118 



HOTHOUSE-BUILDING. 



is to be collected in gutters along the top 

 of the parapets, and conveyed in pipes into 

 two large tanks, h k, on fig. 4, under the 

 centre house, and pumped up as required. 



The passages are to be laid with Ar- 

 broath or Caithness pavement, polished 

 on the upper side, and laid on brick 

 piers in all the peach-houses and vineries, 

 to give scope to the roots of the trees. 

 The sides of the pavement footpaths are 

 to have a stone edging 4 inches in height, 

 and rounded off at top. The doors, except- 

 ing the outer ones of the lobbies, are to be in 

 two pieces; and instead of being hinged and 

 opening sideways, are to move on a rail at 

 bottom and in a groove at top, and to run 

 back the whole of their breadth behind 

 the partitions which divide the houses. 



Cast-iron frames, with sliding doors, 

 are to be built in the sides of the hot-air 

 and smoke flues, and also at the bottom 

 of the upright shaft, for the purpose of 

 extracting the soot — as the cleaner the 

 flues are kept, the less smoke will pass out 

 at the chimney-top, and the less heat also. 



To lessen the labour of watering, a 

 pipe may be led from the water-tanks 

 under the pavement, and a branch brought 

 up into each house, with a brass screwed 

 nozzle, to which a small portable pump 

 may be attached, to draw up the water 

 into each division. 



The piers for supporting the roof of the 

 cellars and floor of the pine-stoves and 

 centre house are shown in the plan of the 

 cellars. The sides and ends of the pine 

 beds are to be of Caithness pavement, 

 polished on the sides next the passage on 

 top, and down 3 inches on the inner side. 



Fig. 6 shows the elevation of the whole 

 range. 



As an instance of hothouse-building 

 combining economy and utility, we may 

 instance a glass garden, now in course of 

 erection for J. Duncan, Esq. of Burnhead, 

 to whom we furnished the plans. The 

 intention was to produce a useful struc- 

 ture at a moderate cost — the object of 

 the proprietor being to secure the ripen- 

 ing of such of the finer fruits as do not 

 thoroughly ripen in the open air of our 

 climate, and to have certain kinds ripe 

 earlier than they would be even on 

 southern walls ; and also to secure a sup- 

 ply of salads, and the choicer kinds of 

 vegetables, as well as a profusion of 

 flowers, both early in spring and through- 



out the winter. The whole length of this 

 winter garden is estimated at 333 feet, by 

 14 feet wide within: 111 feet in length 

 are already finished and planted. Along 

 the front and ends is set, upon a piered 

 foundation, an ashlar plinth 7 inches in 

 thickness and 18 inches broad, the top of 

 which is level with the floor within — its 

 thickness forming an easy step from the 

 gravel terrace walk in front. The back 

 is a brick wall already existing, and 

 covered with peach and nectarine trees. 

 The exposure is to the south. Along 

 the front and ends are set in the plinth 

 square, hollow, cast-iron fluted columns, 

 8 feet in height, and 3 by 5 inches on the 

 side. These are set 10 feet apart, centre 

 from centre ; and on them and on the back 

 wall rest the cast-iron valleys or gutters, 

 o\ inches by 4J, having a fall of 1 inch in 

 their length to drain off the water that 

 falls into them from the roof. This is 

 delivered through an opening immediately 

 above the hollow columns, which convey 

 it to tanks under ground, where it is re- 

 served for the supply of the trees and 

 plants within. One of the tanks contains 

 16,000 gallons of water: from this it is 

 pumped up into a cistern placed on the 

 top of the back wall, to which a flexible 

 tube is attached, for the purpose of water- 

 ing the trees and plants, as a substitute 

 for a water-engine. The glass panels 

 forming the front and ends are divided into 

 two parts, every alternate one of which 

 is fixed, while the other is framed, and 

 made to run on an iron rail below and 

 in a groove above, behind the fixed panel 

 next to it — these movable sashes being 

 for the double purpose of securing abun- 

 dance of front ventilation, and for gaining 

 admittance to the interior. The ridges 

 are of Baltic timber, into which the top 

 ends of the astragals are mortised — their 

 lower ends being secured to the edges of 

 the cast-iron valleys. The pediments in 

 front stand perpendicular, and are fixed; 

 while wooden-framed ventilators are built 

 into the back wall, in the parts under the 

 ridges, and corresponding with the pedi- 

 ments in front. These ventilators are 2 

 feet long and 1 foot broad in the clear, 

 and are opened or shut more or less 

 simultaneously by being connected to 

 each other by a f -inch rod of iron, hav- 

 ing a weight suspended at each end on 

 the balance principle, the elevating or 



