Botanical Miscellany. 307 



what receives the same appellation in England ; and which is neither more 

 nor less than a wood, in which nature and art seem to dispute for the ori- 

 ginal formation and present possession. As in a wood, one may walk, ride, 

 and drive about it, without risk of interi-uption. English parks are, in fact, 

 beautiful woods, and nothing more ; and it will ever remain one of the 

 most difficult problems in the delightful science of laying out pleasure- 

 grounds, so to place a charming wood, as that he who is in it shall not 

 know whether he is in a grove or a house [ ! ]. We have, on the Continent, 

 many exquisitely formed gardens, under the name of English ones ; but an 

 English park 1 have only seen in England. The botanic garden at Kew is 

 surrounded by high walls, and intersected into long squares. With regard 

 either to its plan, or its nine or ten stoves, it will not bear a comparison 

 with those of Malmaison or the Grand Duke of Weimar, of Prince Ester- 

 hazy at Eisenstadt, or even with the botanical division of the Imperial 

 Garden at Schonbrunn." 



" The Garden of the Horticultural Society at Turnham Green, scarcely 

 half-an-hour's distance from Kew, is of far greater importance to the art of 

 gardening, which is, indeed, the proper design of the study of botany. 

 This establishment, which is described in the Horticultural Transactions, 

 is likely to prove of incalculable advantage to Britain and to all Europe : 

 every branch of horticulture, except the ornamental, being here pursued 

 to the greatest extent, and according to the purest scientific principles ; 

 such as the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, both forced and in the open 

 air ; and of flowers, whether abroad or under glass. No less than 5o 

 acres of land are destined to the accomplishment of the necessary experi- 

 ments, surrounded by a lofty wall, and again walled off" into partitions. 

 By this plan, however, the Society appears to have intentionally sacrificed 

 to the picturesque. About forty workmen are kept in this Vineyard of the 

 Lord, who are under the superintendence of a very able gardener, Mr. 

 Munro. At present there are five stoves, two of them built after the 

 newest plan, with convex windows, which are found to be highly advan- 

 tageous. A very large house is to be erected next year, and heated by 

 steam. We, of Germany, must long want a great advantage which the 

 English possess in their stoves ; namely, the very slender iron frame-work 

 in which the panes of glass are enclosed, thus uniting durability with the 

 advantage of admitting the greatest quantity of light. The price of these 

 iron frames in England, where every thing is six times as expensive as with 

 us in Bavaria, amounts to no more than we should pay for a frame of 

 wood that would not last above a year. The Horticultural stoves contain 

 many valuable plants from China and Sierra Leone, brought by Mr. Don's 

 brother, who had resided there for some time. So fine a collection of roses 

 exists no where else ; the celebrated Mr. Sabine, who is secretary to the 

 Society, having been engaged in studying this tribe for almost thirty years. 

 They are arranged in large squares ; one might ahuost say, in small groves 

 of roses, native and foreign, single and double. On comparing this garden 

 with those of the ancient Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, one can- 

 not, for a moment, hesitate in declaring the superior influence that this 

 must have in benefiting the country; although it has only been formed 

 within these few years by the joint exertions of a few private individuals. 

 The friend of mankind contemplates with pleasure, how much more awell- 

 tiirected society of spirited men can effect in ten or twelve years, with the 

 small sum of about 60,000 florins raised among themselves, than has been 

 performed by the two great learned bodies of the kingdom, with their mil- 

 lions. Whoever doubts the influence which the Horticultural Society has 

 produced on the nation, or who thinks that our ideas of its value are overr 

 rated, we would advise him to attend one of their sittings, and there to see 

 what is done by the members of this institution ; and then, like the wisest 



X 2 1 



