Novemcek G. 
COUNTRY GENTI.EMAN’S COM TAN ION. 
85 
for decorating in tlio winter months. Cuttings struck 
in the spring, and planted ont for the sninnier, will make 
fine, large inishes, and, if lifted and jiotted before they 
arc injured by frost, and kept in a close pit for ton days, 
they wilt re-establish themselves, and amply repay, in a 
short time, with their line, showy flowers, the little 
trouble bestowed upon them. 
Will any of your correspondents please to say a little 
about C<ilceol<iri(t violaeea, as to its treatment?—E. R. 
C.\RPENTEH. 
ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES RELATIVE TO 
VARIOUS GLAZED STRUCTURES. 
1st. “C. jNI. B.” purposes building a lean-to green¬ 
house, twenty-one feet long and twelve feet wide, against 
a wall ten feet high, having a brick wall three feet high 
at the ends and front. The glass in front three feet in 
height, and higher, of course, at the ends. The roof to 
be fixed, glazed with Hartley’s patent. Ventilation by 
a door at the back opening into a shed. A door at one 
end, and three sashes in front, intended to open. Open¬ 
ings also in the brick wall, and in a moveable box at 
the apex of the roof, which goes along its whole length; 
and various other matters, which will appear in our an¬ 
swers, approving or qualifying. The roof will be very 
substantial. Four rafters will bo used, each four inches 
by five inches, one at each end, and the other two at 
equal distances, in the middle, and the roof will be fur¬ 
ther strengthened by an iron rod, passing longitudinally 
along the middle of the roof, and screwed to each end. 
The sash bars going betwixt these rafters will bo threo- 
and a-half-inehes by two-and-a-quartor-inebes, and so 
far apart as to receive eighteen-inch wide squares by 
twelve inches in depth, each of those weighing threo- 
and-a-half pounds. This seems a great weight, and I 
would prefer having the sash bars so close, as to have 
the squares three-inches narrower, or even to reverse 
them, and make them twelve inches wide and eighteen 
inches long. With glass about eighteen ounces to the 
foot,this precaution might not be necessary; but I think 
there is considerable force in the objections of Mr. Lane 
to very wide squares. The grooving of the sash bars 
is all very well, but if not made larger than the glass, 
there is much trouble in removing and replacing a 
broken square, though with glass of the intended thick¬ 
ness that will not often be necessary, if fair usage is 
given to it. 
The front is to have seven studs, equally divided, sup¬ 
porting the wall plate, each three inches by four inches, 
and the intermediate sash bars are one-and-a-half inch 
by two inches, for receiving panes of crown glass cleven- 
and-a-half inches wide by twenty in depth. The ends 
are also to bo crown glass. It matters not whether the 
half of these front sashes slide past each other or open 
outwards. In fact, with large ventilators in the fi’ont 
wall, as proposed, and one window in tlie end opposite 
the doorway, there would be no necessity for opening 
the front sashes at all, and then, with the necessary 
studs to support the wall plate, it would look better to 
liavo the bars of the roof and the front sashes ranging 
in line. With sasbos three feet in height, and without 
any cross bar, the crown glass will bo liable to accidents 
in opening and shutting. The only advantage of the 
crown glass at all is, that you can see through it. This, 
however, will very likely put you to the expense of a 
shade in summer. Were the squares in front of the 
same width as the roof, you might have spaces of that, 
or double that width, to open in front; but our chief 
objection to the three or four feet openings you propose, 
arises from having no cross bars in your three feet deep 
front sashes, as much of the crown glass is very thin. 
Ventilating .—I do not know if I altogether compre¬ 
hend your moveable box at the apex of the roof; but if 
that can bo raised, a.s necessary, as said already, ymir 
doors and front wall ventilators would give you enough of 
fresh air. If you turn those ventilators to another |iiirpose, 
as hinted at, so as to heat an outside boixler, then yon 
must have several openings in the front for air. 
Jlealing .—This is to be by a flue. The stock-hole 
must bo sunk so low, that the fire-bars of the furnace 
should he from fifteen to twenty inches below the bottom 
of your Hue. This will give you a good draught. The 
higher your flue statids in the house, the less necessity 
for sinking your stock-hole, a matter of importance 
where water is likely to trouble you. A very small Hue 
would manage such a house as a greenhouse. I heat a 
house nearly as large with a small four-inch flue placed 
below the tile floor. But as you s))eak of Grapes, you 
had bettor have yours all clear above the floor. A nine- 
inch flue, that is, two bricks set on edge, and from six 
to nine inches wide, inside measure, would answer for 
common purposes; but if over you contemplated turn¬ 
ing your greenhouse into an early Vinery, then you had 
better have three bricks on edge for the sides of your 
flue instead of two. It is advisable to have the flue as 
many inches from the wall as will permit of the sides 
being easily examined, and preventing any dry litter, 
leaves, &c., from accumulating there. After a suitable 
foundaticii above the floor level, such a flue will be low 
enough to enable you to have your front and end shelves 
from four to six inches below the level of the glass. 
This will give a little shade to the roots of your plants, 
while the tops will have all the benefit of the light. 
I am supposing that your internal arrangement is 
fixed to a narrow shelf, twenty inches or so wide at front 
and the ends, beneath which the flue is to go; but, were 
I told that you wanted Grapes in the autumn; that you 
neither wished to see a raised border for them outside 
the house, nor litter and boxes round their stems; then 
I would build the front wall on arches, make the border 
outside all the same, but lower than the inside of the 
house; place the flue twenty or twenty-four inches from 
the wall, and bring a return back again, side by side, if 
deemed necessary. In the space between the flue and 
the wall, I would plant the Vines, and bring the stems 
up through the latticed shelf, or platform, which would 
thus bo somewhere about throo-and-a-half feet wide, 
just nicely manageable for examining every plant on it; 
and then, with three feet wide of a path or so, there 
would be five feet or more for a platform or stage behind, 
no frost nor snow would hurt your Vine stems; and by 
dividing the interior of the house, watering, &c., would 
be more easily managed. 
Whatever plan be adopted, the ventilators in the wp,ll 
should just be opposite the flue, so that in cold weather 
the air may bo warmed before getting to tender things 
in the house. Our correspondent here starts an objec¬ 
tion, and makes an enquiry—“ If I put in Vines, the 
beds will take up the front wall and cover the ventilators 
there. Could they be turned to other account by con¬ 
nexion with the flue to force the Vine at the roots?” I 
have already mentioned how the front wall need not be 
covered up, though, unless great care in draining is exer¬ 
cised, I do not like the plan so well as a border with a 
good slope to the sun. But, allowing that the raised border 
is made outside, and a narrow shelf, instead of a broad 
platform, is placed in front of the house inside; and 
those ventilators are supplied with a sliding shutter 
inside; then a hollow pillar outside, rising above the 
boiler, and communicating with those ventilators, as at 
Althorpe Hall, would secure fruit, air being mollified 
before it spread into the house. For mere greenhouse 
plants, however, such care is not often required. 
As to using such openings as a means of heating the 
Vine border, it would never be required, unless in early 
forcing, and then it would bo most useful. The openings 
