298 



Historical and Descriptive Account 



sions : these are constructed on various plans inside, to suit the nature of 

 the plants to be cultivated in them ; the dry stoves being fitted up with stages, 

 and most of the others having pits in the centre, filled with dung and old 

 leaves, in which the plants are placed, or plunged. This department has been 

 greatly enriched through the combined exertions of the collectors Sellow and 

 Beyrich, in Brazil ; and Scliiede and Deppe in Mexico, who not only imported 

 vast quantities of seeds, but living plants also. The number of species in 

 many genera is truly astonishing ; as in Passiflora, ^ida, Malpfghiw, Gesner«, 

 Jfiblscus, Banisten'a, ^ristolochia, Begonire, i^icus, Ardisia, Bignonzcs, Pothos, 

 Piper, &c. Among these are many new species, or, at least, species that are 

 supposed to be new, which have not yet flowered. The collection of ferns, 

 of which I send you a list, is the finest I have seen, and it is most admirably 

 cultivated. Most of these plants have been raised from the shakings of dried 

 specimens, and many of them are assuming the habits of trees ; as Polypodium 

 alsophilum, which has a stem 4 ft. high, by 6 in. in diameter, with an elegant 

 crown of leaves J and Cibotium Schiedez, from Mexico, which is supposed to be 

 of the tree kind. The plant, though young, has pushed fronds 12 ft. long, and is 

 remarkably handsome. Among the other conspicuous ferns may be mentioned 

 Didymochlse^na sinuosa, Polypodium aureum, Diplazium arborescens, Ma- 

 rattia lae'vis, and M. cicutaefolia : the propagation of the latter is rather in- 

 teresting. The root, or tuber, whence the leaves spring, is a large, scaly, corky- 

 looking substance, resembling the stem of a Zamia. Each of these scales has 

 at the point of its insertion in the stem an eye, or bud, which, when carefully 

 removed, and planted in a small pot placed in heat, roots freely. The more 

 rare and tender ferns have a house allotted to them ; but most of them are 

 used in decorating the other houses, for which purpose they are admirably 

 adapted, from their light green foliage, and from their thriving well in situations 

 which could not be otherwise occupied. The cultivation of tropical Orchi- 

 dacese here, as in England, has become a matter of interest. A pit of 60 ft. 

 long has lately been built, and it already contains a very neat collection : the 

 parasitical kinds are grown in cork boxes and cocoa nut shells suspended by 

 brass wire from the rafters ; and, although that degree of humidity and heat 

 is not kept up which some late writers on this beautiful tribe recommend, the 

 plants are succeeding admirably, and flowering freely. Many specimens have 

 flowered this season which have not been, as yet, figured in any work : they are 

 mostly from Brazil. 



The Berlin Garden has long been celebrated, and justly, for its collection 



of succulents, especially Cactaceas, which certainly do great credit to the 



director; not only from their number and their robust and healthy state, but 



from the scientific manner in which they are named and 



arranged. Each species has the name and autho'-itj' 



attached to it, neatly written with black paint on a 



porcelain tally, {fig- 39.) These tallies are about 



4 inches long, of a wedge shape rounded at the head, 



which has a very clean appearance ; and the different 



genera are arranged together j a method indispensably ne- 

 cessary in a tribe so difficult to distinguish. An exceed- 

 ingly interesting house is kept up at a heat of 15° of 



Reaumur. Great care is taken in watering at this season, 



especially the mammillarias, which are apt to damp off. 



In summer, the more rare and tender kinds are removed 



into frames, where they receive a gentle bottom heat ; 



the bed being covered over with a layer of sand, on 



•which the plants are placed. They are now more co- 

 piously watered, and, in hot weather, syringed and shaded 



from the scorching heat of the sun. The more hardy 



kinds are placed in a sheltered situation in the open air, 



and remain without protection througli the whole of 



the summer. The number of species runs about 350. 



Hybrids are not so much sought after here as in Eng- 



