464 



Tlic Count)-)! Gentleman's Magazine 



GARDEN ARCHITECTURE. 



HI. WINDOW AND EALC(3NY GARDENS. 



HOW to keep plants in perfect health in 

 living-rooms, has long been known, 

 by everybody who has tried the experiment, 

 to be a problem very difficult to solve. Where 

 there are greenhouses and frames, and a regu- 

 lar gardener is kept, or where a London flor- 

 ist is paid to supply, it is easy to keep up a 

 brilliant show the greater part of the year, by 

 changing the plants every week \ but this is 



length of time, to human beings. How, then, 

 are people to enjoy the sight of plants in their 

 drawing-rooms ? For my own part, nothing 

 gives me more pleasure than to see plants in 

 flower as I sit at my desk ; and my taste in 

 this respect is by no means uncommon. In 

 fact, I think that people in general enjoy 

 plants more in their living-rooms than in any 

 other place ; and if the same plants continue 



cutting the Gordian knot instead of untying 

 it, and does not throw any light on the real 

 difficulties of the case. There can be no 

 doubt that the air of a room, warm and dry 

 enough to be comfortable for human beings, 

 is not suitable to plants ; while, on the other 

 hand, the air of a conservatory or greenhouse, 

 when the plants are growing vigorously, 

 would not be particularly agreeable, for any 



with them any length of time, they learn to 

 take an interest in the opening of every bud, 

 and the developement of every leaf, as Sain- 

 tine did in his Picciola. 



A mode has been contrived to permit per- 

 sons to enjoy the pleasure of having plants in 

 their living-rooms, by placing them in Ward's 

 glass cases ; but the glass soon becomes green 

 and obscure, and as the case must not be 



