570 Domestic Notices : — England. 



through their fostering care, several scientific institutions have of late sprung 

 up in India, it remains an enigma how one of the oldest and most useful insti- 

 tutions should have been allowed to sink to its present state, which hardly 

 justifies the application of the epithet ' botanical' to the garden." 



" On entering the garden, the eye is struck with all the grandeur of an 

 Indian vegetation. As a pleasure-ground, laid out in tolerably good taste, 

 and kept in exemplary order by some 150 workmen, a more beautiful 

 spot could hardly be found. But now, you stop before the nearest tree, 

 and are desirous of ascertaining its name, its properties, its habitat. You 

 ask, of course, for a catalogue ; there exists no catalogue of the Honourable 

 Company's ' botanical ' garden !" 



" To find out the plan upon which this garden is arranged amounts next to 

 an impossibility. 



" This establishment, forming a no small item in the Company's annual 

 expenses, ought to prove of some little use to the public, particularly now 

 that Calcutta boasts a medical college for natives. How far the students 

 can study botany in a ' botanical garden, without catalogue, herbarium, arti- 

 ficial or natural arrangement, is unnecessary to speculate upon ; it would be 

 a more desirable topic for speculation, to point out the most expedient 

 manner in which this fallen, but still noble, institution might, instead of 

 proving, as it of late has done, a bar to science, be restored to its original 

 purpose, which the liberality of its supporters and the public at large have 

 a right to expect ; viz , that of promoting science, in short, that of being a 

 botanical garden." {Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. hi., new series, p. 306.) 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



M.. Poiteau and M. Tripet-Leblanc from Paris have lately visited London, 

 and the gardens in the neighbourhood. M. Poiteau is a celebrated botanist 

 and horticulturist, who has been employed by the French government, in 

 South America and other parts of the world ; and who has for many years 

 been the joint editor, with M. Vilmorin, of the Bon Jardinier. He is also the 

 most active writer connected with the Horticultural Society of Paris. He 

 excels in physiological knowledge, in which if he is equalled, we do not 

 suppose he is surpassed, by any practical man in France; in proof of which 

 we need only refer to the papers by M. Poiteau in the Annates. As an 

 individual he is highly intelligent and benevolent, reminding us, in these 

 respects, of the late much and justly respected Andre Thouin, whose pupil he 

 was. M. Tripet-Leblanc is reputed the first grower of tulips in Paris. He is 

 successor to a family of the name of Tripet, who have been celebrated tulip- 

 growers and florists for two or three generations. M. Tripet-Leblanc's list 

 of tulips will be found in our advertising sheet. What may be the merits of 

 his collection, as compared with those of Mr. Groom and of other florists in 

 this country, we know not; but it is highly creditable to M. Tripet-Leblanc, 

 to be desirous of knowing the practices and the collections of British florists. 

 — Cond. 



City Gardens. — In Angel Court, a little court ofF Skinner Street, are five 

 small gardens, to houses chiefly occupied by persons connected with the 

 printing-office of Mr. Woodfall. The gardens are from 15 ft. to 20 ft. square, 

 and contain a number of showy plants, and some shrubs, all in a thriving 

 state. Among the plants are the dahlia, mignonette, marigolds, thyme, 

 sweetwilliam, &c. ; and among the shrubs, lilacs, roses, and sweet briar. 

 We have sent, through the kindness of Mr. Charlwood, to each garden a 

 packet of twenty Californian annuals, which, we have no doubt, being sown 

 immediately, will stand the winter, and come beautifully in flower early in 

 spring. — Cond. August 15. 1839. 



Large Trees at Brockley Hall, Somersetshire, the Seat of John Hugh Smyth 



