THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October IT. 
now resides. The original sketch was subjected to Sir 
Charles Barry’s inspection, who was much pleased with 
it, and so far complimented Mr. Fleming as to work out 
some of the minor features himself. It is a light and 
very elegant structure. 
Situated near the river, on the site of the present 
structure, was an Orangery, on the old-fashioned, half- 
I dark principle. This being considered too small, from 
the rapid accumulation of many very valuable and 
i interesting plants, it was condemned; and plans, with 
estimates, ranging from four to six thousand pounds, 
from several eminent firms, for the erection of a more 
1 commodious one, was submitted for approbation. These 
being rejected, Mr. Fleming applied himself to a careful 
analysis of the principles set forth as indispensable 
in the formation of the required conservatory, which 
resulted in the erection of the present admired structure, 
at a cost of only JT,500 !* The principles observed in 
the construction of this house being new, it will not be 
irrevalent to our subject if we cursorily enter into a few 
of the details of the building. The outline is a paral¬ 
lelogram, being eighty-nine feet long, and sixty feet 
wide, and the height fourteen feet. To keep the whole 
roof at this height, and which was of course desirable 
for the health of the plants, hollow columns, in five 
lines, eight in each line, were used to support nine 
ridges of glass, the gutters resting on the columns, and 
the rain-water being conveyed through these columns 
to underground-drains immediately beneath them. 
These columns are forty in number, and fourteen inches 
in circumference. The gutters are sufficiently wide to 
allow workmen to walk along them, and in the heaviest 
thunder-storm have always been found adequate to the 
emergency. 
To obtain a thorough ventilation in so extended and 
level a roof was a point which most required study; 
and as nothing of the kind then existed, that Mr. 
Fleming was aware of, to give any idea to work upon, 
his genius soon supplied the desideratum. It occurred 
to him, that, by having the gutters nine inches wide, 
as many of the sashes as might be found desirable 
could be made to slide down so far; and, to balance 
them 'methodically, ornamental baskets, suspended by 
ornamental chains, brought over pulleys fixed under the 
ridge-piece were used. These, arranged in longitudinal 
lines on each side of the paths, have a very graceful 
effect, being mostly filled with trailing plants, which 
blend well with the surrounding foliage. These baskets 
have now been in use at Treutham upwards of ten 
years; and their introduction into the Sydenham 
Palace adds very considerably to the picturesque effect 
of the internal arrangements of the “ plant” department 
of that building. 
In connexion with this Conservatory, the back of 
which forms part of the boundary of the kitchen- 
garden, and continued up the south wall, is a long range 
of glass buildings, known as The Trentham Wall Cases, 
* This Conservatory was erected in the year 1843 ; and Mr. Fleming 
has received the highest praise from Mr. (now Sir) Joseph Paxton, Mr. 
McIntosh, Mr. Marnoch, and others, for this structure, which is allowed 
to be one of the best houses known for the growth of plants. 
for the cultivation of such fruit as Peaches, Apricots, 
Nectarines, &c., which there arrive at the highest per¬ 
fection. The credit of designing and erecting these 
beautiful buildings is entirely due to Mr. Fleming; and 
it is his intention to continue them from the Conser¬ 
vatory and south wall, along the east and north walls, 
to his own house, thereby forming a glass-covered walk 
of an unusual and extraordinary extent. They form 
quite an architectural feature in the garden, and 
may, with propriety, be joined to either conservatory or 
mansion.* 
We now come to Mr. Fleming’s last, and, perhaps, 
most important work,—the cutting of a new channel for 
the river Trent. The original channel passing through 
the lake (consisting of eighty acres) was found to be 
both disagreeable and injurious, in consequence of the 
great amount of mud collected from various sources 
above becoming distributed over the extent of the lake, 
thereby impairing the purity of the water, and, of course, 
adding to the unfavourable state of the atmosphere. 
These, with other considerations, led to the undertaking 
now so ably accomplished, and the lake, entirely fed by 
a beautiful spring of water in “ Spring valley,” adjoin¬ 
ing, is singularly clear and transparent. The new 
channel, running as it were parallel to, and on the 
eastern side of, the lake, was begun in April, 1853, and 
completed, with a rapidity and soundness quite astonish- 
ing, by the following September, at a cost of only 
,£1,500! It is about three-quarter’s-of-a-mile in length, 
the depth varying from five to fourteen feet, and the 
width, at the water line, on the average, fifty feet. 
There is one circumstance attending the execution of 
this design which we feel a pleasure in recalling, as it is 
not only creditable to Mr. Fleming, as a practical man, 
but cannot fail in proving of great interest to a very 
numerous class of our readers. As the new channel 
was intended to pass through a part of the pleasure- 
ground where some very important clumps of choice 
evergreens had recently been planted, and which were 
becoming most interesting objects from several parts of 
the grounds, many were the conjectures as to the effect, 
not only of the now stream, but also of the removal, 
during the summer months, of so many large trees and 
shrubs. The cutting looked formidable indeed for a 
time; but, by the end of July, not only were the trees 
and shrubs luxuriating in new-made clumps, but the 
whole aspect of the work, as far as the grounds ex¬ 
tended, presented the appearance of having been done 
many years. 
This method of giving an aged and natural effect to 
newly-made grounds was, as we before observed, peculiar 
to this place, and consists of the following rules:—As 
soon as the principal plants are in the ground, and all 
finished off, such plants as the Menziesia, the common 
heath, GauUherias, &c., are used to cover the ground 
so entirely, that, by notching them into the grass 
irregularly and at intervals, none but those employed, 
* These buildings are fully explained, with diagrams and other detail, 
illustrative of the principles of ventilation, &c., in McIntosh’s “Book of 
the Garden,” vol. 1, p. 353. 
