271 



PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBEH, 1867. 



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less interest, and particularly vir\es,such as Algeri 

 Russian, Irish, Roegners, English and variegated 

 Ivies, Carolina Jasmines; of the dwarf Evergreens, 

 suited to this project there are now a veiy large 

 number, and no one will be at a loss for material to 

 choose from. 



We do not in short see why a cold house should 

 not be as popular as a drawing or breakfast room. 

 Everybody Hkes flowers, everybody wants them, 

 and when it becomes known that they can be had, 

 and kept in order with no more trouble or cost 

 than so much parlor furniture, everybody will have 

 them. 



COLB GREENHOUSES. 



Hovey's 31agazine for July, has a well timed 

 article on the above subject, which is one worthy of 

 general attention. 



It is well shown how inconvenient it is to the 

 lover of flowers, but with limited means, to get any 

 satisfaction from heated conservatories, for when- 

 ever any cheap arrangements to heat such struc- 

 tures are employed, failure is the general result. — 

 The air is too hot or dry, the gas escapes, ventila- 

 tion is defective, an extra cold night is too much 

 for the fire, besides many other incidents and acci- 

 dents continually occur to mar success. 



Now why not have a cold house which needs no 

 fire, and grow plants which need no heat ? You 

 cannot have so much flower to be sure. It takes 

 some heat to bring forth blossoms, but with many 

 things it is astonishing how little is enough. The 

 Crocus, Snowdrop, Hyacinth, Tulip, Jonquil, Nar- 

 cissus, Scilla, and most of what are called hardy 

 spring flowered Dutch bulbs may be had in Febru- 

 ary without any other heat than what the simple 

 covering of glass would aff'ord. 



But much may be done towards keeping up a 

 show of bloom during part of the winter, by potting 

 hardy, herbaceous and other plants, which natural- 

 ly flower late, as Chrysanthemums and Michaelmas 

 Asters, Gentians, Hibiscus, Ageratums, Eupato- 

 riums, Rudbeckias, Violets, Pansies, besides many 

 other things. Many things we already grow in pots 

 tike Stocks, Wallflowers, Tree Carnation, are tol- 

 erable hardy, and there would be no difficulty at all 

 in keeping up a nice show most of the time. There 

 are also many dwarf shrubs which come into bloom 

 with very Kttle heat, and these would soon make 

 the house quite gay, Forsythsia, Deutzia gracilis 

 Mock-orange, Evergreen Candytuft, Spii'ses of many 

 varieties, Berberis Darwnii and aquifolia, Double 

 white and pink Almonds and others. 



But independently of all these. Ferns, Evergreens 

 and variegated leaf plants aff'ord material for end- 



A KITCHEN GBHDEN SURROUNDED BY 

 FRUIT HOUSES. 



We think it will interest most of our readers to 

 to show them how the English have to raise 

 choice fruit, which we have about us so hberally by 

 open air growth. Tj^eir vegetable gardens are usual- 

 ly surrounded by expensive walls, and on thi.s fnjits 

 are trained so as to get what additional heat the 

 walls may aff'ord to mature the fruits. The vege- 

 table gardens are also protected from winds and 

 trespassers at the same time. The design we now 

 give is intended to enclose a vegetable garden of 

 two acres with fruit houses instead of a mere wall, 

 and the designer Henry Ormison, thus speaks in 

 reference to it : — 



" The proverbial uncertainty of the English cli- 

 mate renders the growth of a supply of fruit for 

 fable (by the old plan on Open Walls), not only 

 vexatiously uncertain and disappointing, but also, 

 from the frequency of failure, anything but econom- 

 ical. By the removal of the duty from glass and 

 other building materials, and the application of first- 

 class steam power to the operation of Horticultural 

 Buildings, horticulture has received an impetus, 

 and the skill of cultivators and builders been set 

 free to devise the means by which (despite the in- 

 clemency of the seasons) a supply of all known fruits 

 may be produced with certainty and economy. 



Now it is getting to be a recognized truth that 

 the finest fruits cannot be raised as regularly and 

 well in open air as is desirable in many families, 

 and that we must give more attention to their arti- 

 ficial production under gjass, and how to do this 

 cheaply becomes a mattei*of some moment." 



The difficulty with us is that no family here has 

 the large " estabhshments " to support an aristo- 

 cratic English family has, and such large hou.^es are 

 not necessary, while the expense of a small place is 

 proportionately larger. In such a plan as the one 

 here given, provision is made, as seen by the refer- 



;? — 



