Villas. 89 



charitable purposes, and encouraging the growing 

 taste for such pursuits without encroaching on the 

 province of men in the trade of horticulture. 



When I visited Mr. Wilson Saunders' villa at Eei- 

 gate, in 1872, his grounds, though not extensive, 

 exhibited one of the largest and best collections of 

 outdoor plants, other than forest trees, I have seen. 

 Probably he had the greatest variety of Yuccas in 

 any collection in the kingdom, amongst which were 

 many of the first specimens of their kind introduced 

 into the country, some of which are figured in his 

 Rcfuyhtni Botanicum, and in Curtis's Botanical Maga- 

 zine. Mr. Saunders told me that, after much obser- 

 vation, he inclines to think there are not more than 

 about thirteen distinct specimens known in cultiva- 

 tion. 



Outside our great northern capital, on the slopes 

 above the Firth of Forth, and on those looking 

 towards the Pentland Hills on the southern side of 

 the city, several villa-grounds have been recently 

 tastefully laid out and planted. 



The collection of Isaac Anderson Henry, Esq., 

 at Hay Lodge, near Trinity, and scarcely a mile 

 northerly beyond the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, 

 may, like that of Mr. Ellacomb, at Bitton, claim for 

 the grounds, which are of limited extent, the title of 

 experimental gardens. Some very popular favourite 

 plants have been designated Henrici or Anderson i 

 after Mr. Henry, who has flowered many such plants 



