CONIFERS. 



119 



CONSERVATORY. 



Conifers for Pinetum. 



turn, Conifers for. 



See Pine- 



Conifers and Taxads. 



Conifers and taxads, otherwise cone- 

 bearing trees and yews, have been ex- 

 tensively improved and freely cultivated 

 of late years. They are considered the 

 grandest of ornamental trees : they are 

 evergreen, thriving, for the most part, in 

 common soil, disliking manure, except in 

 a thoroughly decomposed state. They are 

 best raised from seed, but some kinds are 

 not yet obtainable in that way, and are 

 found to do perfectly well grafted, when 

 united to a proper stock. Where there is 

 sufficient space, the pines and firs should 

 enter largely into the composition of 

 scenery ; in more limited grounds the 

 junipers, cypresses, arbor- vitaes, and yews 

 are equally valuable. A few only thrive 

 well in the vicinity of large towns ; but as 

 such are very desirable from their distinct 

 and handsome forms, they should not be 

 overlooked when planting. Chief among 

 the conifers are the pines, firs, cedars, 

 cypresses, junipers, and thujas, or arbor 

 vitie, to the descriptions of which, under 

 the name here given, the reader is refer red. 

 The yews stand pre-eminent among the 

 taxads. 



Conservatory. 



This structure may well be termed a 

 winter garden, for such is its most useful 

 purpose : it is really an essentially neces- 

 sary adjunct to a well-ordered country 

 house of any pretentions, affording means 

 of exercise to the ladies and visitors in 

 inclement weather. In houses of smaller 

 dimensions it is the storehouse for display- 

 ing the flowers as they are forced into 

 bloom in the greenhouse or frames, as well 

 as for growing certain climbing and creep- 

 ing plants festooned and trained under its 

 roo! and over its walls, and for other plants 



only requiring protection from frosts, 

 which occupy its beds and borders. Even 

 in the absence of any heating apparatus, 

 the conservatory, if properly glazed and 



FIG. I. LEAN-TO CONSERVATORY. 



painted, will bring the temperature of the 

 atmosphere to about the degree enjoyed by 

 our neighbours on the banks of the Loire, 

 seven degrees farther south, without the 

 great extremes of summer heat and winter 

 cold to which they are exposed. In these 

 days, therefore, of cheap glass, there is no 

 reason why every house, suburban or 

 country, should not have its glasshouse 

 proportioned to its size. 



There are some few points which should 

 influence the choice of a site for every kind 

 of plant-structure, the first and most impor- 

 tant being, that it is not overshadowed on 

 the south, east, or west, or exposed to the 

 drip of trees or houses in any direction. 

 A lean-to house, as shown in Fig. i, but 

 which, however, is the very worst form, 

 may have any aspect between south and 

 south-south east; south, inclining a point 

 or two to east, being the best, as it receives 

 the early sun as it gradually rises, without 

 being exposed to its full meridian glare. 

 The span-roofed house would probably be 

 well placed which ranged from north-west 

 to south-south-east also ; it would thus 

 receive all the morning sun on one side, 

 while the other would receive the meridian 

 sun slightly oblique, and all the afternoon 

 sun, varying according to the angle of 

 incidence of the roof. This would also 



