224 



EDIFICES USED IN HORTICULTURE. 



in which the pots are to be plunged, and differing in little from a large pit 

 (515), excepting that it is generally arranged so as to admit of growing crops 

 of grapes as well as pines. The glass roof is generally placed at some angle 

 between 25° and 85°, and the power of heating should be equal to 70° 

 during winter. A power of communicating atmospheric moisture should 

 be at command as in the common botanic stove. 



521. Forcing-houses are chiefly employed for bringing forward early 

 crops of grapes, peaches, cherries, or other fruits, and for producing early 

 culinary vegetables of different kinds, or flowers. The power of heating 

 varies with the season of forcing and the kind of fruit to be forced ; but it 

 should not be less than 60*', with a command of atmospheric moisture. 

 Sometimes the trees are trained on trellises one or two feet within the glass ; 

 and sometimes they are partly trained under the glass, and partly on the 

 back wall. In either case, the narrower the house, the more readily is it 

 heated either by fire or the sun. As these details var}^ with the kind of 

 trees and plants to be forced, they belong more properly to the next division 

 of this work. See Practice of Horticulture^ Forcing-Garden. 



522. A Plant-st7'ucture for all or any of the above purposes. — The pit, 

 fig. 157 in p. 221, or that shown in figs. 158 and 159, p. 222, will answer for 

 any one of the purposes for which orangeries, greenhouses, and stoves are 

 erected. Orange-trees and similar plants, in a dormant state, may be pre- 

 served through the winter in such pits with ample coverings, and scarcely 

 any artificial heat ; greenhouse plants, with very little heat ; dry- stove plants, 

 with a little more heat ; damp-stove plants, with increased temperature and 

 moisture ; other stove plante, till they attain a certain size ; pine-apples, to 

 the highest degree of perfection ; and fruit-trees trained to trellises under the 

 glass may be forced, as may be also every description of culinary vegetable, 

 not excepting mushrooms, which may be grown in a portion of the bark-bed, 

 or in shelves against the back wall, or in arched recesses or vaults under 

 the tan of the pit. In short, there is nothing in the way of culture that 

 may not be carried on to the highest degree of perfection in these pits, 

 provided that all the large-growing plants are trained on trellises close under 

 the glass ; but the airy elegance of the greenhouse, the grandeur and pictu- 

 resque luxuriance of the conservatory, and the tropical aspect of the lofty 

 botanic stove, are not to be expected from them. 



Subsect. 3. — Edifices used in Horticulture. 



The edifices required in horticulture are chiefly the head gardeners 

 house, the journeyman gardener's lodge, the fruit-room, the seed and herb- 

 room, the root- cellar, the tool-house, and the potting and working sheds. 



523. The gardener s house, wherever there are many plant structures, 

 should be as near the garden as possible ; but it should by no means form an 

 object in the scenery of the garden. Like what the house of every man 

 ought to be, the occupant should possess it as his castle for the time being. 

 It may be wholly or partially veiled by trees ; but within whatever 

 boundary it is placed perfect liberty should prevail; and this cannot be 

 the case where the inmates are either constrained to remain in-doors, or 

 when they go out are forced into contact with their superiors, to the 

 annoyance of both parties. Besides a kitchen and sleeping-rooms, the gar- 

 dener's house should contain at least one good parlour. All the fixtures and 



