Enclosed Window Gardens. 
109 
be shortened in autumn, and the few rods left must be well ripened by the 
plentiful admission of light and air; and when this is accomplished, the upper 
portion forming the arch of the trellis may be removed, to give full access to 
the winter light, which is, heaven knows, scanty enough in our climate. These 
boxes, if fully exposed to the daylight, may be stocked with choice half-hardy 
plants, which, having the shelter of the room in cold weather, will do as well 
there as in a greenhouse. Against the trellis may be planted a few tender 
climbers, such as you cannot well grow outside, and which are of quick growth 
and light in leafage. In Paris, the common ivy is often grown in this way, 
and is well adapted to the purpose; so also is the Japanese honeysuckle, the 
leaves of which are most beautifully reticulated. We have eaten many a fine 
bunch of grapes grown in this way, but the root was usually outside, and the 
rods brought in and trellised over the window, greenhouse fashion ; and a lovely 
spectacle it makes as we catch the daylight through the emerald green of its 
noble leaves. Indeed, plants seen thus against the light have the most charming 
appearance possible ; every vein and pore is visible as the light streams through 
them, and on the room the light falls beautifully tinted with a soft green, and 
chequered with a thousand interlacing shadows. 
A grand development of the foregoing simple plans is accomplished by the 
construction of a miniature conservatory opening from a large window or a 
pair of glass doors, these being made so as to allow of their removal during 
the summer, when the lintels can be dressed with drapery to give an artistic 
finish to the whole affair. The aspect must determine the selection of plants 
for the purpose. If shady, ferns will thrive if carefully tended. If the aspect 
is due south and the sun plays for many hours with full force upon the glass, 
a number of most noble plants become instantly available, such as agaves, 
aloes, yuccas, bonaparteas, the Tree Houseleek (Sempervivum arboreum ), 
dracaenas, crotons, a number of small succulent plants, of which we may 
take the curious Pachiphyton bracteatu?n as an example. Flowering plants of 
many kinds may of course be used abundantly, but generally speaking it is 
unwise to attempt to keep them in these small structures ; they should be 
brought in when at their best, and be taken back to the frame or greenhouse 
when beginning to wane. To add a fountain is an easy matter, if there is a 
sufficient supply of water from a higher level; and if there is not, a supply 
sufficient for playing the fountain occasionally may be obtained for compara¬ 
tively little expense. A small cistern in one of the upper rooms or outside 
the house should be fixed where it can be conveniently filled as required. A 
