488 



THE VILLA GAEDENER. 



536. A camellia-house may be used either as a conservatory, or for grow- 

 ing the plants in pots. It does not require any artificial heat, but there may 

 be an air-tube down the centre, communicating with the open air, and furnished 

 with ventilators, so as to admit a constant current of fresh air through the 

 house at pleasure. Vines maybe trained over the roof of this house to produce 

 shade; and if this is not done, there must be a cEUM^as on rollers used for that 

 purpose. It must be observed that camellias do n^ like either too much sun- 

 light, or too much heat ; as the first camellias that were introduced were 

 killed by being kept hi a hot-house. A very slight protection from severe 

 cold during frosty weather is all they require ; but as they flower in winter 

 and early spring, the flowers, especially the white, are frequently injured by 

 the weather, when the plants are growing in the open air. 



SuBSECT. III. — Conservatories. 



537. A conservatory differs from a green-house in having the plants grow- 

 ing in the free ground, instead of being kept in pots. The conservatory is 

 generally much larger, and more lofty than the green-house, as it is designed 

 for growing large specimen plants ; and it is placed either in the flower- 

 garden, or adjoining the drawing-room of the house, when that chances to be 

 on the ground-floor. In other cases, it opens into a library or breakfast-room. 

 Conservatories are of various kinds ; sometimes they are contrived to have 

 the glass removed in summer, so as to let the plants kept in them appear to 

 have been grown in the open air; and in other cases, they form what is called 

 a Jardin d'liiver, or winter garden, in which the ground, covered with glass, 

 is laid out in walks, and decorated with vases, fountains, &c., like a garden 

 in the open air. 



538. The conservatory at the Grange, is generally allowed to be a remark- 

 ably handsome one. It is 70 ft. long, 46 ft. wide, and 21 ft. high. It is 

 entered by a portico, leading into a vestibule ; beyond which the ground 

 is divided longitudinally into three beds. The walks (k, in the section, fig. 

 367.) are under an arched covered way, formed of double plates of rolled 



367 



