.FORCING DEPARTMENT. 388 



CONSTRUCTION OF THE PEACH-HOUSE. 



The range of Peach-Houses here, is placed to an 

 angle of 30 degrees, and is 102 feet long, and 

 divided into different lengths ; the middle division, 

 intended for the earliest forcing, is 28 feet long ; the 

 end compartments are 35 and 39 feet long ; the 

 width of the house is 12 feet in the clear ; and the 

 height of the back wall is 10 feet from the floor level 

 to the top of the rafter. The front sashes, and 

 parapet wall, are three feet nine inches from the 

 ground level to the top of the spout, or water gutter, 

 as illustrated in the section. (See Plate 19.) The 

 spout serves both as a plate for the support of the 

 rafters, as well as for conveying the water that 

 falls on the roof. There are also small piers of brick- 

 work carried up from the foundation of the front 

 wall, for the support of the table trellising, which 

 springs from within 12 inches of the wall ; this 

 space is reserved for the planting of the trees within 

 the houses. Their roots extend under the arches of 

 the parapet wall, to the exterior border, which is 

 raised about one foot above the level of the adjoining 

 ground. The hot-water pipes are also supported on 

 pillars, and run parallel to the front wall, at two feet 

 distance, under the table trellising, to the extremity 

 of the compartment. The boiler is placed in a niche 

 of the back wall, and is attended from the sheds be- 

 hind, where the furnaces are supplied with fuel. The 



