324 Gardens of the Royal Botanic Society. 



only 18 acres. There are to be Italian, English, Dutch, Swiss, 

 Oriental, and American gardens, besides gardens attached to 

 the botanical museum and library, a medico-botanic garden, a 

 rosarium, arboretum, and shrubberies, mound with observatory, 

 lawn surrounded by foliage for busts of celebrated botanists, 

 promenade, lake for aquatic plants, and small islands, with many 

 other particulars, including statues, vases, sundials, and other 

 works of art, liberally scattered over the whole space. In short, 

 the plan contains all the elements of a cockney garden, or 

 rather of several cockney gardens huddled up into one. The 

 consequence of attempting to get so many kinds of gardens 

 and other scenes and objects into so confined a space is, that 

 the ground will be frittered down into a multiplicity of small 

 parts, round, square, or polygonal, and connected by winding 

 walks, inosculating or crossing one another in all directions, 

 giving the whole the appearance of a collection of arbours for a 

 Parisian tea garden ; such a jardin Anglais as we have seen at- 

 tached to a guinguette in the environs of the French capital a 

 few years ago. The plan displays no leading feature, and the 

 hot-houses are scattered up and down in such a manner as to 

 produce no grand general effect. 



On the ground I observed some lines and forms staked out, 

 which I was told were different from either of the plans pub- 

 lished ; from this, and from the manner in which the draining 

 has been commenced, I conclude that the members of the 

 Botanic Society have not yet finally fixed on their arrangements, 

 and that it is not too late for them to reconsider their pro- 

 ceedings. That they may do this, and ultimately produce a 

 garden worthy of the situation, and of the present state of taste 

 in, and knowledge of, gardening, is my sincere wish ; and, as I 

 have already said, is my object in troubling you with this letter. 



Bayswater, May 9. 1839. 



The first step to be taken before forming either a ground 

 plan of the garden scenery, or elevations of the different 

 buildings, is to take the levels of the surface with perfect ac- 

 curacy, and to measure the depth of the surface soil throughout. 

 The situation of the walks and buildings being next fixed on, a 

 system of under drainage must be devised, which will admit of 

 repairs, without disturbing either the walks or any of the 

 buildings. Estimates ought to be given of the expense of 

 executing every particular object, accompanied witli suggestions 

 respecting what must of necessity be carried into effect, and 

 what may be deferred, in case there should not be sufficient 

 funds. All the plans, details, and estimates being made, the 

 plans ought to be lithographed, and accompanied by a de- 

 scription, and by reasons for every thing proposed. This 

 would form a work which ought to be put in circulation, and 



