The villa gardener; comprising the choice of a suburban villa residence; the laying out, planting, and culture of the garden and grounds; and the management of the villa farm, including the dairy and poultry-yard. Adapted, in extent, for grounds from one perch to fifty acres and upwards, and intended for the instruction of those who know little of gardening and rural affairs, and more particularly for the use of ladies ..

Front matter

I

LOUDON’S

VILLA

Preface

It was my late Husband’s intention, had he lived to prepare a new Edition of his Suburban Gardener , to alter the work considerably ; by omitting a portion of the Suburban Gardens, and inserting more descriptions of Villas ; and, for this purpose, he had Engravings made of several Villas, which he inserted first in the Gardener's Magazine.

In preparing the present Edition, I have acted up to Mr. Loudon’s intentions as closely as I could, — the principal change which I have made being in the name, which I have altered to The Villa Gardener, as being more suitable to the work in its present form. I have also added numerous Designs for Plant-houses, made expressly for this work, by Mr. Francis Rauch, and a copious Index ; and I have given the names of New Plants, and details respecting New Improvements in Gardening, so as to bring the work down to the present time.

J. W. LOUDON.

Bays water, August , 1850.

.

r 4

.

Section II. — Designs for laying out and planting the Gardens of Suburban Villa Residences from one perch to two acres in extent . 60

Subsect. 1. — Suburban Villa Gardens, in which economy is the

principal object in view . 62

Subsect. 2. — Suburban Villa Gardens, in which profit is the prin ¬ cipal object in view . 71

Subsect. 3. — Suburban Villa Gardens, where the principal object

is ornamental display . 92

Subsect. 4. — Culture of Suburban Villa Gardens . 145

Subsect. 5. — Renovation of Suburban Villa Gardens . 150

Subsect. 6. — The Garden Tools required in a Suburban Villa

Garden . 155

VI 11

CONTENTS.

Chapter II. Page

Section I. — General Observations on Country Villas . 156

Section II. — Designs for Country Villa Gardens; with their planting,

culture, and renovation . 225

Subsect. 1. — Small Country Villas . 225

Subsect. 2. — Culture of Small Country Villa Gardens . 255

Subsect. 3. — Renovation of Small Country Villa Gardens . . . 255 Subsect. 4. — General Observations on Laying out, Planting, and

Managing Large Country Villa Gardens . 259

Subsect. 5. — The Culture and Management of Large Country Villa

Gardens . 338

Subsect. 6. — Renovation of Large Country Villa Gardens . . . 340

Book IV

Lists of Ornamental Plants suitable to Villa Gardens, with their culture . 497

Section I. — Herbaceous Plants . . .... 497

Subsect. 1. — Ornamental Annuals . 497

Subsect. 2. — Ornamental Biennials and Perennials . 502

Subsect. 3 — Ornamental Bulbs and Tubers . 505

Index . 510

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS,

ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE SUBJECTS.

Diagrams , Sections , and Miscellaneous Subjects.

do. Brugmansia suaveolens ( Datura

arbbrea) . 125

22. Clothes-posts, sockets for . . 54

23. Clothes-post . . . 54

53. Diagram of a bed with raised

brickwork for planting out green-house plants .... 124

80. Diagram of a curved walk . . 164

1. Diagram of a window ... 17

95. Diagram of a piece of artificial

rockwork . 185

40. Diagram oflightiron rods for peas 89

19. Diagram of trees arranged in a

gardenesque manner ... 38

20. Diagram of trees arranged in a

picturesque manner ... 39

9. Diagram of trees properly

grouped . 24

18. Diagram showing how to lay

out walks . 32

235. Diagram showing how to plant

an approach- road .... 380 86. Diagram showing how to plant

a ravine . 173

81. Diagram showing the direction

of approach-roads .... 166

21. Diagram showing the direction

of streets . 46

237. Diagram showing the effects of

the sea-breeze on trees . . 381 138. Diagram showing the height which a terrace-walk should be above the level of the

