CUCUMBER AND MELON HOUSES. 



463 



boiler d is placed at one end. Be- 

 tween the back range of tanks and the 

 back walls, a space is left, of 4 or 5 

 inches, for the free circulation of air; 

 and between the front tanks and front 

 wall there is a space of 12 inches, to 

 admit of the free circulation of air from 

 the ventilators, shown by the openings in 

 the front wall, and to make room for the 

 hot-water pipes shown in the section. 

 The width of the house inside in the 

 clear is 10 feet : the length may be regu- 

 lated by the supply required. The foot- 

 paths are constructed of larch boards 

 44 inches wide by 2 inches thick, a quarter 

 of an inch apart, resting on sleepers 4 by 

 5 inches, supported by brick piers. The 

 house is built against a garden wall, and 

 the front and end walls are 9 inches 

 brickwork; while the walls of the pit 

 within are 4| inches, or brick on bed, 

 plastered, with a wooden coping on top. 

 The transverse section shows the tanks, 

 pipes, pathways, pits, and the space for 

 ventilation in the back wall. The angle 

 of the rafter is 32° to the plating. The 

 platings are 6 inches by 3 inches; the 

 rafters — i. e., ridges and valleys — are 

 5\ by 3 inches ; and the bars or astragals 

 are 1\ deep. The ventilation is thus 

 described : — " In each bay of the roof 

 there is a ventilator, raking at the top 

 parallel to the pediments, and about 

 2 feet 9 inches wide, and 3 feet in length. 

 These ventilators inside communicate 

 with the vacuity in the back wall, as 

 shown in the section ; they are made to 

 slide up and down a wooden frame fixed 

 to the wall, and are balanced by a line, 

 pulley, and weight, so that they may be 

 set to any point required. A wooden 

 trellis is fixed to the back wall, to which 

 the plants are trained. It will be seen 

 by the section that the back tank at the 

 back part of the house is at a higher 

 level than that in front : this is in order 

 that the flow-pipes from the top of the 

 boiler may descend from the back tank, 

 pass under the pathway, and proceed 

 along the front tank as a return-pipe to 

 the boiler. The four pipes shown in 

 front are the flow and return pipes from 

 and to the boiler. 



This is, upon the whole, one of the 

 best melon-houses we have seen, and is, 

 of course, especially well adapted to the 

 forcing of cucumbers also. The whole 



is glazed with sheet-glass, and has a very 

 elegant appearance. 



Davidson's cucumber-house. — Of the cu- 

 cumber-house erected by Mr Davidson 

 at Stackpool Court, the annexed diagrams, 

 figs. 655 and 656, section, are illustrations ; 



and although erected by him without 

 any previous knowledge of the tank- 

 Fig. 656. 



heating system, it possesses merits not in 

 all cases excelled even at the present 

 day. 



Reference to the plans : — a, hot- water 

 tanks ; b, flow-pipe ; c, return-pipe, which 

 cannot be seen in the section ; d, flue ; 

 e, pathway ; /, steps to house ; g, steps 

 to stoke-hole ; h, ventilators ; i i, level of 



