HOME GARDENS FOR SMOKY TOWNS. 291 



light intermediate cross-pieces would thus be required, merely to 

 prevent bagging, the parliamentary quartering above described being 

 nine feet apart instead of three. This would reduce the cost of tim- 

 ber to about one half of the above estimate.* The perpendicular 

 walls of a conservatory, where such are required, may certainly be 

 made thus, and I think the roof also, if the slope is considerable. 

 Or, if in demand, the material may be made of greater width than the 

 three feet. 



So far, I have only mentioned back-yards ; but, besides these, 

 there are many very melancholy front areas, called "gardens," at- 

 tached to good houses in some of the once suburban, but now inter- 

 nal regions of London, where the houses stand some distance back 

 from the formerly rural highway. These spaces might be cheaply 

 inclosed with canvas, and cultivated as kitchen gardens, orchard 

 houses, flower gardens, or ferneries, thus forming elegant, refreshing, 

 and profitable vestibules between the highway and the house-door, 

 and also serve as luxurious summer drawing-rooms. The only objec- 

 tion I foresee to these bright inclosures will be their tendency to 

 encourage the consumption of tobacco. 



The Discussion which followed the reading of the preceding paper at the 

 Society of Arts. 



A member asked if Mr. Williams had observed the effect of wind 

 and rain on this material ? 



Mr. W. P. B. Shepheard said he was interested in a large square in 

 London, and he had hoped to hear something about the cultivation 

 of flowers in such places. Last year, they tried the experiment with 

 several varieties of flower seeds, and they came up and bloomed well 

 in the open ground without any protection whatever. In most Lon- 

 don squares, the difficulty was to find any one bold enough to try the 

 experiment at all, and nothing but experience would prove what 

 flowers would succeed and what would not. They were so success- 

 ful last year that several fine bouquets were gathered in July and 

 August, and sent to some of the gardening magazines, who expressed 

 their astonishment that such good results were possible in the cir- 

 cumstances. If flowers would answer, there would, of course, be 

 more encouragement to try vegetables. One of the practical diffi- 

 culties which occurred to him, with regard to this plan, was that the 

 screens would be somewhat unsightly, and then again they might 

 shrink, from alteration in the temperature and getting wet and dry. 

 He would repeat, however, that, for a very small expense in seeds, a 

 very good show of hardy annuals and perennials might be obtained 

 in July and August even in London. 



Mr. C. Cooke said a flower-garden had recently been opened in 

 Drury Lane on the site of an old churchyard, to which children were 

 admitted ; and he wished a similar arrangement might be made in 

 some of the squares in crowded neighborhoods, such as Golden 

 Square, and especially in Lincoln's Inn Fields. There were lots of 

 children playing about in the streets, and he wished the good exam- 

 ple set by the Templars might be followed. 



* Subsequent experiments induce me not to recommend this economy, on account 

 of the bairging which results from excessive width between the frames ; 3 feet 

 should not be exceeded. 



