An orangery constructed of oak, placed on a basement of rustic masonry, and thatched with reeds, of which fig. 83. is a view (The sketch from which this engraving was made was taken in November, 1837, on a very rainy day; which is the reason, we suppose, that the draughtsman has made a slight inaccuracy in the windows, by making the panes of glass parallelograms, instead of long octagons, which have a much better effect. Figs. 77. and 84. were taken at the same time, by the same artist; but all the other engravings given to illustrate this article have been made from sketches taken in June, 1838, in fine weather; and their accuracy may be depended on.). It is placed in the north side of the Dutch garden, some of the rhomboidal beds of which may be seen in the engraving. In this orangery there is a space in the centre, which is occupied as a sitting-room, and is furnished with chairs, tables, &c., for eating fruit or taking tea. From this scene there is a door to a Chinese dairy, richly fitted up with Chinese porcelain, many of the specimens of great size, and exquisitely painted. Amongst the flowers, we observed the blue tree peony, an imaginary variety of the Chinese, but one which never can be found in nature, since it supposes one primitive colour to be changed into another, which never takes place in flowers. Corresponding with the dairy is a small room over the stoke-hole, with a fireplace. The dairy is not used as such, but is merely to be considered as a collection of Chinese dairy porcelain. This conservatory, having a thatched roof, and being in a situation sheltered from high winds, requires very little artificial heat, even in the most severe winters. It is used to protect orange trees, large myrtles, and such green-house plants as are in a comparatively dormant state during our winters. In summer, most of the plants are turned out, and others brought from the green-houses and forcing-houses, as they come into flower; it being found that in this comparatively cool and shaded house the bloom is retained much longer in perfection than it otherwise would be. We remarked here some orange trees, lemon-leaved myrtles, and camellias, which had not been turned out into the open air for several years; and, though the young shoots were etiolated to a considerable extent, yet the intensely dark green of their leaves appeared to show that shade was more favourable to them than sunshine. The thatch, being of reeds, has a handsome appearance.
