ORCHID-HOUSES. 



405 



lation will be attained, although the whole 

 roof is fixed, which will give the house a 

 lighter appearance, and considerably lessen 

 the expense of erection. The internal 

 arrangements of this house may be simi- 

 lar to those of the last ; for although the 

 whole of the ends and side-sashes open, 

 there can seldom be a necessity for en- 

 trances at other than the two ends. This 

 house is better adapted for exhibiting 

 large or full-grown specimens than the 

 last, on account of its width and height. 

 The length of such a house is 36 feet, and 

 breadth 17 feet, 6 feet high in the sides, 

 and 12 feet from floor to ridge. 



Long, narrow, span-roofed houses are 

 also very suitable for growing heaths, 

 provided large specimens are not an 

 object. Thus, for instance, the heathery 

 at Woburn Abbey is of this kind : it is, 

 however, curved, instead of being in a 

 straight line, by which much of the per- 

 spective effect is lost. A very complete 

 heath-house might be constructed of the 

 following dimensions : 100 feet long, 

 15 feet wide, and 12 in height from 

 the floor to the ridge ; the sides may be 

 6 feet from the ground-level to the top of 

 the side-sashes, which latter should be 3 

 feet, set upon a parapet of the same 

 height. The plants should be arranged 

 on cast-iron grating tables along both 

 sides, 2 feet in breadth, having a flat table 

 along the centre 6 feet in breadth, with a 

 passage all round of the breadth of 2^ feet. 

 Ventilation may be effected as recom- 

 mended above, only the whole roof may be 

 fixed, with an opening in the ridge 12 inches 

 wide extending the whole length, the side- 

 sashes opening by sliding past each other — 

 not opening outwards or inwards, as is usu- 

 ally done — and numerous ventilators being 

 placed at the bottom of the side walls, for 

 admitting humid and fresh air during 

 night, as also in cold stormy weather. 



§ 5. — ORCHID-HOUSES. 



The taste for orchids, of late years, has 

 formed quite a new feature in the man- 

 agement of plants ; indeed, at the present 

 time, their cultivation may be ranked as 

 the most popular of all the departments 

 of exotic culture. 



Within our own recollection, the whole 

 exotic orchids in cultivation embraced 

 less than twenty species ; now there are 



considerably above two thousand. With- 

 in a very few years they were considered 

 as of difficult culture ; now, their manage- 

 ment is as well understood as that of any 

 other family whatever. The late Mr 

 Cattley, Mr Cooper of Wentworth, and 

 the Messrs Loddiges, were the first who 

 attained eminence in their cultivation. 

 These shortly afterwards were followed 

 by Harrison of Liverpool, Clowes of Man- 

 chester, Barker of Birmingham, the Duke 

 of Bedford, &c, as pre-eminent in col- 

 lecting and cultivating ; but these excel- 

 lent individuals have been removed by 

 death, and their collections dispersed or 

 transferred to other hands. The Dukes 

 of Devonshire and Buccleuch, Mrs Law- 

 rence, Mrs Wray, Mr Rucker, Mr Lyons, 

 Mr Bateman, and others, have followed in 

 succession as amateurs; while Low, Knight 

 and Perry, Rollison, Veitch, Lucombe, 

 and Pince, &c, as nurserymen, excel in 

 the same line; and the botanic gardens 

 of Kew, Glasnevin, Belfast, Glasgow, and 

 Edinburgh, possess highly creditable col- 

 lections, the first having been enriched 

 by being presented with the collections of 

 Woburn, and that of the late Mr Clowes 

 of Manchester, and the last greatly in- 

 creased of late by the munificent presenta- 

 tion made by Mrs Haig, of Viewfield, of 

 her rich collection. 



As this interesting section of plants 

 became popular, houses were erected for 

 the express purpose of doing justice to 

 their cultivation, as the following illustra- 

 tions will abundantly show. 



The orchid-house of Mrs Lawrence, fig. 



556, is not, however, dedicated entirely to 

 these plants, but combines also an aqua- 

 rium, and accommodation for climbing- 

 plants besides — the latter a very necessary 

 appendage, as affording shade during 

 summer, which can be reduced during 

 winter by a judicious use of the pruning- 

 knife. This house is thus described in 

 " The Gardeners' Chronicle : " — " The roof 

 consists of three spans, which cover a 

 breadth of something more than 50 feet, 

 and is supported by columns c c in the 

 section, to which creepers are trained. 

 In the centre is an irregular piece of 

 water, (a on section 556 and ground-plan 



557, ) called the lake, surrounded by a 

 rock-work edging, heated by pipes pass- 

 ing through it from the boiler e, and 

 containing aquatic plants. The flooring 



