SITUATION. 19 



the structure, it would be most desirable to convey it through 

 the interior of the house, in a kind of rill, or small stream, run- 

 ning through a shallow channel, or, what would be still better. 

 to fall into a tank, over a small precipice, forming a little cas- 

 cade, or water-fall. If the stream had sufficient power by its 

 declivity, a small jet might be kept continually playing. In an 

 ornamental plant structure, this would be the ne plus ultra of a 

 water supply ; besides, the house would be kept delightfully 

 cool in the hottest days of summer, and the rippling of the 

 stream over the cascade, or the playing of the fountain, would 

 prove the most agreeable music to the ear in the hot days of 

 summer. 



We have here alluded to water, merely in so far as it may 

 be likely to affect the choice of position. Of course, water may 

 be supplied to a house by various other means, such as force 

 pumps, and that admirable invention, the water-ram, by which 

 jets, cascades, &c., may be also obtained ; but all these are at- 

 tended with considerable expense, as well as subsequent labor, 

 and, therefore, a natural, constant, and abundant supply of water, 

 when possible, should not be abandoned, even at the expense of 

 some trifling advantages in other respects. We have known 

 places where the labor of carrying the water for the different 

 departments of the exotic establishment during summer, exceeded 

 the labor required to keep the garden in order."^ 



In regard to the precise elevation best suited for the site of 

 horticultural buildings, various opinions exist ; some prefer low- 

 lying grounds, others prefer a considerable altitude ; we have 

 frequently seen both parties run into extremes. Low situations 

 are generally warmer, and better sheltered from boisterous winds, 

 which, however, is more than counterbalanced by certain evils 

 consequent upon a very low site. In spring, low, swampy places 

 are always subject to heavy depositions of dew and mist, which 

 render them cold and damp, and expose vegetation of every 

 description to be destroyed by vernal frosts, which is avoided in 

 more elevated situations. We have this spring had abundant 

 evidence of this fact, in a very large tree of the Platanus Occi- 



* For further information regarding cisterns and supplies of water, 

 see Sec. IV., Internal Arrangements. 



