375 
Feb. 14th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
each side 4 ft., and the doorway should be 2 ft. 
wide and 6 ft. high. Brickwork 4^ ins. thick will 
be sufficiently strong. The bricks need not be 
of the best, those at 30s. per 1,000, exclusive 
of carriage, are good enough for the purpose. The 
■wood should be the best yellow deal, and painted with 
three coats of oil paint; scantlings of the requisite 
size, bevelled and grooved ready for use, can be bought 
from the timber merchant. The glass should be 
21 ozs. to the square foot, lower priced glass may be 
used, but it is a doubtful economy. A good size for 
the panes is 18 ins. by 12 ins., placed so that their 
longest sides shall run with the length of the house, 
by this arrangement the sash-bars will be 18 ins. 
apart, less wood will be used than if they were nearer 
together, and more light will be supplied to the 
plants. 
In building his greenhouse, the first thing the 
amateur should do is to carefully mark out the plan 
of the house on the ground, being especially careful 
that the sides are at right angles to each other, this 
he can easily do with the help of a carpenter’s 
square. The foundation having been laid, the door 
frame should be put in its place, and then the wall 
should be built. The next thing is to put up the 
frame of the roof. The wall-plate 44 ins. wide by 
2 ins. deep, halved at the corners, should be bedded in 
mortar on the top of the wall, with its ends morticed 
into the doorposts. The ridge-plates, running the 
whole length of the house and projecting an inch or 
two beyond should be 44 ins. deep and H ins. wide. 
The four end rafters, each 3 ins. deep, 2 ins. wide, and 
about 6 ft. 6 ins. long, rebated on one side, should 
have their ends sloped on the under side to fit the 
wall and ridge-plates. As the length of the house is 
20 ft. 9 in., each side will hold thirteen panes in each 
row of glass and will require twelve sash-bars to 
support them, these should be 14 ins. wide, 24 ins. 
deep, and about 6 ft. 6 ins. long, with their ends 
sloped like those of the rafters. The places where 
the ends of the rafters and sash-bars will rest on the 
wall-plate and ridge-plate having been carefully 
marked on the wall-plate and chiselled out of the 
ridge-plate, the ridge-plate and rafters are set up in 
their places, and the rafters nailed or screwed to the 
wall and ridge-plates. The sash-bars are then put in 
their places and nailed to the plates. The lower ends 
of the rafters and sash-bars should reach to the outer 
edge of the wall-plate, and the lower squares of glass 
should touch the wall-plate and extend an inch or two 
beyond, in order that the rain water from the roof 
may fall clear of the walls. 
Two ventilators are enough on each side of the 
roof. Each frame should hold four panes of glass and 
should measure outside 41 ins. by 27 ins., with its 
side and top rails 2 ins. wide and 2 ins. deep, and 
lower rails 3 ins. wide and 14 ins. deep. The position 
of the ventilator should be equidistant from the end 
rafters and equidistant from each other, i.e., there 
should be an interval of three panes, or 4 ft. 6 ins. 
between the outer side of each ventilator and the end 
rafts nearest it, and a similar interval between them¬ 
selves. The sash-bar intermediate between the two 
on which the sides of the ventilator will rest, 
should be shortened a couple of feet and its end 
morticed into a cross rail 24 ins. wide, 1| ins. deep 
and 40 ins. long, whose ends should be morticed into 
the sash-bars adjacent. The ventilator should be 
hinged strongly by their upper sides to the ridge 
plate. It will be observed that no ventilators are 
provided below, as in a 20-ft. house a sufficient supply 
of air can be admitted through the open doorway. 
For receiving the glass at the ends of the house, 
sash-bars are let in to the rafters above and morticed 
into the wall-plate below, and strips of wood 1 in. 
wide and 4 in. thick, are tacked to the outer sides 
of the doorposts and the under sides of the 
rafters. The woodwork should then receive a 
primary coat of white and red lead. The putty for 
glazing must be soft, it should be liberally used, and 
a good bed prepared for the glass to lie on. The 
glass should be carefully placed on its bed, pressed 
well into the putty so as to leave no space through 
which water could trickle, and tacked down with brads 
to the rafters and sash-bars. The loose putty should 
then be neatly dressed ofi and a second coat of paint 
given to the work. 
