347 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Majjch 6, 1860. 
both flues. For neatness, and also ultimate economy in heat, we 
prefer using two more tiles, one on each side, one side of these 
extra tiles resting on the bricks that form the sides of the flues, 
and the other side on earth or sand, rammed at the level of the 
floor. With the exception of the resting-points, the space 
beneath these extra tiles should be as hollow as possible, so that 
the heat that escapes from the sides of the flue may rise freely. 
Such a flue round the ends and front of such a house would be 
sufficient, especially if an inch or two wider; but I make a 
double flue in the present case, because it would not do to have 
anything like a chimney near the breakfast-room window. A 
two-foot pathway cbuld be made by using two one-foot square 
tiles, and the flues might then be six inches wide. One flue of 
such width would be the cheapest and neatest mode of heating 
such small houses, where it was not convenient to take pipes 
from a kitchen boiler The modes of doing the latter have fre¬ 
quently been referred to. Without something of this sort is done, 
1 prophesy that the conservatory will be a disappointment. You 
would see lately how admirably a lady manages her small green¬ 
house. 
Now, to the conservatory, or rather greenhouse, as the latter 
term is given to houses in which the plants are moveable. I 
have no objection at all to the width of- eight feet. I leave you 
to settle the height, only I would stipulate that the height at the 
back wall should be two feet above the front wall plate. Let me 
say that the height of the front is 6 feet 3 inches, and back 8 feet 
3 inches, adding three inches respectively, if you can rise that 
height without interfering with windows, &c., on that side of the 
mansion. The half of that height in front, at least, should be 
glass ; it will be better if two thirds are glass. The front wall 
and end walls might, therefore, be 27 inches or 30 inches in 
height; the ends above that all glass and fixed ; the end next 
the kitchen window being rough glass, so as not to be seen 
through, if deemed advisable, though the plants will not be a bit 
the yvorse though all the household have the pleasure of seeing 
them. Similar glass may be used for the other end and front, 
if privacy is an object; but I would prefer the front to be of crown 
glass. The ends being fixed, I would prefer the front to consist 
of four sashes moveable, one on the east side of the doorway, 
and three on the west side. Being hinged at the top to the wall 
plate and opened and shut at bottom by a short flat iron-bar 
pierced with holes an inch apart, these holes fitting an upright 
stud of iron fixed inside of the sill, so that a small quantity, or 
a good deal of air may be given as desirable. If four openings 
were left in the front wall furnished with slides, each—say 9 inches 
wide by 15 inches in length, the front lights also might all be 
fixed. The roof we would have all fixed. The strong sash-bars, 
2 inches by 3 inches, being fixed to a stout ridge-board against 
the house at one end, and to the wall-plate at the other. These, if 
placed 12 or 15 inches apart will carry glass sixteen ounces to the 
foot. To avoid all trouble in shading, I would use for the roof 
Hartley’s rough sheet. For top ventilating I would use four or 
five openings each of a length equal to a space between two bars, 
according as the width between the bars was fifteen inches or 
twelve inches. In each of these I would have a little sash of 
one square made to swing between these openings on pivots. For 
that length, therefore, I would screw on an additional one inch 
and a half to the top of the rafter, and on that I would hang 
the little ventilator. Of course, the top and the bottom ends 
would also require to be of the same height, and a groove cut in 
the latter would prevent any rain from lashing in. If the pivots 
are placed six or seven inches from the upper end of the venti¬ 
lator, and a string fastened to the centre of the upper end, the 
pulling the string will open the ventilator, and fastening it will 
keep it open, and when set loose the extra weight at the lower 
end will cause it to shut of itself. The lead flushing will make 
all right at top. 