173. Diagram showing the mode of

arranging fields with a house 279 8. Diagram showing why trees do

not group well . 23

82 to 85. Diagrams illustrative of a regular system of arranging

trees in groups . 172

4 to 7. Diagrams of flower-beds . . 22

116 to 119. Diagrams of ground to

be laid out as a villa . 204 to 207 76 to 79. Diagrams of drains for

10, 11. Diagrams of lawns with

flower-beds . 24, 25

60, 61. Diagrams of plantations

against a boundary-fence . . 131

14, 15. Diagrams of slopes ... 27

2, 3. Diagrams of walks .... 21

126, 127. Diagrams showing the dis¬ tances at -which trees should

be planted . 218, 219

214,215. Diagrams showing the mode

of placing the domestic offices 348 282 to 285. Diagrams showing the mode of planting the beds of a geometrical flower-garden 413,414 67 to 72. Diagrams showing the mode

of planting trees . . . 153r 154

153 to 156. Diagrams showing the

mode of staking trees . . . 267

329. Elevation of a conservative wall 466

254. Elevation of a rustic summer¬ house . 397

105. Fields to be laid out as a villa

residence . 199

301 to 304. Geometrical sections and bird’s-eye views of particular portions of the grounds at Wimbledon House . . 428 to 431

106. Ground divided into squares

for laying out . 200

213. Ground-plan of a bath-room . 346

330. Ground-plan of a conservative

wall . 467

220. Ground-plan of an ice-house . 371 253. Ground-plan of a rustic sum¬ mer-house . 396

75. Horizontal section of a water

trap . 161

152. Label for naming trees . . „ 266

252. Mode of arranging the side

panels of a moss-house . . . 396

120 Offices, how to connect the, with

the house . 208

250. Plan of the ceiling of a moss-

house . 394

243. Seats covered from the rain . 389 216. Sectional plan of a stable , . 349

b

X

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.

180, 181. Sectional views of the lawn

at Fairfield Cot . 296

183, 184. Sectional views of the pleasure-grounds at Fairfield Cot ...... . 298, 299

219. Section of an ice-house . . . 371

73. Section of a trap to prevent the

ascent of smells . 161

54. Section of raised brickwork . 124

58. Section of the declivity of a

street . 129

65. Section of trellises and a dwarf

wall . 138

322 to 325. Sections and sectional views of the grounds at Ken¬ wood . 457, 458

331, 332. Sections of a conservative

wall . 467

247, 248. Sections of a moss-house . 392 24 to 30. Sections of flower-beds . 58

12, 13. Sections of ground sloping

from a house . 26

249. Sketch of one of the sides of a

moss-house . 393

212. Spades for making drains . . 344

36, 37. Training trees, two modes of 84 147 to 151. Tree guards . . 265, 266

157 to 159. Trees, modes of securing

them from the wind . . . 268

74. Vertical section of a water- trap 161 298, 299. Water, mode of arranging

424, 425

90, 91. Wirework edgings . 180, 181

Entrance Lodges and Gates.

227. Entrance-gate pier .... 376 221 to 224. Entrance-gates . 374, 375

190. Entrance-lodge and gates at

Redleaf . 307

Entrance-lodges, 375 to 379, and 381 228, 230, 233, 234. Ground plans of

entrance-lodges . . . 377 to 379

Fountains.

122. Drooping fountain .... 210 I 266 to 277. Fountains of various

Ground Plans of Villas , Plans of Flower-gardens , Kitchen-gardens , fyc.

281. Geometrical flower-garden . . 412 59. Ground plan of a detached villa 130 103. Ground plan of a fishing-house 195 246. Ground plan of a moss-house

and portico . 391

128. Ground plan of a small country

villa . . 226

17. Ground plan of a small subur¬ ban house with the pleasure-

grounds . . . 31

315. Ground plan of a villa laid out

in the geometrical style . . 449

177. Ground plan of a villa of four

acres . 286

134. Ground plan of a villa of four

acres, with a regular outline 235

178. Ground plan of a villa of seven

132. Ground plan of a villa of three acres and a half, on a level

surface . 232

130. Ground plan of a villa of three

acres in extent . 229

160. Ground plan of Mrs. Law¬ rence’s villa at Drayton Green 269 278. Ground plan of pleasure-

grounds at Bagshot .... 409 204, 205. Ground plan of the build¬ ings and grounds of Dunchurch Vicarage . . . 324, 325

305. Ground plan of the farm-yard, poultry-yard, &c., at Wimble¬ don House . 432

307. Ground plan of the flower-gar¬ den and the kitchen-garden at Wimbledon House . . 434, 435

182. Ground plan of the grounds at

Fairfield Cot . 297

175. Ground plan of the house and

flower-garden at Fortis Green 282 310. Ground plan of the principal floor of Wimbledon House and the domestic offices . . 438

179. Kitchen garden of an acre and

a half in extent . 294

43. Plan for making two houses

look like one . 104

50. Plan of a double suburban villa 117 56. Plan of a double suburban villa 126 63. Plan of a double villa in Por-

chester-terrace, Bayswater . 135 280. Plan of a Dutch garden . . . 410

52. Plan of a flower-garden for

florists’ flowers . 124

51. Plan of a flower-garden for

villas . 122

49. Plan of a house and garden with a greenhouse projecting from the living-room . . . 116

31. Plan of a plot of ground with a

house and garden .... 62

34. Plan of a street-house-garden

for fruit and vegetables . . 71

32. Plan of a suburban street resi¬

dence . 66

33. Plan of a suburban villa ... 67

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.

