In My Vicarage Garden 



I am not writing a guide to Kew Gardens ; I 

 am merely indicating a few salient points which 

 an intelligent visitor with limited time at his 

 command would be glad to see. But it is really 

 impossible to see it in one visit, and probably the 

 best way for any one to see it properly would be 

 to confine himself to the out-of-door garden on 

 one day, keeping the houses for another. The 

 houses are quite a day's work by themselves ; 

 indeed, no one should suppose that they have 

 seen Kew till they have spent many days both 

 in the out-door garden and in the houses. The 

 Water House is always pretty with different 

 water-lilies, papyrus, Egyptian lotus, hedychiums, 

 and many lovely creepers. The great palm-house 

 is, I believe, the finest of the sort in Europe, 

 and I was once told by a friend who was well 

 acquainted with the tropics, that nothing recalled 

 the tropical jungle to his memory so much as the 

 view in the palm-house from the upper storey ; 

 while the conservatory is kept constantly supplied 

 with different flowering plants, many of them 

 giving good lessons in cultivation, and very sug- 

 gestive for those whose delight is in the bright 

 colours of a well-kept conservatory. 



I can say nothing of the many other houses 

 space forbids ; nor can I say what I could have 

 wished to say about the park-like beauties of the 

 outer garden ; many parts of it are equal to some 

 of our best parks, and there are individual trees 

 which are unsurpassed elsewhere. Some of the 



