29 AUGUST 1908, Page 15

CAN A GLASSHOUSE BE ORNAMENTAL?

Ito THE EDITOR Or THE 4.8reCTATOR.1

SIR,—In your issue of July 18th, speaking of Kew Gardens at Midsummer, you say, "A glasshouse cannot be ornamental," but you commend certain bedding in "an angle of two glass- houses meeting." I do not like that word "cannot." With steel frames and Falconiere glass-bricks there is no reason why glasshouses should be nightmares of barn-like ugliness,— none other than the want of knowledge and creative imagina- tion. If the builders need inspiration, let them study the grouping and grand lines of the architecture of Futtebpore, Agra, and Delhi.—I am, Sir, &e.,