XI

314. Plan of a villa in the geome¬ trical style, of from fifty to a hundred acres in extent . . 447 169. Plan of the court of offices at Mrs. Lawrence’s villa at Dray-

ton-green . 274

146. Plan of the flower-garden at

Bedford Lodge . 251

142. Plan of the grounds at Bedford

Lodge, Campden Hill . . . 247 171, 172. Plan of the grounds at

Fortis Green .... 276, 277 196. Plan of the grounds at Hoole

House, near Chester . . . 316

321. Plan of the grounds at Kenwood 456

188, 189. Plan of the grounds atRed-

leaf after the alterations 304, 305 186, 187. Plan of the grounds at Redleaf before the alterations

302 303

300. Plan of the grounds at Wim¬ bledon House .... 426, 427 140. Plan of the grounds of Chester

Holme Cottage . 245

208. Plan of the house and grounds

at Hendon Rectory .... 329 170. Plan of the kitchen-garden, gardener’s house, &c.,atMrs.

Lawrence’s villa at Drayton

Green . 275

191. Plan of the lawn and flower-

garden at Redleaf .... 308 35. Plan of two suburban villas with gardens for fruit and

vegetables . 82

125. Plan showing the distribution of trees and shrubs over the grounds of a country villa . 216

41. Plans for flower-gardens . . 93

291 to 293. Plans of kitchen-gardens

38, 39. Plans of plain flower-gardens 84 47, 48. Plans of strips of ground

laid out as flower-gardens . 114

45. Plans of two small houses and

gardens . 109

42. Working plan of a suburban

residence . 96, 97

Plant-houses and their details.

351, 352. Apparatuses for heating

342. Cross section of a greenhouse,

with a stove attached . . . 471

372. Cross section of a Jardin

d’hiver, or winter garden . . 491

376. Cross section of a moist stove 492 354, 356. Cross sections of plant-cabi¬ nets heated by hot water 481, 482

370. Elevation and ground plan of

a semicircular conservatory . 490

368. Elevation of a long narrow

conservatory . 489

339. Elevation of a span-roofed

green-house . 470

198. Elevation of the Camellia house,

at Hoole House, near Chester 319 364, 365. Elevations of a green¬ house with ornamental glass 487 344, 348, 349. Elevations of plant-

cabinets . 474, 475

363. Ground plan of an ornamental

green-house . 486

343. Ground plan of a green-house

with a stove attached . . . 472

371. Ground plan of a Jardin

d’hiver, or winter garden . 491

369. Ground plan of a long narrow

conservatory . 489

340. Ground plan of a span-roofed

green-house . 47l

346, 347. Ground plans of plant-

cabinets . 474, 475

377. Ground plan of plant-houses

and forcing-houses comprised

in one range . 494

199. Ground plan of the Camellia-house at Hoole House, near Chester . 319

378. Isometrical view of plant-houses

and forcing-houses comprised

in one range . 495

357 to 362. Modes of ventilating plant-houses .... 483 to 485 333. Moveable glass-case .... 468 374, 375. Ornaments for placing on the roofs of winter gardens . 492 366. Plan of a green-house stage

with angular points . . . 487

200. Plan of the roof of the Camellia house at Hoole House, near

Chester . 320

353, 355. Plans of plant-cabinets

heated by hot water . . 481, 482

192. Rustic orangery at Redleaf . . 309 336. Sash-light for a cold pit . . . 469

350. Section of an apparatus for

heating by hot water . . . 478 345. Section of a plant-cabinet . . 474 367. Section of the conservatory at

the Grange . 488

373. Section of the roof of a winter

garden . 491

334, 338. Sections of cold pits . 468, 470 164. Span-roofed green-house . . 272

341. View of a green-house attached

to a gardener’s cottage . . . 471

Rockwork.

