514 [Assembly 



vention. The estate was hired by the Prince of Wales, and about 

 the year 1730 the pleasure gardens there, comprising 170 acres, 

 were commenced by his widow, Augusta, Princess Dowager of 

 Wales. She took great pleasure in giving activity to the works 

 by her presence for a long time. She obtained the aid of the 

 most distinguished men, among whom we mention Sir W. Cham- 

 bers. A great part of the decorations of the garden of Kew is 

 due to Count De Rule. The Princess Augusta confided to an able 

 gardener the exotic plants which occupy a great number of con- 

 servatories, especially the most beautiful and richest to be seen 

 in all England. The Duke Archibald, of Argyle, sent from his 

 sumptuous gardens at Wheston, near Hounslow, a collection of the 

 rarest trees and plants as presents to the Princess. It was not until 

 1789 that George Illd definitively acquired the residence at Kew. 

 He demolished the house. The now called Palace of Kew is sim- 

 ply of red bricks. To speak of all the vegetables which fill the nu- 

 merous conservatories would be a difiicult task. I shall content 

 myself with a glance at them. First — I point out the great glass 

 hot house on account of its size ; its position in a wood, has noth- 

 ing equal to it in London or its neighborhood. It is confided to 

 Messrs. William Hooker and Smith. It contains the most re- 

 markable vegetables ; the Cedars of Lebanon, the Gutta Percha 

 tree, the vast flower. Victoria regia, Ivory palm, Caoutchouc, the 

 Wax palm, a great variety of the textile, the dye, the oily trees 

 and plants, the Bread fruit, the gigantic root of the Kigelsa Nu- 

 bina, which somewhat resembles the potato. Among the Or- 

 chidea the elegant Anselia-Africana, with its flowering branches 

 of great size, blooming annually ; the Cypress of Chapultepec, 

 which sometimes attains a circumference of 39 feet. The Aus- 

 tralian glass contains leguminous plants. Acacias fragrant, some 

 with singularly shaped foliage; many beautiful Epacris and mag- 

 nificent specimens of the Protea and the Banksia, both unique in 

 Europe ; Indian Fig trees, with their pendant branches reaching 

 the earth, &c., &c. 



The Hand Tree. — Chiranthodendron, named by Humboldt and 

 Bonpland, Chierostemonplatanoides — belongs to the family of 

 the Bombacea. 



