CHAP. X.] MOSS HOUSES. 281 



arranged accordingly. A very rich, and at the 

 same lime original, effect might be produced in 

 a moss house, by arranging the moss m an 

 arabesque pattern, with different colours com- 

 bined something like those of a Turkey carpet; 

 and, instead of paving the ground with pebbles, 

 the floor misht be formed with moss in the 

 same manner as the walls : or the walls might 

 be of some plain colour with only the crest of 

 the family, or the initials of the designer's name 

 in white or in colours, and the ceiling and floor 

 in arabesque. 



In all cases, the outside of the roof is thatched 

 or covered with shingles, and the outside of the 

 walls is either boarded or covered with a thick 

 coating of moss. Where the house is large, or 

 if there are glass windows, it is best to have the 

 framework made by a regular carpenter; but, 

 where the moss house is small, and open in 

 front, it may be put up by the gardener, or any 

 intelligent servant. In many cases, the roof is 

 finished with a circle of pine cones fixed round 

 it as a cornice ; and the floor is either laid with 

 other pine cones, or with small pebbles, some of 

 which are white, and are arranged in a kind of 

 pattern. Sometimes, however, it is paved with 

 pieces of wood cut off horizontally, and some- 

 times with the small bones from sheep's trotters, 

 but the latter appears to me decidedly in bad 

 taste. The windows are frequently of coloured 

 glass ; and a curious effect is sometimes pro- 

 duced by having those in the back of the build- 

 ing purple, which makes the ground and every 

 object seen through them look as if covered 

 with snow; and those in front of the building 





