September 6, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAaE GARDENER. 



187 



looked very well from the balcony of the Palace, though 

 perhaps by the time this appears the Calceolarias are out of 

 bloom. 



The grand terrace is gay as usual. The beds here at all 

 events have not done badly. Mr. Vyse has plenty of water 

 close at hand. The long beds have for centre Geranium 

 Cottage Maid, a stripe on each side of Geranium Flower of 

 the Day, edged with Verbena Purple King. The round beds 

 have Geranium Christine for their centre ; then a circle of 

 Aurea floribunda Calceolaria, edged with Lobelia Paxton- 

 iana. 



On the whole, though Mr. Gordon has displayed his usual 

 talent, and invented many new combinations of colours, the 

 Crystal Palace Gardens this season cannot give the usual 

 satisfaction. The want of grass, and even the dustiness of 

 the shrubs, leaves nothing for the eye to rest upon ; and 

 though the papers speak of heavy rain on the Foresters' 

 fete day, it came too late to do any good. To Mr. Gordon 

 we have been indebted in former years for many bold but 

 beautiful combinations of colour; as, for instance in 1860, 

 when the grand terrace long beds were planted with Crystal 

 Palace Scarlet Geranium for centre, Verbena Purple King 

 on each side, edged with Tropffiolum elegans — nothing 

 could exceed the beauty of those beds that year. Then, I 

 think, the next season the same beds started more criticism 

 than was pleasant at the time. What ! scarlet and pink 

 next each other ! and yet those beds have been imitated by 

 almost every lady who plants her own garden. The fact is, 

 the effect of colour produced by flowers with the various 

 accessories of foliage, and light and shade between the leaves, 

 can never be judged of by the same rule as you would deco- 

 rate a room or design a ribbon ; and this Mr. Gordon found 

 out, and he has gained a celebrity for good judgment and 

 taste second to none. — F. W. Adet. 



HOUSE FOE VINES, PEACHES, AND 

 GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



The following is in answer to " N." and other inquirers 

 on the same subject. 



The house which you have moved from one place to another 

 is 56 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 13 feet to the apex, there 

 being a short hip behind of slate ; the sloping roof is of fixed 

 sashes ; ventilation by boards in the back wall below the 

 slating, and by sliding 3-J-feet sashes in front. 23 Feet is 

 to be appropriated to Peaches, and separated by a glass 

 partition from 33 feet for Vines. It is intended to have a 

 stage against the back wall for plants, and a raised bed inside 

 in front, separated from the part behind by a wall 2J feet in 

 height, and connected with an outside border by means of 

 arches and brickwork beneath the sill-plate on which the 

 upright moveable sashes are placed. Heating is proposed 

 to be effected by a tile flue along the back wall, and a four- 

 inch pipe on a raised brick curb a couple of feet or so above 

 the flue, returning in a chamber beneath the pathway, with 

 a grating over it. Counsel is asked as to external, and 

 more especially as to internal, arrangements ; and if we 

 do not follow exactly the line of your separate questions, it 

 is that " C," "A Lover of Plants," and "An Admikek 

 of The Vine," may be answered also at the same time, as 

 they with you desire no more heat than will just keep plants 

 safe and mature the fruit without forcing. 



First, then, as respects the roof, which is in front of three 

 divisions of sashes, there is no objection whatever to its 

 being fixed ; but as, independently of the shade of the 

 rafters, the sash-bars are not more than 5 inches apart, 

 and the glass in very small squares, we certainly should not 

 have contributed to the shade in dull weather by having a 

 short hipped roof at the back formed of slate. In a very 

 cold exposed place such a roof on the north side might be 

 justifiable on the score of protection, but on no other con- 

 sideration, as to make that slate roof secure would, we think, 

 cost rather more than a fixed roof of wood and glass. For 

 such a roof, and glass 5 inches across, from 2 to 2|-inch 

 sash-bars would be sufficient, and without any rafters, so as 

 to harmonise with the glass in front ; and we think that, 

 independently of the appearance and the additional light 

 thus given to fruit and pot plants, the expense would be less 

 than the secure slated roof. 



