256 



THE PLANT VERANDAH. 



Large and fine specimens should be placed in vases, which of them- 

 selves are ornaments for such a situation, if tastefully chosen, and of whicli 

 the accompanying specimens may serve for examples. These vases are 

 manufactured by Mr. Austin, of the New Road, London, at his artificial 

 stone manufactory, and are both cheap and durable. Plants which are 

 growing in large tubs, or boxes, and which w ould show to disadvantage if 



standing upon the floor, may be set in cavities formed for them under it, 

 such cavities being covered when not in use with the pavement, or 

 what would be still better, with a neat metallic grating. This mode of 

 conceaUng the tubs in which plants grow has been employed upon a large 

 scale, and with the happiest effect, in some of the new houses lately 

 erected in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, and upon a more limited 

 scale, but with an equally good effect, in several greenhouses erected 

 by Mr. Croskill, hot-house builder, &c., of Beverley, in Yorkshire. 



These gratings answer another important purpose ; for, as the apparatus 

 employed for heating should under all circumstances be placed as much as 

 possible out of sight, and as it is necessarj^ on account of the natural 

 property of heated air to ascend, that the flues or pipes be placed as low 

 as possible, no place is so suitable for them as under the floor of such 

 houses as that under consideration. We have seen plans in Mr. Croskill's 

 possession, representing the whole floor of a large conservatory completely 

 covered with an elegant ornamental grating, which in some cases is 

 nearly as cheap as stone pavement, the whole made into convenient 

 pieces, that can be taken up for the reception of plants, and laid down at 

 pleasure. The only objection we have to metalHc floors is, that they are 

 great conductors of heat, and, therefore, would be disagreeable to walk 

 upon in winter ; they are, however, less so when under a roof than if 

 they were fully exposed to the air. 



