Scientific Public Gardens. 66 i 



be included in an acre of ground, might be formed at little ex- 

 pense, and kept in order by one man. The arrangement should be 

 in longitudinal groups, according to the natural system; and every 

 plant should be named with various details. In addition to this 

 arrangement, there might be a geographical one, and a geological 

 one; and, by thus placing the same plant in three different modes 

 of arrangement before the spectator, he would recollect its name 

 better, and attain without labour some ideas relative to its nature. 

 If the agricultural, horticultural, medical, and manufactural 

 plants were repeated by themselves, this also would add to the 

 intei'est and instruction afforded by the garden. 



A British Flora, or garden of the plants, ligneous and herba- 

 ceous, which are natives of the British Isles, it is needless to state, 

 must be both interesting and instructive. Its arrangement might 

 be either methodical, geographical, geological, or topographical. 

 By topographical we mean the placing of the plants of each 

 county in a group by themselves ; and, among these, the more 

 remarkable should be in<licated in such a manner as to be readily 

 distinguished- In a very original and ingenious plan for a natural 

 arrangement of ligneous and herbaceous plants, to be formed in 

 the Glasnevin Botanic Garden, made by its enlightened curator 

 Mr. Niven, and which will be found in our succeeding Numbei', all 

 the plants of the British Isles, of each particular order or tribe, 

 are to be placed on one side of a walk ; and all those of foreign 

 countries, belonging to the same order or tribe, on the other side. 

 Among the plants of the British Isles, those peculiar to England 

 are to have cast-iron tallies bearing the bas relief of a rose ; those 

 peculiar to Scotland, that of a thistle ; and those peculiar to Ire- 

 land, that of a shamrock. 



A Local Flora, in a public garden, that is, a collection of the 

 plants indigenous to any particular locality, may be worth form- 

 ing where one of greater extent could not be undertaken ; and 

 to such a flora may be applied many of the general remarks 

 already made. 



A Plantarium, or garden devoted solely to a display of the 

 whole of the plants, ligneous and herbaceous, which will endure 

 the open air in Britain, would be one of very great interest. The 

 arrangement of such a garden ought, unquestionably, to be ac- 

 cording to the natural system ; and, for rapid observation of the 

 species, we should prefer them arranged on the same general 

 plan as that which we have proposed for an arboretum ; viz. in 

 groups along one side of a walk. To do justice to both the 

 trees and the herbaceous plants would require very ample space ; 

 because, to admit of the herbaceous plants displaying themselves 

 to advantage, they require to have abundance of light and air. 

 In a practical point of view, therefore, it will always be found 

 best to have the herbacetum apart from the arboretum. At the 



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