REFORM IN THE CONSERVATORY. 



283 



out tlie country is paltry in the extreme, except perhaps 

 wlien tlie flush, of flower in early summer diverts our eyes 

 from the faults of a structure so little conservative of the 

 elegant forms and bewitching grace which make the vege- 

 table world so attractive. Having these structures staring 

 point-blank at our drawing-rooms in numerous instances, it 

 is clearly desirable to make them presentable. We build 

 hothouses to enable us to enjoy the vegetation of warmer 

 and more favoured countries. Let us enjoy it, then, and 

 not delude ourselves by cramming our conservatories with 



Fig. 121. 



Polypodium morbillosum. 



all the popular small fry, from the Cineraria to the Azalea. 

 Such things may please the enthusiastic amateur of these 

 and like plants ; but plants are capable of higher work 

 than that, and nothing can be hoped for the conservatory 

 until a nobler type of vegetation is not only represented, 

 but predominates. 



Plowers of a similar, if not of a nearly identical type to 

 the popular ones mentioned, abound in our gardens during 

 .summer, and there is consequently no necessity for letting 

 them predominate indoors ; while on the other hand those 

 wonderful aspects of vegetation which we can never produce 



