November  12,  1903.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
437 
lines  to  mark  prominently  the  location  and  direction  of  the 
water  supply  and  the  drains.  It  may  be  somewhat  difficult  to 
ascertain  exactly  their  whereabouts,  but  there  is  usually  to  be 
found  on  every  place  an  old  hand  who  is  acquainted  with  these 
matters  and  able  to  point  them  out  with  approximate  accuracy, 
and  who  is  often  only  too  eager  to  ventilate  his  knowledge  for 
the  edification  of  his  youngers.  The  direction  of  the  heating 
apparatus  should  also  be  delineated,  the  employment  for  the 
purpose  of  bold  or  faint  lines  representing  its  subterranean 
or  .supei'terrene  portion.  In  addition  to  thus  'enabling  us  to 
have  in  our  possession  some  -  valuable  relics  of  the  place,  we 
shall  have  gained  considerably  by  the  cultivation  of  a  habit  of 
observation,  upon  which  essential  attribute  depends  the  success 
of  a  gardener. 
I  have  treated  at  some  length  of  ground  plans,  but  I  con¬ 
sider  it  no  less  advantageous  to  take  cross  sectional  plans  of  the 
glass  structures,  showing  the  relative  position  of  the  walks, 
.stagings,  hot  water  pipes,  shelves,  wires,  ventilating  gear,  &c. 
Half  an  inch  to  the  foot  is  in  these  , cases  a  useful  scale,  as  it 
facilitates  the  drawing,  and  enables  the  details  to  be  more 
clearly  and  correctly  shown. 
In  the  work  of  measuring  we  sliould  first  line  out  a  level — 
the  path  level  is  usually  convenient — and  having  found  this  the 
whole  width  of  the  house,  the  rest  is  so  simple  that  I  need  not 
dwell  on  it.  With  the  combination  of  sectional  and  ground 
plans  we  can,  by  the  invocation  of  a  few  principles  of  mensura¬ 
tion,  ascertain  with  an  exactitude  equivalent  to  that  which  the 
Ilian  bears  to  the  structure  the  cubical  capacity  of  a  house, 
which  is  so  often  required  when  fumigating;  and  even  by  the 
very  act  of  measuring  we  necessarily  learn  by  observation  many 
points  connected  with  the  construction  of  a  house  which  would 
otherwise  have  escaped  our  attention. 
Returning  to  the  ground  plan,  when  drawn  and  filled  in,  the 
work  of  casting  up  the!  areas  commences;  and  to  aid  in  this  I 
would  advise  the  purchase  of  a  small  handbook  on  mensuration, 
which  may  be  had  for  a  shilling  from  Macmillan  and  Co.  It 
is  well-nigh,  if  not  absolutely,  impossible  to  ascertain  the  exact 
area  of  any  place  having  a  decidedly  irregular  boundary  ;  but 
an  approximate  figure  may  be  obtained  which  is  sufficiently 
accurate  for  all  practical  purposes.  Form  within  the  plan  as 
large  a  (recangular)  parallelogram,  or  series  of  parallelograms, 
as  possible,  and  find  their  area 
\ 
3 
by”  the  multiplication  of  the 
length  by  the  breadth.  Then 
let  the  remaining  part  be 
divided  into  scjuares,  oblongs, 
cr  triangles,  until  the  wholes 
plan  is  covered.  The  area  of 
triangles  is  found  by  the'  mul¬ 
tiplication  of  the  base  by  half 
the  ijerpendicular  height.  The 
area  of  the  whole  plan  may 
then  be  arithmetically  ad¬ 
duced. 
Write  down  neatly  in  a  con¬ 
venient  space  the  area  of  the 
whole  plan,  the  kitchen  gar¬ 
den,  fruit  garden,  lawn,  lake, 
etc.,  also  the  superficial  square 
feet  under  glass  and  under 
other  buildings.  Next  as  to 
the  references.  Each  sepa¬ 
rate  building  and  room  should 
be  alphabetically  marked,  and 
when  the  entire  alphabet  has 
been  absorbed  in  this  w'ay, 
commence  it  anew  with  the 
accompaniment  of  one  of  the 
arabic  figures,  an  index  at  the 
bottom  indicating  the  signifi¬ 
cation  of  each.  Next  show' 
the  direction  of  the  magnetic 
needle,  and  affix  a  few  inches 
of  the  scale,  with  its  eejuiva- 
lent,  in  worcls  beneath.  After 
blacklead  marks  are  rubbed 
off,  and  the  plan  well  cleaned, 
the  only  thing  remaining  to 
be  done  is  to  write  in  clear 
and  bold  characters  the  name 
of  the  place,  and  the  name  of  the  artist  and  the  date  in  smaller 
but  modestly  conspicuous  hieroglyphics. 
Those  wdio  take  this  matter  up  must  expect,  as  I  mentioned 
at  the  commencement,  tO'  find  many  circumstantial  difficulties 
which  they  them-selves  will  best  know  how  to  overcome.  It 
may  be  urged  that  the  head  gardener  or  the  squire  might 
object  to  their  taking  a  plan,  but,  personally,  I  think  few  head 
gardeners  and  few  gentlemen  would  be  so  unreasonable  as  to 
deprive  a  journeyman  of  such  a  useful  and  delightful  pastime, 
provided,  of  course,  he  does  not  make  him.self  obtrusively  con¬ 
spicuous.  Oil  the  contrary,  I  tliiuk  it  will  be  found  that  tho 
’--•f;?*  S' 
majority  of  them  will  bo  prepared  to  assist  such  praisew'orthy 
efforts  on  the  part  of  their  young  men,  for  it  is  certain  to  beget 
a  keen  interest  in  the  place,  which  will,  ipso  facto,  iiroduce 
a  beneficial  effect  on  the  daily  work. 
