THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 5, 1860. 
119 
times, be considerable. Do you flunk a waterproof covering for 
six months in the year would be likely to remedy the evil ?— 
Carolus. 
[See the article now publishing by us on “ Points of Vine 
Culture.” Under the circumstances, we should judge your Vines 
are suffering from want of strength, or of reciprocal action 
between the roots and tops. We do not see how the position of 
the flue could give you too much moisture. Properly managed, 
we consider it a groat advantage for moderately exciting the 
roots ; but of course a little protection on the surface of the 
border would be necessary, and a waterproofed covering would 
be extra desirable. In your case care should be taken that the 
sod next the flue does not get too dry. If there were no covering, 
we should expect the roots, if near the surface, to suffer from the 
early frost last winter; but all may be made right this summer.] 
CONSTRUCTING A CONSERVATORY AT THE 
END OF A HOUSE. 
I have just had erected a villa, and am anxious to have a 
small conservatory or greenhouso at the side of it. The only 
space I have to erect one is about 16 feet by 12 or 14 feet, nearly 
facing the north, and would be entered from the drawing-room 
floor. I do not know what roof, whether a span or lean-to, would 
be best; the latter would be, of course, the cheapest, but the 
price would not bo any objection. Or would a ridge and furrow 
roof be the best for growing the usual favourite conservatory 
plants—as Roses, Geraniums, Fuchsias, &c. ? And should the 
roof run parallel to the roof of the dwelling-house, thereby 
securing a fuller frontage of glass to the south-east ? Or have 
the roof at a right angle to the liouse-roof when it would face the 
side high wall of the next villa, which is north of it? May I 
beg you also to inform me what is the simplest and most econo¬ 
mical means of heating such a structure merely at a genial 
cummer heat ? as I shall not attempt to cultivate any plants 
which require much heat or are tender to rear. Would, also, a 
Vine planted outside, and brought inside, do any harm to such 
flowers, and what variety would bo the most suitable in such a 
place? I thought that the foliage of a Vine during the hot 
summer months would act better than blinds in shading the 
plants from the rays of the sun. Lastly, is Hartley’s rough plate 
16-oz. glass the best to use for glazing ? —Flora. 
[We should prefer a span-roofed house, und the ridge to run 
the same as the ridge of the mansion ; the sides will then face 
the south-east and north-west. This is so far as wo understand 
it. Hartley’s patent we would uso for the roof, and British 
plate for the sides ; these sides to be 6 feet high, half at least 
glass. Height at ridge 10 feet or so. If the plants are below 
the eye of the spectator in the drawing-room, they would be 
most effective from that point. Heat from kitchen boiler, if 
convenient; or if convenient by a flue beneath the pathway ; or 
by a portable iron stove with a metal chimney through the roof, 
to be used as needed from November to April. Vines will do 
no harm if the stems are some 5 feet or 6 feet apart; if nearer 
they will shade too much in summer. We should plant a Black 
Hamburgh and a Black Champion. The price of the conserva¬ 
tory would be regulated by whether mere utility, or neatness and 
elegance entered into consideration.] 
NEW BOOKS. 
A House tor tiie Suburbs.* —Mr. Morris says that an 
architect, “in his specification of materials and detail,” is bound 
to arrange “a place for everything, and everything in its place 
but we fear that no one who has dared to erect a house and then 
tried to let it, has ever found that the architect did as Mr. Morris 
says he is bound to do. 
A friend, who had ventured to build himself a residence, was 
so deluded as to conceive that it was fraught with comfort; but 
events occurring inducing him to seek for it a tenant, then ho 
found how much he had been self-deceived. He made a note of 
the various defects pointed out by those who came to view it; 
and though in some degree anomalous, they will serve to show 
that Mr. Morris undertakes no easy task when he says that he 
is bound to find a place for everything. 
* A House for the Suburbs, Socially anil Architecturally Sketched, Ey 
Thomas Morris. London : Simpkin & Marshall. 
“ 1. No recesses for couches—cliimnies being outside. 
“ 2. No closets in either dining or breakfast-room. 
“ 3. Staircase too grand ; space sacrificed to show. 
