CONSERVATORIES. 



363 



off with a covering of clean gravel, moss 

 frequently renewed, or any other similar 

 contrivance, to hide the cases in which the 

 trees are planted — leaving, however, the 

 surface of the soil exposed to view, for the 

 purpose of watering and for the admission 

 of air to their roots. By these latter means 

 they will appear as if planted out in the 

 general effect, but, at the same time, be 

 capable of removal when fresh arrange- 

 ments are deemed expedient, or of being 

 taken to some other house in the event of 

 sickness, or totally removed to give room 

 to others more valuable. When the 

 stronger and more robust growing plants 

 are planted in a bed of prepared soil, which 

 is in general, in conservatories, made too 

 rich and too deep, they outgrow all 

 bounds ; even the house itself is not suffi- 

 cient to contain them. They injure or 

 destroy their less vigorous, and, very often, 

 more valuable neighbours, and, after a 

 year or two, they themselves have to be 

 cut out and thrown away, after having de- 

 stroyed all around them, by overshadow- 

 ing them, and robbing them of their share 

 of nourishment at the roots. By con- 

 fining them to large tubs, boxes, or pots, 

 the latter of these evils is completely re- 

 medied, their extra luxuriance is checked, 

 a disposition to produce more flowers, in 

 proportion to their size, is brought on; 

 and often, in summer, some of the more 

 hardy may be set out of doors, to give 

 breathing room, as it were, to the others; 

 and when the house becomes too much 

 crowded, the duplicates, or those least 

 interesting to the proprietor, may be re- 

 moved altogether, and disposed of in a 

 variety of ways. It is quite absurd in 

 this country to attempt to grow the trees 

 of the tropics, or even of extra-tropical 

 countries, to anything like their natural 

 size. Who would be so bold, let us only 

 ask, as to construct a house in which a 

 single plant of Araucaria excelsa could de- 

 velop itself to even half its natural size 1 — or 

 who would find accommodation for a full- 

 grown tree of Adansonia digitata, the very 

 trunk of which, if we are to believe tra- 

 vellers, is equal to the diameter of almost 

 the largest glass-house built in Europe 1 ? 

 As it is, therefore, quite impossible for us 

 to exhibit the trees, and, indeed, many 

 even of the herbaceous plants of distant 

 countries, of their full natural size, let us 

 be content to raise them as it were by 



scale, and, by good cultivation and proper 

 accommodation, cause them to develop 

 their natural character somewhat dimi- 

 nished from the original in dimensions. 



Regarding the dimensions of conserva- 

 tories, we quote the following remarks, as 

 offered by the late Mr. Loudon, on this 

 subject : "The laws of vegetation render 

 it utterly impossible that a small conser- 

 vatory can ever look well. A conservatory 

 is for the growth of trees and shrubs, not 

 like a greenhouse for mere pelargoniums 

 and other small plants in pots ; and trees 

 and shrubs, to look well, must have room, 

 and especially breadth, to expand them- 

 selves. As every conservatory, however 

 narrow, must be at least of the height of 

 the apartments with which it is connected, 

 the width, if not considerably greater than 

 the height, will always occasion the plants 

 to have an etiolated appearance. Sup- 

 posing the height of a conservatory to be 

 12 feet, the width should never be less 

 than 18 feet; it being understood to be 

 essential that the whole of the roof is to 

 be of glass." The same authority goes 

 on to observe, that " provided the whole 

 of the roof be of glass, and the walks 

 broad, so as to allow of a free circulation 

 of air round the trees, it signifies much 

 less than is generally imagined what may 

 be either the aspect or the position of the 

 conservatory." Perpendicular light is of 

 so much importance to plants, that with- 

 out it they will not thrive, nor even long 

 continue to exist. Were it not for the 

 shadow of opaque side walls, it would 

 signify little to some plants — camellias and 

 oranges for example — whether they were 

 composed of bricks or glass, provided a 

 sufficiency of ventilation was admitted. 

 It is want of ventilation, more than of 

 horizontal light, that causes plants at the 

 back of conservatories with opaque walls 

 to suffer as they in general do. However, 

 we believe that glass sides all round may be 

 now constructed as cheap, if not cheaper, 

 than they can be formed of brick or stone. 

 Such being the case, and as transparent 

 sides must be admitted to look best, we 

 see no reason why they should not be 

 adopted. 



The large conservatory erected for the 

 late Mrs Col. Beaumont, at Bretton Hall, 

 although no longer existing, having been 

 dismantled by her successor, may be given 

 as a specimen of a dome-shaped house of 



