170 KEW GARDENS 



the British Museum dome to house them. This 

 indeed is not the same plant as the American 

 aloe, better distinguished as the agave, whose 

 flowering stem may rise to the height of half 

 a dozen men, so here we must be content witli 

 miniature specimens to fit the Succulent House. 

 Beside this collection stands a greenhouse glow- 

 ing with bloom inside panes dimmed by frosty 

 fog ; then beyond open smaller nurseries of 

 tropical and filmy ferns. Outside, here, is sup- 

 ported a huge wistaria, once wreathing the 

 walls of a conservatory now removed. 



Last comes, what may be visited first, as its 

 Grecian front almost faces the main entrance, 

 the Aroid House, describable as a chapel of ease 

 to the Palm House, close packed with a smaller 

 congregation of swollen greenery, sucking in the 

 edifying moisture that congeals on the glassy 

 walls, and blinds for a minute or two one's 

 spectacled eyes, suddenly brought from the 

 atmosphere of our zone to that of the Equator. 



From such artificial snuggeries it seems 

 doubly dismal to turn out into the raw air of a 

 truly British November, in which a few forlorn 

 roses may still be struggling to hold up their 

 faded heads, and dank evergreens wear hardly 



