One considerable advantage of a suburban residence to most families, and particularly to such as have children, is, that they are enabled by it to wash at home, and have their clothes dried in the open air- In the country, clothes are generally dried on hedges or bushes; but in suburban gardens they are commonly hung on lines which are stretched from post to post along one side, or round the entire garden. In gardens to houses of the smallest size, these posts are commonly fixed in the ground, and the lines fastened to them on washing days, and taken down when not wanted; but, in all the better description of gardens, sockets, which have been previously fitted to the lower part of the posts, are fixed in the ground; and into these the posts are inserted on washing days and the lines attached to them. When the clothes are dried, and the lines are also dry, and have been taken off and laid in a dry part of the wash-house or back kitchen, the posts are taken up out of the sockets, and put somewhere under cover.

If there is no shed, they may be laid on brackets projecting from the boundary wall, with a coping board close over them to throw off the rain.

Fig. 22. shows the socket for the clothes-post: it is made of four pieces of board, forming a rectangular tube, rather narrower at the lower end; and t is a cap, or cover, also of wood, with a ring in the top for lifting it off, which is put on when the posts are not in use, to prevent the socket from being filled up with dirt and stones; the length of the tube forming the socket is generally about 18 in., and the width inside about 4 in. at top, and 3 in. at bottom. Fig. 23. represents a clothes-post: it has a shoulder at the lower end (at u), to prevent it from being wedged too firmly into the socket; and two pins (v) passed through the top, in opposite directions, for the purpose of fastening the lines. In some gardens the lines are fastened to trees, or stretched across the garden from hooks in the side walls; but the most convenient position is along the sides of the walks, over the margin of the turf, so that a person may stand upon the walk while hanging up and taking down the clothes.

80. A green-house, orangery, or conservatory, ought, if possible, to be attached to every suburban residence. The custom of rearing plants in pots, and keeping them in the windows of dwelling-houses, is of great antiquity, though it is only in modern times, and chiefly since the days of Louis XIV., that a house for plants has become a conspicuous feature in the elevation of a mansion. The most ancient description of plant-house is what is called an orangery; in which formerly orange-trees, planted in large boxes or tubs, were kept during the winter, and set out of doors during the summer season. Such houses almost always fronted the south: the back wall was of masonry, the roof covered with slates, tiles, or lead, and the front contained a range of large glass windows. Beneath the floor there was sometimes a flue for heating; and at other times this purpose was effected by means of German stoves. As the object of the orangery was merely to keep the trees from the frost, and they were not expected to grow while in the house, this description of building suited them perfectly; and it might still be very properly added to a mansion, provided no other plants were placed in it than orange-trees, and a few other evergreen trees or shrubs, and succulent plants, such as myrtles, olives, cactuses, agaves, aloes, etc.

Such houses, however, are totally unfit for plants which grow or flower in the winter season; such as camellias, heaths, acacias, and all those Cape and Australian trees and shrubs which, by their flowers and newly-produced foliage, constitute the great charm of British conservatories during the winter months. To render an orangery fit for keeping such plants, it is necessary that the roof should be entirely of glazed frames, to admit perpendicular light, without which no plant in a growing state can thrive; and when this is the case, according to the common usage of gardeners, the building is no longer called an orangery, but a conservatory; a word which appears to have been first applied to plant-houses by Evelyn, in his Calendarium. A conservatory, properly speaking, is, however, a house in which beds of earth are formed in the floor, and the trees and shrubs are planted in them, instead of being kept in tubs and boxes. This, indeed, is almost the only kind of plant-house now attached to first-rate mansions.

The term green-house is now generally confined to houses having glass roofs, which are kept at the same temperature as the orangery or conservatory, but where the plants, are grown in pots, which are usually small, and elevated upon stages, so as to bring them at once near the light and near the eye of the spectator. The characteristic of a conservatory is, that it grows a few plants to a large size, and so as to produce scenery of a magnificent exotic aspect; while that of a green-house is, that it produces a great many different kinds of plants of small size, which may be considered as merely living botanical specimens of exotics. The green-house is, consequently, much better adapted for the smallest description of suburban residences than the conservatory; and a modification of the green-house, which may be called a plant cabinet, or cabinet green-house, in which a few choice plants are kept, and always taken away and renewed as they begin to fade, is, perhaps, still more appropriate. What are called plant-stoves, tropical plant-houses, or hot-houses, in the proper sense of the word, are unfit for being attached to dwelling-houses, from the great heat and moisture required to render their atmosphere fit for the plants of hot climates.

