March 21, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTITEB XSD COTTAGE GAUDENER. 



229 



It is ceffainly reioaftable, yet not less strange than true.— 

 T. a. H., Clifton, Bristol, S()pt..lS64i, 



- [" THe twig mentioned above has four secondary branches 

 springiiig from it, and bears eight Elm leaves on the lower 

 Iwimchlets, and ten Oak leaves on the upper two. Can any 

 ■df ■ bur ■ readers' 'state whether a similar occurrence has 

 pVeviottsly come undei' their notice ?— Eds. Nat."] 



ME. ABBEY'S'-STEAWBEEEY-HOUSESv";''' 



Me. Abbey's first figure (page 154) is, I suppose, intended 

 as a StrSrtJ-berry-house in toto. Well, I have no oy ection to 

 the large accommodation here for the production of suck a 

 luxury as forced Strawberries, but how are we to get at 

 them to water the plants or gather the fruit ? He has un- 

 forturiately placed the best of his Btnictures in the wrong 

 place. I mean the small one occupying the middle of the 

 house. Were it not for this one could with a good d?al of 

 trouble get at plants on the "suspended shelves;" but as 

 it is, it is impossible to work any of them, but the two lower 

 ones. 



Though there is nd'bbjeotion to having plenty of aooom- 

 modation for forcing Strawberries, I believe such a house as 

 this is quite unnecessaiy, and, moreover, it would be com- 

 paratively idle for six months in the year. Had the centre 

 been occupied by a slightly raised bed, it would have made 

 a better orchard-house than the one figured as such. 



Before leaving this house permit me to state, that some 

 years ago I saw the plan of a Strawberry-house, the princi- 

 pal feature of which was a structure running along the 

 middle of the house quite similar to the small one in this, 

 with this difference, however, that the glass was only a,bout 

 3 feet from it ; the shelves did not come so low, and a sunk 

 path all round it afforded ample head room. The vacancy 

 under it was to be filled with fermenting material, in the 

 first instance to stimulate a root-action in the Strawberry 

 plants, and afterwards Sea-kale and Khubarb , placed on it 

 for forcing. Such a structiu-e, if only 30 feet long, and 

 having but sis shelves on each side, would hold about four 

 hundred plants, which I imagine would be enough for a 

 single batch. 



Permit me now to aUude to the other structures. " Straw- 

 berry shelves in a vinery." Here Mr. Abbey has ignored 

 altogether the time-honoured and well-tried back shelf, for 

 a second edition of his suspended shelves, and not only so, 

 but in his zeal for his pots, has actually forgotten the legi- 

 timate occupants of the house, for where are ^the Vines ? 

 Suppose for a moment they are bent along the front of the 

 house, then when broken how are they to be got to their 

 places ? or where is there a place for them ? 



What gardener would recommend such a structure to his 

 employer ? or what gentleman would suffer such a weight of 

 clay, iron, boards, and crockery to hang from the rafters 

 of his vinery ? Even if they occupied but the spaces be- 

 tween the Vines, where is the favoured locality in these 

 islands that has so much sunlight to spare as these loaded 

 shelves would obstruct ? 



" Strawberry shelves in orchard-house." This, as repre- 

 sented, will not commend itself to any one as an orchard- 

 h^ouse ; it is absolutely dangerous as a Strawberry-house. 

 He has certainly put up a sufficiently high house, but then 

 he has not given them (the orchard-house trees) the benefit 

 of it, for in the only space left in this plan for them (the 

 side borders) there is but 4 feet head room. He has ap- 

 propriated then' proper place, the middle of the house, to 

 the means to get at the suspended shelves ; but here I sus- 

 pect the provision was unnecessary, for there is a great 

 likelihood of the shelves and their burden coming down to 

 him, if, as represented, they are all dependent from the 

 upper shelf. 



" Strawberry shelves in a Peach-house," are even more 

 objectionable than in a vinery, for where are the Peach 

 trees ? Not trained to the roof, there is no place for them ; 

 not on the back wall, they would be useless there, with such 

 an obstruction in front of them. — J. K. 