168. Arch of rockwork . 274 96 to 98. Rock work, views of, 186,

202, 203. Rockwork at Hoole House 187, 189

322, 323

Xll

LIST OF ENGRAVINGS,

Rustic-work.

88. Covered rustic seat, or alcove 179

166. Rustic arch . 273

163. Rustic arch and vase . . . . 271

263. Rustic chair . 400

265. Rustic flower-stand .... 401 255. Rustic gate and railing . . . 398

87. Rustic seat . 178

264. Rustic stool . 400

258 to 260. Rustic tables .... 399 123, 124. Rustic thatched seats 214, 215 89. Rustic vase . 180

Views of Villas and Ornamental Objects in Garden Scenery.

217. A bee canopy covering one of

Nutt’s hives . 366

316. Bird’s-eye view of a villa in the

geometrical style .... 451 104. Boat-house formed in a bank . 195

101. Chinese Temple . 194

251. Elevation of a moss-house . . 395

102. Fishing-house . 194

279. Flower baskets in pleasure-

grounds . 410

161. Foliated vase . 270

165. French Parterre . 272

1 6. Groups of trees, how to arrange 29 62. Isometrical view of a detached

house and garden . . . . 133

66. Isometrical view of a double

house and garden .... 140

137. Isometrical view of a rosarium 242 129. Isometrical view of a small

country villa . 228

135. Isometrical view of a villa of

four acres . 238

133. Isometrical view of a villa of three acres and a half, on a level surface . 233

131. Isometrical view of a villa of

three acres in extent . . . 230

136. Isometrical view of a villa resi¬ dence, of two acres, in the geometrical style .... 240 206. Isometrical view of Dunchurch

Vicarage and grounds . . . 326

99. Lawn, good effect of breadth of 191 218. Nutt’s bee-hive placed in front of a veranda . 366

57. Perspective view of a double

house . 127

44. Perspective view of an Eliza¬ bethan house . 105

167. Statue of Mercury .... 273

93. Statues, mode of arranging . 182

94. V ases, bad effect of, if ill-placed 182 286 to 290. Vases of different kinds

414, 415

195. View across the rocky lawn at

Redleaf . 314

240. View from the entrance-portico

at Kenwood . 385

145. View from the flower-garden at Bedford Lodge .... 250 313. View from the grotto at Wim¬ bledon House . 443

64. View of a double villa in Por-

chester -terrace, Ba^s water 136

141. View of Bedford Lodge, the villa of the Dowager Duchess

of Bedford . 246

139. View of Chester Holme Cottage 244 210. View of Hendon Rectory . . 333 328. View of Kenwood House . . 463 162. View of Mrs. Lawrence’s villa

at Drayton Green .... 271 294. View of Wimbledon House

from the lawn . 421

317. View on entering the gates at

Kenwood . 453

193. View of the English garden

and summer-house at Red-

leaf . 311

197. View of the entrance- front of Hoole House, showing the

conservatory . 318

176. View of the entrance-front of

the villa at Fortis Green . . 284 306. View of the entrance to the flower-garden at Wimbledon House . 433

194. View of the entrance to the

rocky lawn at Redleaf . . 313 201. View of the flower-garden at

Hoole House, near Chester . 321 174. View of the garden-front of

the villa at Fortis Green . . 280

1S5. View of the house at Redleaf 300 144. View of the west front of

Bedford Lodge, showing a terrace-wall in the flower

garden . 249

143. View of trellis- work covered with climbers at Bedford

Lodge . 248

46. View of two houses looking

like one . 110

238. View, showing the bad effect of

want of breadth of lawn . . 382

239, 311. Views from the lawn-

front of Wimbledon House,

384, 439

318, 319, 326, 327. Views in the grounds at Kenwood, 454,

455, 459, 461

207, 209, 211. Views in the grounds

of Hendon Rectory, 328, 331, 334 241, 242. Views of distant scenery

near Stafford . 387

308, 309, 312. Views of the flower-garden at Wimbledon House

436, 437, 441

107 to 115 inclusive. Views, to leave openings for, in laying out grounds . 201 to 203

295. Water and rustic seat , . . 422

100. Water, effect of a long pool of . 193

THE

VILLA GARDENER.

Introduction

The enjoyments to be derived from a country residence depend principally on a knowledge of the resources which a garden, however small, is capable of affording. The benefits experienced by breathing air unconfined by close streets of houses, and uncontaminated by the smoke of chimneys; the cheer¬ ful aspect of vegetation ; the singing of birds in their season ; and the enliven¬ ing effect of finding ourselves unpent-up by buildings, and in comparatively unlimited space, are felt by most people: but these enjoyments are greatly increased by the possession of a garden, in which the progress of vegetation can be watched from day to day ; and in which the taste and fancy can be exercised by continually forming new and beautiful scenes.

