Baron HiigeVs Garden and Collection of Plants. 151 



the largest collections of plants on the Continent ; one which, in number 

 and value, may vie with the collections of any country. 



While the plants in the garden continued to increase, greenhouses also 

 sprang up from the designs of the baron, most tastefully arranged and ex- 

 tremely well adapted for the purpose. It is indeed a most delightful treat for 

 the lovers of plants and flowers to behold this beautiful collection. When 

 nature is sunk in the sleep of winter in the open air, here the camellia, azalea, 

 acacia, most of the Papilionaceae, and many other families of plants, appear in 

 their richest garb. This garden is not only interesting when the severe cold 

 limits our visit to the greenhouse ; it is even much more so to the botanist 

 and amateur during spring and the summer months. Imposing groups of 

 beautiful plants, splendid collections of different families in bewildering variety 

 of colour, and all so tastefully arranged that it gives a good idea of the 

 knowledge and taste of the proprietor. 



For a full account of this rich collection I must refer to the systematic 

 catalogue published in 1840, and shall here confine my remarks to plants at 

 present in flower, and particularly remarkable for their beauty, rarity, or size. 



The view, immediately on entering the garden, is one very rarely seen, and 

 displays knowledge, taste, and propriety, often looked for elsewhere in vain. 

 I particularly allude to the beautiful terrace in front of the living-rooms, 

 where the pillars, surrounded by climbing plants, seem composed of masses of 

 flowers ; where in the beds of flowers between the pedestals, revel, in all the 

 richness of colouring, Z/ilium longiflorum, Gladiolus psittacinus and flori- 

 biindus, Tigridia Pavonia Juss. (Ferraria L.), Ferraria undulata, and nu- 

 merous petunias ; and where the wire plant-boxes are overgrown with different 

 species of iathyrus, with a gigantic specimen of Fuchsia fulgens and Lebre- 

 tonia coccfnea in the centre, by the sides of which are rare specimens of 

 Scottia trapezoides and dentata, and new species of Acacia and Gnidia. The 

 terrace floor is tessellated, and on it are judiciously distributed stages covered 

 with beautiful flowering plants. Single plants, remarkable for their variety 

 or beauty, stand alone on the terrace before the pillars ; and among these 

 some Protectees may be particularly mentioned, and a Burchelh'a capensis, 

 10 ft. high, and covered with innumerable flowers. Along the terrace stand 

 large plants, such as aloes andPhormium tenax, in beautiful vases, different spe- 

 cies of Phce^nix, large cordylines, Chamae x rops humilis (var. excelsa), and boxes 

 of painted china, consisting of square pieces put together, and filled with 

 petunias and verbenas, thus even increasing the richness of the flowers in 

 a manner peculiarly beautiful. From the splendid and most tastefully fitted up 

 apartments of the proprietor, which recall the time when he lived among the 

 princes of India, a view is obtained of great part of the garden, and the eye 

 gets a glimpse of the romantic village of Upper St. Beit near St. Beiter's Berg, 

 with the beautiful scenery in the distance. The real Chinese furniture on the 

 terrace, the flags hung out above it, consisting of a white middle and red 

 border, and the circular lamps brought by the baron from China, hanging 

 between the pillars, give the whole the appearance of an Oriental dwelling. 



On the terrace before the sitting-room of the proprietor stands a colossal 

 group of plants, consisting chiefly of the families Protedcece, Mimosae, ilfyr- 

 taceae, and several others. Near this group is situated a grove-like collection 

 of Coniferas. The connoisseur will here find beautiful specimens of Araucaria 

 brasiliensis, 1 8 ft. high, Cunninghamia excelsa and imbricata ; Pinus altissima 

 HorL, Bankszawa Lamb., Gevardidna Wall., halepensis Ait. (maritima Lamb.), 

 LambertMwa Dough, Coulteri D. Don (macrocarpa Lindl.), monticola Dougl. ; 

 .4 v bies cephalonica Loud. (A. Luscombeawa Hort., taxifolia Hort.), Menziesw 

 Dougl., Smiihidna Wall. (Morinda Hort.) ; Picea Webbidna Wall. (Pinus spec- 

 tabilis Lamb.) ; Cedrus JDeoddra Roxb., and Deodij,ra var. pendula, intermedia, 

 Podocarpus longifolius Hort., latifolius Wall., nucifer Loud. (Taxus nucifera 

 L.) ; a remarkable specimen of Cunninghamz'a sinensis Rich. (Belis jaculi- 

 folia Salisb.), also the rare Ddmmara australis and orientalis Lamb. (A'gathis 