[The figures at pages 154 and 155 were intended to repre- 

 sent shelves fixed near the glass in various structures for 

 the forcing of Strawberries. They were not designed for 

 vineries, for at p. 154 are these words : " Nothing is so good 



as shelves about 15 inches from the glass — one along the 

 front and another at the back of a vinery." Nor were they 

 intended for orchard or Peach-houses ; but, considering the 

 great demand for room in most places; they were calculated 

 to ease these structures by providing a house for forcing 

 Sti-awberries, The. struetui'es best calculated to accom- 

 modate the greatest number of shelves were selected, being 

 simply those which I had found from experience desirable 

 for the purpose, and the only ones, in my opinion, that can 

 economically accommodate a large quantity of Strawberries 

 in a small space. ':'... - :v 



The structures best suited for the foreing 'Of Strawberrifes 

 are those with steep roofs; they receive mOrfi direct rays'of 

 the sun at the season of the year when the plants require 

 such, they" will accommodate more shelves than a flat roof, 

 carry a greater weight, and the plants can be more easily 

 a,ttended to. It is a mere supposition of " J. K." that they 

 were intended for any and every house, and his not being 

 able to find the Vines, the orchard trees, and Peach trees, is 

 becajuse I was only Writing about Strawberries. I was not 

 writing of Vines, nor of orchard-house trees, nor of Peach 

 trees, but of Strawberries, and placed them in the best 

 position the structure appropriated to their growth afforded, 

 being that where they can enjoy the sunbeams, and make 

 the most of what is provided for their growth. 



I set out with the intention of giving the Strawberries that 

 which "J. K." finds I have done — a good position, and I 

 state once for all they were all intended for S trawberry -houses. 

 Provision had previously been made for their accommoda- 

 tion on shelves in vineries, one along the front and another 

 at the back, then provision was made for their culture in 

 houses separately devoted to their growth, it being presumed 

 that the shelves in vineries, &c., were not sufficient to accom- 

 modate all the plants, and provision was also made for their 

 accommodation in orchard-houses. True it is I did not state 

 they were for " Strawberry-houses in toto." Some member 

 of Parliament was said to be continually complaining of the 

 press making him speak " what he did not mean, and leaving 

 out what he meant to say ;" but I have not a complaint of 

 this kind to urge, for our friends at 171, Fleet Street have 

 printed what I did not write as to the second, third, and 

 fourth figures at page 153, 1 only being responsible for what 

 is said of the first figure, and that is nothiog, and I said 

 nothing more of the remainder, for they were intended solely 

 for Strawberry-houses, being such as I found best suited 

 for providing the plants with a good position.* What the 

 figures were intended to represent I will state as briefly as 

 I can. 



Eig. 1. — Strawberry-house. The shelves are 15 inches 

 from the glass, fixed by holdfasts to the roof, one to each 

 rafter ; the rafters are those usually provided for houses with 

 lights, and are supported with inch-iron tie-rods from rafter 

 to rafter across the house, and two the whole length, one 

 of them being halfway up the rafters. Rafters 7 inches by 

 3 inches, will carry both the lights and the shelves, whether 

 the latter be fixed at 36, 42, or 48 inches apart. The tie rods 

 should be fastened with bolts that go tiiough the rafters. 

 All the houses are built in the same substantial manner, 

 and will carry the shelves and their burden very well. 



'■ J. K." objects to this figure on the ground that "the 

 plants cannot be watered, nor the fruit gathered." There 

 is a stage in the centre of the house, of which he thinks 

 highly, but I only esteem it as affording easy access to the 

 plants in the good position, and use it to stand upon. Two 

 of the shelves he can reach from the fioor, according to his 

 own statement, and the others may be easily watered and 

 the fruit gathered by making use of the stage, for from it 

 the plants are more manageable than on stages where you 

 have to reach beyond the equilibrium. All parts of the 

 house are easily reached from the stage. 



His other objection is "that the house would be idle fully 

 six months of the year." Well, the house would be occupied 

 with Strawberries from December to June ; Vine plarits on 

 both sides of the house, one to each rafter, would be intro- 

 duced in May, and tied down along the sides of the house. 

 When the Vines were regularly broken, and the second batch 

 of Strawberries fruited, the former would be trained to the 

 rafters, the shelves being removed, one of their main 



• This 18 strictly true. Mr. Abbey put no deaoriptious to his drawings. 

 —Eds. ■ 