The  young  gardener  will  experience  no  hindrance  in  survey¬ 
ing  those  parts  of  the  garden  not  overlooked  by  the  hall  windows, 
but  those  parts  falling  under  these  (for  him)  adverse  condi¬ 
tions,  he  should  arrange  to  do  when  the  family  are  away,  so 
that  his  presence  in  the  front  may  not  offend  the  delicate  feel¬ 
ing  of  the  gentry,  or  lay  him  open  to  the  charge  of  posses.sing 
an  inordinate  amount  of  audacity.  In  the  summer  months  he 
can  .surmount  the.se  obstacles  by  shortening  his  stay  with 
Morpheus  and  rising  with  the  sun,  thus  gaining  two  or  three 
hours  each  morning. 
Again,  his  modesty  may  suggest  to  him  that  he  is  utterly 
incapable  of  executing  the  task,  owing  to  his  lack  of  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  sciences  of  surveying,  mensuration,  or  geometry. 
Let  him  not  harbour  the  thought  for  a  moment.  Speaking  for 
myself,  I  had  drawn  the  plan  of  a  garden  twelve  acres  in  extent, 
and  with  an  acre  of  water  on  it,  before  I  had  seen  a  book  or 
even  read  a  short  essay  on  land  surveying;  and  it  was  only 
when  casting  up  the  areas  that  I  speculated  in  a  book  on  men¬ 
suration,  although  it  is  indisputable  that  a  slight  knowledge  of 
these  subjects  will  greatly  simplify  the  task.  I  merely  mention 
this  personal  fact  to  show  that  a  deep  and  intricate  knowledge 
is  not  essential  in  justifying  our  making  a  start,  for  the  work 
forms  a  lesson  in  itself,  and  our  interest  once  aroused,  we  will 
follow  up  the  subject  by  a  happy  blending  together  of  theoi-y 
and  practice. 
In  the  act  of  surveying  itself  it  is  a  great  saving  of  time 
and  a  less  strain  on  our  patience  to  obtain  the  assistance  of  a 
friend,  e.specially  when  the  tape  is  in  use  ;  but  this  will  greatly 
tax  his  friendship  if  he  is  not  interested  in  the  work,  and  if 
he  is,  he  will  probably  expect  to  share  in  the  honours  of 
success,  which  it  is  but  natural  to  suppose  the  drawer  of  the 
plan  would  prefer  to  appi'opriate  entirely  to  himself.  So  that, 
all  things  considered,  even  though  more  tedious,  it  will  be  in 
the  end  more  productive  of  honest  pridei  and  unalloyed  satis¬ 
faction  to  dispense  with  any  extraneous  assistance ;  and  should 
the  drawer  be  at  a  loss  to  know  how  he  is  to  manipulate  his 
tape,  I  would  suggest  that  a  peg  or  a  brick  be  used  to  keep  one 
end  in  po.sition  while  he  ex¬ 
tends  it  tO‘  its  length. 
The  best  time  for  doing  all 
this  is  undoubtedl.v  during 
the  lighter  part  of  the  year, 
say,  from  April  to  October ; 
and  although  these  limits 
may  seem  to  enclose  an  all- 
.sufficient  space  of  time,  I  can 
assure  my  readers  that  if  the 
place  they  intend  to  map 
\  out  be  of  any  large  extent, 
and  very  irregular,  they  will 
find  that  no  time  must  be 
lost  to  complete  it  within 
thoso  limits.  I  have  myself 
been  engaged  on  a  plan  for 
seven  months,  working  at  it 
an  average  of  five  nights  a 
week,  in  addition  to  stopping 
up  often  till  midnight,  rising 
with  the  sun,  and  employing 
part  of  the  dinner  hour ;  and 
I  wish  I  could  say  all  my 
spare  time  had  been  so  pro¬ 
fitably  and  pleasantly  spent. 
Young  men  in  lodgings  will 
perhaps  bo  confronted  with 
obstacles  which  they  only 
can  judge  whether  insuper¬ 
able  ;  whilst  he  who  enjoys 
the  freedom  of  a  bothy  will 
without  doubt  be  able  to 
prevail  on  his  comrades  to 
allow  him  sufficient  room  and 
licence,  and  it  certainly  must 
be  a  peculiar  bothy  where  the 
work  could  not  possibly  be 
done,  though  I  acknowledge 
the  same  cannot  by  any  means  bo  so  universally  applied  to 
lodgings. 
In  conclusion,  lot  me  strenuously  urge  all  who  feel  the 
elements  of  art  within  them — and  I  am  led  to  believe  that  a 
love  of  drawing  is  an  inboi-n  quality  in  all  which  needs  but 
developing — to  profit  by  the  words  I  have  addressed  to  them, 
and  prepare  for  artistic  and  metrical  operations  in  the  spring; 
and  if  but  one  reader  can,  on  reading  this  essay,  .say  with 
Milton,  “Greatly  instructed,  I  shall  hence  depart,”  then  shall 
I  have  gained  some  satisfaction  in  bringing  the  subject  to 
notice. — Wm.  Rowles,  Eccles. 
A  ( 
s 
Laelio-Cattleya  Norma  superba. 
