Baron Hiigel's Garden and Collection of Plants. 153 



albo pleno, anemonifldra, elthaeifldra, roseo-plena, Sasanqua, Gussdnz, &c, 

 grown as espaliers, which have already covered the whole wall. A narrow 

 path separates this from beds filled with high camellias and Indian azaleas. 

 Among the camellias, the one most worthy of notice is C. reticulata, 14 ft. 

 high, with a head 5 ft. in circumference. Near the front lights, separated by 

 the principal passage, are small beds, likewise filled with camellias planted in 

 the soil ; and by the sides of the pillars, which extend to the back part of the 

 house, are the most beautiful acacias. 



You then pass under arches formed of wire, on which kennedyas and other 

 climbing plants grow, also Dioclea glycinoides, which had already unfolded its 

 splendid deep red flowers, mixed with camellias and acacias fastened to the 

 wire ; and on descending a few steps you enter a small house in which the 

 baron has wisely placed the whole collection of plants in small specimens, so 

 that not one may escape notice, and so be perhaps entirely lost, a frequent 

 occurrence in large assemblages. This collection resembles a living index. 



You next enter another house, constructed exactly like the preceding, in 

 which small plants are most tastefully grouped among tufa ; and as you 

 passed through an ornamental arch, and descended a few steps to this house, 

 in like manner you now ascend a few steps to the camellia-house already 

 described, to which adjoins a long row of houses intended to contain at 

 another season of the year those plants at present grouped in the open air. 



On the left is the orchideous house, in which is a collection of 83 genera 

 and nearly 200 species, most of them grown on the trunks of trees, or planted 

 in little baskets, from which they hang down. As this was only used as an 

 orchideous house last year, it cannot be expected to be very rich in flowers. 

 Some very fine forms and colours begin to unfold. Among these may be men- 

 tioned : Catasetum luridum, bicornutum, tricolor ; Epidendrum crassifolium, 

 Oncidium Baueri Cycnoches Loddigesw, Calanthe fuscata, Acropera Lod- 

 digesw, and many other species ; some dendrobiums, maxillarias, oncidiums, 

 &c. iVepenthes distillatoria also unfolds its blossoms. This house is heated 

 by steam. 



You next find yourself in a large conservatory with upright lights, in winter 

 chiefly filled with camellias ; the next has slanting lights, and leads to a large 

 saloon, through which you pass to the living-rooms, and, on again reaching 

 the open air, you pass by the terrace already described. 



But another most delightful scene is still reserved, and that is a mosaic 

 picture of flowers, a so-called Roccoco-garden * ; and we have to thank 

 the Baron von Hiigel for setting the first example of a style, since gene- 

 rally imitated, both here and in the vicinity. A garden laid out in this 

 manner requires much skill and ability on the part of the gardener, as well in 

 the arrangement as in the choice of the flowers ; and he must also be careful 



* Roccoco. — We have hitherto been in the hahit of considering this term 

 as synonymous with what may be called the shellwork arabesque; but on 

 asking a critical friend for the true meaning of the term, he sent us what 

 follows : — 



" Roccoco is one of those words which, although they are in vogue both in 

 conversation and writing, are not to be met with in dictionaries, any more 

 than are the thousand and one terms employed either in millinery or in cooker)'. 

 All, therefore, that I can say of it is, that it is one which seems to have been 

 lately invented by the French, and was first applied to the antiquated frivolous 

 taste of the period of Louis XV. It is now used as a general term of reproach 

 to what is old-fashioned and tasteless in literature and art, and appears to 

 correspond in some degree with our English ' crinkum-crankum.' Instead of 

 being au courant du jour, dictionary-makers are always half a century behind 

 the rest of the world, and seldom explain the very words one is most at loss 

 to understand. — W. H. L." 



