52a 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



Strengthen tlic joints, and so liard was the putty, that the glaz- 

 iers had much difficulty in cleaning the rabbets out for the 

 reception of the new glass. 



This is not a solitary instance of the durability of wooden 

 hot-houses, as many others could be adduced. It is, however, 

 to be acknowledged, that from the nature of the material, 

 and from accidental injuries sustained, at the same time that 

 no means are taken to guard them against decay, that parts of 

 wooden houses may show symptoms of decay sooner than iron 

 ones ; but the nature of the material also admits of their being 

 readily repaired, which is not the case with those constructed 

 of metallic substances. It does not often happen, but we have 

 known an instance of a person, while in the act of repairing 

 the roof of a hot-house, falling through one of the sashes, 

 which was so much injured as to require it to be taken off and 

 repaired, which was done in the course of a day; should such 

 a circumstance, however, occur in a house of iron, could the 

 injury be so readily rectified? The answer must be decidedly 

 in the negative. If the sash so injured be of cast-iron, and the 

 accident occur during winter, or while the forcing is going on, 

 could it be remedied without its being sent to Biraingham, 

 London, or to some part probably equally distant, for the 

 purpose of having another cast, to replace it, durir.g which 

 time the gardener would be placed in an awkward situation ? 

 If the sash were made of copper, wrought iron, or of any 

 other metallic matter, the repair to be eliected would require 

 infinitely more time and expense than if it were of wood. 



Copper, or other compound metals, in consequence of their 

 want of sufficient body in the smaller members of the sashes, 

 are liable to yield to a slight pressure ; heavy fiUls of snow 

 would produce a bending in them, sufficient, not only to break 

 much of the glass, but also to bend them hollow in the middle, 

 and, consequently, render them less likely to throv/ off the 

 rain, if it do not altogether dismember their joints. 



Metallic mixtures, as iron cased with copper, produce un- 

 equal expansion, and also tend to break the glass, in conse- 

 quence of a twisting in the bars. Wrought-iron is not so apt 

 to be affected by this expansion, but is equally unfit for hot- 

 house building, being so liable to rust. 



