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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 6, 1863. 



"blacks," from a long horizontal flue than the short vertical 

 ones usually erected over boilers ; but I think that evil is counter- 

 balanced by the perfect freedom in-doors of hot water from all 

 noxious gases which sometimes escape from flues, and the ab- 



sence of the dust and mess occasioned by opening them in plant- 

 houses for the purpose of removing the soot, &c. 



Mr. Robson, I am sure, will courteously receive my doubts 

 of the economy of flues. — W. Cbaw, Euville. 



ALCOVE-AVIARIES AND BOWERS. 



The grand general principle of propriety in garden decorations 

 is, that they should never be objectless ; and this, with the 

 selection of sites, which should be so felicitously chosen aB to 

 give to each structure the appearance of being in a position, as 



it were, predestined for it, form9 the fundamental law of the 

 code of landscape-gardening. 



The accompanying design for an alcove-aviary ib intended to 

 occupy a position not distant from the residence, and yet con- 



AN ALCOVE-AVIARY. 



cealed from it. It should form a point of attraction capable of 

 inducing frequent visits, by its convenient proximity, and yet 

 convey to the spectator an impression of agreeable surprise every 

 time it is approached. These conditions are not dirEcult of 

 fulfilment. The readiest mode would be the following : — Let 

 us suppose a side garden-door of a country house (not the 

 principal entrance) opening upon a small lawn enriched by 

 geometrical flower-beds, or a roBery, through the midst of which 

 a dry broad path leads towards the shrubbery, which is entered 

 by a winding walk, at a given point of which, about half way 

 through, the visitor iB introduced by a sudden turn to an open 

 space of long, oval form, running longwise in the direction of 

 south-east to north-weBt. This space should be bordered with a 

 neat but somewhat bold and massive cement coping, which 

 would form a support of congenial character to the pedestals 

 and vases which are intended to stand on each side of the 

 entrance, and, at distances, all round. The entrance should be 

 at the south-eastern end of the oval, opposite to the alcove- 

 aviary, which would thus have a favourable aspect, securing the 



early morning sun, so essential to birds, especially in a state of 

 comparative confinement. Both the entrance and the way out 

 should be concealed by well-designed windings. 



I propose that the front and exterior sides of those portions of 

 the structure devoted to the aviary should be of one piece of 

 strong glass, which would enable birds to be seen without the 

 disagreeable intervention of wirework, and at the same time 

 form a protection from cold winds and beating rain, highly 

 important to the healthy keeping of the birds. On the interior 

 side of each compartment of the aviary, I would have wirework 

 only, aB open as the size of the birds might render advisable. 

 This, with the addition of proper ventilation planned under the 

 thatch, would admit a sufficient quantity of air, and would place 

 the birds in more open and immediate intercourse with the 

 visitors, snugly seated within the shade of the alcove, and watching 

 the varying play of sunshine upon the plumage of the moving 

 birds, or renewing the food and water of the inhabitants of the 

 aviary, which, it is scarcely necessary to state, should be done 

 every day at least once, but if twice so much the better. Eor 



