WiNBOW GARDENING. 135 



dows. Just back of this was placed a wooden staging, with successive steps 

 rising upward, covered with pots or boxes filled with plants of other character. 

 Here were Fuchsias trained to a neat little trellis ; Coleus in one pot ; Achyran- 

 thes in another, and in one big tub had been planted a pumpkin seed, the vines 

 from which sprawled all over the top of the staging and rustic arbor improvised 

 overhead. Here and there, over the roof beyond, were put pots, each with a 

 huge plant of the Ricinus fully eight feet high, and correspondingly broad. At 

 each corner of the roof, also in the centre, and on an elevated stand near the 

 front, were set big barrels or hogsheads full of water pumped up from below, 

 and from holes at the bottom the water flowed through hose with sprinklers 

 attached, and which sprinkled the plants at any time with a ready rain. 



The Ricinus added vastly more than anything else to the decoration of the 

 roof, by their stateliness and almost tropical beauty ; but the trailing vines, with 

 their garlands of bloom, helped out the symmetry and completed the grace of 

 the whole. Scarcely a passer-by in the street but stopped long to look upon this 

 novel scene ; and the fame of the doctor's garden doubtless has been carried 

 by strangers far beyond the borders of this lovely " City of Floivers." 



Not long since a lady detailed to a delighted audience, of how she, with her 

 sister, put to good practical use the roof of a one story L building, which was 

 used for a kitchen. The roof was nearly flat, and afforded ready means for 

 converting into a garden. Surrounding it with a wire trellis, they placed inside 

 as many boxes, barrels, &c., as they could find. These they filled with rich 

 dirt, manure, and street sweepings. Here they sowed seeds of Tomatoes, 

 Cucumbers, Squash, Melons, String Beans, and anything of quick, easy growth. 

 They actually did cultivate this curious garden for two years, and gathered, 

 while each growing season lasted, excellent crops of vegetables, rich flavored, 

 large and delicious ; perhaps doubly appreciated in consequence of their being 

 the fruit of their own labor. As long as it lasted the little series of box garden 

 was well tilled, kept well watered with liquid manure, and was eminently suc- 

 cessful. It ran down at last, owing to a change of occupants of the building. 



A very pretty plan for a Rose Garden upon the top of a house has been sug- 

 gested by a landscape gardener. Let the pillars and frame-work of the house be 

 made very strong, capable of supporting a good weight of earth, &c. Then fill 

 into earthern cribs all the rich earth that can be obtained to the depth of I5 feet, 

 and cover the entire roof, except a path surrounding an oval bed in the centre. 

 This path should be three feet wide. Here you may plaut your Roses, Fuchsias, 

 &c., in the open air, and they will, if kept well watered, bloom all the summer. 

 The accompanying design and description, by Robert Morris Copeland, in an 

 early number of " Hearth and Home," will explain itself: 



"This little plan shows a roof 20 by 30 feet; provision must be made for a 

 weight of 20 tons, for a cubic foot of soil weighs 100 pounds, and there are 900 

 cubic feet in the garden, or 600 square feet superficial area. This would crush 

 an ordinary roof, so the weight must be lightened by taking out room for the 

 path, and having only light weight in the centre figure. 



