agree with me in saying, that he deserves the encouragement of the public 

 not only for having shown them what may be done in erecting cheap and 

 elegant greenhouses, instead of the formal and ugly right-lined buildings we 

 usually see, but also for his just appreciation of the true policy of a tratles- 

 man in the present day, in the exertions he constantly is making to collect 

 every thing that is worthy of cultivation for its beauty or its rarity, and in 

 offering it to his customers at a reasonable rate. Indeed, he has already largely 

 reaped the fruits of this practice, in the extensive business he has carried on 



