15 



to, and rendering it in every point, except as to internal 

 arrangement, like No. 2, when it probably will form a recep- 

 tacle for Orchideous plants. 



" No. 4. A small Span-greenhouse, forty feet long, con- 

 taining a miscellaneous collection of New Holland and Cape 

 plants." This runs North and South, and may be entered by 

 a door opposite the centre of the house, No. 2, and it is, as to 

 external appearance, much the same as it originally was ; but 

 the interior arrangement and mode of heating are altered, 

 and it is filled with Cape Heaths and Epacridece. Outside 

 this greenhouse, both on the East and West sides, are low 

 frames, warmed by a single hot-water pipe. That on the 

 East, contains Erythrinas, Ahtroemerias, and other half- 

 hardy herbaceous plants; that on the west side, together 

 with a number of half-hardy Ferns, and other rarities, pro- 

 tects the rare Beech- Trees of Cape Horn, Fagus Forsteri, 

 and Fagus antarctica* the most southern trees in the world, 

 one of which has small evergreen leaves ; also the Winter's 

 Bark (Drimys Winteri), Berberis ilicifolia, the rarest and 

 largest -flowered species of the Genus, &c. : all these were 

 brought home by the Antarctic Expedition, under the com- 

 mand of Captain Sir James Ross. 



" No. 5. A dry Stove, forty feet long, in two compart- 

 ments, filled with succulent plants." This is a house, 

 situated a little to the south of No. 4, and which was sepa- 

 rated from it by a gravel walk; but the two compartments 

 have been since thrown into one : the building has been 

 besides doubled and converted into a span-house, heated by 

 hot- water, and joined to the South end of No. 4, opening into 

 it by a glass door. It is now occupied by an invaluable col- 

 lection of Cactuses and other stove succulents. Am ° n g 

 them are many species of Cactus, for the possession of which 

 we are indebted to the liberality of Mr. Parkinson, late 

 Consul-General to the Republic of Mexico, and, through the 

 same friend, to the obliging kindness of Mr. Staines of ban 

 Luis Potosi. The " Monster Cactus" t with which the 



* See Hooker's London Journ. of Bot. v. 2, p. 147, &c , for a full account 

 of these two species. They are trees of great beauty, attaining a large 

 size (Capt. Fitzroy measured the trunk of one of them, which was seven leet 

 in diameter) : they have been found already to bear our winters. 



t Since writing the above, and just before going to press the appearance 

 of this hothouse has been materially altered by the arrival of five large boxes 

 of Cactuses from Mexico, sent by the same public-spirited individual whose 

 name is mentioned before, Frederick Staines, Esq. To make room tor 

 them, several of the taller kinds of Cereus had to be removed elsewhere (to 



