862 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



"gardens," attached to good houses in some of the once 

 suburban, but now internal regions of London, where the 

 houses stand some distance back from the formerly rural 

 highway. These spaces might be cheaply enclosed with 

 canvas/ and cultivated as kitchen gardens, orchard houses, 

 flower gardens, or ferneries, thus forming elegant, refresh- 

 ing, and profitable vestibules between the highway and the 

 house-door, and also serve as luxurious summer drawing- 

 rooms. The only objection I foresee to these bright en- 

 closures will be their tendency to encourage the consump- 

 tion 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 London 

 squares, the difficulty was to find anyone 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 successful 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 circumstances. 

 If flowers would answer, there would, of course, be more 

 encouragement to try vegetables. One of the practical 

 difficulties 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 f in London. 



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

 opened in Drury Lane, on the site of an old churchyard,, to 



