350 



JOITEjSrAL OF HOKTICTJLTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ N'ovember 3, 1803. 



under glass ridges, to which the above name is now applied, 

 although never syringed or watered, never have red spider 

 or oidium. For their immunity from the former the constant 

 radiation of moisture from theii- " mother earth " sufficiently 

 accounts ; but why oidium does not visit them I cannot 

 quite make out. These most simple of aU vineries are now 

 very common in the south of England, more particularly in 

 Berkshire. A clergymen stated to me last season the almost- 

 incredible fact that he had sold Grapes fi'om his ground 

 vineries to the amount of ^620, which he had devoted to 

 charitable purposes. — Vms. 



CONSEEYATOEY A:SJ) PALM-HOUSE 



CONNECTED WITH THE EESIDENCE. 

 I ENCLOSE a sketch of a conservatory and Paku-house I 

 propose erecting, attached to a house I am now building. 

 The drawing-room wiU open into the conservatory, 30 feet 

 by 19, and 18 feet high, by two French windows, and the 

 billiard-room into the Palm-house, 19 feet in the square. 

 I have arranged the boiler-house so that the pipes pass 

 under the bilUard-room floor, so as to prevent injury to the 

 table in cold weather. I wish to ask your opinion on the 

 plan, and shoTild be fm-ther obliged by your advice how to 

 arrange the interior for the best. Also, what plants you 

 would recommend, more especially for the Palm-house, which 

 can, if necessary, have a height of from 30 to 35 feet.— 

 Persevere. 



[1. We believe that any of the builders who advertise in 

 our columns would give you rough plans and specifications, 

 and it is always best to have a clear understanding on these 

 matters before commencing operations. 



2. We see nothing objectionable in the position of the 

 contemplated houses. We presume they will be span- 

 roofed, or ridge-and-furrow-roofed, which will divide the rays 

 of light more equally, as the main front of the houses will 

 be to the west. 



3. The position of the boiler is all right enough, provided 

 you go deep enough down with it. The idea of taking the 

 pipes beneath the billiard-room floor is good, but we notice 

 that from the steps from the biUiard-room into the proposed 

 Palm-house, and the steps from the drawing-room into the 

 conservatory, the floor of these places respectively will be 

 from 18 to 24 inches below the level of the billiard-room 

 floor, and, therefore, if the heating-pipes are merely to be 

 on the surface of these houses, the flow and return must be 

 sunk aU that deeper under the floor of the biUiard-room. 



4. The simplest plan of heating such houses would be to 



take a flow and return jjipe right beneath the biUiard-room 

 floor on to near the west end of the Palm-house, and along 

 to the north end of the conservatory, joining the flow and 

 retm-n there. If the pipes should be sunk enough below the 

 bOliai-d-room floor — say 3i to 4 feet, then these main flow 

 and retm-ns could also be sunk beneath a path, out of sight, 

 only by this arrangement there would always be a Uttle 

 heat in the conservatory when heat was not wanted in the 

 Palm-house, and this with plenty of air would never do any 

 harm. If deemed advisable, however, to keep all artificial 

 hejit from thence except when wanted, the pipes may go on 

 as proposed, but a connecting bend should join the flow and 

 return at the division between the houses, and a valve shut 

 in the conservatory part would prevent the flow in that part 

 when not needed. Keep in mind that this main flow-pipe 

 should never fall from the time it leaves the boiler until it 

 takes the bend to retm'n thither. If that pipe at the north 

 end of the conservatory is 3 inches higher than where it 

 started from the boiler it will be better than if on a dead level ; 

 and at that highest point a small gas-pipe should be left 

 open to prevent air accumulating, the open end of that pipe 

 standing higher by a couple of feet than any other pipe in 

 the house. From these two pipes other pipes can be taken 

 to heat the houses, the one in the conservatory to be shut 

 or opened with a valve. 



5. The position of the pipes would much depend on the 

 plan of an-angement. Such houses could not be kept at 

 their best without other prepai-atory houses. Suppose, for 

 instance, in the case of the conservatory, that you have 

 some IS or 24 inches next the di'awing-room for steps, and 

 then 3 feet of walk ; the same in front of fruit-wall, some 

 IS inches in height, and a three-feet walk there, and two walks 

 across opposite the two French windows ; you would have a 

 bed in the middle, and a bed at each end, and a bed or 

 border in front and back. The common plan would be to 

 take the pipes on the sides and ends, place a stage over 

 them, a stage also in the middle, and supply with plants in 

 pots in the usual manner. Now, if we wanted to make that 

 conservatory an elegant affau-, we would not have a pot seen, 

 nor yet a pipe either. We would take two four-inch pipes 

 right round the house (or three in front and north end, and 

 two at back and south end wovdd be better), and we would 

 place them in a shallow trench beneath the pathway — the 

 sides of pathway of stone, the centre over the pipes of iron 

 gi-ating to walk on. We would fix on as many places as 

 we wanted for creepers — say, two at the back of the house, 

 and six in fi-ont, prepai'ing brick pits well drained for them, 

 about 2 feet square, and as much in depth. We would 

 have no stages at all, but would surround all the beds with 

 kerbs of stone or slate 6 inches deep, and instead of planting- 

 out the plants in the beds, we would plunge the pots in fine 

 sandy soil, and cover with moss. All the inconsistency of 

 glowing red pots and Ol-assorted stages so near a drawing- 

 room would thus be avoided, and the majority of the plants 

 in the beds might be so managed as never to be much above 

 the eye, but rather below it, whilst flaunting creepers and 

 suspended baskets would amply fill up what space could be 

 spared above head, so as to let plenty of light come in. 

 What could be more beautiful in winter than a bed of 

 Camellias fronted with Daphnes of kinds, and these with 

 edgings of Hyacinths, Narcissus, Tuhps, &c., and yet not a 

 pot of them all seen to disfigure the chaste efl'ect, with 

 Acacias, and Habrothamnus, Passifloras, &c,, depending from 

 the roof? These creepers with a little rich mulching or 

 manure-watering would gi-ow strong enough, and the con- 

 tracting of the roots in the small brick pit will cause them 

 to bloom more freely than when the creepers are planted 

 out in the house. 



6. The same principle will apply to the Palm-house. A 

 walk may go all round, and the pipes may here also be 

 beneath the pathway ; but if the same nicety need not be 

 observed, the principal pipes might go under a wide shelf 

 on the south side and west front. These shelves could then 

 be supplied with stove flowering plants in pots, whilst the 

 centre bed might be partly planted out, if such a plan were 

 deemed advisable. If much were to be done in that way, as 

 the bed in the centre would be about 10 feet square, it would 

 much assist such plants as Musa Cavendishii, and others, if 

 there were three four-inch pipes beneath the bed in which 

 they were grown. Few Palms could be grown satisfactorily 



