Jnne 5l, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
507 
to tie the roof securely, or, best of all, by two rows of iron pillars formed 
of 2-inch gaspijiesj which are ■^ery cheap, 6 feet from each side ; the 
lower ends placed in the ground, and let into a small square of brick¬ 
work and cement, the tipper ends let into the purlin. These pillars 
should be about 10 feet apart. 
It will be seen from this description that a house built after this 
Fig. 71—End elevation of an Orchard House 24 feet wide. 
•a Glazed shutters on hinges, openinc downwards. 5 Sash for egress of heated 
air, opening downwards. 
'Eiethod is a plain but useful structure, for its sides, ends, and doors 
■.(there should be one at each end in the centre) are all of boards, and its 
roof only of glass. Nevertheless, this description of orchard house will 
give fruit in as great abundance and of as fine a flavour as a house built 
ornamentally and at a great expense. 
In June, 1860, a house was built here, which for strength, cheapness, 
^ind lightness of construction is both eligible and agreeable (see figs. 70 
and 71). It differs from the houses formerly built and recommended in 
having no raised brick borders, by which a considerable saving is 
effected. No inconvenience will arise from the trees standing on the 
ground level, for it is only necessary to cultivate the trees as pyramids 
or half-standards for the central border and as dvvarfs with stems a foot 
taller than usual for the side borders. It is 100 feet long, 21 feet wide, 
12 feet high in the centre, and 5 feet 3 inches at the sides. Sides and 
•ends are glass, and on each side and at both ends is a glazed shutter 
18 inches wide, the lower edge 18 inches from the ground on edges open¬ 
ing downwards for low lateral ventilation, and below that glass to the 
ground. At each end, just under the gable of the roof, are openings 
3 feet in depth, to which sashes are fixed ; these are to be open all the 
summer to let off the hot air, and this is all the top ventilation neces- 
rsary. 
The roof, which is formed with light rafters 3J inches by I 4 , is sup- 
poiled on'each side by seven light pillars 1^ inch in diameter fixed to a 
bar of iron, which is let into the rafters. Each row of pillars (/) is 
•6 feet from the sides of the. house, so that there is a border on each side 
6 feet wide and an area in the centre 12 feet wide. 
In addition to the ventilation above described, Mr. Rivers adopts 
with great success a simple plan he has devised of admitting air 
through underground drain pipes, one end of these air ducts passing 
under the sill to the outside, the other rising through the Boor about 
the centre of the house, or where required, and covered with a moveable 
lid for regulating the ingress of the air. Mr. Rivers attaches great im¬ 
portance to this method, as in cold weather and when forcing the side 
ventilators cannot be safely opened. Nothing could surpass the 
healthiness of the trees in a large house (from which Peaches were being 
sent to market early in May) in which this underground system of ven¬ 
tilation was mainly relied on for keeping the air sweet to the ground. 
The method will be shown in an illustration of a very fine structure in 
the next edition of the '• Orchard House ” which is now in preparation. 
The trees referred to were in pots, and are certainly not exaggerated in 
fig. 72. Pyr.amid and standard trees orcujiy the central border in the 
larger houses. 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS FOR FORCING. 
It is not generally well known to what extent hardy herbaceous 
perennials are suited for forcing, or what may with advantage be 
employed for the purpose named. Having some experience in this 
direction, and believing that I have, so far, been successful in my 
endeavours, I will enumerate some of those which I have found 
most useful, by which I mean those which I have found best 
adapted, either for the embellishment of the conservatory, for 
decorative purposes generally, and for cutting. There are hosts of 
such hardy plants which, if put to their greatest use, would prove 
of the utmost value to those who have to provide cut flowers in 
these times in such endless quantity. Left to themselves, some 
which I shall mention by-and-by are almost worthless, but if cared 
for and grown in a proper manner are well worthy the time bestowed 
and the cost entailed. For years past I have given more or less 
attention to the forcing of hardy plants, and have rarely found 
anyone speak disparagingly of the plants thus treated ; in fact 
they could not when they beheld them in equally as good condition 
as they can be produced naturally out of doors, but some weeks 
before their flowering was dreamt of. In this particular I consider 
we have the fullest value for our labour, for if by judicious forcing 
the flowering season of any plant can be extended, we have certainly 
gained a point. 
But let us compare the relative value of forced and unforced 
plants, or, in other words, of flowers at their natural season against 
those produced by artificial means three or four months previously. 
Take for example Spirsea japonica, and the tens of thousands 
which annually find their way in and out of Covent Garden Market 
alone. This plant is almost valueless in England if allowed to flower 
at its natural time—be., July out of doors. It is doubtful, too, 
whether it is ever met in good condition in the open in this country 
on account of the late spring frosts, but view it as a pot plant 
flowering at Christmas and onwards, six months before its natural 
period, and we find a plant of high decorative value. Lilies of the 
Talley, again, we see in the florists’ windows in midwinter at some¬ 
thing like 2s. a bunch of six sprays ; the same quantity, though 
perhaps a little inferior in quality, being offered in the streets in 
May for the modest sum of Id. ; or compare the price of a bunch 
of the golden double Daffodils in January with w'hat they will 
command in the month of April; while for another instance we 
may look at the old white garden Lily, the Madonna Lily of the 
Italians. This one in itself is an extraordinary example of what 
early forcing may do, as by its adoption two crops of flowers may 
be had in one year—that is, those which are forced for Easter, or 
even earlier, may be had in flower again in the autumn and winter 
ensuing provided they are cared for after the first flowering and 
not turned out of doors as soon as the first crop of flowers are 
gathered. Only one other Lily has this tendency to produce two 
crops of flowers in one season, and this is L. Harrisi, but as the 
flowers of L. candidum are of a much more serviceable size indi¬ 
vidually, and produced in greater numbers from good bulbs, which 
latter may be procured at a mere fraction of the cost of L. Harrisi, 
it wmuld not take long to decide in favour of candidum. But 
saying this I do not wish to underrate the value of L. Harrisi, 
which is undoubtedly a grand Lily. Instances, however, such as 
these might be freely multiplied, for there are numbers of plants 
whose value might be enhanced by the ready manner in which they 
submit to hard forcing. All these, how'ever, are well known, and 
as they form a great feature with many market florists, and are 
consequently well known as good forcing subjects, I will now 
direct attention to some few things which are not generally regarded 
as suited to the purpose named. 
To fully illustrate this I cannot do better than refer my readers 
to the groups of herbaceous plants recently exhibited at the Royal 
Botanic, Regent’s Park, and the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
grand Show held in the gardens of the Inner Temple. It is 
especially noteworthy that while these groups contained some of 
