148 THE FLORIST. 



Capital description that in Leonora of railway-travelling ; and I'd 

 give you more of it, but here we are at the Kew Station, and most 

 handy it is for visitors to the gardens. Since we were here last, you 

 observe a steamboat-pier has been added to the bridge, — a great 

 convenience to visitors, enabling them with ease, in the summer-time, 

 to return to town by the river, a very pleasing variation, particularly 

 in warm weather. Kew Green, with its simple church, has always 

 struck me as an agreeable spot ; and to those fond of seeing holiday- 

 people, and of taking enjoyment without the inconvenience of addi- 

 tional expense, a residence here certainly affords, in the adjoining 

 gardens, a desideratum not to be overlooked. But as we talk we 

 are at the gates ; and we will take our way direct to the Palm-house, 

 an inspection of which and its tropical contents will fully occupy 

 us till 'tis time to retire. 



It is not only a noble house, but a noble collection. Let us, on 

 entering, first walk round the entire building, and leisurely survey 

 the whole, and then, when our eye is more at home, take the objects 

 a little in detail. 'Tis a cloudy day, or rather cloud and sunshine, 

 the most favourable of all weathers for its inspection ; for though the 

 deep green tinge of the glass tempers the sun's rays, it is rather too 

 warm and close for Englishmen in pure unclouded sunshine. 



Having now gone round, let us ascend to the gallery. From 

 this point, about one-third of the way up the staircase, is the most 

 truly tropical point of view to be obtained in the whole building. 

 Observe, you have lost sight of the pavement and iron-gratings of 

 the floor — all is in harmony, the graceful foliage of the magnificent 

 arborescent ferns, the stems of trees and plants seen beyond, and, 

 above all, the broad foliage so strongly indicative of distant lands 

 and burning skies. Where would man and beast find shelter in such 

 chmes, were it not for the palm, the plantain, &c. affording it, as 

 they do so liberally, and at the same time acting as fans in the sur- 

 rounding air ? From the galler}'-, you observe, we have a fine view 

 over the gardens, and also over the tops of the highest plants ; but 

 'tis too warm to remain long, so let us descend into the cooler stratum 

 of air below. 



Here is the Bread-fruit Tree ; what associations have we with it ! 

 Bligh and the Bounty ; the mutiny ; the wonderful boat- voyage of 

 the former ; the miserable life and end of the mutineers, save Smith, 

 the patriarch of Pitcairn's Island. Here is the Banyan Tree, of which 

 you will find an excellent representation in the museum, and a very 

 fine specimen in the Botanical Garden at Calcutta, unless it has 

 died since I was there. How often have Moore's lines to his mother 

 been repeated by youthful exiles, whose thoughts, when seated beneath 

 its ample shade, have been far away in the land of their birth ! 



" They tell us of an Indian tree, 



Which, howsoe'er the sun and sky 

 May tempt its boughs to wander free, 



And shoot and blossom wide and high. 

 Far better loves to bend its aims 



Downward again to that dear earth 



