CONSERVATORIES 151 



in early autumn, will be in grand foliage by February, 

 and no plant gives better green in the conservatory. 

 These and a few Ferns, of which Pteris tremula should 

 be one, should be in quantities large enough to make 

 some bold effects of good greenery, among which the 

 flowering plants should be introduced in groups of 

 a few pots of the same, or single pots, according to 

 the nature of the plant. No one who has ever seen 

 a conservatory arranged in this way, with due regard 

 to good colouring, will ever wish to go back to the 

 old muddled mixture. 



I often think, when I go round the gardens of 

 some great place, and see evidence of the money 

 that is expended in structures and labour, in culti- 

 vation and maintenance, how all the best service 

 that the indoor plants might render is absolutely 

 wasted. It is like keeping sixty horses in a stable 

 with all the needful staff and equipment, and never 

 having them out for riding or driving. For though 

 there is a certain pleasure in going round greenhouse 

 and stove and Orchid and Fern houses, and seeing the 

 individual plants, it is after all only hke going round 

 and seeing the horses in the stable ; and though this 

 also is very pleasant, one expects something more 

 of the horses. So also I expect more of the plants ; 

 and though a certain number are saddled and brought 

 round for dining-room table and draAving-room orna- 

 ment, yet by far the larger number remain in their 

 stalls " eating their heads off," unless they are driven 



