394 



PLANT-HOUSES. 



water line, and another in the bottom will 

 draw off the water when it requires 

 changing. This mode of construction 

 may be adopted for such plants as need 

 large supplies of water. 



"The stage d is supposed to have shelves 

 pierced with holes to receive the pots, 

 which rest upon their rims. The fronts of 

 the stone tables may be variously orna- 

 mented : those inonehouse having trellised 

 panels, another may have rusticated 

 courses of brick or stone; while a third 

 may be in imitation of rustic basket-work, 

 and a fourth with rough courses, like 

 small rockeries, with spaces between for 

 creepers, orchidaceous, or any other plants 

 best suited to the purpose." 



The general plan of this arrangement 

 is good, but many of the details are too 

 trifling for adoption. It is a movement, 

 however, in the right direction, and may 

 afford hints to be improved upon. Our 

 own opinion is, that the plunging is bad, 

 and that a better plan would be to have 

 strong tables constructed of cast-iron, 

 slate, or wood, quite flat on the surface, as 

 the taller plants would occupy the centre 

 of each, and perforated with holes, gra- 

 duated to the sizes of pots in common use 

 — each perforation to hold a pot, to be 

 suspended by the rim, and the tables 

 under the top part, as far at least as the 

 bottom of the deepest pot, to be covered 



in, so as to 

 Fig. 539. hide them en- 



tirely. Such 

 tables might 

 be made very 

 ornamental, 

 as fig. 539, 

 and lined with 

 copper or zinc, 

 in order to 

 prevent the 

 spilt water 



from dropping on the floor : by having at 

 one of the corners a small pipe with a cock 

 the water could be drawn off when neces- 

 sary. The plants should be plunged in 

 moss ; and by having the tables mounted 

 on castors, they could be moved about at 

 pleasure. For small greenhouses we know 

 of no mode of arranging the plants that 

 would produce a better effect than this ; 

 and as the tables should be of different 

 forms, the groups can be altered to suit 

 convenience and taste. 



In small greenhouses, particularly those 

 attached to or near the proprietor's house, 

 where elegance of design and neatness in 

 keeping are attended to, we see not why 

 stages of the ordinary clumsy description 

 should not be entirely dispensed with, 

 and the plants set in elegant vases or 

 flower-stands, having the surface of the 

 pots covered 

 with clean green 

 moss. The sub- 

 joined cut, fig. 

 540, represents 

 a flower-stand 

 suited to this 

 purpose, and 

 much used in 

 France. They 

 are of cast-iron 

 or bronze, and 

 not only are 

 the plants taste- 

 fully arranged 

 in them, but 

 often little jets 

 are introduced, 

 as shown in our 

 cut. Wherever 

 such an ar- 

 rangement is 

 intended, we would suggest to have all 

 the tables portable, so that the arrange- 

 ment may be altered at pleasure. 



In ordinary cases, where side tables or 

 platforms are introduced along the sides 

 of span-roofed houses, whether they be of 

 wood, stone, iron grating, or slate, sup- 

 ports are necessary. 

 The bracket support 

 can only, in a few 

 cases, be introduced, 

 therefore perpendicu- 

 lar ones, having a 

 horizontal arm reach- 

 ing to, and fastened 

 into, the side wall, 

 are had recourse to. 

 The annexed, fig. 541, 

 exemplifies one of 

 these in use in the 

 Kew Gardens, but 

 faulty on account of 

 the stone covering 

 being let into the 

 wall. Fig. 542 is an- 

 other form equally massive with the last : 

 the uprights and cross bearers in both 



Fig. 541. 



T 



