October 4 , 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
325 
forget the experience. It nearly killed one man, and a good one, while 
another did not recover from the roasting effects for more than a week ; 
but that was of no consequence to anyone but himself, and does not 
trouble him now. All the same, it is to be hoped that, large as is the 
FIG. 49.— PART OP PLAX. 
staff of officials at Shrewsbury, yet another will be appointed, in case 
his services may be needed on some similar occasion in future — a 
tent ventilator, or more good men and true may be placed hors de 
combat, 
Fireworks. 
A flower show crowd at Shrewsbury on a fine summer’s night 
waiting for the fireworks is a sight to be remembered. The position is 
unique. The site may be imagined as horseihoe-shaped, the rim as 
avenues of Limes of quite unusual altitude, the ground sloping to the 
toe or bend of the shoe—a length approaching a quarter of a mile. The 
space is filled with people, yet everyone can see Mr. Pain’s brilliant 
pyrotechnic devices against the deep, dense, background of foliage. But 
“ this is not horticulture,” some stiffly starched clerico-semi-scientific 
votary of the cult may say. No, it is not, but simply an adjunct 
absolutely harmless as a means of half an hour’s enjoyment, and which 
thousands enjoy. “ A rowdy crowd,” does someone mutter. Nothing 
of the kind. It was the calm, clear evening of the first day when this 
crowd was noted—not a seething, wedged mass, but with room to move 
comfortably. Professional men and their families, clerics and theirs, 
with here and there a bishop, archdeacon, or some other Church 
dignitary not ashamed of his “ cloth,” which was visible enough, as he 
had certainly no reason to be. It was an assembly to which none but 
the most straight-laced Pharisee could discover material for objection, 
and as orderly as Queen’s levee. 
Bristol. 
Two men intended starting for Bristol the next day, but one of them 
had to go home and rest in bed for a week, and the other could only 
just “ crawl ” to the station. Luckily for them, but unfortunately for 
thousands, the day was cool—in fact, a “drencher,” yet £1200 were 
taken at the show ; the greatest triumph that Shrewsbury ever had at 
any of the exhibitions. When the “ wounded ” man arrived at 
Bristol, who should he see on the platform (the very first man) but Mr. 
W. Iggulden. Of all the ubiquitous gardeners, surely he must bear the 
palm. His activity is boundless, and he has a “ nose ” for discovery. 
Reappears to find out everything. During a “ judging visit ” he had 
found something at Bristol, and beamed with delight when he found a 
willing ear to his narrative. “ What a lucky thing you have come! 
You are not looking well. Has Shrewsbury upset you ? But you must 
come with me ; you needn’t walk you know, we will have a cab ; but 
you 7nust go and see them. We shall beat the French at growing Pears 
yet. We can grow everything ; shift them about as we like, twist them 
up in no time—Apples, Pears, Peaches, Tomatoes, Strawberries, flowers— 
bring them all on fine ; money in it in my belief ; ” and so on, just as 
an earnest man with a tongue can “ go on ” when he gets hold of a new 
idea bearing on the work he loves—growing fruit and making money. 
When a pause came, and the meaning of the references to the “ them ” 
and the “it” was comprehended, the earnest man’s objective was found 
to resolve itself, as he condensed the matter, into “ wire houses for 
marketers,” which being interpreted means cheap light houses for 
growing produce for market; and so we went to see, with some 
misgivings, what were found, to give them their proper appellation, 
WIRE TENSION HOUSES. 
“Well, yes ; novel certainly, light, durable, and they look cheap—too 
promising to be buried, and the world should know about them.” When 
my friend heard that, though he has not a penny in them, he seemed 
delighted as he remarked, “ Ah ! I thought you would like them, and 
what more do you want than light, durable, and cheap? ” I thought I 
should like to see them tried, at Chiswick for instance ; but first to tell 
of what was seen, and leave the inventor and a discriminating public to 
make the best of what is really a simple adaptation of galvanised wire 
to horticultural structures. 
The inventor and patentee of the wire tension houses is Mr. Board, 
of Skinner, Board & Co., Bristol, the inventor of Venetian ventilators for 
glass structures, not a man with more “ push” than ability, but exactly 
the reverse. He took the idea of these houses from a twisted galvanised 
wire fence slanted over the top of a wall, and thought if the wires were 
FIG. 51.— LEAN-TO WIRE TENSION HOUSE. 
covered with glass a strong and cheap protective coping would be found 
for fruit trees. Then he devised clips for the wires and holding the 
glass. Next he carried the idea farther, and devised moveable T iron 
curvilinear rafters for houses, lean-to’s and span-roofed, running the 
wires through them from end to end of the roof, and screwing them 
tight, clipping the glass over them and covering all the framework 
completely. Such is the genesis and progress of an idea. 
Two or three small sketches will make clearer the nature of these 
wire tension houses than can many words without them. Fig. 49 shows 
part of the plan of a roof with the glass fixed in position. Fig. 50 
a section showing the clip over the wire for securing the glass. 
Fig. 51 portion of a lean-to house erected. Two of these houses placed 
back to back, minus the wall, would obviously form a span-roofed 
structure, and a span-roof, as a “ test house,” was more particularly 
inspected. 
This house was about 40 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 8 feet 6 inches 
high. About half the length was glazed, perhaps about two-thirds on 
one side, and both ends were open. One portion was glazed to the 
ground, the rafters resting in sockets in the soil; the other portion 
rested on a sill, much in the way as shown in the illustration. Both 
ends were open and had been for weeks, and all the stormy winds, for 
which the season has been famed, rushed through in the elevated 
position, yet not a square of glass was misplaced. The slight yield of 
the roof might possibly have been an element of safety, as the swaying 
is said to be to tall chimneys and trees. Be that as it may, the test was 
a severe one. 
The light iron rafters were 5 feet apart, the tightened cross wires 
for glazing 15 inches asunder. The wires were S-lGth’s of an inch in 
diameter, tested breaking strain 10 cwt. The squares of glass (of the 
width indicated) are lapped over the wires, the ends butting against 
each other. The house was dry as dust inside, though there had been 
much rain, and it was said to be free from drip. In some places small 
upright iron rods were fixed from the ground to the rafters at the curve, 
