430 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 24, 1857. 
PEACHES AND VINES IN A CORRIDOR. 
| 
“ I am about to erect a corridor of glass, about eight feet 
wide, seven feet high in front, twelve feet high at back, along 
part of the south front of my house, to make a communica- 
I tion between my drawing-room and the rest of the house, 
J instead of passing through the dining-room. At present 
- there is a border with Vines against the wall. I am told 
that Vines do not do well under glass without artificial heat, 
j If this be the case is it necessary to keep a high tem- 
| perature ? I had thought of putting some Vines in front of 
! the glass case in the usual way, and to have planted Peaches 
! against the wall. I am told, also, that Peaches do not do 
well without heat. Will you advise me what is the best thing 
I can do in this case, and also inform me whether I might 
withdraw artificial heat in the spring and summer if I should 
wish to have a gentle heat in winter ? If I can grow Vines 
and Peaches without heat, may I plant the Vines inside, with 
a border outside ? 
“ If I may carry out my plans may I ask, also, what Grapes 
are best to grow without heat?”— Tyro. 
[Perhaps we shall meet your views best by throwing the 
gist of your inquiries into several divisions. 
1. Peaches and Vines, otherwise properly treated, will do 
better under glass than when exposed to the open atmo¬ 
sphere. They can be kept dry when desirable, the glass will 
keep out several degrees of frost, and even the air, being 
still in severe weather, will be less injurious to tender plants 
than when rapidly in motion. Air-giving, where there is 
no artificial heat, must be a matter of importance ; and cool¬ 
ness in winter must be insisted on, otherwise the Peaches 
will bloom so soon in spring that there will be danger of 
the frost destroying it, even with the glass protection. This 
would so far deprive you of the pleasures from the corridor 
in winter, and might be a reason why Peaches should not 
be grown there. Without artificial heat you would not 
often like to give air in winter, even though the sun should 
raise the temperature from 50°, and considerably upwards 
at times, and that would not do much to start the Vines, 
but it would be apt to start the Peaches; and if they came 
into bloom by the last of February, or the first part of March, 
you would most likely lose them ; while, if they were kept so 
cool as to open about the same time as those out of doors, 
the glass would be a great advantage, and when the fruit 
was properly set the sun could be used for ripening them, 
and also the Grapes, earlier and better than they could be 
ripened out of doors. 
2. Whatever you grow in this corridor you would find the 
command of artificial heat a great advantage to the plants, 
and a great comfort to yourself and friends. You might 
| want it a little in spring and autumn; you would not require 
| it at all in summer. If you determined upon Peaches you 
must not raise the temperature artificially above 40° in 
winter, and even that will be rather chilly, coming out of a 
1 drawing-room about 60°. With Vines there will be no 
! danger at 45°. Supposing that your Peaches came into 
j bloom in March you would require no artificial heat for them, 
! unless just to keep the place a few degrees above freezing, 
j When your Vines come into bloom, if the weather was not 
! warm and bright then, a little artificial heat would cause 
j them to set more freely. Then a little more might be 
j advisable to warm and dry the atmosphere in a dull, cold 
autumn. 
3. If the Vines already against the wall are not such as 
you approve of, or can depend upon, we see no valid reason 
against your proposal of planting Peaches there and Vines 
in front, farther than if you resolve to keep the corridor 
] comfortable in winter the Peaches will be in the warmest 
part, and most easily excited into action. Now, supposing 
that Peaches must form a necessary item, and economy, 
quick returns, and comfort must be combined, and the Vines 
now there are in good bearing order, or could be made so by 
j fresh soil, drainage, &c., then I would let them remain, and 
j grow them there, and bring in time a main shoot down the 
| roof at about four feet or five feet apart, and I would plant 
: Peach trees in front, to be trained to a trellis about eighteen 
j inches from the glass, and about three feet six inches in 
| height, if not higher. We should expect Peaches in front, 
and Grapes against the back wall, and also hanging from 
the roof, and the front lights being made to open freely, the 
Peaches could have a free supply of air. This arrangement ! 
would not at all interfere with your ornamenting the cor¬ 
ridor with blooming plants, such as Camellias, in winter, and 
keeping it at an average of 40° in cold weather. Were such 
a combination desirable we should be inclined to adopt such 
a plan if the Vines were to be planted afresh. 
