CHAPTER VII. 



PLANT-HOUSES. 



§ 1.— CONSERVATORIES. 



The erection of conservatories may be 

 considered the highest grade in horticul- 

 tural architecture ; in them elegance 

 of design must be blended with cultural 

 utility — architecture becomes the asso- 

 ciate of horticulture. It is difficult to 

 draw the line between the conservatory 

 and the greenhouse — both are conserva- 

 tive in their principles. We must be 

 content to take them according to the 

 usual acceptation, and consider the former 

 as differing from the latter in being larger 

 in size, and having the plants or trees 

 planted in prepared borders, instead of 

 their being grown in pots and set upon 

 stages as they are in the latter. Conserva- 

 tories are either tropical or extra-tropical. 

 In the former, the plants of India and 

 the tropics are cultivated ; while, in the 

 latter, those brought from more tempe- 

 rate countries are kept. The situation of 

 the conservatory may be on the lawn or 

 in the flower garden, but not in the 

 kitchen or fruit garden ; and in such situ- 

 ations it should be a detached building, 

 and glass on all sides. It is often also 

 attached to the mansion, and forming 

 part of it, as at the Deepdene in Surrey, 

 and the Grange in Hampshire, to both of 

 which highly architectural residences the 

 conservatory forms a useful and appro- 

 priate appendage. They are often de- 

 tached, as at Alton Towers, Sion House, 

 the large one at Chatsworth, that at Dal- 

 keith, and others. In style they vary 

 like other buildings ; but they should 

 always be, particularly if attached to the 

 mansion, of the same style of architec- 

 ture. This rule is, however, not always 

 attended to ; for that at Sion House, 



designed by Fowler, is in the Italian style, 

 that at Alton Towers in the Grecian or 

 Roman, and that at Chatsworth of no 

 particular style whatever. There is, how- 

 ever, attached to that princely residence 

 a large and excellent conservatory, quite 

 in accordance with our views, as forming 

 part, as it were, of the house. 



Architecturally speaking, there is no 

 impropriety in this ; but, horticulturally 

 speaking, a very great deal. In such cases 

 it were better to place the conservatory at 

 the very extremity of the buildings, and 

 to connect it with the mansion by a glass 

 corridor of a height and in a correspond- 

 ing style with the conservatory's elevation. 

 This would produce the architectural 

 effect wished for; and the conservatory, 

 extending beyond the line of front eleva- 

 tion, and placed rather in rear of it, would 

 not mar the effect, as it would be consi- 

 dered an independent building. This 

 corridor should have its roof fixed, and 

 the front windows movable, so that they 

 might be taken away during summer 

 if desirable. The wall of the corridor 

 should be covered with camellias, oranges, 

 and similar hardy evergreen plants, 

 planted in the soil under the floor, which 

 should be covered with polished pave- 

 ment or encaustic tiles. This corridor 

 would form, as it were, a long narrow 

 conservatory when viewed from the living 

 room with which it should be connected, 

 and doubtless would, even when seen in 

 perspective, have a less grand and impos- 

 ing effect than a broader and more spa- 

 cious structure; but it would be calcu- 

 lated to afford a great amount of enjoy- 

 ment to the lover of plants, as well as 

 great variety in passing along it towards 

 the conservatory. It would also offer an 



