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whose names are mentioned in this work, for a corroboration of the appro-
bation with which they have been received.
   Several publications and inventions have lately been submitted to the
public, purporting to suggest new improvements on Horticultural Buildings,
for some of which Patents have been obtained: of these, various have been
found impracticable in the execution, and the principles of their construc-
tion abandoned; and others, which have been held forth as possessing
wonderful advantages in the saving of fuel, which must ever be an
important object in constructing such buildings, have had no such effect;
on the contrary, they have been found, from the few specimens that have
been tried, completely to fail. The author is warranted in stating these
facts, from the information he has collected from gardeners, who may be
presumed to be the best judges for appreciating the merits or demerits of
such buildings.
   The improvements which he has made in the construction of Hot-
houses, have chiefly been gathered in the course of a long practice in this
particular kind of employment, and have arisen from practical observa-
tions of his own, aided by the suggestions of many gardeners, eminent in
their profession. These improvements are founded on the most simple
principles, unconnected with any of those complex and unintelligible
schemes which generally have led gentlemen who have adopted them to
a great expense, and yet ultimately have failed in their purpose.
   An important improvement in the construction of Flues, invariably
adopted by the author, is, to form a void space under those flues that
are built upon the ground, as it prevents the damps which rise from the
ground obstructing the draught, and also gives free liberty for the air
heated by the bottom of the flue, to ascend by the side cavities into the
house. Another improvement is, to have in every case a narrow space
or cavity between the wall and that side of the flue which is next to it,
contrary to the common practice, which is, to build the flues close to such
walls, without any cavity; and in many cases part of the flue is formed