396 Botanic Gardens of Penacerrada and Valencia. 



the south of Spain, are strong testimonies of the numerous 

 and important acquisitions which might have been made by 

 the agriculturists of Spain, if the political institutions had not 

 uniformly endeavoured to impede the progress of the efforts 

 of private individuals, desirous of benefiting by them. After 

 the decease of its founder, the garden of Prince Pio com- 

 menced to decline. 



Botanic Garden of Penacerrada. — But according to well- 

 grounded information, not far from Muchamiel, in the town 

 of Penacerrada, the Marquis of this name and of Beniel 

 founded in 1814 another garden, which, it is asserted, is finer 

 than that of Prince Pio, and in which he has collected not 

 only the rarest plants cultivated in the gardens of the king- 

 doms of Valencia and Murcia, but likewise many others, which 

 he had caused to be brought over from the gardens of France 

 and Italy, and not a few from the island of Cuba, which were 

 forwarded to him either alive, or in seed. 



Botanic Garden of Valencia. — The botanical instructions 

 in the University of Valencia, as forming part of the medical 

 sciences, have been given there from time immemorial ; but I 

 know not whether it possessed a botanical garden previous to 

 the latter end of the last century, at which period the rector 

 of that university, the Canon Don Vicente Blasco, began to 

 form the one now existing, which is situated to the north- 

 west of the city, at a short half mile from its walls, and on the 

 banks of the river Turia. It comprises about eighteen fane- 

 gadas (27 acres) of land of excellent quality, and has a great 

 abundance of water for irrigation. Its walks are planted with 

 different varieties of orange, citron, lemon, and bergamot trees, 

 the proceeds of which contribute towards its support. Many 

 specimens of plants which were cultivated in the archiepiscopal 

 garden of Puzol, presented by several individuals of that city 

 and its environs, were transplanted there ; it being also con- 

 siderably augmented by the collections of seeds which were 

 transmitted yearly from the botanical garden of Madrid. 

 When we take the fine climate of Valencia into consideration, 

 as well as its fertile soil, and the abundance of water it enjoys 

 for irrigation, this garden ought to be one of the richest in 

 Europe, especially in plants peculiar to warm climates ; but 

 far from improving, it has been decaying from its commence- 

 ment ; and this, simply because its professor of botany, who 

 was the only scientific man in it, was under the immediate 

 controul of the general assembly of the university, composed 

 for the greater part of theologians and barristers, who in 

 Spain, generally speaking, entertain a contempt for the natural 



