146 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 23, 1864. 



suit a grower of small means to attempt such plants — a few 

 of them would soon fill a house; but is there any one who 

 has ever seen them that does not, when he is growing his 

 plants, have them in his mirfd, and endeavour to improve the 

 appearance of his plants by adhering to this model? Ear, very 

 faT behind they are, but the exhibition plants have acted as 

 the stimulus, and he is all the 'better for having seen them. 

 Where, then, a society has the means within its reach, there 

 flower shows ought to be encouraged and made to embrace 

 within their limits the various branches of in-door and out- 

 door gardening. The distinction that is often made between 

 stove and greenhouse plants and florists' flowers, and that 

 to the injury of the latter, is, I am sure, a mistake; and it 

 is a gratifying thing that at the last great show of the 

 Boy al Horticultural Society the Princess of Wales paid most 

 attention to the cut flowers, and requested Mr. Turner of 

 Slough, and Mr. W. Paul, to send her their Roses, &c, 

 which were accordingly forwarded to Marlborough House. 

 This by the way. 



I return to the statement I have made, that the one object 

 to be kept in view is the advancement of horticulture ; and 

 if a society be honest in that, although it may make mis- 

 takes and oftentimes fail, yet I believe it will be looked 

 kindly upon by all who value the benefits of gardening. 

 And, as we look back on the last thirty years, who is there 

 that does not see the immense advance in horticulture — an 

 advance which I for one do not hesitate to lay entirely to 

 the floral exhibitions held in London and other places ? I 

 hope to resume this subject, one of so much importance, 

 next week. — D., Deal. 



GEEENHOUSE BUILDING. 



I wish to build a span-roofed greenhouse (not a vinery), 

 the length to be about 30 feet, would you kindly tell me 

 what would be a suitable width, having reference to the 

 stands for flowers, borders for plants and climbers, and walk 

 for the ladies ? What would be the best mode of heating it, 

 and how can the furnace, boiler, and outlet for smoke be 

 managed so as not to disfig\u-e the. structure, as it is to stand 

 in the middle of a grass garden detached from every other 

 building ? Do you recommend the house to run north and 

 south or east and west ? Lastly, what might such a house 

 lie likely to cost built in a plain inexpensive manner within 

 ten miles of London, Dublin, or Cork for example ? 



I am open to any suggestion as to size and style of build- 

 ing, heating, &c, and shall be much obliged for such. — J. C, 

 A Subscriber. 



[The matter has been treated on largely in previous 

 volumes, but to oblige you we will give a few hints that 

 may be useful. 



