16 



PARKS ANB PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



hot- water pipes^ wliicli,, for tlie convenience of tlie walks, 

 must be placed below the floor, with iron gratings above 

 them, to permit the immission of the heat. There is one 

 important advantage in employing a hot- water circula- 

 tion for raising and regulating the temperature, — ^dz., 

 that the furnace by which the heat is supplied does not 

 necessarily require to be close to the Louse, though mi- 

 doubtedly it is the more effective the nearer it is. The 

 boiler may be placed at the distance of more than a hun- 

 dred feet without any material disadvantage, provided the 

 pipes are laid under ground in a dry and double-cased 

 drain, to prevent the escape of heat from the water in its 

 passage to the house. The external appearance of the 

 conservatory, and its effect on the group of buildings 

 composing the mansion-house, require careful and mature 

 consideration. There may be various positions which 

 would suit it perfectly as a receptacle for plants, but in 

 which any of the ordinary forms of glazed houses would 

 have an injurious effect on the structure to which they 

 might be appended. There is a certain amount of in- 

 congruity between almost all the forms alluded to and 

 the architecture of our modem houses. Architects have 

 laboured to overcome this difficulty, and seldom mth 

 much success. Indeed, their efforts have generally 

 resulted in their making the conservatoiy a vegetable 

 dungeon, or perhaps at best something like a Parisian 

 orangery, rather than a lively and genial abode for 

 plants which require, for their healthy and luxuriant 

 development, more light than our cloudy atmosphere 

 and our distance from the equator readily afford. When 

 made an architectural erection, it should be constructed 

 to admit as much light as possible. If this cannot be 

 effected while it is kept in harmony vdth the mansion- 



