12 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



in winter by its warmth ; and this action is greatly increased when the motion 

 of the river is rapid, or when it rises and falls with the tide. 



13. Water. — This element, so essential both for the house and garden, is 

 not likely to be lost sight of; because, from the earliest times, it has been an 

 understood requisite both for a dwelling and a garden. Hence, as cities and 

 towns formerly were placed by a river, or on some inlet of the sea, so detached 

 dwellings were placed by brooks or springs. With the present improved 

 mfens of procuring water by boring, or collecting it on the surface and pre- 

 serving it in tanks, few difficulties respecting the procuring of water can 

 occur. It must, however, be taken into consideration, that where there is a 

 garden, much more water is required than where there is only a house. 



14. External appearance and architectural style. — Many persons who have 

 not had much experience in the choice of a house, are captivated by the 

 exterior ; and are more influenced by picturesque effect, than by any property 

 in the dwelling connected with habitableness. One person is an admirer of 

 the Gothic; without considering that, unless the number of windows in such 

 a house is greater than in a building in the Roman or Italian style, the rooms 

 will be ill-lighted, from the thickness of the mullions, and the smallness of 

 the frames; and probably also not well ventilated, from the defective manner 

 in which Gothic windows generally open. Some prefer a cottage with lat- 

 ticed windows, and surrounded by creepers; not considering that the rooms 

 in such buildings are very frequently low, ill-lighted, and ill-ventilated ; the 

 floors subject to the dry-rot, and the walls to damp : for, notwithstanding the 

 beauty of flowering creepers, there is not a single kind of creeping plant 

 which will grow against a house, that does not make the walls damp, with 

 the exception of ivy. Some prefer a house with a veranda all round it; and 

 no doubt such an appendage will keep the house warmer in winter, and cooler 

 in summer, and will afford a dry walk during rain ; but those who take a 

 house with a veranda, which they are, of course, bound to keep in repair, 

 should first well consider if it admits sufficient light to the rooms on the 

 ground-floor ; and secondly, whether it is well put together, and made of 

 durable materials. Some houses which are surrounded by arcades, and which 

 are exceedingly handsome and architectural externally, are yet more gloomy 

 within than their possessors would, perhaps, like to acknowledge. 



15. A thatched cottage is an object of admiration with many persons who 

 have not had much experience of country life ; and, accordingly, we find 

 several in the neighbourhood of London. Such cottages have, perhaps, the 

 gable end covered witli ivy, the chimney-tops entwined with Virginian 

 creepers, and the windows overshadowed by roses and jasmines. The ivy 

 forms an excellent harbour for sparrows and other small birds, which build 

 there in quantities in spring and early in summer, and roost there during winter. 

 In June, as soon as the young birds are fledged, all the cats in the neighbour- 

 hood are attracted by them, and take up their abode on the roof of the house 

 every night for several weeks ; the noise and other annoyances occasioned by 

 which we need only allude to. We say nothing of the damp produced by the 

 deciduous creepers and the roses, as we have already mentioned that : but we 

 must here notice another evil, which is not so obvious, though quite as serious, 

 and this is, the numerous insects generated in the decaying thatch ; and more 

 especially that generally-disliked creature, the earwig, which in autumn, 

 whenever the windows are open, comes into the house in quantities, and finds 