Before proceeding to the garden itself, we shall endeavour to excite some interest in its favour, and to show the solid advantages which may be derived from a country residence ; though on both these topics we shall bestow very few words.

There is a great deal of enjoyment to be derived from performing the different operations of gardening, independently altogether of the health resulting from this kind of exercise. To labour for the sake of arriving at a result, and to be successful in attaining it, are, as cause and effect, attended by a certain degree of satisfaction to the mind, however simple or rude the labour may be, and however unimportant the result obtained. To be con¬ vinced of this, we have only to imagine ourselves employed in any labour from which no result ensues, but that of fatiguing the body, or wearying the mind : the turning of a wheel, for example, that is connected with no machi¬ nery, or, if connected, effects no useful purpose; the carrying of a weight from one point to another and back again ; or the taking of a walk without any object in view, but the negative one of preserving health. Thus, it is not only a condition of our nature, that, in order to secure health and cheer¬ fulness, we must labour ; but we must also labour in such a way as to produce something useful or agreeable. Now, of the different kinds of useful things produced by labour, those things, surety, which are living beings, and which grow and undergo changes before our eyes, must be more productive of enjoyment than such as are mere brute matter ; the kind of labour, and other circumstances being the same. Hence, a man who plants a hedge, or sows

B

THE VILLA GARDENER.

a grass-plot in his garden, lays a more certain foundation for enjoyment, than he who builds a wall or lays down a gravel walk ; and, hence, the enjoy¬ ment of a citizen whose recreation, at his suburban residence, consists in working in his garden must be higher in the scale than that of the man who amuses himself, in the plot round his house, with shooting at a mark or playing at bowls.

To dig, to hoe, and to rake, are not operations requiring much skill ; and the amateur gardener will, perhaps, chiefly value them for their use in pre¬ paring for crops, or in encouraging the growth of crops already coming for¬ ward : but the operations of pruning and training trees, when well performed, are not only interesting to the operator at the time, but the plants so pruned or trained afford him pleasure every time he sees them afterwards throughout the season, till the period returns when they must be pruned and trained again. The operation of striking plants from cuttings is performed in a variety of ways, according to the nature of the plants ; and may truly be called one of intense interest, both in its performance, and in the expectation of its results. By the great majority of amateur gardeners, cuttings are made and planted at random ; and their failure or success is, in consequence, a matter of chance : but a very little scientific light thrown on the subject leads to rules for operating, which will turn chance into certainty in almost every case that can occur to ordinary practitioners ; and, consequently, will greatly enhance the pleasure of performing the operation, from the consciousness that the labour bestowed will not be thrown away. We need not here refer to the operations of grafting, layering, or sowing seeds; nor need we mention innumerable other operations which require to be performed in the course of the year, even in the very smallest garden ; but we must be allowed to notice the watering of plants, which all persons can enjoy from the earliest infancy upwards. What pleasure have not children in applying their little green watering-pans to plants in pots, or pouring water in at the roots of favourite flowers in borders? And what can be more rational than the satisfaction which the grown up amateur, or master of the house, enjoys, when he returns from the city to his garden in the summer evenings, and applies the syringe to his wall trees, with refreshing enjoyment to himself and the plants, and to the delight of his children, who may be watching his operations ? What can be more refreshing than, in a warm summer’s evening, to hear, while sitting in a cool parlour, with the windows open, or in a summer-house, the shower¬ ing of water by the syringe upon the leaves of the vines or fig 'trees trained under the adjoining veranda, or upon the orange trees and camellias, or other exotic shrubs, planted in the conservatory connected with it? What more delightful than to see the master or the mistress of a small garden or pleasure-ground, with all the boys and girls, the maids, and, in short, all the strength of the house, carrying pots and pails of water to different parts of the garden ; and to see the refreshment produced to the soil and plants by the application of the watering-pan and the syringe ?

