HOTHOUSE. 
the racks, to any height. The benches in 
front are all flued, and rise en escalier , i. e. 
by regular steps, for the purpose of dis- 
playing all the plants standing on them, and 
to give them a proper portion of the sun’s 
influence, without which no plant will thrive, 
or be either so well flavoured, or so highly 
coloured. In fact, warmth without light 
will produce no good effect on the vegeta- 
ble world. 
Fig. 2, displays the manner in which the 
flues are made to meander through the seve- 
ral benches, between which the intervals 
should be filled up, to within two feet of 
their tops ; thereby to allow the means of 
shifting, watering, or the whole nijay be 
built up as in fig. 3, provided their joint 
breadths do not exceed three, or three and 
a half feet; if more they would preclude 
the possibility of giving the due attention to 
each individually. The square black spaces, 
under each bench, shows the passage of the 
flues, the sides being half a brick in thick- 
ness, and the tops covered only with a strong 
tile, well cemented down, and plastered 
over. By this means any part of the flues 
can be easily cleaned or repaired. Our 
readers will of course understand that where 
any part of the hot-liouse is thus benched, it 
need not be excavated, that mode being 
only requisite for the lodgment of the tan 
in the parts intended for keeping up the 
heat by immersion of the pots in the hot 
beds. 
The average heat of the interior should be 
from about 75 to 80 degrees ; but at particu- 
lar critical times, when pines, &c. require 
much forcing, it may be carried up to full 
85, or even to 90 degrees, so as to corres- 
pond with the temperature of their natural 
climate. It is remarkable, that in those 
places where pines grow wild, they possess 
the highest flavour, tar exceeding that of the 
domesticated fruit, and that they ordina- 
rily undergo a change of about 12 or 15 
degrees between the average heats in the 
shady parts, where they grow, at mid-day, 
and at mid night. Yet our gardeners keep 
them full as warm during the night, as dur- 
ing the day. Perhaps some assiduous and 
curious speculator in this branch of horti- 
culture, may deem.the above hint worthy of 
notice. 
The entrance into a hot-house should al- 
ways be by means of a small anti-chamber, 
shutting very close ; for when a door opens 
abruptly, so as to admit the external air, 
those plants which are contiguous thereto 
will receive a shock from the cold air, thus 
inevitably allowed to reach them, and will 
be far less luxuriant than others of the 
same kind, which, by a more fortunate 
locality, escape the baneful influence. We 
would recommend the sketch given in fig. 
4, to the attention of our readers ; in it A is 
the anti-chamber to the hot-house B, and 
C is the fire-place whence the chimney 
forms the several flues that pass under the 
benches, and through the back wall D, 
C ending in the chimney, E. 
It will be found most convenient to have 
the door in the centre of one end of the 
hot-house, and as that part will necessarily 
be raised by the slope of the surface of the 
beds and benches, four or five steps may 
be made, either in the anti-chamber, or in 
the hot-house. It will also be found useful 
to make in the back wall various small 
apertures, one for each bin, that the old 
tan, which has lost its heat, may be re- 
moved from below by means of scoops and 
hoes ; the surface of the bin being, in the 
meanwhile, covered with bass-mats, straw, 
<Scc., to exclude the external air. When the 
old tan has all been removed, the aperture 
should be closed, and the fresh tan be 
filled into the bin by two men, with a long 
narrow basket, which might be advantage- 
ously rolled up the path-way or alley, be- 
tween the bins and the benches, on a small 
truck-frame. 
In small hot houses, such as we sometimes 
see in the gardens attached to little country 
boxes, the heat might be circulated from a 
kitchen fire, provided the benches were 
raised sufficiently high to receive that bene- 
fit without affecting the draught. This 
would, in many instances, be found conve- 
nient and economical. In such the air 
might be admitted, merely by having one 
or two panes of glass set in metal frames ; 
to be opened on hinges, as we often see, in 
places where sash windows would not an- 
swer, or where only a slight change of air is 
needful. 
We shall conclude this article with re- 
marking that hot-houses require consider- 
able attention, and are extremely expen- 
sive, both in their construction and in then- 
support. A therniometer should always be 
suspended in some shady part ; and, in 
warm weather especiaiy, it will be found 
extremely convenient to have tin ventilators 
set in the sides, near the tops, as shown in 
the figure, their action might at any time 
be stopped, by putting on a tin cap or co- 
ver, or by a sliding board ; the latter would 
prove most convenient. 
