226 
HORTICULTURAL BUILDINGS. 
there were not the vacancies in the laps of 
the glass, even that would be insufficient ; hut 
as the vapour can get off through the laps of 
the lights, you are enabled to close the sashes 
earlier. Upon the whole, then, the green- 
bouse may have a much higher roof than a 
stove, without disadvantage ; but it should 
have a more upright roof, and it must have a 
stage of shelves, instead of a pit for tan. The 
heating apparatus may be much less in quan- 
tity; but these are, the exceptions, and the 
only ones, to its being formed like a building 
meant for a hot-house. Green-houses may 
be built with a ridged roof like a barn, where 
it is desired to be so ; but ridged roofs let off 
heat more than lean-to roofs, take up more 
room, and must stand out away from a wall. 
The Pit. — Although there are, perhaps, 
a hundred different constructions properly 
called pits, the common acceptation of the 
word is a brick building, of the form of a deep 
or shallow frame, to be covered with glass, 
intended for the protection of half-hardy plants. 
Such pits, covered with a mat, are sufficient 
for a large number of plants which are impa- 
tient of heat, and with some pains will keep 
most green-house plants through ordinary 
winters. They are also used for regulating 
the season of bloom, not only of plants for 
forcing, but also of plants which it is not usual 
to force. For instance, Camellias, Azaleas (In- 
dica), hybrid Rhododendrons, which are not 
hardy, and many other plants, may be retarded 
in a pit so as to bloom three weeks later than 
others kept in a green-house. They are also 
proper winter protection for Auriculas, Car- 
nations, Piccotees, potted Polyanthuses and 
Pansies, and other subjects which, though 
quite capable of living through ordinary frosts, 
will have their blooming greatly affected by 
exposure to the alternations of wet, dry, wind 
and frost, which succeed each other, and espe- 
cially wet and wind, which are fatal to such 
plants. Again, perfectly hardy plants, when 
potted, may be killed, because the fibres next 
the side of the pot will often be destroyed by 
frost, when the plant in the open ground would 
not be in the slightest degree affected. This 
particularly applies to the hardy plants usually 
forced, or, if not forced, at least bloomed and 
used in pots, for the, convenience of removal 
while in bloom. Pits, therefore, vary accord- 
ing to the plants they are to hold, some being 
only one foot high in front and two feet be- 
hind, and from back to front about the same 
as an ordinary garden-frame, say five feet six 
inches; while others are two feet in front and 
four feet behind, with a depth from back to 
front of eight or nine feet. Some also are 
made without shelves and some with them; 
but as these are constructed after the pit, at 
nny time, and may be vai-ied from time to time, 
according to your wants, they form no essen- 
tial part of the pit. Our own notions of the 
convenient size for a pit is a depth of about 
fifteen inches in front and three feet behind, 
six feet from front to back, and as many lights 
in length as you please, but the lights not 
more than three feet six inches in breadth; in 
these you can reach a plant which is in the 
centre, from either the back or the front, 
whichever is the most convenient. The bottom 
of it should be solid, hard, and dry, and so 
contrived, that the wet from the process of 
watering should run off. This may be done by 
gutters, or by a general slope from back to 
front, and a means of escape, and then a suf- 
ficient quantity of gravel to make it level for 
the pots to stand in ; the water will then sink 
at once through the gravel and escape. To 
many plants the damp which arises from the 
water which sinks into the ground after water- 
ing, is fatal. Many have the pits constructed 
without the means of escape for the water, 
and fancy that by having wooden shelves kept 
well above the ground, they have done all that 
is necessary; and so for years the surplus of 
waterage falls below, out of the way of the 
plants, it is true, but merely to sink into the 
ground until there is a noxious vapour which 
mildews everything; and they wonder, at last, 
how it is. that nothing does well. The best 
way is to make a paved bottom, sloping to the 
front, and leave small openings, that the water 
may freely run off. Upon this have enough 
small pebbles or gravel to make the surface 
even for pots to stand level, and then you 
have nothing to care for — your frame will be 
perfectly free from damp, your plants free from 
mildew. For Auriculas, Carnations, and Pan- 
sies, wooden garden frames would do as well 
as brick pits ; but if the wood is thin, there 
should be a wall of turfs outside it. When 
they are kept in pits, there should be wooden 
shelves to keep the plants up near to the glass, 
for they all love the light ; and to show the 
importance of a dry, free air, we have seen a 
whole collection of Auriculas damp off in a 
pit of large size, where they were on shelves 
near the glass, high and dry; and on examining 
the place, by removing some of the shelves, 
we found the under part a complete mud 
swamp, with the rotten leaves which had been 
picked off from time to time, and dropped 
between the shelves, and the accumulation of 
many months' watering, which had no means 
of escape except by evaporation. So much for 
the pit ; but since the pit was first talked of, 
we have hot-water pits, dung pits, bark pits, 
and a hundred other distinctions, which re- 
quire distinct notice; in the meantime we must 
call this, we suppose, the cold pit. 
The Conservatory. — Tins may be called 
the winter garden, and so that it be light 
