172 THE FLORIST. 



in the centre. It has a simple span-roof of wood, and is glazed with 

 sheet-glass of the best quality; a row of handsome pillars gives support 

 to the roof on each side, and these, and the braces and ties which con- 

 nect them with the roof, are made available for training climbing 

 plants, which not only hide the supports and braces, but give an 

 additional charm to the interior. The house is heated by one boiler 

 and a well-arranged system of hot-water pipes ; both the heating and 

 ventilating apparatus appear perfect. A gravel walk, seven feet wide, 

 runs down the centre of the house. 



The borders on each side the centre walk are divided into eight com- 

 partments ; four of these have borders of prepared soil, in which, 

 among some plants that remain permanently, plants in bloom are 

 turned out, so as to maintain an uninterrupted succession of flowers : 

 the other four compartments (which occupy the centre of the house), 

 are furnished with stages for plants in pots ; at the present time these 

 were filled with a miscellaneous collection of plants blooming at this 

 season — Calceolarias, Pelargoniums, Begonias, Fuchsias, Cmerarias, 

 Acacias, Roses, Azaleas, and a host of other things, forming a double 

 bank of bloom, very brilliant and striking. Our readers will be able to 

 form some idea of the quantity of plants which have to be kept in 

 stock for furnishing this house, when we inform them that it takes 

 annually 60,000 pots of plants to keep up the requisite succession of 

 bloom; and, independently of the great number of things which remain 

 permanently in the borders, we should say 5000 plants in bloom are 

 kept constantly in the house, all good-sized plants, many of them being 

 fine specimens. On looking down the centre walk from either end of 

 the building, the appearance of the masses of colour on each side, and the 

 graceful climbers arched over-head and hanging from the roof, has a 

 beautiful effect ; from the north end, this view is heightened by the 

 vista being connected with an avenue continued through the grounds, 

 from the south door, for a considerable distance into the park. At the 

 north end, which abuts on the kitchen-garden, Mr. Sandarshas planted 

 an admirable screen, opposite the end of the building, which effectually 

 cuts off all appearance of the garden ; the foreground of this is made 

 into a Piosery, of which we shall have something to say hereafter. 



Many of the specimens which have been growing for some time in 

 the open borders of the conservatory are high bushes, of which we 

 noticed Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Callas, and many others. Oestrum 

 aurantiacum, occasionally grown as a stove plant, flourishes here like a 

 weed ; and the like may be said of many other stove plants. The 

 climbers for the roof comprise everything in that way — a profusion of 

 Passion-flowers, Tecomas, Fuchsias (which, by the way, look exceed- 

 ingly fine, with their branches of bloom hanging pendant from the roof), 

 as does Begonia fuchsioides, which, treated as a climber, had reached a 

 distance of 25 feet, and was covered with its crimson blossoms ; Roses, 

 Acacias affinis, dealbata, and pubescens, and many other things, very 

 fine. Mr. Sandars has raised a number of new varieties of popular 

 plants from seed, among which he has a strain of Calceolarias, very 

 striking and distinct ; they have been obtained by crossing Sultan with 

 other varieties of a larger size, and the breed has rich crimson grounds 



