442 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
!March 18 . ! 
iliMwa when placed at a great distance from tlie glas.s. 
Wlien there is abundance of light, as in tlie large con¬ 
servatory at Regent’s Park, or in a span-roofed house, 
with glass all round as high as the standing position of 
the plants, provided a due portion of fresh air is given, 
the plants will not be at all drawn weak, though placed 
at a considerable distance from the glass. In a house of 
Pelargoniums at the Messrs, Weeks’, the plants must 
have been some four or five feet from the roof, and yet 
it was impossible to find more compact, sturdy, healthy 
little specimens. I n a large, wide house for commercial 
or mere plant-growing purposes in a garden, elevated 
stages are very desirable, as giving space for more plants 
than a flatter stage or platform would do. In the case 
of amateurs, however, and especially of ladies, this ad¬ 
vantage is counteracted by great disadvantages. Only 
think of a lady having to climb and stretch over a lofty 
stage, to get at a desirable plant, and finding that how¬ 
ever difficult the ascent, the descent is still much more 
difficult. Gardening would lose its charm to the half of 
our readers if they could not look at, examine, and 
attend to many of the wants of their floral favourites 
with their own hands. This pleasure will be greatly 
increased, therefore, when all necessary attentions can 
be given without either the assistance of a step ladder, 
or the necessity of getting off the pathway. The best 
must be made of old houses and conveniences, but 
comfort and pleasure, as well as utility, may be thought 
of in new erections. 
I went, lately, to see the stage in a lean to green 
house constructed on the miiltum in parvo principle, 
and certainly it would hold a great many plants, 
from twelve to eighteen inches in height, but how the 
plants were to be got at, without breaking the back 
of the operator, or breaking the roof glass, against 
which it must press, had never entered into considera¬ 
tion. Dmible the money, and more, had been spent, 
than would have been sufficient for a useful stage, 
on which fair-sized jdants from three to four feet in 
height might have been grown. As combining elegance, 
comfort, and future economy in labour, I, therefore, re¬ 
commend for all small houses intended for amateurs, 
low roofs and low platforms to match. Span-roofed 
houses are best for this purpose. A hipped-roof, how¬ 
ever short at the back, is better than a lean-to, and thus 
the roof is kept lower than when all in one slope. For 
instance, here is a space fourteen feet wide to be covered 
by a glass house; there is no objection to have it span- 
roofed. Build a wall all round, except at the doorways, 
three feet in height, and have upright glass for other three 
feet. Let the rafters or sashes meet at the ridge, nine 
feet from the floor; have a two-feet shelf allround; a 
pathway from two-and-a-half to three feet wide all round, 
which will leave from four to five feet for the centre 
platform. The side shelf being two feet nine inches 
from the floor, the platform may be three feet; and 
this may either be a flat sparred table, or be divided into 
three or five shelves, the centre one being, in the case 
of five shelves, a foot or so above the front one on 
either side. More plants will receive greater justice in 
growing than on a level platform. 'J'here will be less 
cost in the level platform, it will be more easily managed 
afterwards, and for anything in the shape of a show 
house, it will be much more elegant, as, provided a row 
of nice stubby jilants are set along each side of it, the 
pots and the bottoms of the plants of the rows behind 
are concealed. For a twelve-feet wide space, the front 
shelf and the paths may be narrower; but for that 
width, and for a space of nine or ten feet wide, it would 
be best to have one pathway in the centre, and a plat¬ 
form on each side. 1 have several times mentioned how 
efficiency and economy may be consulted in forming 
such platforms of earth covered with sand for setting 
the plants on. A description of a house at Hitchen | 
Nursery was lately given, where such an earth j)latform 
was cut out with earth shelves or steps, the highest 
being at the side-walls, and the lowest in the middle , 
next the pathway, and, consequently, the furthest from 
the glass, but there was no drauing there, because, 
though at the greatest distance from the roof, there was . 
also there the greatest amount of light. i 
Messrs. Yextch’s Nursery.—Moore’s Patent Lever 
Glass Ventilator. —This is not the time, even had I 
the means, of giving a description of this celebrated 
Nursery, which is just next door to the Messrs. Weeks. 
To me, and many more, it has old associations. Many ! 
a very clever young man has had selfestimation much | 
reduced by a quiet talk, for five minutes, with the late j 
Mr. Joseph Knight, in the long passage, or corridor, 
that leads from the entrance to the houses and grounds | 
behind. Few men possess the tact that gentleman had i 
for exercising such strict discipline, with such firm quiet¬ 
ness and thorough self-command. As a commercial esta¬ 
blishment, and a school of improvement for gardeners, 
this nursery, under the ownership of the Messrs. Veitch, 
bids fair to rival and distance its former celebrity. The 
development of the bump of order is every where ap¬ 
parent. 'The rows of pots along the platforms are 
regulated to the veriest nicety ; no irregularity, no out- 
juttings, here and there, to offend the eye that delights 
in straight and sweeping lines. Many of us forget how 
these minute matters give pleasure, or jiain, to employers 
of refined taste. Perforated pots are used in the culture i 
of Orchids, and thus all danger of clogged drainage 
avoided. Many of the houses looked gay even at this 
season, with variegated-leaved plants, such as striped 
Pine Apple plants, Caladiums, Draeancis, Crotons, &c. | 
Several of the hardier houses were divided into squares, 
by rows of the Flower of the Day, Golden Chain, and 
other variegated Geraniums, which broke in upon the 
sameness, and produced a pleasing and orderly effect. 
Among hard-wooded plants a level outline was broken 
by a jilentiful use of particular plants, elevated as starers j 
upon pots. At the north end of the nursery two lean-to | 
ridge-and-furrow-roofed houses have been erected, for I 
keeping plants not quite hardy in winter, and growing I 
Vines and other fruit-trees in summer, and no doubt ! 
will answer well; but as the roof is rough sheet, we do 
not see how the ridge-and-furrow would give advantages 
over a roof of the usual sloping kind In a small house, 
I saw hundreds of buds of the Golden Hamburgh Grape 
shooting nicely. Mr. Veitch contemplates having a 
glass colonnade at the entrance. Crystal Palace fashion, 
and connecting the houses in the square with the large 
conservatory at the end of the corridor. The dead wall j 
at the north side is no ornament now. 'Phis con¬ 
servatory, owing to its lofty curvelinear roof, was a great ■ 
thing at one time, when visitors used to mount the stairs, j 
to the path way near the roof, to get close to the im i 
mense festoons of Glyoine sinensis, and look down upon | 
the large specimens of Bhododendron arhoreum in full ; 
bloom. I cannot say that ever I had the pleasure of i 
seeing these fine plants in any thing like perfection, and 
all owing, I believe, to want of sunlight. Lofty as they 
were, they were still a great distance from the lofty roof, 
and, as the walls were opaque to a great height, the light 
from the roof was all the plants could obtain. 8uch 
places do admirably for wintering plants of great size; 
but for getting them to set flower-buds they are only 
just better than the old-fashioned greenhouse with ^ 
opaque roof and windows in front. 
So far as I am aware, ihQ ptatent lerer glass ventilator 
is a novelty, and, if not too expensive as to the patent 
right, would be very neat and desirable when carefully 
managed. Like all good things, it is extremely simple. 
It is here applied to the front upright glass of a house, 
and air is admitted or shut off just as easily' as you 
would open or shut a Venetian blind. The squares of 
