74 



their increase ; and I am told that not a year passes without the 

 estabUshment of some new institution of this kind. On the way to 

 Hammersmith to see Kennedy and Lee's Nursery, we met the pro- 

 prietors of two others. Gray and Sons, and Malcolm and Co. at 

 Kensington. The house of Lee and Kennedy, so well known with 

 PS on the continent, has lately experienced great changes. Mr. Ken- 

 nedy has withdrawn from the concern, and is gone to Amiens in 

 France ; and the old Lee died about two months ago. At present, 

 the sons carry on the management of this large nursery, which they 

 themselves say contains one hundred acres, and requires the labour 

 of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred workmen. Although 

 this estimate seems to me enormously large, yet thus much is cer- 

 tain, that it is one of the greatest nurseries in London, and carries on 

 an extensive trade both at home and abroad. The more common 

 kinds of plants seem to be chiefly cultivated here ; although there 

 are three hundred species of Erica, and half of every day is allotted 

 to the management of Camellias. The stoves are of the usual kind : 

 there is no pond for the convenient watering of the plants ; nor have 

 the proprietors published a new Catalogue. 



Mr. Colville, on the road to Chelsea, certainly has the rarer kinds 

 of plants in his collection. Messrs. Mackay and Co., Fraser, &c. 

 have also gardens in this neighbourhood. We here became acr 

 quainted with Mr. Sweet, whose publications on the Gerania and 

 Hortus Suburhanus are well known. Many unknown and rare ve- 

 getables from all parts of the world, particularly Nepaul, New Hol- 

 land, and New Zealand, and the tolerably well explored Cape of 

 Good Hope, exist in Mr. Colville's Nursery : but the estabhshment 

 of this kind, which belongs to Mr. Conrad Loddiges, appeared to us 

 the largest and finest in England. It would be hard to say whether 

 its great extent, the beautiful productions with which it is stocked, 

 or the judgement, taste, and liberality with which it is conducted, are 

 most worthy of admiration. With regard to the latter point, we 

 will venture to say, that much as we have travelled and seen, we 

 have met with no stoves, belonging to prince, king, or emperor, 

 which can compare with those of Messrs. Loddiges, at Hackney, for 

 the magnificence, convenience and elegance of their plan, and the 

 value of their contents. Let my reader imagine a dome, eighty 



