416 Transactions of the Prussian Gardening Society. 



15. On manuring Fruit Trees. 

 Some trees over-manured having died, a prejudice was 

 created against the practice ; and this short paper, which is 

 chiefly a quotation from Christ, is to show that it is useful in 

 moderation. 



16. Notes on the Botanic Garden of the Prince de Salm-Dyck, tvith 

 some Ideas on private Botanic Gardens in general. By M. Funke, 

 Garden-Director at Salm-Dyck. 



M. Funke recommends private persons who form botanic 

 gardens to set out with some definite object in view; and this, 

 he thinks, ought to be the cultivation of only one or two fami- 

 lies, such as Camellia, A'ster, JSrica, i26sa, &c. This, he 

 says, would enable each garden to excel in some one parti- 

 cular thing ; and he cites, as examples, the garden of Her- 

 renhausen, near Hanover, which is celebrated for ericas ; that 

 of the Pfaueninsel, for georginas ; that of the seedsman Dreys- 

 sig, near Erfurt, for stocks, &c. By this species of what he 

 calls monocultural gardens, he says, we should produce more 

 monographical botanists, such as Willdenow, Decandolle, 

 Haworth, &c. A general collection of plants, he thinks, is 

 only necessary in those gardens which are kept for public 

 instruction. The monocultural garden of Salm-Dyck, we are 

 informed, was, from the first, intended to be devoted to only 

 two or three orders and families of plants ; and, in consequence 

 of confining itself to certain genera of succulents, it has now 

 the finest collection of them in the world. The genus ^'loe 

 in that garden consists of 1 2 1 species and 50 varieties ; among 

 which are plants of the v^'loe ferox and abyssinica, 8 ft. high, 

 which attract the attention of all strangers. There are 1 7 species 

 and varieties of Agave, IS of Yucca, 33 of Crassula, 18 of&em- 

 pervivum, 10 of Cacalia, 40 of .Euphorbz'a. Of the Cacteae, 

 there are 10 Mammillariaa, 12 Melocacti, 83 Cerei, 5 Rhip- 

 salides, 3 Epiphylla, 4 Pereski^, and 45 Opuntise. Of Mesem- 

 bryanthemum it contains 228 species and 46 varieties, and 

 99 Stapeli^e. The above-mentioned sorts increase from year 

 to year ; and make, with the addition of the i^icus and Scita- 

 minese, the families which are cultivated in houses. In the 

 open ground, the collections of Tfosacese, Coniferae, and Legu- 

 minosas are very perfect, and are grouped systematically 

 round the castle, iridese, Labiatae, i?anunculacese, and the 

 genus Psebnia of which there are at present 80 species and 

 varieties, are also cultivated. Though the botanic garden at 

 Salm-Dyck is confined to the orders and families mentioned, 

 yet, in the pleasure-ground and park scenery, all the more 

 ordinary, and even the more rare and expensive, showy flowers, 

 shrubs, and trees, are introduced. 



