444 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 5. 
to command the rays of the midday sun and to keep it dry ; 
and suppose that a walk went along, parallel with the front 
of the mansion and the front of the border, you might 
render that border very ornamental, without at all interfering 
with the roots of the Vines, by placing on it raised baskets, 
or raised clumps of small size, by using wood, or flint, or 
grass edgings. 
3. It would add greatly to the enjoyability of such a house 
if you could at once enter it from the mansion; and if that 
could be done, our plans would be greatly regulated to suit 
that contingency. 
4. We know nothing of the means for shed room, and 
fixing hot-water, or other heating medium, beyond this wall 
of which you speak; but did not the economical question 
of the existing wall come in as a great consideration ; and 
did good Grapes, as well as showy plants, prove deside¬ 
rata ; and did the beauty of the house, and its archi¬ 
tectural unison with the mansion, come in as matters of 
thought, as in such circumstances we think they should do; 
then we would advise that the front line of the greenhouse 
should only be a few inches or feet, if at all, farther north 
than the front line of the mansion ; that on this supposition, 
a new back-wall would have to be erected; that this wall 
need not be higher than the front sashes, say six to eight 
feet, and that from these front sashes, and that wall, re¬ 
spectively, a hipped roof should meet in the centre of the 
house, some twelve or fifteen feet in height; or if Grapes 
were more a consideration than plants and creepers, the 
hipped north roof should only be one to two, or one to three, 
as respects length, to the south one. In this case, the front 
wall of the house would have to be built on arches, and a 
small border made beneath the walk, which we presume 
would run parallel with it, but the area of the house, 
especially for two-thirds of its breadth, ought to be the 
chief border for the Vines, which, under such circumstances, 
we advise to be planted inside, while the back-wall, and the 
hipped-roof on the north side, we would clothe with ever¬ 
greens and creepers. Following out such a plan, and sup¬ 
posing the house was eighteen, or twenty, or more, feet in 
width, there would still remain a very useful place behind it 
for setting greenhouse plants in summer, and many other 
purposes. Now, had we both Grapes and plants in view, 
and could we thus get into the house by a door from the 
mansion, this we would try and adopt. 
5. But, supposing that Grapes were not the chief consi¬ 
deration, that plants were as much or rather more of a 
desideratum than they; that there could be convenience 
beyond the present north wall, or even inside the mansion, 
for a stock-hole, and that economy must be a necessary con¬ 
dition as to building at all; then, as the wall of the mansion 
and the north wall are already there, we would at once make 
the first the back-wall of our house, and the present wall its 
north end. This would give a house thirty-live feet in 
length, the width of the mansion. Various circumstances 
come here, again, under consideration. First, were this 
house to be an economical one, with a lean-to roof, for the i 
growing and storing away of plants, then a narrow one of j 
from twelve to more feet in width would do, with a stage in | 
the house, a walk round it, and a broad shelf in front. The ! 
front at the roof in front might be six feet, and twelve feet [ 
at back. Under such a supposition, however, the end 
parallel with the mansion could have little architectural 
effect, and Vines could only be expected to grow nicely for 
two or three rafters at the south end. But, secondly, as 
our correspondent thinks nothing of twenty-six or twenty- 
eight feet in length, and evidently desires the produce of 
the Vine, and lias, also, an eye for the neat and the j 
orderly, and wishes to use this end wall of her mansion, I 
why not have a house from twenty to more feet in width, j 
standing north and south, the south end nearly or altogether 
parallel with the front of the mansion, and which these 
might assume, by means of pilasters on light columns, an 
architectural appearance. In such a case, wo would have 
a two-and-a-half feet wall on the east side, glass three-and- 
a-lialffeet, and for an equal height on the west wall, or 
higher on that wall (the cast wall of the house), and the 
rafters in front, we would have a low hipped-roof, some 
twelve or fourteen feet to its apex from the clear. In such 
a house, so much sunlight would enter the house from the 
hipped-roof, and the glass in the south end, that Grapes ! 