Even the search after insects is a great enjoyment in a garden ; and, in fact, opens up an entirely new field of exertion and interest to those who have not before made minute observations in this department of nature. Fifty years ago, the subject of destroying insects was scarcely considered as belong¬ ing to gardening ; and their eggs, which now every young gardener recog¬ nises, in winter glued in rings to the branches of his fruit trees, or in spring

INTRODUCTION.

deposited on the back of his gooseberry leaves, passed unheeded through their different stages of development; and the ravages the larvae committed on crops were considered as inevitable blights, produced by the atmosphere. In the present day, so much of the beauty and the value of the products of all gardens is known to depend on subduing insects, that a knowledge of the subject is considered essential to every gardener : but it is more especially necessary that the possessor of a small garden should know how to keep insects in subjection; both because he is frequently his own gardener, and because insects are more abundant in such gardens than in those of a larger size, which are generally situated farther in the country, sometimes from the comparatively weak and crowded state of the plants, and, in other instances, from the absence of those natural enemies of insects, the small birds.

One of the greatest of all the sources of enjoyment resulting from the pos¬ session of a garden is, the endless variety which it produces, either by the perpetual progress of vegetation which is going forward in it to maturity, dor¬ mancy, or decay, or by the almost innumerable kinds of plants which may be raised in even the smallest garden. Even the same trees, grown in the same garden, are undergoing perpetual changes throughout the year; and trees change, also, in every succeeding year, relatively to that which is past ; because they become larger and larger as they advance in age, and acquire more of their characteristic and mature forms. The number of plants, and especially of trees, which can be cultivated in any garden at one time is necessarily circumscribed; but, if an amateur chose to limit the period during which he cultivated each tree or plant to the time of its flowering with him for the first time, he might, in the course of a few years, more or less in num¬ ber according to the size of his garden, have had growing in it all the plants in cultivation in the open air in Britain, with the exception of a few of the larger of the forest trees ; and even these he might also have flowered, by making use of plants raised from cuttings or layers, or of miniature trees, made by ringing and rooting the branches of old trees in the Chinese manner. Independently, however, of the variety and change resulting from the plants cultivated, every month throughout the year has its particular operations and its products : nay, it would not be too much to say, that during six months of the year a change takes place, and is perceptible, in the plants of a garden, every day ; and every day has, in consequence, its operations and its products. Even in winter, there is still something to do in every garden, however small may be its extent : the walks require to be kept in order, and some plants must be protected by litter or matting ; and, if there should be no trees to prune, no ground to dig, no manure to collect or to barrow out, no dung to turn and prepare for hotbeds, there is, at all events, the preparation of names or numbers for plants ; the cutting and painting of rods to tie them to ; the sorting of seeds ; the making of baskets ; and the search after information on the subjects of plants and their culture, in books.

But imagine that to the villa garden there is added a small green-house, or a flued pit! What a source of amusement and interest does not either of these garden structures hold out to the amateur gardener, during the winter and spring ! Exactly in proportion as, in autumn, the out-door operations become fewer, the in-door operations of the green-house or pit become more numerous; and, if the expense of a green-house should be objected to, much of the produce of the green-house may be procured, at half the expense, by

THE VILLA GARDENER.

the use of a pit, which requires no other glass than the sashes which form its roof. The amusement and the products which such a pit, in the hands of an ingenious amateur, is calculated to afford, are almost without end. Small salading may be produced in it throughout the whole winter. Chicory roots (though this may he accomplished in a common cellar) may be made to throw out their blanched leaves, which form the most delightful of all winter salads, at least to our taste ; tart rhubarb or sea-kale may be forced in pots; as may parsley, mint, and other herbs. Bulbs may be forced ; and a bloom of China roses may be kept up throughout the .winter. But, perhaps, the most import¬ ant use to which such a pit can be applied, in a small garden, is to preserve throughout the winter, and to bring forward in spring, pelargoniums, fuchsias, salvias, calceolarias, verbenas, and other fine exotic flowers, and also half-hardy and tender annuals, for turning out into tjie flower-garden, or into the miscel¬ laneous border, in the beginning of summer.

These are a few of the absolute enjoyments to be derived from a country house and garden ; and we shall next notice another, which flows from the same source, but which may be called relative or incidental. The opportunity which a garden affords to its possessor of acquiring a scientific and practical knowledge of plants is a source of great interest, not only in his own garden, but wherever else plants may come in his way ; whether in a wild state, in gardens, exposed for sale in markets, or delineated and described in books. Another source of incidental enjoyment is that which will arise from the acquirement of some knowledge of gardening, and of rural architecture as an art of design and taste. How great a source of enjoyment this is, and how great an interest it enables its possessor to take in landscapes, and in architec¬ ture, generally ; or, in short, wherever he sees a house or a tree ; those only can know who have gone through the necessary preparation.