256 
GARDEN ARCHITECTURE. 
and attached to a frame of the proper curve, nailed and braced to each other till 
the desired thickness is attained. Rafters thus formed are found to be even 
stronger than solid ones. 
Houses with a curvilinear exterior are superior to those having a plain slope, 
both in beauty of appearance and in their adaptation to the wants of vegetable life. 
Nothing need be advanced regarding their greater beauty, as it is universally con- 
ceded that a curved line is more elegant than a straight and angular one. And con- 
cerning the extent to which vegetation is benefited through their agency, a mere 
reference to the fact that, by presenting an increased variety and amount of surface, 
they catch more of the sun’s rays, and so communicate a more copious supply of 
light to the plants beneath them, as well as for a lengthened period, will suffice 
to establish the position that they are in a high degree advantageous, since light is 
so important an agent in the growth of exotics. 
For the same reasons, the division of a curved surface into ridges and furrows 
will be still more desirable, the transmission of light being yet further facilitated, 
and the reception of the direct rays being secured with greater certainty, when the 
sun’s position and inclination are changed to the utmost extent, within a fixed 
distance from the horizon. 
Objections, we are well aware, have been strenuously urged against what has 
obtained the name of the ridge-and-furrow roof system ; but so far as these are at 
all worth consideration, they are nearly as forcible when directed against all sorts 
of curvilinear roofs. They resolve themselves, for the most part, into one which 
we have before generally combated — the extra expense caused by their erection. 
We might at once aver that this notion, applied to ridge-and-furrow roofs, classes 
itself among the false opinions on economy already exposed in a former paper, and 
therefore does not deserve to be dealt with individually. There are, nevertheless, 
a few points connected so peculiarly with this topic, that it may be well to 
elucidate them. 
That a radical benefit accrues to the plants in cultivation under a roof of the 
class we are considering, is, we conceive, clearly demonstrable, and furnishes one 
argument in favour of expending a small additional sum in their construction. 
Another circumstance which gives them an advantage is, that they are not divided 
into moveable lights ; but are, on the contrary, firmly and constantly fixed. No 
breakage of glass by shifting the lights, or gradual but positive injury of the frame- 
work, or liability to be carried off by sudden gusts of wind — all so inevitably 
incident to the common mode of construction — can occur in this case, and here a 
further reduction from the original outlay must be made. Again, the cross bars 
between the rafters can be cut far more slender, on account of their shortness, and the 
less weight they have to sustain. The fall of water, moreover, owing to the short 
slopes on the sides of the ridges, and the provision of proper gutters in the inferior 
rafters, is greatly hastened ; and, even assuming that the long glass lately brought 
into use at Chatswortli (and which will occupy the entire distance between the 
