Garden Botany. 51 



botanical collection. The last catalogue of the Berlin garden 

 enumerates 5791 species, many of which are new. At Schon- 

 brunn, celebrated as the storehouse whence the Jacquins have 

 for so long a time drawn their inexhaustible treasures of bo- 

 tany, great additions have been making within the last year 

 by the construction of new hothouses, and the inclosure of a 

 larger quantity of ground. The Emperor of Austi'ia main- 

 tains botanical collectors in various distant countries. At 

 the present time, Ehrenberg and Hemprich are in Egypt, 

 Sellow and Offers in Brazil, and some others at the Cape of 

 Good Hope. The late King of Bavaria, at whose private 

 charge Drs. Martius and Spix were for a long time occupied 

 in exploring the riches of Brazil, did not cease to extend his 

 patronage to them after their return, but nobly provided the 

 means of making the world acquainted with the result of their 

 discoveries, in a manner equally worthy of the monarch and 

 the man of science. The work on Brazilian palms, by Dr. 

 Martius, is one of the most splendid and perfect botanical pro- 

 ductions the world ever beheld. It is well known that the 

 Prussian government, under the advice of Count Altenstein, 

 has also long maintained collectors not only in Brazil, which 

 seems to be a favourite country with the German princes, but 

 also at the Cape of Good Hope and the Isle of France. 



The botanic gardens of Germany, which belong to private 

 persons, are scarcely known, with the exception of that of 

 the Prince of Salm-Dyke, which is the richest in the world 

 in succulent plants, and of the brothers Baumann, nursery- 

 men, at Bollwiller, whose catalogue exhibits a very consider- 

 able list of plants upon sale, of all descriptions. An horti- 

 cultural society, upon the plan of that of London, has lately 

 been created under the auspices of the king of Prussia. 



In Russia, where the arts and sciences are just beginning 

 to appear, under the auspices of an enlightened monarch, 

 50,000 silver roubles, and the Apothecaries' Island in the 

 Neva, at St. Petersburg!!, have recently been appropriated to 

 the construction of a national garden, for the support of 

 which an ample income has been assigned, the whole being 

 under the direction of Dr. Fischer, a botanist, to whom a 

 high station has long since been assigned in the ranks of 

 science. By this time 3000 feet of hothouses will have been 

 completed, and the whole of the garden stocked with every 

 kind of rare or valuable plants, collected either by gift or 

 purchase, and at a vast expense, from every country in Eu- 

 rope. Nor has the watchful eye of the Russian sovereign 

 closed with the completion of this great work : not only has 

 ample provision been made for the permanent support, on a 



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