12 OBNAMBNTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS. 



to grow large specimens of ornamental-leaved plants, we 

 therefore give a woodcut illustration of the conservatory 

 in our own establishment which is devoted to this class 

 of plants. The length is a hundred feet, width forty feet, 

 and height twenty feet; it forms a fine ornament to the 

 place, and is' sufficiently large to contain a beautifiil and 

 varied collection. 



Conservatories are often attached to the mansion, in 

 order 'that the proprietor and his family may be able to 

 enjoy the beauties of the plants, when the weather is 

 too inclement to permit of their visiting the stoves and 

 greenhouses, situated, it may be, in various distant parts 

 of the garden. The ridge and furrow form of roof is 

 often adopted for these structures, but we prefer the 

 span-roof to any other. In some, the plants are planted 

 in prepared borders, or if all are not so planted, some 

 of the more important are so treated, in order that they 

 may form permanent and striking objects, and thus add 

 to the beauiy, by contrast, of other plants which are 

 brought in from time to time from the smaller houses. 

 If no plants are to be grown out of pots, we advise 

 the floor to be concrete, the same as recommended for 

 the other houses, but if the plants are to lae grown in 

 open borders or beds, the first thing must be the re- 

 moval of the ordinary soil to the depth of about four 

 feet, then fill in some eighteen inches with broken bricks 

 and similar material, such as will form and maintain & 

 perfect drainage, the superabundant water being carried 

 away by a drain on the outside of the house. Above this, 

 turves of fresh-cut peat are to be laid, with the grassy 

 side downwards ; while the remaining portion is to be 

 filled up with good soil, of the quality and texture most 

 suitable for the plants intended to be grown. No manure 