The door of the house should open inwards. It 
may either be framed and its upper part glazed down 
to the wall-plate and the lower part panelled, or, what 
would be cheaper and answer as well though it would 
not be so seemly, it may be a plain clump door. The 
doorposts 6 ft. 6 ins. high, should be of 3-in. by 2-in. 
stuff, with the narrow end inwards ; the lintel of 3-in. 
by 2-in. stuff, 2 ft. 6 ins. long, with its ends morticed 
into the doorposts, and the sill of 4-in. by 3-in. stuff, 
3 ft. 6 ins. long, with the doorposts morticed into it. 
The doorway will be 6 ft. high and 2 ft. wide. 
In order to open and shut the ventilators, each 
should be provided with a double cord and a piece of 
curved iron, with an eyelet at one end and a flange 
at the other, the flange being screwed to the bottom 
of each of the ventilators. One end of the cord is 
tied to the eyelet and passed over a pully fixed to 
the woodwork above, for the purpose of opening; the 
other end is fastened to the lower rail of the venti¬ 
lator. 
The cost of such a house will be as follows:— 
£ 
s. 
d. 
960—say 1,000 bricks at 30s. a thousand ... 
1 
10 
0 
Carriage . 
0 
2 
6 
Sand and lime . 
0 
3 
6 
Wall-plate, 44 ins. by 2 ins. 
0 
7 
0 
Ridge-plate, 44 ins. by 14 ins. . 
0 
2 
0 
4 Rafters, 3 ins. by 2 ins. by 7 ft. 
0 
2 
0 
24 Sash-bars, 24 ins. by 14 ins. by 7 ft. ... 
0 
12 
0 
4 Ventilators. 
0 
4 
0 
Doorway frame and panelled door, framed 
0 
13 
6 
182 panes of 21-oz. glass, 18 ins. by 12 ins. 
2 
13 
0 
Glass for ends. 
0 
13 
6 
Carriage . 
0 
6 
0 
Putty, 5s. Paint, 15s. . 
1 
0 
0 
Irons for ventilators, 3s. Cord, Is. Nails, 5s. 
0 
9 
0 
£8 
18 
0 
A handy amateur who is able and willing to be his 
own builder can thus have a greenhouse 20 ft. 9 ins. 
long, by 10 ft. wide, at a cost of £9. Should he not 
care to lay his own bricks, he can hire a man to do it 
for something less than a pound. 
In the foregoing estimate the cost of the staging is 
not included. In a professional builder’s estimate it 
generally forms a separate item. The staging can be 
made as follows:—A row of posts at intervals of 
3 ft. or 2 ft. 6 ins. are set up on each side 
of the pathway, each post should be 2 ft. 
6 ins. high by 3 ins. by 3 ins. A bearer, 20 ft. 
long by 4 ins. wide and 1 in. deep, is nailed 
to the top of the posts; other bearers are nailed 
across, one end on the top of a post and the other 
on the wall-plate. On these cross-bearers battens, 
running the whole length of the house, 2J ins. wide 
by 1 in. deep, are nailed at intervals of an inch. 
16 posts, 2J ft. by 3 ins. by 3 ins.; 2 bearers, £ s. d. 
20 ft. by 3 ins. by 1 in.; 16 bearers, 
4 ft. by 3 ins. by 1 in.2 4 0 
Nails . 0 1 0 
Paint.0 15 0 
Cost of Staging .£3 0 0 
Professional florists, how’ever, prefer borders to 
staging. Where borders are to be made a wall 2 ft. 
G ins. high and a brick thick is built on each side of the 
pathway. The lower part of the spaces enclosed 
between them and the outer walls of the house are 
filled to within 6 ins. of the top with any convenient 
material, ballast, gravel, or rubbish (ballast is prefer¬ 
able, as it gives the best drainage), and the upper 
6 ins. are filled with ashes, which afford a good 
surface for the pots to stand on. Borders made in 
this way require a good many cartloads of stuff 
to fill up the spaces. A cheaper plan is to sink 
the pathway 2 ft. 6 ins. below the ground level, and 
to build a brick wall, half a brick thick, to support 
the earth on each side. The border is then ready 
made. When this plan is followed the outer walls 
should not be so high, 15 ins. or 18 ins. are quite 
high enough. This plan, however, should only be 
adopted where the soil is light and is naturally 
drained, on clay soils it is apt to make the house 
damp.— A. S. B. 
Adiantum Capillus-venebis vab. obliqucm. —This 
is one of the numerous varieties of our elegant British 
Maiden-hair. It is a robust, erect-growing plant, 
with broad pinnae, and, judging by a figure in the 
January number of The Illustration Ilorticole, is a very 
desirable variety. There are so many excellent 
varieties of this plant that the task of selection is by 
no means an easy one. 
