112 



BUILDINGS FOR HORTIOULTURAL PURPOSES. 



The ties which are necessary ?cross the roof, 

 and pillars which are usually placed at given 

 distances, are so many useful supports for 

 climbing plants, and the centre bed should be 

 planted with much more regard to after-effect 

 than any we have seen, for even that at the 

 horticultural society is crowded with coarse, 

 worthless subjects, which are damaging or 

 banishing altogether much better things. A 

 section of the conservatory would be some- 

 thing like Fig. 22. The path round might be 

 of marble or Portland stone, but it is better 

 to have it like the principal gravel walks ; 

 and with regard to the planting, the middle 



Fig. 22. 



should have the tallest subjects, not at the 

 moment they are planted, perhaps, but those 

 which are naturally tallest, and which are 

 sure to go up. Camellia japonica, a few of 

 the choicest kinds ; Azalea indica according 

 to tlicir habit, the tallest in the middle. 

 Nearly all the hard wooded plants of the Cape 

 will do well, but a choice should be made of 

 those that will be most effective. 



The conservatory is used by many as a 

 common green-house, and the plants in pots 

 are crowded into It for the winter ; but the 

 luxury of the conservatory is absent altogether, 

 unless it is heated as a winter garden. The 

 centre should be dug like a border, and some 

 plants should be put out as if they were 

 shrubs in the open ground ; others may be 

 plunged in pots for the sake of their bloom 

 while in flower, and be removed for others 

 as they pass their bloom ; but the conserva- 

 tory should be supplied by means of other 

 houses and pits with plants coming into per- 

 fection, and removable when their beauty has 

 gone. By this means it may be kept one 

 mass of flowers the whole year round, and 

 especially grand and imposing during the 

 ■winter months, when the Camellia japonica, 

 with its random flowers, begins lighting up the 

 houses which even without forcing, but with a 



little management, can be produced flowering 

 in abundance. All other early spring subjects 

 can be hastened to bloom in winter ; and sum- 

 mer flowering plants can be easily forwarded 

 to bloom in spring. There are some things, 

 however, so beautiful in themselves in all 

 their stages, that they deserve a place in the 

 conservatory, as permanent plants, and may 

 be planted out in the centre beds to remain. 

 Of these the Camellia japonica is one of the 

 most striking, and three or four of the best 

 kinds should be selected. The Azalea indica, 

 Hovea Celsi, and a few others known to suc- 

 ceed well in such situations, should be planted 

 out ; and there are some few climbing plants 

 worthy of a place in the very best selections. 

 This, however, only explains the reason for 

 some of the provisions made in a proper con- 

 servatory ; our notions are that span build- 

 ings should have ties, and these ties may be 

 made subservient to our purposes, for climb- 

 ing plants look best when allowed to run 

 across the roof, as it were, and hang, as they 

 will, in festoons, and their ends form complete 

 receivers of flowers. The style and the build 

 of those erections must depend a good deal 

 on their situations, and the places adjoining : 

 several of the sketches are given to show how 

 they may be viewed. There is a method, too, 

 of heating them, somewhat different to that 

 which we have mentioned. For instance, a 

 gutter may be made under the floor, if it is 

 wished to conceal the pipes, or the gutter 

 may be made waterproof and covered with 

 iron plates, and this could be used as a tank, 

 and the water flow round the house in them, 

 instead of in pipes. But we know of nothing 

 better than pipes, and should always use them 

 in preference. 



To go from the consideration of these to 

 other buildings. We have to mention that as 

 the top lights constitute the principal expense 

 in pits and frames, stoves, and propagating 

 houses, they may be had for fetching at less 

 than a shilling per foot, glazed complete and 

 primed. Who would be without plenty of 

 glass ? The stove is important. It should, 

 in a small establishment, be made to answer 

 for anything of the stove kind, though many 

 people are so prejudiced against this general 

 treatment of all plants. These may be con- 

 trived in the same building, placed in the 

 different degrees of heat that may be formed, 

 or rather made, in the same house. There 



