24 Superiority of Conservative Walls, 



in my opinion, every other kind of botanical enjoyment which a 

 garden has hitherto afforded. Even Chinese chrysanthemums 

 and dahlias, when trained against such walls, have a very splendid 

 appearance; and, under a slight projecting roof, I have known 

 the dahlia saved from the frost, and continuing to show flower 

 till Christmas, and the chrysanthemums till the middle of Ja- 

 nuary. In a word, I consider a conservative wall as a very 

 superior source of enjoyment to either a green-house or a con- 

 servatory ; unless, indeed, these structures (as they are at Ash- 

 ridge, and more particularly at Bromley Hill) are so connected 

 with the hving-rooms of the house, as to form a part of the suite 

 of rooms. 



I should therefore wish to see the subject of conservative walls 

 taken up by yourself or by some of your practical readers, and 

 the proper construction of such walls, the mode of planting 

 them, the kind of plants suitable, and the management through- 

 out the year, pointed out. In all this bearing in mind, that, while 

 a green-house, or even a pit or any other glazed structure, is 

 attended with some extra expense at first, and a good deal of 

 expense annually to keep them in repair, the conservative wall 

 may form a part of the boundary of the garden or pleasure- 

 ground, or a screen to offices, or a connecting line of architec- 

 ture between the house and offices, while its annual repairs may 

 be considered as next to nothing. Only let the subject of con- 

 servative walls be once thoroughly entered into by gardeners 

 and their employers, and I feel certain that the result will be 

 one of the greatest additions that have been made to gardening 

 enjoyments since the invention of green-houses. 



London, Nov. 18 39. 



In the Suburban Gardener we have, on various occasions, recommended a 

 conservative wall ; and, in fig. i. we have slightly indicated a conservative 

 wall, serving to connect the house with the offices and the kitchen-garden. In 

 this plan, a is the entrance portico to the house j b the drawingroom, with 

 three windows at one end opening down to the floor, and serving also as 

 doors connecting this room with the conservatory. In the conservatory there 

 is a broad walk down the middle (c), terminating in a door in the centre of its 

 semicircular end ; outside of which are steps descending to a circular basin and 

 fountain, beyond which is the walk (e) in front of the conservative wall (b b) ; 

 which wall commences at the conservatory, and extends to the kitchen-garden. 

 The walk in front of this wall terminates in an archway (^i), which forms the ' 

 main entrance to the kitchen-garden ; and on the lawn, in the angle at the left, 

 is the symmetrical flower-garden (/). There is a walk at k, communicating 

 with the other parts of the ground; and the v/all on the right of that walk is 

 also conservative, with a broad border between it and the walk, which can be 

 heated below by pipes of hot water, conducted through a stratum of broken 

 stones or bricks. Hot water is preferred to steam, as causing less expansion, 

 and consequently less risk of derangement in the conducting pipes. The mass 

 of stones, when once heated, will be several days in parting with that heat, 

 unless in the case of heavy rains ; so that, throughout the summer, the fire 

 will only be required twice or thrice a week ; and in spring, autumn, and 

 winter the plants are supposed to be removed to a house. On the border. 