Now for internal arrangement. Whether the windows in the 
breakfast-room and small room are turned into glass doorways or 
not, I would have a pathway in the plant-house opposite these 
and along the front, with a shelf or narrow stage all round next 
the glass, and at a level three inches or so below the base of the 
glass. Suppose that shelf was fifteen or eighteen inches wide, it 
would have a fine effect from either window ; and suppose that 
the pathway was 2 feet 9 inches wide, you would have a platform 
or stage in the centre 4 feet wide, or 3 feet 9 inches by 10 feet, 
or 9 feet 6 inches in length. The front of this platform, if formed 
into a stage, should be about three or four inches higher than the 
front shelf. The width of that shelf, the width of the pathway, 
&e., must be a matter of convenience. If tallish plants are to be 
grown, a level platform at the back would be the best, and it 
would be easy to raise particular plants on pots; but if it be 
desirable to grow nice bushy plants—say Geraniums, and of no 
great height, then it would be desirable to have three or four 
shelves one above each other. Even in that case the lower one 
should be about the same width as the front shelf, in order to 
look best from the breakfast-window. I regret it has taken so 
much space to say this, for I imagined I could have said it all in 
a few lines. In conclusion, I would urge the importance of 
keeping frost out by some means if you would enjoy the outlay 
for the plant-house. I would much sooner have an iron stove 
inside, with a pipe going out at the kitchen-window corner, than 
trust to safety by continually moving the plants. R. Fish. 
TROPICAL-LOOKING GARDEN. 
Doubtless, many others as well as myself, have been charmed 
by your accounts of “ tropical gardens ” in summer; but the 
winter shelter of many is no better than my own, and, perhaps, 
answers to the following difficulties might be useful to many in 
my predicament. Would an assortment of southern-looking 
plants be suitable in the position I am thinking of placing them 
in? My garden contains a small terrace (with vases on the 
boundaries), on which the windows of the house look ; beneath 
the terrace a wider lawn slopes rather steeply southwards, and at 
the foot is a slow stream, in some places twelve or sixteen feet 
wide, all in view of the windows. On the opposite side of the 
water there is a low, steep bank, in two places faced with rock- 
work, with Ferns interspersed (three fine plants of Osmunda 
among others), which bank faces northwards, of course, and her* 
and there runs into level sward; beyond is a path, a few shrubs, 
and then a grass field. It is along the sides of this stream 
think of placing the “ tropical garden.” 
The only winter shelter I have consists of a light room in 
doors, and two cold Cucumber-frames; but these in this climate 
(a few miles south of the Bristol Channel) suffice to preserve the 
usual bedding plants, Geraniums, Verbenas, &c., and with the 
help of a hotbed in March, to raise tender annuals. Now, 
what can I grow of tropical-looking plants under these circum¬ 
stances? I think the foreground of terrace garden and vases 
would suit with the southern-like plants behind ?— Cactus. 
[These exotic plants will not do under your circumstances, nor 
even with a common greenhouse. You must rely on such seeds 
as Messrs. Carter & Co. advertise for that very purpose, and get 
them up in the hotbed ; but you have a splendid plage for them 
down next the water, not up about the terrace garden*] 
DECAY OF THE YOUNG ROOTS OF 
FRUIT TREES. 
My friend, D. Beaton, has written a very long article, and 
has brought out some “ auld warld tales ” about potting expe¬ 
riments and potting lectures. I remember Mr. Mackay very 
well; he conducted the Clapton Nursery for Mr. Henchman, 
who first established it, and was superseded by Mr. Low. Now, 
I dare say ‘Mackay would give a very pleasant potting lecture, 
for he was a lively “jolly” sort of fellow ; but he was not the 
man to make many experiments, being too heavily engaged. 
I have no wish to enter into any controversy, and, above all 
things, I wish to avoid a waste of words, so I can only tell what 
I have seen, and what I fully believe. 
I have seeu the young roots of the preceding summer’s growth 
on Peach trees, Apricots, Plums, Pears, Cherries, and Vines 
begin to decay before the leaves have changed colour, and while 
the earth was moist, early in October; I have seen this (i.e., if 
I may believe the evidence of my senses) for seven consecutive 
years. I say this in reply to the following quotation (page 313) 
from my friend D. Beaton: —“ A Fuchsia will keep its. roots as 
fresh as new-laid eggs as long as you keep watering the pot; 
so will a Vine, a Peach, or any fruit tree whatever.” 
The last paragraph in our friend’s article I fear I do not 
comprehend. Age certainly brings on dullness. I must again 
give a quotation:—“ But roots, in well-conditioned soil, when 
made in the absence of leaves, never die, or not till the whole 
plant above them and older roots behind them perish.” I fear 
I do not understand this sentence. I only know a fact that has 
for some years come under my notice. In a distant part of one 
of my nurseries, the substratum of which is a hard calcareous 
clay, Apple trees make a most luxuriant growth for a few years. 
