814 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



as lounges or promenade scenes for recreation in unfavorable weather, or for use during 

 f£tes, in either of which cases they may be decorated with a few scattered tubs of orange- 

 trees, camellias, or other evergreen coriaceous-leaved plants from a proper green- 

 house, and which will not be much injured by a temporary residence in such places, 

 which, as Nicol has observed, " often look more like tombs or places of worship, than 

 compartments for the reception of plants ; and, we may add, that the more modern sort 

 look like a combination of shop-fronts, of which that at Claremont is a notable example." 

 Sometimes structures of this sort are erected to conceal some local deformity, of which, 

 as an instance, we may refer to that (Jig. 570.) erected by Todd, for J. Elliot, Esq., 

 at Pimlico. " This building was constructed for the purpose of preventing the pros- 

 pect of some offices from the dwelling-house. The architectural ornaments, and the 

 roof, not being of glass, are points in the construction not generally to be recommended ; 

 but, as it was built for the purpose above mentioned, the objections were overruled. 

 There are three circular stages to this house, which are made to take out at pleasure. 

 The ceiling forms part of a circle, and the floor is paved with Yorkshire stone. It 

 is fifty feet long, and thirteen feet six inches wide, and heated by one fire, the flue 

 from which makes the circuit of the house under the floor." (Plans of Green- Houses 

 &c. p. 10.) 



6172. Of the orangery considered as a house for growing the orange tribe, as a dessert- 

 fruit, we have already treated. (5930.) 



6173. 4 recent and very considerable improvement in the construction of green-houses and orangeries 

 consists in forming the shelves and stages of thin plates of stone, instead of boards ; and very frequently 

 the flag-stones are hollowed out, so as to leave a raised margin of half an inch or more, for the purpose of 

 retaining moisture, preventing dripping, and raising, when the air of the house is warm, a general steam or 

 dew. This mav be considered, on the whole, as a real improvement, a proof of which is the readiness 

 with which it has been adopted by nurserymen and practical gardeners. A substitute consists in raising 

 marginal slips of boards to wooden shelves, and covering the board with a thin layer of gravel or scoria. 



6174. The conservatory is a term generally applied by gardeners to plant-houses, in 

 which the plants are grown in a bed or border without the use of pots. They are some- 

 times placed in the pleasure-ground along with the other hot-houses ; but more frequently 

 attached to the mansion. The principles of their construction is in all respects the same 

 as for the green-house, with the single difference of a pit or bed of earth being substituted 

 for the stage, and a narrow border instead of surrounding flues. The power of admit- 

 ting abundance of air, both by the sides and roof, is highly requisite both for the green- 

 house and conservatory ; but for the latter, it is desirable, in almost every case, that the 

 roof, and even the glazed sides, should be removable in summer. When the construction 

 of the conservatory does not admit of this, the plants in a few years become etiolated, and 

 naked below, and are no longer objects of beauty ; but when the whole superstructure, 

 excepting the north side, is removed during summer, the influence of the rains, winds, 

 dews, and the direct rays of the sun, produce a bushiness of form, closeness of foliage, 

 and a vividness of color, not attainable by any other means. We are decidedly of opi- 

 nion, therefore, that a conservatory of any of the common forms, unless it were one de- 

 voted entirely to palms, ferns, scitamineae, or other similarly growing plants, should 

 always be so constructed as to admit of taking off the sashes of the roof and the front ; 

 and if it were a detached structure in the flower-garden, we should prefer a plan that 

 would admit of the removal of every thing excepting the flues and the plants. There is 

 an old conservatory of this sort in the flower-garden at Nuneham Courtenay, planted 

 with orange-trees ; and when the roof is removed, the flues, border, and bed are covered 

 with turf, so that the trees appear as if planted in the open garden. The trees have stood 

 there for upwards of half a century, are vigorous, and bear annually abundance of fruit. 

 On the other hand, there are two conservatories at Knowle, with roofs fixed, or partially 

 opening, which have not been erected more than four years, and in which the plants are 

 already etiolated, and the lower branches dying off. When a conservatory is glazed on 

 all sides, it should, if possible, be placed south and north, in order that the plants on 

 both sides of the pit should equally benefit from the sun; when placed against a wall t 

 the glazed side may front any quarter except the north. But as the removal and re- 

 placing of the roof of such immense conservatories as are sometimes attached to man- 



