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ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



front wall. Also in the front wall were four openings provided 

 with shutters, by which the heat could be kept from the outer 

 border, if it were desired that this should not be warmed. 



Having been requested to superintend the construction of a 

 similar house for a neighbour, I found it better to dispense with 

 the wooden staging on which the tile-floor was built, and to put 

 together slabs of tileing, three courses thick, three or four days • 

 before they were required for use. These were then placed upon 

 their supports, and finished off afterwards, the outer edges having 

 been what is termed "racked off," and requiring to be filled in 

 with tiles and cement bo the level of the floor. This operation 

 was easier, quicker, and cheaper than the other, and I decidedly 

 recommend it in preference. 



The slabs of tiling may be made in dry weather in the open 

 air, and on any level piece of ground. In wet weather of course 

 they should be made under cover ; and if the supports are placed 

 at 3 feet from centre to centre, which is a very good distance, 

 they would be 3 feet square. As to the cost of this kind of 

 work, it can be done for 6d. a foot where tiles can be had for 

 30s. per thousand, but would be cheaper where tiles are cheaper, 

 which they are in very many districts. The fire-place which I 

 used was needlessly large, and fire-bricks and fire-tiles were used 

 to an unnecessary extent • but even then it only cost £3 complete. 

 That used by my neighbour, for a small greenhouse 20 feet long 

 and 10 feet wide*, was the cast off fire-place of an old copper, 

 and is amply sufficient for its purpose. 



I have since seen a material which seems to me very likely to 

 make a good and cheap floor, but it has not yet been tried. It is an 

 artificial pavement of cement made in blocks of any size for rather 

 less than Gd. a foot (superficial), and with the edges so constructed 

 as to make a thoroughly smoke-tight joint, by pouring in 

 liquid cement after the pieces are laid in their places (as will be 

 seen by the figure f ). This is found very durable as a pavement, 



* In this house there is no external border. 



f It will be seen by the figure that the lower flanges of the tiles touch ; the 

 upper flanges are half an inch apart, and there is a groove in the edges, so that 

 the whole forms a solid mass when the cement is poured in. 