Secondly. The proposed ventilation will be ample without 

 having any of the roof-sashes to move ; and this of itself is 

 a great matter of economy in labour and expense, as sliding 

 sashes on the roof are always attended with liability to 

 smashes and crashes. 



Thirdly. You propose the inside border to be 7-1- feet wide 

 and the outside much the same ; and for a house 17 feet in 

 width we do not think that is too much. But as you evi- 

 dently wish to limit the width of these borders you may 

 with propriety make them 12 or 18 inches narrower both 

 inside and outside if it serves any peculiar purpose, such 

 as having more room for a stage behind, as both Vines 

 and Peaches will thrive in narrow spaces if they are well 

 fed from the surface. "We would not, therefore, altogether 

 object to a border of 10 feet ; but if there was no objection 

 to doing so, if we curtailed the inside to 4 or 5 feet instead 

 of 7i feet, we would widen the outside proportionally, so as 

 to make it some 14 or 15 feet altogether. Ten feet alto- 

 gether, or even less, would do if there were any particular 

 object to serve and rich top-dressings were given ; if not, it 

 would be well to have from 14 to 15 feet in width altogether. 



Fourthly. It would not be wise to make up a deficiency 

 in narrowness by depth. If at all iu a damp neighbourhood 

 it would be well not to sink the border much below the 

 ground level. We presume from your drawing that outside 

 and inside you propose your border altogether to be 5 feet 

 in depth, something like half being above the ground level 

 and half below it. We would advise making it little more 

 than 3w feet ; and of that, besides the drain, taking 15 inches 

 for open rubble at the bottom and 27 inches for soil. This 

 would secure the soil for the roots being entirely or nearly so 

 above the ground level. The inside border should not slope 

 from front to back, but if not level should slope from back 

 to front, and, instead of being lower, should be an inch or 

 two higher than the outside border. No greater error can 

 be perpetrated than planting trees in a low border inside, 

 and expecting the roots to find their way through arches 

 into a border a foot or 18 inches higher outside. 



Fifthly. No better plan for security can be found than 

 building the front wall on arches. In many cases the top 

 of the arch is made too low to be fully serviceable. In your 

 case the inside and outside soil seems to rise some 15 or 

 IS inches above the top of the arch, and roots must descend 

 that depth before they can get out. We would like the 

 crown of the arch to be within a few inches of the surface — 

 in fact, for combining economy and suitability, we would 

 have no arches at all, as you show no brickwork outside the 

 house ; but we would have piers of the necessary height, 

 4 feet apart, as you have them, and on these piers we would 

 place a sill of iron, or of stout wood lined with galvanised 

 plate iron or lead beneath, and pack the soil, inside and 

 outside, up to it. When the soil sunk a little there, we 

 would just add a little more, to prevent any ah- entering 

 there. This would suit the roots of Vines and Peaches much, 

 better than having the crowns of arches sunk much beneath 

 the surface-level. The only objections are the necessity 

 for protecting once or twice a-year, and the greater facility 

 given for the entrance of vermin, as rats and mice; but even 

 the arches will not prevent that if the vermin are not looked 

 after. We caught a mole the other day in the vinery, where 

 he was burrowing famously, but we can hardly conceive how 

 he could have got in, except by burrowing beneath the 

 foundations. Like thieves, vermin are not easily kept out 

 when they are resolved to go in. 



Sixthly. As to heating, the furnace and boiler are well 

 placed, provided you need them both, as the top of the 

 boiler will be lower than the level of the floor. We cannot 

 say, however, that we approve of your mode of heating, as, 

 in a house 17 feet wide, the heating power will be against 

 the back wall of the house, the return single four-inch hot- 

 water pipe only being placed in the middle of the house, and 

 that sunk underneath a grating. There seems to be no 

 necessity for sinking such a pipe at all. The heating would 

 be far more effective if you took the flow and return across 

 one end, and placed them side by side, some 30 inches from 

 the upright front sashes, and 2 or 3 inches above the level of 

 the inside border. Small piers there, every 9 feet or so, 

 according to the length of the pipes, would cost no more 

 than. the wall on which the pipe rests close to the back wall, 

 and you would escape all sinking of the pipes along the 



