395 



maintains 



which is private garden as well. Here is cultivated in permanence 

 a very extensive standard collection, and many of the trees have 

 developed into notable examples of their kind. It should be 

 mentioned, as showing the spirit in which the business is con- 

 ducted, that a skilled botanist is attached to the firm, whoso duty 

 it is to see that everything in the nursery is correctly named. 



Perhaps the most beautiful shrub in flower on June 9 was 

 Lomcera Korolkowii, a comparatively new species from Turkestan. 

 Bushes of this, 8 ft. high, were covered with exquisite pale pink 

 flowers, displayed in most attractive fashion by reason of the free 

 graceful habit of the shrub. Another very striking shrub was the 

 pubescent variety of Chionanthus Virginia*, 12 ft. high, and loaded 

 with its thyrses of white, narrow-petalled flowers. Cornus Spathii, 

 a yellow-leaved variety of C. alba, usually regarded as the best of all 

 yellow-leaved shrubs, originated in this nursery. The interesting 

 fact was learnt that it first appeared as a sport from a stock plant 

 on which had been grafted a variegated Cornus, the graft itself 

 having died. Rhododendron Ungerni, a rare plant allied and very 

 similar to R. Smirnowi, is here ; it is distinguishable by the 

 cuspidate apex of the leaf. Quercus pontica, a very handsome 

 large-leaved oak from Lazistan, I was glad to see, also the true 

 Pterocarya rhoifolia. An interesting fir is Abies insignis, a 

 presumed hybrid between A. Pinsapo and A. Nordmanniana. 

 The nursery is very rich in coloured-leaved and other varieties of 



YViCitA ^ ii-l A 9 m • 1 TTT T T • \T 



Walderseei 



maple, whose leaves are so densely speckled with white dots as to 

 give them a delicate grey appearance, was one of the most notice- 

 able in June. A splendid tree of the typical u Box elder" {Acer 

 hegundo) is 60 ft. high and 6 ft. 6 in. in girth of trunk. Populus 

 berolinensis, a useful semi-fastigiate*tree is here in quantity ; it is 

 an interesting hybrid between P. laurifolia and the Lombardy 

 poplar. A notable culture in this nursery is the big standard rose. 

 A plant of one variety " Madame Sancy de Parabere," loaded 

 with flowers, measured 10 ft. high by 8 ft, through. 



Sans Souci. June 10. 



The Royal Gardens attached to the old chateau of Sans Souci 

 are certainly as interesting and beautiful as any I saw, either in 

 Germany or Austria Although a considerable space is given up 

 to purely formal arrangements, the Versailles influence has not, as 

 at Schonbrunn and Herrenhausen, been allowed to overlay the 

 whole place. The chateau itself stands on an eminence, and is 

 approached by a long and imposing series of flights of steps, me 

 hillside has h OC n + J^™/i or,5 fin* snmiortinfir walls of the terraces 



" ,U1UU « nas oeen terraced, and tne suppurnug «»««.«* *~~ ------ 



are covered with glass, and are used for the cultivation of the less 

 hardy f ruits . T he terraces themselves are also utilised for the 

 cultivation of fruit trees and vegetables. 



The level ground at the base of the hill is furnished with a 

 laried and very interesting sylvan growth. Many of the trees : are 

 J?ely developed. Tilia argentea, for instance, "flatlwrt^t 

 h*h, and there are a pair of fine maidenhair trees (&»&$*& 

 Cercidophyllum japmicnm is 35 ft. high-a picture of health and 



