516 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



beds of hot dung, without any other covering than occasionally 

 a little straw thrown over them ; and, according to Switzer 

 and Lord Bacon, this practice had been in use for an unknown 

 length of time. 



In the time of Charles the Second, hot-houses, according 

 to Daincs Barrington, were erected, and all the fruits which 

 we have at this day were cultivated, the pine only excepted, 

 which was introduced in 1690. Switzer, in the beginning of 

 the eighteenth century, not only erected hot walls, but also 

 forcing-houses ; the first plans of which, together with direc- 

 tions for their management, he published in 1717, in his I Vuit 

 Gardener. Little progress was, however, made in this branch 

 of gardening till towards the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 and since that time, the erection of hot-houses has rapidly 

 increased, and their management upon scientific principles has 

 kept pace with their increase ; for which reason a garden is 

 now considered as incomplete without several of those struc- 

 tures. 



An invention so im})ortant as that of the erection of hot- 

 houses, naturally led to a variety of opinions regarding their 

 construction, and various are the ideas still entertained on this 

 subject. 



The principal points on which hot-house builders disagree 

 are ; first, the materials of which they should be formed ; se- 

 condly, the form of roofs best calculated for the admission of 

 the rays of heat and light ; and third! ij, the way by which 

 they should be heated. 



These are the principal points on which experimental men 

 differ, and each advocate has supported his theory with much 

 philosophical reasoning. Houses have been built on a variety 

 of principles, for the purpose of proving by experience their 

 merits or defects. 



These differences, although they appear specious, and afford 

 a vast field for controversy, are considered by most practical 

 gardeners as of far less importance to the end in view, than is 

 willingly allowed by their several advocates; as much more 

 depends on the proper formation of borders, and the general 

 subsequent management, than on the simple construction of 

 the house, ^^'e find able gardeners producing good crops of 



