72 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



the borders are raised will make a neat finish, and 

 answer every purpose quite as well as an expensive 

 floor of flags or tiles. External borders being un- 

 necessary, the foundations of the Orchard-house may 

 be laid solid with the cheapest materials that can be 

 obtained in the district, or, like the excellent houses 

 erected by Mr. Pearson of Chilwell, near Nottingham, 

 the framework may be composed of iron pillars placed 

 ten feet apart, with iron purlins, tie-rods, and supports. 

 These houses, which are the neatest, lightest, and 

 most pleasing structures that can be met with, are 

 built by Messrs. Foster and Pearson, of Beeston, and 

 they certainly do great credit to the designers. More- 



Ventilation, which should be abundant, may be 

 secured by means of side-lights hinged to the top 

 plate, and opening outwards with a longitudinal rod 

 and lever, as in Fig. 3. The roof may be composed 

 of movable lights, or it may be what is termed 

 •'fixed," as the trees being in pots, they can be re- 

 moved to the open air after the crop is gathered and 

 the wood is ripe. Top ventilation should, however, 

 be abundantly provided, as all fruit-trees which are 

 hardy J notably the Plums, Pears, and Cherries, cannot 

 have too much air during the time they are in flower 

 and setting their fruit, and again when it is laying on 

 colour and ripening. 



Fig. 2.— Mr. Peakson's Large Span-roofed Okchard-house, 



over, they are cheap, durable, and movable, three 

 qualities which should recommend them to the general 

 public. 



Fig. 2 is a view of the large orchard-house built 

 by Mr. Pearson. It covers 2,700 square feet, and 

 cost about Is. 8d. per square foot, and is finished in a 

 style fit for any gentleman's garden. Fig. 3 is a 

 section of it. 



Fig. 4 is a section of another of that gentleman's 

 houses. It is fourteen feet in width, the framework is 

 composed of iron, and the lights, made of wood, can be 

 removed at pleasure. For the amateur or tenant who 

 may be willing to build, but is ujiwilling to leave the 

 structure behind him, this is a very suitable house, as 

 it can be taken dowp iTcmoved, and erected on another 

 site without breakage or injury. All the parts of 

 these houses being cast of uniform size, the sections 

 can be repeated to any length, and neat structures, 

 with all the latest improvements in ventilation and 

 glazing, can be secured at a very cheap rate. 



Heating. — Last, but not least important, every 

 house should be furnished with hot-water pipes for 

 keeping the atmosphere dry and buoyant when the 

 trees are in flower, and an excess of cold moisture 

 is more injurious than frost itself. Many of the 

 eaidiest 'trees will be in flower in March, a period at 

 which we often have sharp frosts, when, even with 

 the protection of twenty-one-ounce glass, an unheated 

 house is not always safe. But frost is not the only 

 enemy ; a continuance of dark, dull, foggy weather 

 causes the petals of the flowers to damp, and renders 

 the pollen inert and unfit for the performance of its 

 ofla.ce. Again, where the house is to be made the 

 most of by turning it into a Chrj^santhemum house or 

 conservatory through the early winter, warmth with 

 a constant circulation of air are essentials that should 

 not be lost sight of. 



Water. — If the owner of an orchard-house were 

 to overlook a hberal provision of this element, sue- 



