General Notices. 227 



which plants are cultivated by growing them in the open border, and, subse- 

 quently, for all such glazed buildings whatsoever. A conservatory, properly 

 so called, is a brick building heated by artificial means, having its whole 

 southern part enclosed by large glazed sashes, which may be opened or shut 

 at pleasure. Its floor is generally of stone, and a part of it is occupied by a 

 stage, on which plants in pots can be placed. One of these buildings, but in a 

 ruinous state, may be seen in the Physic Garden at Chelsea ; others are not 

 uncommon in gardens that were laid out forty or fifty years ago ; but they are 

 fast falling into neglect and disuse, in our opinion, undeservedly. Such a con- 

 servatory was intended to preserve during the winter orange trees, myrtles, 

 American aloes, and similar plants, which, during the summer, will flourish in 

 the open air, but which require, in winter, to be protected against the incle- 

 mency, or, to speak more exactly, against the cold and wet, of the English 

 climate. Such plants are torpid during winter : their rest begins with that of 

 our trees ; and it is easy to prevent a renewal of their growth at too early a 

 time. To preserve them against too much wet, and from severe cold, especially 

 in the spring, is all that is requisite for them; and these objects the old con- 

 servatory answered perfectly well. It had, moreover, the advantages of being 

 spacious, without being excessively costly ; of being easily heated ; and of 

 requiring the smallest possible amount of labour for the plants preserved in it. 

 Persons, however, gradually forgetting the original object of a conservatory, 

 added to it numerous species requiring a very different treatment in winter, 

 from those it was contrived for ; and, what was far worse, they attempted, by 

 humidity and high temperature, to keep the plants in a growing state all the 

 winter. The necessary consequence of this was, that those plants which for- 

 merly succeeded in the conservatory became unhealthy ; the new comers dis- 

 appointed the expectations of their cultivators ; and the building itself fell into 

 discredit. The reason of this is sufficiently obvious : plants, when in a growing 

 state, require an abundant supply of light. A conservatory is particularly ill 

 calculated, on account of its solid roof and sides, for the admission of light; 

 and, consequently, a conservatory is not suitable for plants in a growing state. 

 But plants, when torpid, as in the winter season, require a very moderate 

 supply of light, and this a conservatory is sufficiently calculated to admit. 



" A house of this kind is best suitetl for gardens of considerable extent, where 

 a large number of plants is required, during the summer, for the ornament of 

 the flower-garden and shrubbery. Under such circumstances, we strongly 

 recommend the erection of conservatories, as the cheapest, the most efficient, 

 and the most ornamental mode of preserving in a healthy state, during winter, 

 not only oranges, myrtles, and similar plants, but, in general, all the species 

 which are natives of countries that, without experiencing severe frost, are cold 

 enough during winter to suspend the vital energies of vegetation. It will be 

 perfectly within the gardener's power to keep the earth in which conservatory 

 plants grow sufficiently damp, during winter, to enable them to accumulate, by 

 the return of spring, an abundant supply of new sap ; and this is all that he 

 need be particularly reminded of, if he understands his business scientifically : 

 if he does not, advice to him would be only a waste of words." (^Penny 

 Cyc, art. Conservatory.) 



Budding's Grass-cutter. — I mean to say a word on that very ingenious 

 contrivance, Budding's grass-cutter, which I have used all through the summer, 

 and still continue to use. The truth is, the use and value of this implement 

 do not appear to me to be so well understood as they deserve to be. The 

 general idea is, that, when a grass plot becomes rough with worm-casts, which 

 it will do in the autumn, it is utterly hopeless to attempt to keep it in order; 

 and so, I grant, it would be, were there nothing but the scythe to depend 

 on for cutting it. But with ISIr. Budding the case is widely different ; for the 

 wetter grass is, the better it seems to cut; and, as to the earth thrown up by 

 the worms, it appears to put an edge on the knives, rather than injure them. 

 I speak from experience ; for I alwaj's work mine myself. I have added a 

 scraper to the main or iron roller; and, when the knives get clogged with dirt, 



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