NOTES FROM GARDENS. 
Trafalgar Park, the seat of Earl Nelson, is 
situated near Salisbury, in the county of Wilts. The 
mansion, a large brick building, commands exten¬ 
sive views down the valley of the Avon on the 
south-west side, and this side of the mansion is also 
clothed for some distance up the walls with fine 
specimens of Magnolia grandiflora. Here also the 
flower-garden is situated, forming a good foreground 
to the verdant valley which stretches beyond. It is a 
very neat and compact garden, and in the summer 
months is made gay with the usual class of bedding 
plants. One feature in this garden, which is not 
common, is a fine border of Clematis Jackmanni, 
trained to stumps driven into the ground, which it 
completely covers, and is a grand sight in the autumn 
months. The house, garden and pleasure grounds are 
all situated on high ground, for go which way one 
may we soon come to a point from which extensive 
views are obtained. 
The kitchen-garden is situated some distance from 
the mansion, and is nearly four acres in extent, sur¬ 
rounded by high walls, and divided by a range of 
glass-houses. In one of the vineries I noticed a batch 
of Souvenir de la Malmaison Carnations in excellent 
condition. The greenhouse was gay with Cinerarias 
in bloom, Riehardia AUthiopica, and well-berried 
plants of Solanum capsicastrum, and Capsicum Little 
Gem. In some frames under one of the walls was a 
batch of Violets, bristling with buds and giving 
promise of an abundance of bloom on the first appear¬ 
ance of sunshine. The varieties grown are Marie 
Louise and the pale blue Neapolitan. I can safely 
say that I never before saw the latter variety doing 
better, and in Mr. Morgan’s estimation it is equally 
as good if not better than the other kind named. The 
walls are covered with handsome fruit-trees, especially 
noticeable being some large Fig and Pear-trees. 
One remarkable feature of this garden is the enor¬ 
mous wall that flanks the west side the whole length, 
and on the west side of the same the ground falls 
sharp towards the River Avon over which one looks, 
and this gives additional space on that side, the wall 
being, I should say from appearance, some 20 ft. high, 
and it is clothed with handsome and fruitful Pear-trees 
from base to summit. What would such a wall be 
worth to many gardens, yielding, as Mr. Morgan 
very justly says, valuable fruits for the dessert for 
seven months out of twelve—viz., from August to 
February ?— IF. 
A FLORIST’S VALENTINE. 
From Bill Blossom, Gardener, to Miss Bose Budd, 
Thou Rose of perfection, thou bud of delight, 
Thou sweetest of Cereuses, blowing by night, 
Thou Cactus superb, about which florists rant, 
Thou nice little, neat little, sensitive plant. 
Thou delicate Snowdrop (which sounds rather chilly), 
So I’ll call you instead a dear Daffadowndilly ; 
Thou columbine graceful, that mak’st my heart 
chuckle, 
Thou Hyacinth fragrant, thou sweet Honeysuckle; 
Not London Pride thou, but the Pride of the Nation, 
Thou primest of Pinks, thou incarnate Carnation ; 
Thou dear Flos Adonis, thou bright Amaranthus, 
Thou Preony perfect, thou pet Polyanthus, 
Whose eyes are more bright than the beams of Aurora, 
And pierce through and through me thou great 
Grandiflora. 
The wound they’ve inflicted is dreadful exceeding, 
For my breast at this moment with Loves Lies a 
Bleeding; 
Though Heartsease I’ve got in my bed a prize 
winner, 
I’ve none in my bosom, as I am a sinner 1 
Thou Tulip, whose two lips seems crying—Come 
kiss us 1 
If I might I would give my best double Narcissus. 
But it’s wrong to refer to such private particulars, 
So I’ll beg you’ll excuse me, thou pride of Auriculas ! 
Though I cannot help thinking what pleasure, oh, 
Gemini 1 
One embrace would now give me, thou dainty 
Anemone! . 
If I had not lost my botanical manual, 
I would go on much longer, thou dear tender Annual; 
But oh, come, for this boldness a thousand of 
pardons, 
Oh, come and take root in your own lover’s gardens, 
From which during lifetime you never shall miss him, 
ah; 
Thou regular out-and-out Speciosissima ! 
Then soon all his Bachelors’ Buttons he’ll sever, 
If you take your own faithful Sweet William for ever. 
—From The Gardener and Practical Florist, 1S44. 
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