Progress of Botany in Russia. 357 



still exists, and planted several trees, especially of Poplar and Lime, which 

 have attained a considerable size, and are preserved with a sacred care. 

 This spot, consisting of good soil, and watered upon one side by a branch 

 of the Neva, was fixed upon as the scite of the present garden. Other 

 ground, however, was added to it in 1823, so that it includes an area of 

 sixty English acres, in part surrounded by a wooden fence, and partly by 

 a hedge, which occupies an extent of about two hundred yards next the 

 river. 



In 1824, a series of operations were commenced and carried into execu- 

 tion, such as perhaps have scarcely any parallel in the annals of Botanical 

 Institutions. Orders were given for ranges of Greenhouses, Conservatories 

 and Stoves, the cost of which was estimated at a million of roubles, (about 

 L.40,000 Sterling,) and the whole to be completed before the present win- 

 ter. 



The principal houses are three in number, facing the south, each 700 

 feet in length, and twenty to thirty feet from back to front, placed in par- 

 allel lines, but at such a distance from each other, that by two other 

 houses of the same length, running from north to south, and placed at the 

 ends of these, the whole forms a parallelogram, measuring 700 feet each 

 way, intersected by a central line or house of the same length. The middle 

 building is the most lofty, being forty feet high in the central part. The 

 three that face the south have a sloping light in front, reaching from the 

 top to the ground. 



Those which run north and south have a double roof, are comparative- 

 ly low, and have the path in the centre. All are heated by means of com- 

 mon flues, and with wood, principally birch. Water is raised by engines 

 from the river, and cisterns filled in various parts of the houses, and in 

 the most convenient situations. The large spaces of ground, or areas 

 between the buildings, are filled with shrubs, and flower-beds ; only, 

 behind the most southern one is a splendid suite of apartments for the 

 Royal Family. These have windows, opening from above into the house 

 below, so that the plants may be seen to great advantage. 



Dr Fischer, who has the charge of the establishment, occupies at pre- 

 sent a small wooden dwelling within the garden. Handsome and com- 

 modious habitations are to be built for him, and for the two chief gar- 

 deners, one of whom is a Dane, and the other a Frenchman. Two Se- 

 cretaries are employed, one of them is a French gentleman, M. Fleury, 

 who lately visited this country with Dr Fischer, the other a Russian ; and 

 also an excellent botanic painter, a native of Germany, who has already 

 executed some very beautiful drawings of new and rare plants. 



There is scarcely a garden in Europe, which will not, if it has not al- 

 ready done so, contribute to stock this superb establishment. The col- 

 lection is even now very great. One hundred thousand roubles were ap- 

 propriated for the purchase of plants, at the commencement ; and 68,000 

 roubles annually, for the ordinary expences. During the last year, which, 

 as we have seen, was the first of the commencement of the institution, no 

 less than 14,000 packages of seeds were sown in 60,000 pots. Di Fischer 



