412 



A VISIT TO SPRINGBROOK, &c. 



large Cereus are trained up the rafters, 

 producing thousands of gorgeous flowers ; 

 Echinocactii^ 9 or 10 feet in circumference ; 

 Monkey Cacizi, 5 feet high ; " Turks^ heads,'" 

 that are bigger than the suhan's ; as well 

 as Cactii in the guise of rats and snakes, 

 porcupines and pin-cushions, with every 

 other imaginable and grotesque form, — 

 making a scene entirely unique and won- 

 derfully grotesque. 



The extreme end of the house is covered 

 with a splendid Passijiora alata, in full 

 bloom. To the right of this is the oran- 

 gery, 38 ieet long, filled with handsome 

 trees, in fruit bearing, of the Orange, 

 Lemon, Lime, Citron, Shaddock, &c. Those 

 trees, grown in large tubs, are pictu- 

 resquely arranged on the lawn in the sum- 

 mer season. Back of this house, and front- 

 ing the fiower garden, is the Orchid-house, 

 (or Air-plant-house, as some call it,) 88 

 feet long, heated in connection with the 

 orangery by hot water. Any description of 

 mine will fall short of conveying a proper 

 idea of this tropical forest and atmosphere. 

 You must not visit us without paying your 

 respects here, to witness a collection of all 

 the choice and rare Cattlyea, Gongora, On- 

 cidium, Dendrobium, Sta7ikopia, and hun- 

 dreds of others, whose characters are en- 

 tirely new to me, and acknowledged by 

 competent judges to be rich in the extreme. 

 They are attached to pieces of bark, blocks 

 of wood, planted in baskets of every shape, 

 placed on blocks of trees or banks of moss 

 and stone, attached to the wall, or depend- 

 ing from the rafters, — and all displaying 

 their animated and beautiful blossoms, in 

 the guise of butterflies, humming-birds, 

 dragons, toads and canaries, with many 

 other fanciful bird, beast and insect resem- 

 blances. The scene is heightened in ef- 

 fect by a lovely waterfall, dashing with a 

 musical sound over rocks, and fallinar into 



a fanciful but natural looking mossy basin, 

 placed over the hot-water pipes, producing 

 a genial atmosphere of moisture whenever 

 required for those remarkable parasitical 

 plants. The water for this house is every- 

 where abundant, and at command, from a 

 tank or reservoir that holds over 2000 gal- 

 lons, supplied by the Ram. 



To the south of the Orchid-house is an 

 early grapery, 31 feet long, now pushing 

 forth luxuriantly, and promising, even with 

 the external air at zero, an abundant crop. 

 Along the edge of the walk are apricots, 

 peaches and nectarines, in tubs and pots, in 

 full bloom, and expected to be ripe in May. 

 Adjoining is a later grapery of same di- 

 mensions ; and then we enter the Necta- 

 rine-house, 62 feet in length, without artifi- 

 cial heat. I saw it last July, and then be- 

 held such a crop of such fruit as I never 

 before saw, — measured the Red Roman 

 nearly nine inches in circumference! besides 

 Elruge, Early Newington, Fairchilds, Ver- 

 mash, Boston, Downton, New White, and 

 others, maturing at different periods, and 

 all grown in perfection. A liberal and 

 regular thinning out of the fruit before 

 stoning is practiced, which leads to the 

 above results of large size, rich flavor, high 

 colour, and a uniform crop. Connected 

 with the Nectarine-house are two houses 

 recently erected, each 30 feet long, heated 

 by water. One of them is planted entirely 

 with white grapes, and called the White- 

 house. What a fine picture it will show, 

 when full of ripe, golden, honied fruit. 

 The other is for forcing cherries, plums, 

 apricots, grape-vines, &c., in pots. The up- 

 right front of this house is double, having 

 grape-vines planted between the glass ; the 

 vines will thereby be excluded from the heat 

 till required to be introduced and trained up 

 the rafters to ripen at any given period. A 

 new and very excellent arrangement. 



