HORTICULTURE. 



183 



R. . .. 



MM. 



men and gardeners of eminence in the reign of Kinjj 

 William. A labyrinth in the wilderness quarter, and 

 some other remains of the old style, are here still to be 

 een, having in some strange way or other escaped du- 

 :he revolutions of taste, and the desolating im- 

 provement'! of Kent and Brown. The winding walks 

 of the labyrinth are about half a mile in length, although 

 the entire space occupied by it does not exceed a quar- 

 ter of an acre. In a grape- house on the south side of 

 the palace, is a Black Hamburgh vine, which ha* been 

 much spoken of: the stem is mure than a foot in cir- 

 cumference ; one principal branch, trained back, mea- 

 sures 1 1 4 feet in length ; and the plant has produced, 

 in one season, 2200 bunches, weighing on an average 

 lib. each. 



, The garden* at Ken^inijton have long been celebra- 

 ted. They were greatly improved by the late Mr For- 

 syth, who certainly succeeded in renovating the fruit- 

 trees, and rendering them productive of excellent fruit. 

 Too much wa probably ascribed to the composition, 

 now generally known by the name of Forsyth't platter, 

 and it was no doubt injudicious to bring such a matter 

 before the British parliament The effect of the pre- 

 eminent degree of patronage bestowed seems unluckily 

 to have been to excite an undue prejudice against the 

 practice* recommended in the Treatise on Fruit-trees. 



The gardens at Frogmore near Windsor have been 

 formed chiefly under the direction of Charlotte Queen 

 of George III. and of l*rincc Elixabeth, one of their 

 The gardens display much taste, and are 

 kept in excellent order. They are the private proper- 

 ty of her Majesty. 



Botanic GcnsrM. 



*7- The Botanic Garden at Chebea is supported by 

 the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries of Ixmdon. 

 The grounfl W.TI granted to them in the end of the 

 17th century by Sir Hans Slnane, on condition of their 

 presenting to the Royal Society, annually, fifty new 

 plant*, tin die number should amount to 2fl(X). In 

 .dille of the garden there is a marble statue of 

 s.r Flans, by Rysbrack. On the north side of the 

 garden i* a Urge greenhouse, and close by it a ttove, 

 also of considerable dimensions. Over the 'greenhouse 

 is a bounicallibrarr. On the south tide of the garden, 

 near die Thacne*, are two wide spreading cedar* 

 banco, planted no long ago as 1085 ; at present ( : 



Terence of one of them, thrre feet from die 

 ground, is wmewhat more dun thirteen feet, and of 

 the other almost thirteen feet The laborious and well 

 informed Philip Miller was superintrndxnt of diw gsr- 



many year*, and here his admirable Gar .- 

 Dictionary was composed. Since the death of Miller, 

 the garden has been rather on the decline, die soil lie- 

 ing much exhausted, and the hot-hotues baring fallen 

 iisrepsur. Of late, however, die Company has, at 

 much expence, restored every thing to a state of more 

 than former excellence, die improvement* having bean 

 conducted by Mr William Anderson, an eminent prac- 

 tical gardener and botanist Botanical instructions are 

 here given during the suuuuu month* by a demonstra- 

 tor appointed by die Company of Apothecaries. 



The botanic garden at Oxford is of considerable an- 

 tiquity bot the collection of plant* i* not extensive; 

 and in that famed city of theological and classical lemm- 

 ing, no great encouragement seems to be given to die 

 \ouries of Flora or Pomona. 



The botanic garden at Cambridge, has long had a 



higher character in the botanical world. The collec- Hrtiul. 

 lion, however, cannot be accounted very extensive. tur * - 

 The many editions of the Horlut Cantabrigiensis, pub- w "Y"^ 

 lished by the late Mr James Donn, the curator, tend- 

 itly to spread its fame. Not that it is to be ima- 

 gined that all the plants enumerated in the Cambridge 

 catalogue are to be found, at any one time, in a living 

 state in the garden ; if they were ever cultivated there, 

 it is enough. The catalogue was printed in the shape 

 of a pocket volume, and formed a convenient compa- 

 nion to the garden or greenhouse : in fact, it long re. 

 gulated the nomenclature of plants in this country. 

 Now, however, rmny give the preference to the Hur- 

 tut Kewmtit, ta a more accurate performance ; and 

 an abridged pocket edition of this has also been pub- 

 lished. 



The botanic garden at Liverpool was established by Liverpool, 

 subscription, under the auspices of the patriotic Mr 

 Roscoe. The Miite of hot-houses is perhaps the finest 

 in Kritain, and the whole establishment is highly cre- 

 ditable to that opulent commercial city. The collec- 

 tion of plants is great ; and the many opportunities of 

 procuring seeds from ships, constantly arriving from 

 every quarter of the world, are eagerly embraced by 

 an active and intelligent superintendant, Mr William 

 Shepherd. I lere Sir James Edward Smith, the cele- 

 brated author of the Flora Britannica, and President 

 of the Linnean Society, ha* occasionally delivered a 

 course of lecture* on botany. 



:!>lic botanic garden has recently been set on foot Hull< 

 at Hull ; h is on an extensive scale, and can already 

 bout of a very ample collection of plant*. For it the 

 public are in a great measure indebted to William Spence, 

 ii not only as a naturalist, but as a wri- 

 ter on some questions of political economy. 



28. At Dublin, there are now two botanic gardens; Dublin, 

 one belonging to the Dublin Society, and another to 

 Trinity College. 



The former wm established about the year 1 798. It 

 contains twenty-four acres (Irish). The collection of 

 plants i* very extensive. The general arrangement of 

 the hardy herbaceous kind*, i* according to the system 

 of I.innsras; each Linnean class standing separate in 

 a large gnu* lawn, and an alley leading from one class 

 to another. Aquatics are necessarily placed by them* 

 selves ; and near the Aquarium, there is a piece of 

 marshy ground for bog plant*. Shrubs form another 

 division, and tree* a third. The collection* in all of 

 these department* are very extensive. In one part of 

 the garden there is an arrangement, on a smalt scale, 

 according to the natural method of Jnssieu Plants 

 nous to Ireland are brought together, so as to ex- 

 hibit the Flora of the country at one view ; but they 

 occur likewise in their places in the general arrange- 

 ment. They hare in this garden what are termed cat- 

 tie garden*, containing plant* which different animals are 

 supposed to eat or to refuse. There i* a piece of ground 

 set apart for making experiments on the different gra- 

 mina, and also on what are called artificial grasses, such 

 as clovers, trefoil*, saintfoin, lucern : this department, 

 if properly attended to, i* evidently calculated to be 

 very useful. The stoves and greenhouses are exten- 

 sive, and contain a numerous collection. 



The College botanic garden was established only in 

 1806. It occupies no more than three acres and a naif. 

 It is enclosed by a wall twelve feet high, the south-east 

 aspect of which i* faced with hrirk, and on this the 

 more delicate of the hardy climbing shrub* and others 

 which require shelter are trained. Here, for instance, 



