MRS. LAWRENCE'S GARDEN. 



exhibition is one of the primary objects of consideration here, yet the houses are construe 

 ted and the plants arranged so that they can be examined comfortably and displayed well. 

 There is no want of neatness and finish in the buildings; and the stages, paths, &c., are 

 contrived, and the plants disposed, as if everything were intended only to be enjoyed at 

 home. There is no crowding, no inconvenient effort to make the most of the space, no 

 putting the plants where they cannot be fully seen. Everything is planned with great 

 simplicity, and each plant has a sufficient space accorded it to allow it to stand perfectly 

 free, and bring every part of it into view. 



A leading feature of the collection here is that the plants grown are all of the most or- 

 namental kind. Although the bulk of the specimens are of rare kinds, and many of them 

 are quite new — for Mrs. Lawrence spares no expense in obtaining the first available plants 

 of a good new species, and often procures the original specimen — yet none but the really 

 showy members of each tribe are cultivated, and everything that is not fit for making a 

 fine display is excluded. Hence, there is scarcely a plant in the collection that does not, 

 at some season of the year, perform an important part in maintaining its attractiveness; 

 and all are capable of being so thinly placed about on the stages that each will have am- 

 ple room to grow and to exhibit itself. 



To obtain large specimens is another grand point aimed at here. But this is only sought 

 in so far as it is compatible with extreme density of habit, and a complete mass of bloom. 

 Plants that look old or ragged are not allowed a place. And the desired result is attain- 

 ed by growing the plants in large pots, (only the common pots and no kind of tub being 

 used,) and employing rather coarse and lumpy soil, partially mixed with drainage mate- 

 rials. There is also a regular system of pruning and training adopted from the earliest 

 stage of each plant's growth, so that it is never permitted to become thin or stragglino-. 

 With many of the species, the shoots of young plants are stopped back several times in 

 each year, and the most careful and constant attention is given to keep each shoot in its 

 right place by sticks and ties. This plan, of course, imparts to the plants a somewhat 

 formal appearance, and causes some of them to present a httle forest of supporting sticks. 

 But as the specimens become old enough to bloom well, they are less rigidly pruned, and 

 begin to require fewer sticks, acquiring altogether a more natural aspect. Indeed, it is 

 pleasing to observe that it is now becoming more the fashion to allow plants to take their 

 natural shapes, with less help from sticks, and only so much pruning as will secure a 

 broad and close mass of flowers. 



Provision is likewise made here against the loss of larger specimens, or the having to 

 discard them on account of their size or poorness, by bringing on a succession of plants 

 in different stages of growth; young specimens being generally found more healthy, and 

 richer in all the qualities of show plants, except mere size. 



For the facility of removal, and also to render each plant more manageable, and pre- 

 vent the stronger growing ones from injuring the others, everything is here grown in pots, 

 and not planted out. When, therefore, a plant becomes large, or bare, or unhealthy, or 

 in any way undesirable, it can be instantly taken away, without making any gap in the 

 collection. And for the recovery of specimens that may have fallen into bad health, or 

 for retarding the bloom of those which are wanted at a particular time, or for retaining 

 any specimens in bloom that may be required for a special purpose, there are various sub- 

 ordinate houses, pits, and large wooden boxes or frames, in which any of these objects can 

 be quietly carried out. In moving about large specimens, too, a contrivance is here adop- 

 ted which is very simple and efficacious. It consists in putting an iron hoop capable of 

 contraction or enlargement according to the size of the pots, round the pot to be moved, 



