BOOK I. 



PEACH-HOUSE. 



509 



thirty inches wide of the border was in the inside of the pit. I had the border made fourteen feet wide." 

 " I got the floor of the pit paved with bricks, and in the back side, between the pavement and the trees, 

 there was between five and six feet, so that a person had room to walk under to prune and manage the 

 trees." The door was made in the back wall, at the west end ; and at the east end a fire-place was made 

 in the back wall, about three feet high, without a return. M'Phail began to force in the middle of March, 

 and ripened abundant crops of fruit in the month of July. 



2671. As a suitable peach-house, for early forcing, we would suggest a length of forty feet, width eight 

 feet, and height twelve feet : the glass in two planes, each plane forming an angle with the perpendicular 

 of fifteen degrees, and formed into sashes ( fig. 448. a) hinged at their upper angles, and opening outwards. 

 The flue (d) entering the house at one end (c), passing under the front glass, and making two turns in the 

 back wall ; and the trellis (e, b] placed between the flue and back wall. Such a house will be easily 

 managed, and, like the early vinery, may be covered by mats in front during the most severe nights of 

 winter. 



448 



2672. As a peach-house for a main crop, we would suggest a polyprosopic roof, with 

 the sashes (Jig- 449. a) opening on the principle of Venetian blinds ; the flue (</) may 

 pass round the house, and the trellis (c*) be placed between the flue and front glass ; 

 botli the flues and front glass may be supported on cast-iron props (e). The length 

 may be forty feet, breadth and height twelve feet. 



449 



2673. Peach-houses and vineries combined. It is a common practice to combine the 

 vinery and peach-house, and to train the vines close under the glass, and the peach-trees 

 against the back wall (Jig. 450. a) ; or to train the peach-trees against the back wall, and 

 also on a flat or table trellis, in the middle of the house (6) ; but if the house be wide, 

 neither modes are advisable, on account of the distance of the plants from the glass ; 

 and even in narrow houses, it can only be considered as a temporary expedient till thfe 



450 



vines cover the roof. So important is light to every kind of plant, that, in our opinion, the 

 vine should be very sparingly introduced even in pineries, where some plants are generally 

 trained close under the roof (c), and where some gardeners think their shade beneficial. 



