108 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
have glass houses. Many houses cheap at first cost, become terribly dear in 
the long run. 
In nothing is it of more importance to draw a clear distinction between 
absolute and fictitious cheapness than in glass houses. A commonplace 
wooden house will eat its top off for repairs in ten or twelve years, for within 
that period a sum amounting to its first cost will have been expended on 
putty, paint, wood, and glass. Of course , the better the materials used the 
less will be expended on repairs, and vice versa. Sap wood left on the deal; 
putty made of wet whitening or lamp black, and worthless oil, and used 
new; thin twisted glass; and cheap white lead, are so many taxes laid on 
fictitious cheapness, yielding in the end a full crop of annoyance, and an 
absolute price of frightful proportions. Even with the best materials a 
heavy source of expense originates in the varied degrees of durability of 
the substances employed. Glass, putty, wood, and paint being all com¬ 
bined to form one structure, the time it will remain perfect without expen¬ 
sive renovations must be measured by the durability of its most perishable 
parts. Hence the importance of making all the materials employed ap¬ 
proximate to the most durable constituent. Glass being well nigh imperish¬ 
able, let it be combined with equally durable substances, and one of the 
most troublesome horticultural problems of the day is solved. 
The distinguishing feature of Beard’s patent houses is, that they may be 
termed irreparable in the sense of never needing repairs. The whole of the 
substances employed are most durable, presenting an unbroken surface 
of imperishable iron and glass to both the external and internal atmosphere. 
Paint is superseded by a hard, smooth, durable enamel. Instead of putty 
carefully prepared slips of asphalted felt, which can be placed or removed 
in the twinkling of an eye, are used. All the other parts are either iron or 
glass, and the tooth of time must become sharper than it is before it can 
make any sensible impression on either of these, protected as the former is 
by its coat of enamel. 
These houses each rest upon an iron wall-plate, that may either be elevated on a wall or 
placed on a smooth solid basis of concrete. The water-troughing constitutes the roof-plate. 
The roof dips into as well as rests on this plate, and consequently removes the condensed 
water from the internal surface of the glass, as well as the rain from the outside. I he 