We shall give some designs for green-houses and conservatories, with details for their construction, filling with plants, and general management, in a subsequent part of this work.

81. The enjoyments offorded by a green-house, however small, to the female part of the family are very considerable; and, where there are children, these enjoyments may be mingled with useful instruction, by teaching them in it the names and nature of plants, and their culture and management at seasons, or during weather, when it cannot he done out of doors. A green-house also affords exercise, in shifting, potting, tying up, pruning, etc, in cold and wet weather, and at periods of the year when nothing can he done in the open garden. At the same time that we recommend a green-house, it is proper to state that, where the mistress of the house has not a taste for plants, and is not in the habit of working among them herself; and where this taste does not exist in any part of the family, and no gardener is kept, a green-house is in danger of becoming a nuisance rather than an ornamental appendage. Id such a case, where it is determined to produce the effect of a green-house, for the sake of fashion, or the reputation of being fond of plants, or some similar motive, the best mode is to engage with the nearest nurseryman or florist to keep the green-house furnished with plants, at so much per annum or per month.

By this means it will always look well; but as none of the beauty which it presents will be the result of the care and attention of any part of the family, of course the enjoyment derived from it cannot be anything like so great as where the contrary is the case.

82. In the smallest suburban houses the common substitute for a green-house is the window-sill; and the greatest extent to which this kind of gardening can be carried is by having the sill made to project 2 ft. or 3 ft from the wall of the house, and enclosing it with an outside bow window. Into the space between the two windows the warm air of the room may be admitted at pleasure; and if the panes of both windows are large, and kept at all times perfectly clean, the view into this plant-cabinet from the interior of the room will be agreeable, and create an allusion to the green-house of the villa, or the conservatory of the mansion. For houses that have a garret, a sort of greenhouse may be established there, by forming glass windows in the roof. An enthusiast amateur might indeed have the roof of his house entirely of glass, and train vines or creepers under it, which might be planted in the ground, and their stems brought up against the outside wall, and covered with a wooden case. In such roofs, the panes of glass should not be more than 2} in. or 3 in. wide, or plate glass should be used, in order to prevent breakage from hail.

The most fitting suburban residences for having green-houses are such as are either quite detached, or in pairs; which last-mentioned houses, in the neighbourhood of London, are called double detached houses. One of the most ordinary modes of connecting a green-house with a small house is by placing it against the gable end; it being understood that this gable end fronts the south, the south-east, or the south-west: though, even if it fronts the direct west or direct east, such a green-house will answer for many kinds of greenhouse plants, and for all kinds whatever, with an extra allowance of fire heat during winter. For double cottages or houses, where the gable ends front the south-east and north-west, a green-house may be placed against each; but where the one gable fronts the south and the other the north, then the one green-house should be placed on the east side of the house, and the other on the west side. In single houses, the green-house may be placed in a great variety of ways, and may be of many forms, as will be seen hereafter, according to the arrangement of the ground plan, and the style of elevation of the house.

In whatever manner a green-house, or plant-house of any description, is attached to a house, means ought always to be provided for warming, ventilating, and watering the plant-house, altogether independently of the dwelling-house; for few things are more disagreeable and unwholesome to human beings, as well as injurious to furniture, and the walls of the room, than the close damp effluvia from the earth, water, and plants of a conservatory. For this reason, the plants grown in conservatories immediately attached to drawing rooms should be such as are natives of very dry climates (for example, the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, &c), and, consequently, require very little water; and the gardener should contrive to give his waterings either late in the evening, or very early in the morning; and previously to the hour the family are likely to visit it the house should be well ventilated.