480 WalJc round the Garden of 



are at the back, and three project in front some feet beyond the line of the 

 range of glass houses. In the central or larger of the three sides in front, 

 a glass door with folding halves is placed ; and, in the lateral sides, windows 

 of the like construction, all opening to the ground, and enabling egress to 

 be made at once upon the gravel-walk which traverses along the front, and 

 from thence to the lawn, all the beauties of which are seen through the 

 glass door and side windows, or to any part of the garden. This room is spa- 

 cious ; and from having no glass in its roof, and from its ceiling being lofty, 

 is a luxurious place of retreat from the heat of summer. In it, on stands, 

 a few select potted plants in flower are successively displayed, but not so 

 numerously as to encumber. A fine healthy plant of the fan aloe ( A'\o'6 

 plicatilis) is now blooming there, and the plant is thought to be from 

 twenty to thirty years old : it is possibly not more, as it seems by its wood 

 never to have been checked in its growth ; but, for its age, this is a very 

 fine specimen. I have only seen one finer specimen, which is in the con- 

 servatory of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, and is very much older. In 

 this tea-room, during winter, is kept one of the finest plants of Jcacia 

 armata I have ever seen. Its stem, at the surface of the soil, is 5 in. in 

 diameter ; its topmost boughs are at least 7 ft. from the surface of the tub, 

 which is of itself 3 ft. or 4 ft. deep, being a cube of about this gauge. The 

 branches of the plant are mostly on one side, and project 5 ft. or 6 ft. from 

 the centre of the tub; and, in early spring, are- headed abundantly with 

 balls of golden blossoms, which, besides rendering the plant a glorious 

 object to that floodgate of our delights, the human eye, effuse an agreeable 

 odour very obviously perceptible on entering the apartment. 



Leaving the tea-room for the green-house, you enter its end through the 

 glass doors mentioned; and find it (the first one) occupied by a judicious 

 selection of the more beautifully blossomed plants, which, though quite 

 gay two months or more ago, are not now numerously in flower. The 

 body or back part of the second green-house is occupied by a choice col- 

 lection of the superior varieties of Camellia, admirably grown ; and among 

 their gorgeous display of blossoms which, each spring, they make, few 

 excel in splendour the C. japonica Vandesii and Vandesii superba, two 

 varieties obtained from seeds in this truly delightful garden. The pits in 

 front of the green-houses are occupied by plants in pots of the frame-plant 

 class. Dianella caerulea and Arthropodium cirratum are now blooming 

 finely here; as is the beautiful Dietes bicolor, recently published in the 

 Botanical Register, t. 1404-., as Pt'is bicolor. 



It should have been remarked, that, in front of the tea-room, this 

 range of pits is interrupted ; and as it was remarked that the tea-room's 

 front projects some feet, it will be perceived that a recess is formed, which 

 receives this range of pits, without rendering them objects too conspicuous. 

 The pits in front of the stove are now occupied by blooming pelargoniums, 

 which have passed the heyday of their this year's beauty ; and by nume- 

 rous seedling plants raised from seeds purchased of Mr. Hugh Gumming, a 

 recent importer of a copious supply of the natural products of Chile into 

 England. From the seeds purchased, and which must have been judiciously 

 selected by the purchaser, many matters of promise have been raised. Of 

 these, 1 collected notices of the following : — 



Calceolarias, five shrubby kinds, all with foliage differing from those in 

 common cultivation ; one of these shows yellow blossoms. Of herbaceous 

 species, one has purple flowers, and its lower lip, or slipper-front, is laid 

 in plaits : this is a beautiful kind, and clearly distinct from C. pur- 

 purea; it has lanceolate toothed leaves, suffused with a very slight degree 

 of whiteness. Another herbaceous species has leaves somewhat plantain- 

 like, stems nearly 2 ft. high, branched in the upper part, and bearing nume- 

 rous-flowered corymbs of blossoms of a rich full yellow colour. A third 

 herbaceous kind has stems about 1 ft. high, bearing corymbs of blossoms 



