240 



HORTICULTURE. 



Fruit- Air is admitted by sliding shutters, which may be gla- 

 iardc-n. ze ,l jf thought proper, in the parapet wall in front ; and 

 * also by wooden shutters, moving on pivots, and opened 

 or shut by means of cords along the back wall ; and by 

 windows in the pediment roof. The glass-roof itself is 

 immoveable; but the upper part of it may be made into 

 moveable sashes if required, by forming a sufficient 

 number of rib* with grooves, and fixing stay rods on 

 the under sashes, to receive the upper ones when let 

 down : and Sir George Mackenzie mentions, that, from 

 viewing the structure of the roof of Short's old observa- 

 tory at Edinburgh, he is convinced that the glass semi- 

 dome might be made in two parts, and placed on rol- 

 lers, so as to expose at pleasure every plant in the inte- 

 rior to the direct influence of the sun. If it is wished 

 at times, to defend the plants from the sun, a gore of 

 canvas may be so contrived as to cover one- half of the 

 glass. The general appearance of such a house (as seen 

 in the elevation, Plate CCCXII. Fig. 1.) is doubtless 

 highly elegant ; and it seems pretty evident, that se- 

 veral such houses, tastefully disposed in a garden, would 

 have a much finer effect than one great range, although 

 the latter must necessarily be more economical. Mr 

 Knight, we understand, highly approves of this inven- 

 tion, and is of opinion that it will answer every pur- 

 pose, better than any form hitherto contrived. 



242. It may here be mentioned, that Mr Robert 

 Fletcher, at Bonnyrig, near Edinburgh, a good many 

 years ago, constructed a grape-house, in the form of a 

 regular polygon of 24 sides, having a base 24 feet in 

 diameter. A thin brick wall, two feet high, passes 

 around, forming the proper angles : on this wall rest the 

 couples which support the central or flat part of the roof, 

 which is eight feet in diameter. An iron ring connects 

 the couples at the base as well as at the top. The length 

 of the couples is 10 feet 3 inches. Between these are 

 glazed sashes, 3 feet wide at base, and tapering to 1 

 foot at top. In this way the ceiling is 8 feet 6 inches 

 from the ground, and the sashes incline at an angle of 

 40. The door of the house is to the north ; the fur- 

 nace close by one side of the door ; the flue makes 

 a circuit around the house at the distance of 2J feet 

 from the wall, and the smoke escapes on the other side 

 of the door. Air is admitted, as wanted, by means of 

 three ventilators on the south-west side ; but in point 

 of fact air can pass in by many crevices, particularly at 

 the flat part of the roof, and no putty has been used in 

 glazing. The brick wall being founded merely on the 

 surface of the ground, the roots of the vines pass under 

 it in any direction. The soil is dry and rather shallow. 

 In the end of June, Mr Fletcher forms a heap of vege-. 

 tables, commonly the weeds from his garden, in the 

 centre of the floor of the house ; when this heap begins 

 to decompose, some degree of heat is produced, a good 

 deal of vapour rises, and nutritious gases are exhaled : 

 the hoap is occasionally fed, so as to keep up the fer- 

 mentation till about the middle of September. In this 

 house, and under this sort of management, has this in- 

 genious person, for a number of years, raised very 

 good crops of grapes of different sorts, particularly the 

 black Hamburgh, the Lombardy, and the white sweet- 

 water, the berries of all these kinds becoming large and 

 of high flavour. 



243. It may also be noticed, that Mr Henderson, 

 nurseryman at Brechin, has constructed a small hot- 

 house, which he styles the triple meridian. The nar- 

 row end of it is placed to the south, and the roof, which 

 is ridge-shaped, is inclined in the same direction, by a 

 slope of one foot in six. In consequence of the posi- 

 tion of the house, one side has the sun's rays approach- 



in? to perpendicular at 9 A. M. and the other at 3 P. M. ; 

 and, on account of the slope to the south in the roof, 

 the sun's rays are enjoyed partially all the time he is 

 above the horizon. Air is admitted by ventilators. 

 After several years trial, Mr Henderson has found 

 such a construction to answer all his expectations. 



If melons be the crop raised, no furnace is necessary.. 

 In place of fire heat, the warmth arising from the fer- 

 mentation of weeds, or a mixture of grass and rushes, 

 is sufficient ; proper chambers for holding these, and 

 enabling them to communicate their heat, being pre- 

 pared within the house. The employment of refuse 

 vegetables in such a melon-house, or in Mr Fletcher's 

 grape-house, must operate as a premium for the de- 

 struction of nettles, thistles, and other weeds. 



244. At Lord Mansfield's garden at Scone in Scotland, 

 the hot-houses are constructed on a new plan, inas- 

 much as they have no upright front glass, and all the 

 sashes xtejixed, or not calculated to slide up and down. 

 Air is admitted by ventilators in front, and at the top 

 of the back wall. The houses are 12 feet high ; the 

 back wall two feet higher, or 14 feet ; and the front or 

 parapet wall only two feet. The advantages of this 

 plan seem to consist in saving the expeuce, at first, of 

 upright wooden rafters or pillars, and in preventing the 

 breakage of glass, which must to a certain extent be oc- 

 casioned by the moving of sashes up and clown. But it 

 is not to be concealed that these immoveable sashes are 

 attended likewise with some disadvantages. A liberal 

 circulation of air is sometimes necessary to the health 

 of the young fruit, which, without it, drops off at the 

 time of the first swelling ; and an equable exposure to 

 the air is highly important for communicating flavour to 

 peaches and nectarines when just approaching to ripe- 

 ness. Air admitted, however, only by openings in the 

 front parapet and in the top of the back wall, must in 

 some measure form currents, which, as formerly remark- 

 ed, ( 209.) are seldom desirable. Even in avoiding in- 

 juries to the glass, the advantages cannot be very con- 

 siderable, particularly if the moveable sashes be drawn 

 up and down in a steady manner by means of pulleys 

 and weights. Whoever erects a house with a glass 

 roof, must of course lay his account with occasional ac- 

 cidents, whether the roof be fixed or moveable, and one 

 would be apt to think, that the repairs of panes acci- 

 dentally broken on fixed roofs, could scarcely be accom- 

 plished without very considerable risk of increasing the 

 damage, ia clambering over them with ladders. 



Gathering and keeping of Fruits. 



245. Fruits in general should be gathered in the 

 middle part of a dry day ; not in the morning, before 

 the dew is evaporated, nor in the evening when it be- 

 gins to be deposited. Plums readily part from the twigs 

 when ripe : they should not be much handled, as the 

 bloom is apt to be rubbed off". Apricots may be ac- 

 counted ready when the side next the sun feels a little 

 soft upon gentle pressure with the finger. They ad- 

 here firmly to the tree, and would over-ripen on it. 

 Peaches and nectarines, if moved upwards, and al- 

 lowed to descend with a slight jerk, will separate if 

 ready ; and they may be received into a tin cup or fun- 

 nel lined with velvet, so as to avoid touching with the 

 fingers or bruising. If this funnel have a handle two or 

 three feet long, the fruit may be gathered with it from 

 any low or ordinary wall. The old rule for judging of 

 the ripeness of figs, was to observe if a drop of water 

 was hanging at the end of the fruit ; a more certain one 

 is, to notice when the small end becomes of the same 

 colour as the large end. The most transparent grape 



Fruit. 



