11th. That the resident physician be invested with more authority and control over the general economy of the house hold than he now has. His consequence in that institution, considering the im portant station he fills, is much too incon siderable.
12th. That as the attending physicians and surgeons of the hospital serve gratui tously, the hard duty they are now oblig ed to perform, in visiting all patients pre viously to their being admitted into the house, who are not able to call on them, be, under certain circumstances, dispens ed with ; and that in such cases the resident physician's certificate for admis sion shall be deemed sufficient and satis factory.
lSth. That the bedsteads be all raised at least six or eight inches, and that only twenty-four be arranged in each long ward ; and six in each of the wards of the east and west wings.
HOT-house. This convenience is pro ductive of many articles at the tables of the rich and luxurious, and may be said to constitute the chief pride of many gar deners, and indeed of many persons in the highest circles of society. Illiberal per sons are, however, prone to decry those productions, which do not ordinarily enter within their own use and consumption, and it is not unusual to hear many exe crations uttered against hot-houses, tem ples, &c. and other edifices, which orna ment the gardens and pleasure grounds of the affluent, under the idea that the money so expended is thrown away. But when we consider how many families are maintained by the labour required, either In manufacturing, or in appropriating the several materials, we certainly may consi der hot-houses irrparticular as claiming an exemption from such indiscriminate censure.
In truth, hot-houses are highly useful ; they not only serve to give a stimulus to common gardeners, of whom many affect to vie in early productions, buttheyserve as for those exotics, which could not be reared, nor even preserved, were it not for the similarity thus artificial ly produced with their native climates. We have various instances of the naturali zation of foreign &c. which in time became nearly as hardy as our indi genous plants of the tender class ; but . which could never have been propagated, if exposed to the severity of our winter months.
The site of a hot-house is extremely important, as on this much will depend. A south south-west aspect is to be pre ferred, as greatly inducive to economy during the summer time, which, in some seasons, are warm enough to obviate the necessity for many expenses, that in an unsettled yearbecom e indispensable; this, in places where fuel is scarce, and conse quently dear, is a matter of serious consi deration.
The best plan for a hot-house we con sider to be a parallelogram, of whatever length may be thought proper ; the front wall to be about a foot high, so as to rise above the level of the adjacent surface in such manner as may exclude heavy rain, &c. and to bring the plants to such a level as may give them' a full exposure to the sun. On the front wall a perpendicular
glass frame, of about two feet and a half, should be raised, so that its tipper ledge should stand at full three feet and a half . above the ground. This is necessary, for the purpose of allowing the sliding frames to be drawn out on occasion, and' to give height within for the gardener's opera tions. The breadth of the interior ought not to exceed fourteen feet, and the back wall should be high enough to give the top or sliding frames an angle of thirty five degrees from the horizon. The tan binns should be excavated in a diagonal manner ; shallow in front, but at their back to the depth of six feet, and divided off into compartments, so that each por tion, say six feet square, might be sup plied, as occasion should demand, with fresh tan, without causing the adjoining parts to be disturbed, or, as is too often the case, to fall in.
The surface of the tan-binns should par tially correspond with the ahgle made by the upper glass frames, or at least it should stand at an angle of full twenty degrees from the horizon ; so that the plants should not lay on a flat bed, but rise like a flight of steps towards the back of the tan-binns. By this means, when the excavation, which in this mode need scarcely be a foot in depth, is filled with tan. It will give various degrees of heat, according to the depth, in each part re spectively, as it may be more or less re moved from the front of the hot-house. We,however,rather recommend, that only half should consist of hot-beds, and that the front part be built up with benches of masonry, perfectly air tight, through which flues should be made, whereby such pots as might stand on them would receive a degree of warmth sufficient to preserve many of the more hardy exotics. We likewise are disposed to consider slid ing frames to be far inferior, both in re. gard to their safety, and as relating to the closeness of: shutting, to such as are made to rise on hinges at their upper ends, and which, having projecting battens to throw off the wet, into the centre of their sup porting rafters (which should be grooved to receive the wet, and to conduct ie• downwards) effectually exclude exterior moisture, and, by being listed within, de, bar the access of frost. We have, in Plate V1I. Miscel. given some idea of this ar rangement, wherein fig. 1. shows the in ternal section of the hot-house, with the binns for receiving the tan ; also the an gles of the surfaces, both of the tan-binns and of the glass frames ; the latter, being divided into two or more parts, may be opened at pleaSure, by means of the racks, to any height. The benches in front are all Hued, and rise en escalier, i. e. by regu lar steps, for the purpose of displaying all the plants standing on them, and to give them a proper portion of the sun's in. fluence,without which noplant will thrive, or be either so well flavoured, or so high ly coloured. In fact, warmth without light will produce no good effect on the vege table world.