THE amateur's GREENHOUSE AND COJJSEEVATOnT. 217 



principal attraction to the eye, it may be done in the green- 

 house. But nothing of the kind should be allowed in the 

 conservatory. The glass structures that are devoted to horti- 

 cultural production are related to manufactures ; the conser- 

 vatory is related to the drawing-room, and, in the broad 

 scheme of horticultural work, it is not a workshop or a 

 museum, but a garden under glass. 



To render this covered garden attractive and interesting at 

 all seasons should be the principal object of its possessor. It 

 may indeed be gay with geraniums and calceolarias in the 

 months of June and July, and a damp, cold, cheerless den 

 during the remaining ten months of the year. It should be 

 always attractive, and should at all seasons offer for admira- 

 tion something fresh and good, and at all seasons it should be 

 as destitute as possible of any exhibitions of manufacturing 

 processes. For ensuring permanent attractions, permanent 

 features are required ; mere display is above all things to 

 be avoided, for the mind needs food of a better sort than 

 colour simply, however strong in tone and perfect in combi- 

 nations. Noble plants that have a history, that endure for 

 many years, that acquire local renown, that present striking 

 outlines, that exhibit distinctive stages of development, are 

 much to be desired, and the more of such that we can find of a 

 constitution very nearly adapted to the peculiarities of our 

 climate, the better for the tasteful furnishing of the conser- 

 vatory. Above all things, the conservatory should be at- 

 tractive in the dull months of the year, and then its occupants 

 should not be such as require a high temperature, for it is not 

 well to take a vapour bath every time the mind desires re- 

 freshment in the midst of vegetable beauty. 



It will be understood, of course, that we regard as proper con- 

 servatory plants Dracfenas, Palms, Agaves, Yuccas, Camellias, 

 Acacias, Beaucarneas, Dasylirions, Azaleas, Oranges, Tree ferns, 

 Bonaparteas, Lomatias, Khopalas, and others of like character, 

 notable for distinctness and elegance of outline, rather than 

 for high colouriug, although amongst them we shall find some 

 gay subjects. But we are no advocates for tameness and same- 

 ness in a conservatory. Given a sufficient breadth and variety 

 of green furniture, and flowers may be employed with singular 

 advantage. The stove, the greenhouse, and the pit will 

 severally contribute of their productions to enrich the covered 

 garden. The most tender plants, when in flower, will bear 



