HOT-HOUSE. 



black spaces, under each bench, shows 

 the passages of the flues, the sides being 

 half a brick in thickness, and the tops 

 covered only with a strong tile, well ce- 

 mented down, and plastered over. By 

 this means any part of the flues can be 

 easily cleaned or repaired. Our readers 

 will of course understand, that where any 

 part of the hot-house is thus benched, it 

 need not be excavated, that mode being 

 only requisite for the lodgment of the tan 

 in the parts intended for keeping up the 

 heat by immersion of the pots in the hot- 

 beds. 



The average heat of the interior should 

 be from about 75 to 80 degrees ; but at 

 particular critical times, when pines, &c. 

 require much forcing, it may be carried 

 up to full 85, or even to 90 degrees, so as 

 to correspond with the temperature of 

 their natural climate. It is remarkable, 

 that in those places where pines grow 

 wild, they possess the highest flavour, far 

 exceeding that of the domesticated fruit, 

 and that they ordinarily undergo a change 

 of about 12 or 15 degrees between the 

 average heats in the shady parts, where 

 they grow, at mid-day, and at mid-night. 

 Yet our gardeners keep them full as warm 

 during the night, as" during the day. 

 Perhaps some assiduous and curious spe- 

 culator in this branch of horticulture 

 may deem the above hint worthy of notice. 

 The entrance into a hot-house should 

 always be by means of a small anti-cham- 

 ber, shutting very close ; for when a door 

 opens abruptly, so as to admit the exter- 

 nal air, those plants which are contiguous 

 thereto will receive a shock from the cold 

 air, thus inevitably allowed to reach them, 

 and will be far less luxuriant than others 

 of the same kind, which, by a more for- 

 tunate locality, escape the baneful in- 

 fluence. We would recommend the sketch 

 given in fig. 4, to the attention of our 

 readers ; in it A is the anti-chamber to the 

 hot-house B,and C is the fire-place,whence 

 *he chimney forms the several flues that 

 yass under the benches, and through the 

 back wallD, C ending in the chimney E. 



It will befound most convenient to have 

 the door in the centre of one end of the 

 hot-house, and us that part will necessarily 

 be raised by the slope of the surface of the 

 beds and benches, four or five steps may 

 he made, either in the anti-chamber, or in 

 the hot-house. It will also be found useful 

 to make in the back wall various small 

 apertures,, one for each binn, that the old 

 tan, which has lost its heat, may be re- 

 "moved from below by means of scoopsand 

 y the surface of the binn being, in the 



meanwhile, covered with bass-mats,9traw, 

 &c., to exclude the external air. When 

 the old tan Ikas all been removed, the 

 aperture should be closed, and the fresh 

 tan be filled into the binn by two men,with 

 a long narrow basket, which might be ad- 

 vantageously rolled up the path-way or 

 alley, between the binns and the bench- 

 es, on a small truck frame. 



In small hot-houses, such as we some- 

 times see in the gardens attached to little 

 country-boxes, the heat might be cir- 

 culated from a kitchen fire, provided the 

 benches were raised sufficiently high to 

 receive that benefit without affecting the 

 draught. This would, in many instances, 

 be found convenient and economical. In 

 such the air might be admitted, merely by 

 having one or two panes of glass set in 

 metal frames, to be opened on hinges, as 

 we often see in places where sash win- 

 dows would not answer, or where only a 

 slight change of air is needful. 



We shall conclude this article with re- 

 marking that hot-houses require conside- 

 rable attention, and are extremely expen- 

 sive, both in their construction and in 

 their support. A thermometer should al- 

 ways be suspended in some shady part ; 

 and, in warm weather especially, it will 

 be found extremely convenient to have 

 tin ventilators set in the sides, near the. 

 tops, as shown in the figure ; their action 

 might at any time be stopped, by putting 

 on a tin cap or cover, or by a sliding 

 board; the latter would prove most con- 

 venient. 



During the day time, in the summer 

 season, the fires may frequently be al- 

 lowed to go out ; but so soon as the even- 

 ing chill is felt, the glasses ought to be 

 closed, and the flues to be heated. As> 

 however, some plants require more air 

 than others, we offer to the consideration 

 of our horticultural readers, whether a 

 perpendicular glazed frame, dividing the 

 hot-house longitudinally into two distinct 

 parts, the front one to be kept partially 

 opened, and the back one completely clos- 

 ed, would not be an improvement in the 

 construction of this species of buildings. 

 This might be so contrived as more ef- 

 fectually to guard against the sudden ac- 

 cess of cold air, and serve as an auxiliary 

 to the precaution already suggested, of 

 having the entrance guarded by means of 

 an antichamber. The manner of attend- 

 ing to the plants in hot-houses will be 

 seen under the head of GARDENING, 

 \vhere we have endeavoured to furnish a 

 complete, but concise essay and calendar, 

 and in which every matter of utility, of 



