To return to our plan (fig. 50), each boose consists of a vestibule (d), ball and staircase (e), dining-room (f), and drawn ing-room (g), communicating with the conservatory (c). In the garden at h, are shown flower-beds on each side of the entrance-walk; and these, to harmonise with the green house, may be symmetrically planted, the two central circles with fuchsias; the two beds i i with variegated pelargoniums (geraniums); and the remaining four beds with scarlet pelargoniums. These will continue in bloom during the whole summer; and, in order that the beds may not every year present the same appearance, heliotropes, rose-scented pelargoniums, celsias, and calceolarias may be employed in succession; or, instead of these kinds planted in the free ground, the green-house plants may be plunged in the beds in their pots; being symmetrically arranged with regard to size and foliage, so as still to maintain the rule laid down in p. 57; viz. that symmetry of form in the beds requires symmetry in the form, colour, or arrangement, of the plants. It would, for example, be contrary to symmetry of arrangement, to plant two of these beds with green-house plants, and two with the common hardy kinds; though, by choosing plants of the same size, symmetry of form might be produced.

If it were desired still further to vary these beds, they might be planted, for a year or two, with roses; a standard rose being placed in the central bed, surrounded by mignonette, and dwarf roses planted in the other beds; or the centre bed might be occupied by climbing roses trained over a cone formed by a framework of rods; or there might be an arch of iron rods thrown from one central bed to the other, across the walk, and covered with climbing roses, or with a cobcea, or some other ornamental climber. The beds may be edged with wire-work, to which mignonette may be trained; or with ivy, trained to an iron rod raised 6 in. above the surface; or they may be bordered with any very low-growing evergreen shrub, such as the evergreen iberis, thyme, etc.; or they may be edged with tiles or slates, or with cast-iron or woodea edgings. In short, these beds may be planted and edged in a different manner every year,, during the whole period of a lease; and, in addition to the summer planting, they may be filled every autumn with bulbs, so as to produce a brilliant show in early spring.

183. In the back garden, the borders may be planted with a mixtnre of China roses, or of rhododendrons and azaleas, selected so as to present a bloom from April to August; with some clethras and Ceanothus azureus, to continue to bloom till November; or they may be planted with a mixture of herbaceous plants and bulbs, so selected as to present some species in flower during every floral month in the year. Against the basement wall of the green-house, in this design, chrysanthemums may be planted, and carefully trained; in which situation they will flower beautifully: and against the lower part of the house Cydonia japonica may be planted, which, in that situation, would flower throughout the winter; while, in such other parts as did not interfere with the windows, Lonfcera japonica, Jasminum officinale, climbing roses, and other ornamental flowering creepers, might be planted,, for their show and their fragrance. In the green-house, there ought to be vines or creepers trained on the piers between the windows, and under the rafters; and, in summer, when the plants in pots are taken out of the greenhouse, these creepers ought to be removed from the piers and rafters, and trained over the windows and sashes, so as' to produce a sufficient degree of shade to admit of the interior being used as a sitting-room for the ladies in the morning, or as a banqueting-room for taking the dessert in after dinner, or as a room for taking tea in in the evening.

The green-house may be heated in various ways, and, among others, by a ire-place or stove at the end, as shown in the plan at l; but, if only the more hardy green-house plants are grown, such as camellias against the wall, and heaths and Australian plants in pots, no other heating need be required than what may be given every night after the family go to bed, by leaving open the glass door communicating with the living-room, a fire being supposed to have been kept in that room during the day. The warm air from the living-room will raise the temperature of the green-house at least above the freezing point; and some degrees higher even in the most severe weather, provided the sashes and windows of the green-house fit tightly. It would be easy to heat this green-house in a most effectual manner, from the kitchen fire, or the parlour fire, by pipes of hot water; but the tendency of contrivances of this kind, after two or three years' use, to go out of order, renders us reluctant to recommend them if they can be avoided.

Underneath the green-house, on the basement floor of the house, there may be a coal or beer cellar.

The part of the back garden which is not seen may be either wholly devoted to ornamental trees and flowers, on a lawn connected with that shown in the figure; or separated from it by a border of evergreens, and cropped with culinary vegetables. In either ease, a portion of ground at the bottom of the garden must be fenced off as a reserve garden, in which there must be a pit or a hot-bed, to keep up the supply of young plants for the green-house, and for the beds at h; unless the cheaper mode is adopted, of having this done by contract with a commercial gardener.

Expense And Management

The gardens to these two houses might be laid out and planted for from 30l. to 60l. each, according to the kind of trees selected, exclusive of the reserve gardens, the green-houses, and the gravel-ing or paving of the walks. From their being flower-beds, if the occupiers of the houses or their servants were not attached to gardening, the assistance of a man for each garden might be required, on an average, one day in a week throughout the year; which, with the requisite seeds, plants, etc,might bring the yearly expense of management to about 102. This is supposing that the watering, and other attendance required by the plants in the conser-vaiory, were chiefly done by some part of the family.

Remarks

These gardens are particularly well calculated for amateurs who are fond of performing the operations of gardening themselves; because there is no heavy, dirty, or disagreeable work required in them, and because the green-houses would afford recreation during winter.