Apiil 18, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



309 



be applied to light Boils, botli as regards their fertility and 

 texture ; but it would require to be spread out and exposed 

 to the aotion of a winter's frost, and to the scorching effects 



of a summer's sun, to reduce it to the state of dry storeable 

 dust. — Upwakds and Onwaeds. 



(To be continued.) 



CONSTEUCTION OF A PINE STOVE.— No. 2. 



Befoee writing any more on the shapes and relative 

 forcing powers of hothouses, I should like to say a few words 

 on what I hope will be the tone of the discussion. I have 

 said what sort of a house I am in want of, and have given 

 you a plan. I have also invited a discussion; and should 

 such arise. I hope it may induce you to add a manual on 

 hothouse-buUding to the long and useful list published at 

 your oflice. 



We occasionally read in the papers devoted to horticul- 

 ture accounts written coule^lr de rose ; and those who bring 

 these accounts down to a practical test are often charged 

 with being discontented persons who cannot see any good 

 in anything. I look upon horticulture from a plain business 

 point of view, believing that it has not reached its culmi- 

 nating point, and that there can be no disadvantage in re- 

 cognising facts. I am not proposing a manual of opinions ; 

 a house of a certain size and shape is a fact ; put in it so 

 many rows of pipes, and it must be possible to teU exactly 

 ■what its powers are, as also if it is fitted for an early forcing- 

 house or not. Early forcing both of fruit and flowers is 

 becoming so common, and the difference between the re- 



quirements of winter and summer-houses so great, that I 

 am sure you would be doing good service to many if you 

 would publish such a manual, as it would not only assist 

 those who are intending to build, but also prevent those 

 who have houses from trying what really is impossible. I 

 will give you as an instance the span-roofed house I called 

 in my last plan No. 2, and in which I said it would be im- 

 possible to keep up a temperature suitable for ripening 

 Pines in winter. These span-roofed houses have been very 

 fashionable of late for orchard-houses. Let us suppose we 

 have one, and try and deduce from our authorities how many 

 rows of pipes we should require to fit it for Pine-growing. 



Mr. Thomson gives us in his valuable book on the Vine, 

 at page 12, the shape of a house which he would recommend, 

 and the number of pipes he thinks would be requu-ed to 

 ripen Grapes in April^SOO feet of four-inch pipes for a 

 house made in the lean-to shape, 40 feet long and 15 feet 

 wide, the back wall to be 15 feet higli. He also recom- 

 mends that it should have one of his steaming-trays, which 

 he computes as equal to an additional row. I will therefore 

 call the whole eight rows and a half of four-inch piping. 



Let us put one of these houses on each side of a wall, as 

 I have shown in plan No. 4, we have thus a house 30 feet 

 wide and 15 feet high, with seventeen rows of pipes. How 

 many more must I add if I take out this centre wall that 

 prevents the wind from blowing through it ? and yet a 

 writer told us the other day that eight rows of four-inch 

 pipes were sufficient for a span-roofed house 26 feet wide 

 and 12 feet high ! Mr. Thomson says this number is re- 

 quired for his span-roofed houses for summer work, and I 

 think they are not so wide as this. I seek to avoid such a 

 trial in another shape, but know not where to turn to. All 

 pipe heat that is not necessary is obnoxious aa well as costly, 

 and as glass and timber are cheaper than bricks and mortal-, 

 can we not make up for the loss of this back wall by increase 

 of width and double glazing ? This shelter from wind is 

 the first consideration, light second, amount of atmosphere 

 contained the third. I put light second, though this pro- 

 perly speaking includes the gain of heat from sunshine, as 

 in winter it is small. In summer I grant it is the first 

 consideration ; but I am looking only to Pine culture, where 

 there are no trellises to consider, and therefore it is included 

 in the amount of atmosphere contained, which in winter 



may easily cause great loss, but in summer the larger'the 

 more gain. For Pines we only want the largest number of 

 square feet of pit room for the outlay. The square feet of 

 trellis I wiU not enter upon. — G. H. 



[Ever since we gave the description of Mr. Bewle/s Fern- 

 house we have lost no chance of advocating double-glazing. 

 We have no doubt that with ventilation suitably attended 

 to, it would be by far the most economical in the end for all 

 houses in which much and regular heat is required. Few 

 gentlemen, however, will as yet consent to let their gar- 

 deners go to such a first expense. For fruiting-Pine houses 

 such double glazing would be invaluable ; but if not done 

 so securely as to prevent all vapour and dust getting between 

 the two layers of glass, one part of the roof should be in 

 sashes so as to permit of removal and cleaning. FaUing 

 this, in cold exposed parts of the country, where fuel is 

 expensive, lean-to roofs will always be desirable, and if walls 

 cost more than wood and glass they are also more lasting. 

 Steep roofs, as shown in Mr. Thomson's early vinery, are 

 also necessary for early forcing, to catch the rays of the sun 

 in winter and early spring. In low-roofed houses, as in low- 

 spans, the rays are apt when the sun is low to pass over 



