H97 



systematically, it seems to be a waste of space to duplicate such 

 trees as there is room for under a geographical arrangement. It 

 seems absurd to expect to reproduce the characteristic features of 

 (say) the Californian sylva on a plot not many yards square in the 

 middle of Europe. And for purposes of comparison and the 

 solution of problems of identity, it is surely more convenient to 

 have the representatives of a genus in close proxi mity rather than 

 the representatives of a country generally. 



Magnolias thrive exceedingly well at Dresden. A plant of 

 M. stellata 10 ft. high and 15 ft. through must be a wonderful 

 picture when in flower. There is also a very handsome specimen 

 of the comparatively new and uncommon M. hypoleuca ; it is 17 ft. 

 high, the branches rather erect, and the habit pyramidal. »-„Of the 

 large trees, Populus trichocarpa was perhaps most noteworthy ; 

 this species is allied to the balsam poplar, but comes from Western 

 North America. Although not very long known in England, it is 

 already 70 to 80 ft. high in this garden, and its trunk girths 5 ft. 

 10 in. Quercus bicolor, one of the American white oaks which do 

 not thrive well in England, is here 50 ft. high, very healthy, with 

 a trunk 3 ft. 4 in. in girth. Other interesting oaks are the American 

 Q. stellata (or Q. obtusiloba), 25 ft. high, and Q. pontica. Larix 

 occidentalis is 25 ft. high, but conifers generally are not good. 

 Among the shrubs, Fendlera rupicola, which is not really hardy 

 at Kew, is 6 ft. high at Dresden ; Gornus alterni folia, a very 

 elegant and distinct species is 15 ft. high and 12 ft. through ; 

 Styrax japonica 12 ft. high, flowering well ; and Menziesia globu- 

 laris 5 ft. high. Three dwarf shrubs were very charming : 

 Loiseleuria procumbens, Efdgaea repens, and Oxy coccus macro- 

 carpus, all growing in soft spongy peat in full sunshine. 



There is a small well-furnished rockery on which many Alpine 

 plants are thriving admirably, and the herbaceous plants generally 

 are good. 



Grosse Garten, Dresden. June 11. 



A short tram ride from the Botanic Garden will take the visitor 

 to the Grosse Garten, which will well repay the journey. This 

 demesne surrounds an ancient and beautiful house, once a royal 

 residence, but now a museum. A considerable portion of the 

 grounds are covered with beautiful woodland, intersected by 

 straight avenues and winding paths. But near the house is a 

 flower garden, formally laid out, and containing on its borders 

 some fine trees. There is a Gymnocladus canadensis, not quite so 

 tine as the one at Herrenhausen, but girthing 6 ft, ,3 in. ; , tnere is 

 «ne of the finest specimens of Gleditschia triacanthos in Germany 

 -a tree with an enormous spreading head of elegant foliage 

 supported by a trank over 7 ft. in circumference ; and^ t^re aiea 

 seeping copper beech 40 ft. high, a fine golden oak (^™£ 

 Pedtmculata, var. Concordia) nearly as tall, and a Tilur ^ 

 branching close to the ground where the trunk s about oft. 



hrough. In a shady opening into the woods was a most pleasni. 



tne Rhododendron dell at Kew. A good use "^"^V^ 

 n»wle of the Rouen lilac grown as standards. They make roun 



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led 



