June 13, 18G5. ] 



JOURNA.L OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



447 



the funds at his command for its adornment. Writing to 

 Mr. Loudon in ltS33, he says : — 



" Previously to the commencement of the arboretum, the 

 whole space which it occupies was covered with timber 

 ti-ees : these we have cleared away, so as to suit each genus 

 with light, shelter, or shade, as it might require. The 

 situation, though so much elevated, is yet, by the existing 

 trees, so well sheltered, that, with this aid, our deep trench- 

 ing, and the supply when necessarj', of peat or sandy soil, 

 the plants, in a few years wOl have made immense progress. 

 There are about 1070 species and varieties already planted ; 

 and these will be increased, in a year or two, to about 2000. 

 The whole length of the walk occupied with the arboretum 

 is neai-ly a mile. The various bends in the walk may be 

 accounted for by the unevenness of the ground, and its 

 steepness in many places. The plants of those orders, the 

 ligneous species of which do not grow large, such as Cruoi- 

 ferae, Cistineie, &o., are planted near to the walk, and occupy 

 both sides of it ; and the larger ones, although planted 

 similarly along both sides of the walk, are made to extend 

 beyond the others to a considerable distance from it, as the 

 bare inspection of the plan will show. The whole are planted 

 at such distances from each other as their habits of growth 

 require. Should 2000 more hardy trees and shi-ubs than 

 can at present be purchased in the nurseries be introduced, 

 there is plenty of space on each side of the walk to plant 

 them. It is rather difficult to say exactly how much 

 ground the plants at present occupy, as we have not mea- 

 sured it; but I think the seventy-five grsups cover about 

 forty acres. 



" It is a great feature in this business, that the- ground, 

 the plants, the formation of the walk, the laboiu-, &c., have not 

 cost Hds Grace sixpence ; the plants having been pui'chased, 

 the ground prepai-ed„ and- the trees planted, and all other 

 expenses paid, with the prodiice of the trees, cut down, to 

 make room for the walk and' the groups. This you should, 

 in some degree, point out to gentlemen who wish to- inti^o- 

 duce such an important feature as an arboretum in their 

 country seats. At nine places out of ten, throughout the 

 country, an. arboretum might be accomplished on this plan-; 

 and I soaaieely kjiow a counti'y seat where- half the trees 

 round the house do not require cutting down. 



** In recommending arboretums to those who have got but 

 a limited exiteut of ground, you should advise them not to 

 plant varieties. We intend doing so, because our space is 

 unlimited :. but. if this practice w^ere to become general, 

 the nurserymen would furnish us with catalogues of 20,000 

 speciea and varieties, which- would put a damp to arbo- 

 retums: at once, from the impossibility both of purchasing 

 the plamts, and of finding room- for them : and besides, in a 

 few years, the species- and varieties would be so contbunded, 

 that they would, in many eases, not be distinguishable from 

 each other. I shall keep a young n:an: constautlj' examining 

 the trees and shr-.ibs in oux arboretum. tiU. I have removed 

 everything from it that is not ijerfectly distinct, and rendered 

 it in every respect as per.ect as it can be made." 



The nex.t great works he -ivas eiuployed upon were the 

 Waterworks,, the Emperor Eountain-. of which tosses its 

 waters to the astonishing height of 267 feet. This, and all 

 his subsequent conceptions are among " the most surprising 

 in the world." 



In 18-iO, he completed the conservaitory at Chatsworth, 

 then the largest ever constructed. It required forty miles 

 in length of sash-bars, and to meet this enormous demand 

 he invented a machine for catting them, which, to use his 

 own words, " performed the labour of t'.venty men for one 

 year, and consequentiy saved in money ofil200." 



As a literary man: he has appeared before the public ad- 

 vantageously, as the Editor of " The Magazine of Botany," 

 begun in 1S33, but now no longer published ; as the author, 

 in 1839, of a little volume, "On the Culture of the Dahlia;" 

 as compiler of " Gardening for Cottagers," and the "Botani- 

 cal Dictionary," the first of which was published about the 

 year 1849, and the other about nine years previously. 



We have now arrived at the most brilliant period of his 

 life — the construction, of the first Crystal Palace. Of its 

 -origin in 1850, we must republish the designer's own account. 