Eirst, For a span-roofed house 30 feet long, the necessary 

 breadth, to admit of borders for creepers, stands for flowers, 

 and walking room for ladies, must depend on the internal 

 arrangements. When the fashions change 3 feet mightform 

 a suitable pathway — at present the walks ought to be at least 

 from 3-3- to 4 feet wide, and even then would be of little use 

 for such dresses as we have seen sweeping an eight-feet walk 

 from side to side. Now, for an economical house, you could 

 hardly do better than adopt something of the same style 

 as we described as existing at Kiinpton Hoo (vol. xx., 

 page 55). Supposing the house to be 12 feet wide, we 

 would make the height of the apex 8 or 9 feet, and the 

 height at the sides, half glass, from 5 to 6 feet, ventilation 

 being effected either by glass, or by openings in the wall 

 below it. No better plan for ventilation at the top could be 

 given than by having a double ridge-board, a space of 9 or 

 10 inches between them, and these supplied with ventilators 

 on pivots. This would require an open cowl over them to 

 prevent the wet entering. The next best plan would be to 

 have a double ridge-board and a cowl coping, which could 

 be raised by a lever. We are supposing that in this house 

 the walk is down the middle, and 4 feet in width, which 

 would leave you room for 4 feet of stage on each side. That 

 stage might be a flat table of the -necessary height, or slope 

 from the side walls to the walk as at Kimpton Hoo, or the 

 slope might be given without any stage at all by placing 

 rather tall plants at the sides, and the dwarfest next the 

 pathway. This makes a capital arrangement, and the beauty 



of it is, that almost every plant comes under the eye, instead 

 of above it as in most arrangements. We ourselves have to 

 place plants to be looked up to, but there is not then half the 

 charm that is enjoyed when you look down on them. Some 

 years ago we described the gorgeous effect produced by the 

 masses of bloom in the conservatory at Dyrnam Park (then 

 under the care of our able coadjutor, Mr. DavidThomson) when 

 looked at chiefly downwards from the drawing-room glass 

 door. Mr. Cox, at Kimpton Hoo, manages to obtain a good 

 deal of the same effect in his little greenhouse. The plants 

 at the sides, being the highest, act as a background, and the 

 lowest close to your feet bring all under the sweep of the 

 eye, without straining it to look up. This, we think, would 

 be your simplest arrangement, and, for a small house, per- 

 haps the most effective. Whether with a flat stage or sloping 

 stage or no stage at all, there would be ample room below 

 the stages or below the pots, for a border for creepers, and 

 it would be as well, perhaps, if each of them were planted 

 in a wooden or brick box — in either case, the box need never 

 be seen ; but planting thus, instead of in a made border, 

 would enable you to change your climbers and replace them 

 without interfering with those that pleased you. 



Considering the simplicity of details, ease of ventilation, 

 &c, we do not think you could better this ; but if you wished 

 to have a central stage to stand opposite the doorway at 

 each end, and a pathway round it, then your house would 

 require to be 10 or 12 feet in height at the apex or ridge, 

 6 feet at the sides, and from 16 to 17 feet in width, and 

 we would arrange it thus : In the centre, a platform 7 feet 

 in width, and 3 feet from the ground, a pathway round it of 

 3A feet in width, and a stage all round the sides and ends, 

 except where the door is, this stage being 18 inches wide 

 and 30 or 33 inches from the floor. Such a house would 

 give you much storage-room beneath the stages, and the 

 skirts of the paths might be edged with Mosses andEerns. 

 Such a house, however, would cost much more than the 

 more simple one, and we question if on the whole it would 

 look better. In both cases the path could be partly occu- 

 pied with dwarf plants when room is a matter of impor- 

 tance, and these could be cleared away when they would 

 incommode ladies and their extended dresses. We state 

 this because such little hothouses soon become crammed 

 and their fair mistresses will not dislike wrapping their skirts 

 closely in preference to injuring their favourite plants. 



Secondly, As to the best mode of heating. Eor such 

 an arrangement as the last, the best mode would be by 

 hot water, and more especially if a heat of from 50° to 

 55° and upwards were wanted in winter. For the simple 

 plan first proposed, and where a medium heat of 40° to 

 45° in winter would be deemed sufficient, we would decidedly 

 for such a single house adopt the flue system. We would 

 carry that flue beneath the central pathway, either a single 

 wide one of 15 or 16 inches, going from the furnace to the 

 other end, or a double flue of 9 inches, outside measure, 

 going and returning; but in either case the flue should be 

 deep enough to permit of a thin covering of tiles, and then 

 the top of the flue to be of tiles, flagstones, or whatever 

 material of a conducting character formed the pathway. 

 One advantage of this plan would be that in cold and damp 

 days in winter, when the fire was burning, the ladies might 

 always walk in the greenhouse with the certainty of having, 

 not damp or cold, but a mild heated medium beneath their 

 feet. For simplicity and economy in such a house, to be kept 

 temperate merely in severe weather, we would prefer the flue 

 to any other mode of heating ; and if a single flue through 

 the house we would build the first 10 feet with brick on bed, 

 instead of brick on edge. If hot water, with its greater 

 expense for fuel, &c, were resolved on, any middle or small- 

 sized saddle-back or conical boiler will do ; the simpler the 

 construction the better. 



Thirdly, As the building is to stand in the centre of a 

 grass garden, how least to disfigure the structure with fur- 

 nace, smoke-outlet, &c. Well then ! in the first place we 

 would not disfigure the place with any appearance of a 

 furnace or stokehole. If the ground slopes at all we would 

 have the furnace at the lowest end, and this would be best 

 if you adopted a single wide flue or hot water. If on the 

 level, it would not matter at which end the furnace were 

 placed. Now, as you are not tied to 30 feet, but would wish to 

 be pretty near it, we would have that length for the house 



