HOKTICOLE. 



.■I,!:,, 



rthy Zealand 

 lertaking is 



i to the untiring perseverance of the 



.1. the task 



i new to the country. If the organisa- 



|y easy to English and 



customed as they are, to similar 



,rlemen,who 



den effort, which fell little short of 



j of the situation were 



the illness and absence 



Pariatore. This energetic 



ickness just as he would 



ran; and was obliged to 



is friends who came to 



ulate him upon the well 



in his bed. 



nounced elsewhere, was 



huiMiiitr. a noble edifice erected by 



of M. Mengoni. This 



3 inta Maria 



be square of La Scala at 



115 feet high, and two 



r part alone is of stone, the upper 



:id;imv of water, vast cellars, plenty 



!■ this buihlinir extremely convenient 



!•()"-(• for which it is intended. 



i tine view of Ui«- Inhibition in its 



i elegantly arranged. 



lots of plants, neither 



anient and so ugly, of 



6 inevitable warden of vales of the 



but a sort of compromise 



ing in the way of the style commonly 



he entrance an enormous group of 



!!a Gherardesca, is the 



• •ye. trum the brilliancy and variety 



the different plants. The faultless 



■d corollas are developed in great 



""t equalling the perfection and 



! ' and English Azaleas. The plants 



;, »d the culture careful. 



away down the nave, is a large cir- 



" <">itre of the building, from which 



i> thrown to a height of 60 feet, 



on in its noisy, glittering fall. At 



ll;lli - tliere is a lofty rockwork of 



1 "''-' kibbling waters of a cascade 



m a basin at the base 



•nnngwith graceful masses of Bank- 



' - Clothing the steep sides and 



n have ? rou Ps of Phormium, 



», and large Magnolias, beneath 



* ^^ and marine aquaria 



of the curious denizens of the 



To lengthen the perspective of this view, large groups of 

 plants with ornamental foliage are arranged on each side 

 of the nave, separating it from the wings. To the right, 

 Prince Demidoff, whose name we shall find in the greater 

 number of the competitions, exhibits some very large half- 

 hardy Conifers, Podocarpus, Seaforthia elegans, with long 

 pinnate leaves, a Broimea grandiceps, just throwing up its 

 young growth of elegant red spotted foliage, very tall speci- 

 mens of Cordyline australis, Caryota urens, Phoenix dacty- 

 lifera, Areca, etc., with a foreground of commoner, though 

 well staged, greenhouse shrubs. The group to the left con- 

 tributed by the Botanic Garden of Florence, includes grand 

 specimens of Pandanus utilis, the Sugar Palm, Arenga 

 saccharifera, a beautiful Musa ensete, immense examples 

 of Phoenix, a superb Dioon edule, Pandanus Javanieus 

 with its leaves traversed by broad, silvery bands, various 

 species of Latania and Cocos in very large specimens, a 

 Livistona sinensis (under the name of L. SMnneri) a magni- 

 ficent tuft of Chamcedorea Schiedeana, etc., the whole sur- 

 rounded in the same way with shrubs. Before going any 

 farther we may call attention to a lovely little plant, very 

 common here, and growing freely in the open air, of which 

 I a very effective use was made in the Exhibition. It is the 

 i Ixiacrocata, the numerous bright cinnabar red transparent 

 | flowers of which formed a very striking bordering to the 

 groups of green plants. We saw this charming species again 

 at the Villa Demidoff, San Donato , where it was planted in 

 close beds, and everywhere it gave us the greatest pleasure. 

 The Botanic Garden of Florence holds a distinguished 

 place in. all parts of the Exhibition. When we visited it in 

 December last, we w r ere truly surprised at its richness in cer- 

 tain genera , and the beauty of the specimens of some old 

 and rare plants. Thus, for instance, 60 species of Palms, 

 13 Cycads and 11 Pandanads are found in this establishment, 

 and they contributed not a little to the embellishment of the 

 Exhibition. We especially noticed a Cocos oleracea (Cocos 

 capitata!) standing out by itself of the most beautiful growth 

 bearing a number of its curious nerved spathes, and long, 

 glaucous, recurved leaves; a gigantic Pandanus odoratissi- 

 mus, and other noble specimens, as P. Javanieus, var., 

 Macrozamia Mackensii, Zamia Preissii, Kentia gracilis, 

 Bactris spinosa, Syayrns nwjrstico , (}<'<»uy,;m gracilis, Wal- 

 lichia porphyrocarpa, Zalacca Assamica, Corypha macro- 

 poda, Daemonorops trichrous , Latania Loddigesii, and many 

 others rarely seen in Exhibitions. A few fine Tree Ferns, 

 a large Araucaria Bidwillii, a Musa ensete and an Arauca- 

 ria Cunninghami glauca, also belong to this rich establish- 

 ment , which has improved so much under the vigorous ad- 

 ministration of Professor Pariatore. 



For many years the gardens of Prince Demidoff at San 

 Donato have been celebrated for their superior culture, and 

 they has lost nothing of their former reputation. The enormous 

 quantity of things from thence , abundantly prove this, and 

 we feel it our duty to offer our congratulations to M. Steffa- 

 tscheck, the head gardener. Not only do we see fine specimens 

 of the exotic trees which give this garden so great an interest 

 for botanists; but the newer stove plants are represented 

 m a richness and perfection, that leave nothing to be desired. 

 One sees here the hand of the English gardener, M r Goode, 

 who had charge of them until quite a recent date ; but it is 

 only fair to add that they have not deteriorated in any way 