"When the six eminent architects and engineers were 

 selected as a committee to choose a design, Mr. Paston says 

 that he had no intention of offering one, for he took for 



granted that something worthy of the occasion and of the 

 nation would be selected by them. When the time ap- 

 proached for the production of plans there was a discussion 

 in the newspapers as to the design beat adapted, and he 

 must say that the first sketch he saw in a number of the 

 BuihUr, did not inspire him with any exalted notions, or 

 raise any very splendid expectations of the result. It was 

 not until one morning when he was present with his friend, 

 Mr. Ellis, at an early sitting of the House of Commons, that 

 the idea of sending in a design occurred to him. A conver- 

 sation took place between them with reference to the con- 

 struction of the new House of Commons, in the course of 

 which he (Mr. Paxton) observed that he was afraid they 

 would also commit a great blunder in the building for the 

 Industrial Exhibition ; adding that he had a notion in his 

 head, and that if he (Mr. Ellis) would accompany him to 

 the Bosivd of Trade, he would ascertain whether it was too 

 late to send in a design. He asked the executive committee 

 whether they were so far committed to the plans as to be 

 precluded from receiving another. The reply was, ' Certainly 

 not ; the specifications will be out in a fortnight, but there 

 is no reason why a clause should not be introduced allowing 

 of the reception of another design.' He said, 'Well, if you 

 will introduce such a clause I will go home, and in nine days 

 hence I will bring you my plans all complete.' So doubt 

 the executive thought him a very conceited fellow, and that 

 what he said was nearer akin to romance than to common 

 sense. Well, this was on Friday, the 11th of June. From 

 London he went to the Menai Straits, to see the thii'd tube 

 of the Britannia Bridge placed, and on his return to Derby 

 he had -to at"tend to some business at the board-room, during 

 which, however, his whole mind was devoted to his project ; 

 and whilst the. business proceeded he sketched his design on 

 a- large piece of blotting-paper. He was sorry he had not 

 the original with; him, but the fact was, Mrs. Paxton had 

 taken possession of it, and if they were at all anxious to see 

 it, the only possible way of gratifying their desires was by 

 sending for her to themeeting. Having sketched his design 

 on blotting paper, he sat up all night until he had worked 

 it out to his own satisfaction; and Ijy the aid of his friend, 

 Mr. Barlov/, en the loth,, he was enabled to complete the 

 whole of the plans by the Saturday following, on which day 

 he left Kowsley for London. On arriving at the Derby 

 station he met JlY. E. Stephenson, a member of the building 

 committee, who was also on his. way to the metropolis. Mr. 

 Stephenson minutely examined the plans, and became 

 thoroughly engrossed witli them, untUi atlength he esclaimed 

 that the design was just the thing, and he only wished it 

 had been submitted to the committee in time. Mr. Stephen- 

 son, however, laid the plans before the committee, and at 

 first the idea was rather pooh-poohed; but his plans gradu- 

 ally grew in favour,, and. by publishing the design in the 

 Illustrated News, and showing the advantage of such an 

 erection over one composed of fifteen millions of bricks and 

 other materials,, which would have to be removed at a great 

 loss, the committee did in the end r^eot the abortion of a 

 child of their- owni, and unanimously recommended Ms 

 bantling." 



We have but little more to add, for having achieved one, 

 the consfci'uction of the second Crystal Palace was com- 

 paratively eas-y. He was justly honoured with knighthood 

 im 1851, and the words accompanying the Queen's smiling 

 greeting in l&54s might have been those used by another 

 monarch- to aaiother man of ma.ny victories — " If you go on 

 at this rate we sh-oll have to invent marks of distinction, for 

 you." 



While- the Sydenham Crystal Palace was still in progress 

 the nation had drifted into the Crimean war, and an army 

 was- transported to the shores of the Black Sea, but without 

 any of those means of transport and equipment which have 

 been properly called the legs of an army. When the, defi- 

 ciencies of our position were read in the ghastly tales of 

 famine and pestilence that assailed our troops, the fertile 

 genius of Sir Joseph Ptixton, was called into play once more. 

 The navvies that v.-ere employed in the erection of the Crystal 

 Palace were a band of stout, active, hardy fellows, not devoid 

 of a certain rough discipline, and whose courage had more 

 than once been proved during the erection of the building, 

 by confronting terrors as real as any they were likely to 

 meet with while joining an army in the field. He suggested 