would flourish for more than the half of the length of the 
house next the south side, especially if planted inside, and 
the roots attended to. Of course, even adopting this plan 
of the hipped-roof, the house need not be made so long as 
the width of the mansion, or if so long, it might be fourteen 
or sixteen feet, instead of more than twenty; or it might be 
made at first the whole length of the width of the house, 
and arrangements made to keep the south end, by means of 
divisions, much warmer than the north end. Something of 
this plan, with a broad shelf all round, and a platform in 
the centre, would do extremely well for plants. In fact, 
were I to build a plant-house to grow plants, and show them 
off to the best advantage, I should have a span-roofed house 
some fifteen feet wide, and so arranged, the centre apex 
about ten feet from the floor, and a trellised-table about 
three-and-a-half feet from it. But, as I have said already, 
were Grapes a primary consideration, I would have the 
front of the house parallel with the front of the mansion, 
and standing east and west, as mentioned in N. 4 . 
C. IVe do not like to recommend builders. Several trust¬ 
worthy ones have advertised in these columns. The great 
thing is to have everything clear beforehand, and nothing 
left for extras afterwards. As to the expense, we have already 
gone as far several times in that matter as we can pru¬ 
dently go, not being practically engaged in building lately. 
When you determine on a plan, a bricklayer would tell you, 
within a little, what his services would cost; a carpenter 
could tell, within a few shillings, what light, sound rafters and 
wall-plates would come to; and the glass and wood-work 
would range, on an average, when completed, somewhere 
about lf»d. per foot, and iron piping, according to size, from 
]0d. to 14d. per lineal foot. So that a rough guess might 
easily be arrived at, and as to engraved or fine drawn plans, 
little of that is necessary,—a few strokes of a pen being 
amply sufficient for such a purpose; though if you want fine 
drawings, you can easily have them by paying for them. 
7. The size is, therefore, a mere matter of convenience 
and expense, and much may be gained from wbat has thus 
been incidentally stated. 
8. As to whether iron or wood is most economical and 
best for flowers and Vines, we have not a spark of doubt on 
the matter; and, provided the rafters are made light, we 
would unhesitatingly prefer wood, as preferable in both 
respects. In a wide house, and where lightness is an 
object, we would prefer the pillars necessary being of iron, 
and even small rafters, but as a general principle, for every¬ 
thing connected with the roofs of plant-houses and forcing, 
houses, we prefer wood to iron. True, some of the finest 
productions in the country are grown under iron liouses> 
but that does not prove iron to be the best material. Its 
liability to rust, and, therefore, the expense of painting 
oftener, and consequent extra expense, and its conducting 
properties, which causes it to be so hot in summer and cold 
in winter, occasioning often additional expense for fuel and 
glass, crackage and breakage, ought to be thought over by 
every man putting up iron houses. AVe know that when kept 
well painted these evils are lessened, but not removed. And 
then, suppose you cannot or do not choose to paint the 
interior of your house often, the drip from unpainted wood 
will do no harm to your plants, but from unpainted, rusted 
iron, it leaves its scathing mark wherever it falls. A number 
of years ago we were consulted as to building a conservatory. 
The owner had set his mind upon iron, as more lasting, 
&c.; we urged all these matters in order to have wood, but 
when we could not positively state that the expense of the 
iron would exceed that of wood, in the article of fuel alone, 
£20 per annum, it was decided to have iron, and there it is 
incessantly getting rusty on the roof, and the dripping 
spotting every leathery leaf on which it falls, it being 
scarcely possible to keep such plants as Camellias in a 
healthy state beneath it. Then think, too, of the bother of 
ever and anon emptying houses to get the inside painted, 
which you must do often, in the case of iron, if it is to be 
kept from rusting. Why, a wooden roof, when well done, 
does not require painting inside so often in a lifetime, if 
frequently and properly washed. Then, again, as to the 
expansion of the metal, and the breakage of glass in con¬ 
sequence ; we know that much depends on the glazing, 
giving the glass ease enough, but in a house well painted 
the previous summer, and so far neutralising its conducting 