4. As, however, it is desirable to have the corridor com¬ 
fortable in winter, as Peach trees are easily excited, and as, 
in addition, they are subject to the attacks of green fly, which 
necessitate the disagreeables of smoking, &c., and you were 
to ask me how we would do such a place, if it were mine, so 
as to combine pleasure and profit, then we would give up 
Peaches altogether; we would plant Vines inside in front, with 
the front wall on arches, and fruit them in front and along 
the roof, having the plants about four feet apart; and the 
back wall we would cover with Camellias or other winter¬ 
flowering plants, and a few other plants could be set on the 
floor or on a stage, and still leave enough for a pathway. No 
more artificial heat would be required in winter than would 
raise the temperature in severe weather from 35° to 40°, and 
none would be required after the frosts were gone, unless 
you chose to give your Vines a fillip when in bloom. You 
would thus have a comfortable shade in summer, fruit in 
autumn, and a pleasant display all the winter, with little i 
annoyance from insects or sickly vegetation. For such a i 
house no Vines will suit better than the White Royal Mus- j 
cadine and the Black Hamburghs. You will now be best j 
able to judge for yourself. We shall be glad to hear of your 
determination, and if we can be of any more use you may 
freely command our services.] 
A MULTITUDE OF QUESTIONS RELATIVE TO 
GREENHOUSE BUILDING. 
“ Being a novice, and having had but nine of your valuable , 
numbers called The Cottage Gardener, I have inclosed 
what I call a plan of the piece of ground I can appropriate 
for a greenhouse. By your kind advice I have no doubt I 
shall be able to get along with it. 
“ You must first understand that I am on a level piece of 
marsh land; the subsoil is gravel. Where w'ould you have i 
the doorway? The propagating place, which must be a 
quarter of the piece of land, which is about four feet seven j 
inches by nine feet and a half long, will be at the west end, j 
and divided by glass from the greenhouse. Would you ; 
have sashes fixed or moveable ? and what sized glass 
would you recommend—the best quality ? How high should 
the front and end wall be? and what height would you have | 
the glass ? and what would be the most economical way and 
the best to heat the propagating house or place and green- ! 
house ? I was thinking of having a tank of the size of the j 
propagating place, with the boiler under it, and of having the I 
brickwork of the division pigeon-holed to heat the gi’een • 
house. Would it not be sufficient for the fireplace to be out j 
side at the west end ? Of course you will advise me the j 
size of the rafters for sashes or otherwise. My chief object i 
is to propagate annuals, Fuchsias, Heaths, Verbenas, and j 
Geraniums.”—R. L. G. 
[As the questions of economy, and elegance, and useful¬ 
ness are to be combined, we would advise the following 
Height of house behind, nine feet six or nine inches, so as 
to be lower than the wall of the cowshed against which it 
abuts ; height of front w T all, six feet, or five feet nine inches, 
half to be brick, the other half glass. The front glass to be in 
sashes to move, or without sashes and fixed, as we recom¬ 
mend the roof to be, provided there are ventilators in the 
wall below, four of them at least eighteen inches in length 
and one foot in width. The sashbars or rafters we recom¬ 
mend to be one inch and three quarters wide and three 
inches deep, and placed so as to receive British sheet glass, 
such as Mr. Phillips advertises and sends out, of eighteen 
inches wide and twelve inches deep. Four or five ventilators, 
the size, or nearly so, of these squares, should be hung by 
their centre at the apex, so as to admit air at pleasure. By 
such means there is no rattling of sashes and breakage of 
glass from that source. The difficulty of arranging the 
inside consists chiefly in the fact that there must be a propa¬ 
gating part at the ivcst end of four feet seven inches taken 
from the length of the house ; and with its breadth, of nine 
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