204 
evidently much appreciated by the public which crowd there on 
Sundays. 
The number of perennials grown in the grounds was given in 
1912 at 4,946 species and varieties, and those of the annuals at 
1,576. 
The Glasshouses—The disposition of the glasshouses is still 
according to F. E. L. Fischer’s plan of 1824. They are arranged 
along the sides of a square about 200 m. by 150 m. A cross 
range parallel to the longer sides divides the square into nearly 
equal halves, whilst two smaller ranges project into the southern 
court. The large new palm house and the pretty Victoria regia 
house jut out from the south side; the total length of the glass- 
houses amounts to over 1 km. and the space pea by them to 
3 hectares (7.4 acres). The Been of plants contained in 
them is extremely rich, comprising over 19,000 species and 
varieties. e palm house and the Victoria regia house as well 
as all the greater part of the other houses are iron structures 
with single glazing. The problem of keeping a thermophilous 
vegetation not only alive but flourishing in a climate with six 
months of winter and much reduced daylight is certainly one of 
very great difficulty; but a visit to the fern, aroid, cycad or 
palm houses shows that the difficulties have been overcome in a 
surprising way, mostly, it seems, by keeping the temperature 
during the winter as low as the plants will stand it—for instance 
at 2.5-5° C. in the great fern house, 5-7.5° C. in the rhododendron 
house, which also contains cacti and succulent euphorbias— 
and thus reducing the vital processes to a minimum during the 
critical period. 
Long ago attempts had been made to introduce landscape 
gardening into the larger houses. Cohn, more than 50 years 
ago, has spoken in enthusiastic terms of the effects thus obtained 
and they deserve, indeed, no less praise today. In the summer, 
when so many of the less delicate plants are transferred to the 
“‘parterre”’ in the “park,” it may be difficult to form an idea as 
to the state of the houses during the greater part of the year, 
but the hothouses did not appear overcrowded, and the largest 
of them produced a striking effect owing to the freedom allowed 
