Garden of the London Hort. Soc. 129 



in delivering our letters, we inquired the route to Turnham 

 Green, and taking an omnibus, we soon were set down at 

 the Garden of the London Horticultural Society at Chiswick, 

 about four miles from the Strand. 



Garden of the London Horticidtural Society. — The garden 

 of the society occupies about 30 acres of land, situated at 

 Chiswick, on the road to Turnham Green, and accessible at 

 all times of day by omnibuses from the city. It forms nearly 

 a square, and is divided nearly as follows : — orchard about 

 ten acres, arboretum about ten acres, and miscellaneous de- 

 partment ten acres. The principal entrance is by a private 

 road leading to the Duke of Devonshire's residence, and the 

 private entrance from Turnham Green. The fruit and 

 kitchen garden departments are divided by walls, on which 

 are trained a great portion of the collection of pears, and 

 other fruits, which have made the Horticultural Society's 

 collection so valuable. 



Mr. Thompson has the management of the fruit depart- 

 ment, and Mr. Gordon the management of the ornamental 

 department ; and to the affability and kindness of both of these 

 gentlemen, we are deeply indebted ; every thing in relation 

 to fruits, or trees and plants, was pointed out to us, and our 

 several visits made highly interesting and satisfactory. Mr. 

 Thompson is thoroughly acquainted with all the varieties of 

 fruits which have passed under his eye, and the mass of in- 

 formation which he has accumulated in his manuscripts, and 

 which has been given to the public in the Catalogue of the 

 Society, fills several large folio volumes. No one who is not 

 conversant with the subject of identifying fruits and detect- 

 ing synonyms, can form an idea of the care and labor which 

 has been expended by Mr. Thompson during the period he 

 has had charge of the Society's collection. 



We entered the garden by the private road, and proceeded 

 along a straight and broad walk, bounded by a border and a 

 wall on each side to the distance of two or three hundred 

 feet. To the right is situated the pits and forcing ground, 

 and the experimental garden, and to the left the experimental 

 garden for fruits. At the entrance to this is the office of Mr. 

 Thompson, which adjoins the Fruit Room of the society. 

 This room was undergoing repairs, and having a new floor 



VOL. XI. NO. IV. 17 



