184 



THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



GLASSHOUSES. 



Greenhouse or Conservatory ? Need for Simplicity in Greenhouse Design Conservatories for a Moving- 

 Pageant of Garden Life An Interesting Glass Corridor. 



w 



E generally class our glasshouses, according as they are in close association with the dwelling 

 or away in the kitchen garden, under the two headings of conservatory and greenhouse. 

 Neither of these two words do we now use with etymological correctness. A glasshouse 

 opening from the dwelling is, or should be, for the temporary display of plants at their best 

 and not for their continued conservation. The term &quot; greenhouse &quot; dates from those Queen 

 Anne clays when the fashionable collections of evergreens needed protection, and their collector loved 

 to be described as &quot; a master of curious greens.&quot; To-day the greenhouse is the place for the propagation 

 and growth of plants it is the workshop and store rather than the showroom. Therefore, the more 

 light and air the better, and it should have as much glass surface and as complete a ventilation system 

 as possible. Such buildings cannot have the least claim to beauty. They are tiresome in foiin, tone 

 and texture. They should be in a special and well-screened section of the kitchen garden, and designed 

 as simply as possible, with avoidance of decorative ridges, finials and such-like trivialities. This, 

 unfortunately, has not been fully realised by the general run of cither the makers or users of this very 

 necessary adjunct to the country house, and it has often been thoughtlessly located in reference to the 

 general lay out of a place. It is true that greenhouses like the kitchen garden in general want to be in 

 a thoroughly open situation, and such is apt to be conspicuous. It is, however, almost invariably possible 

 in making a general design to rind means to hide them. This may be difficult where a very extensive 

 range of houses, intended for every sort and condition of plant-life, is deemed essential. For the ordinary 

 Acquirements of a moderate-sized country house, however, a set of fairly low span-roofed houses (with 

 perhaps the addition of a still lower line of heated frames and melon-houses running in front of them) 

 satisfies all requirements, and is perfectly practical and handy. No form of arrangement, be it for plant 

 or fruit growing, can more effectually meet all cultural requirements at moderate cost. There are few 

 places where a set of houses such as the group of three that is illustrated cannot be so placed as to be 

 invisible from house and grounds either through natural conditions of site or by the interposition of 

 outbuildings and walls or the planting of an evergreen belt or massif. It is therefore much to be hoped 

 that Messrs. Boulton and Paul will instil this truth into their clients minds, and so be able constantly to 

 repeat variations of this simple design, which only needs the abandonment of the perfectly useless though, 

 n this case, not very objectionable finial to make it satisfactory. Should a complete screen be 

 mpossible, it is well to paint all the woodwork of such houses a dull light green 01 lead colour on 



206. SIMPLE GLASSHOUSES. 



