6 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



stint the amount of pipes employed, but a larger heat- 

 ing surface moderately heated is much more conducive 

 to the health of plants than a smaller surface kept at 

 scorching heat. I therefore recommend, as shown in 

 the sections given, a liberal amount of pipes and plenty 

 of boiler-power. Besides this I feel fully persuaded, 

 from my experience, that coverings applied to the 

 glass, particularly in the case of fruit swelling off 

 during the colder months of the year, are an immense 

 advantage. A high and steady temperature can be 

 much more easily and economically maintained, and 

 without a parched atmosphere, which in the case of 

 hard forcing in winter requires so much and such con- 

 stant counteracting. 



I have a decided objection to flat-roofed pineries. 

 They are dark, and very productive of drip in winter 

 — conditions the most undesirable in the culture of 

 most plants, and especially so in that of the pine- 

 apple. Ventilation should be amply provided for at 

 the apex of the roof; and, particularly in fruiting- 

 houses, there should also be ventilators at intervals 

 along the front, so placed as to cause the air to pass 

 inward in contact with the hot-water pipes. Front 

 ventilation is not to be recommended as a rule ; but 

 it is well to provide for it in the erection of pineries, 

 so that in very hot calm days it can be applied, 

 especially in the case of fruit that are colouring. 



All pineries and pits should be provided with a 

 steadily-acting steaming apparatus, which can be used 

 or not according as circumstances demand. 



A great many methods of supplying moisture to the 

 atmosphere of hothouses have been adopted — such as 

 zinc troughs placed on the pipes, troughs cast on the 

 pipes themselves, a flow of water running in an open 