“4. Doors in corners of the rooms;—no corners for furniture. 
“ 5. Door in centre of side of dining-room—no place for side¬ 
board. 
“ 6. Only two floors—upper floor too cold in winter, and too 
hot in summer! 
“ 7. Being on high ground, would have been less exposed if 
all on one floor !! 
“8. Windows too large — cheerful but chilling. 
“ 9. House facing the south—one side always too sunny, and 
its opposite always cold and damp.” 
Some of these house-searchers wanted more stabling; others 
complained that the servants’ rooms wore defective; a third set 
objected to the breakfast-room being connected by folding doors 
with the drawing-room; a fourth that the dining-room was too 
near the kitchen; a fifth that the mosaic pavement of the hall 
was slippery ; a sixth—but we have copied enough to justify our 
friend in Ins warning to us, “ If you want to know how badly 
arranged is your house—try to let it!” 
Now, as our friend had employed an architect, we commenced 
reading Mr. Morris’s handsomely-bound, well-printed, and stout- 
papered volume, with some misgiving that he would not succeed 
in convincing us that he had found a proper place for everything, 
and had put everything in its proper place ; but as we proceeded 
in our perusal we gradually relaxed our brow, and concluded by 
thinking that if wo ever endeavoured to work out domestic com¬ 
forts in bricks and mortar, we should have no objection to have 
Mr. Morris to guide our plans and regulate our expenditure. 
As an example of Mr. Morris’s powers, we extract from his 
volume the following description andplauof a detached suburban 
residence and grounds. 
“ The public road is on the south; the enclosure, a simple wall 
without ornament or opening except at the entrance, which is 
marked by bold piers. Carriage and foot gates are supported by 
strong oak posts with moulded terminations ; for it is an error to 
hang gates, though small, to piers of brick or stone, however 
large, for the jar is sure to fracture and destroy the rigid and 
unresilient mass. The drive conducts you to the house (1), 
whose entrance is marked by- the external lamp (9), and then 
goes on to the stable (2), and kitchen-court (11), by the turn 
necessitated by the elevated mound which at once conceals some 
inferior depositories, and supplies dry slopes for sweet-scented 
herbs, as well as lofty trees screening, perhaps, some undesired 
object beyond, and taking advantage of that pleasure to be ob¬ 
tained by changing levels as well as by varying directions. The 
shrubs by which this drive is hedged are mostly evergreen, and 
dense enough to preclude an oversight of the adjacent space. 
“The house-door, it will be noticed, is on the east; and the 
vestibule, hall, study, and dining-room, are the only family 
apartments on the ground story—an arrangement by which the 
plan is kept within moderate bounds, and the drawing-room is 
increased in importance by the ornamental character of the stair¬ 
case by which it is approached, a more ample view is obtained, 
and the golden rays of the evening sun are felt till they sink into 
the deep absorbing grey of night. 
“ You pass no other room to arrive at this, but a gallery leads 
to bed-chambers on the same level. There are no rooms above ; 
and, as there is no basement or underground story, an inquiry 
may arise as to where the servants’ bedrooms are. They are 
neither on the ground or one-pair, but between, in a mezzanine 
entresol, or half-storg, as commonly adopted on the Continent, 
and obtained by giving only the necessary height to larders and 
the smaller offices ; but the kitchen is, as it ought to be, a lofty 
apartment. 
“ The windows of the dining-room open upon a terrace (8), 
flanked by the conservatory (3), and ornamented with vases of 
suitable plants. From this terrace a few steps lead down to the 
flower garden (7), and the lawns (5), which are also edged with 
beds of bulbous or other flowering roots; the verge is dotted 
with Boses and other deciduous standards, selected chiefly to 
please the eye, but not always rejected because they bear some¬ 
thing ultimately beneficial. 
“ On the northern lawn stands a forest Elm, under the grateful 
shade of which the summer air is breathed with sensuous delight. 
Mounds again afford shelter ; and, though out of sight, not 
wholly out of mind, there is the little kitchen garden. System, 
however, is seldom more serviceable than in horticulture. An 
experienced nurseryman once told me that he could make a 
