554 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number^ 



persons there are who have some training, who realize its 

 vahie and are ambitious for more, the more there will be to 

 rise from this class by natural selection to the highest rank 

 of skilled scientists. The broader the base of the pyramid 

 the more lofty will be its apex. While these courses, there- 

 fore, are beneficial directly in the instruction which they 

 give, they render a higher service by increasing the mate- 

 rial from which the very best are drawn. The greater the 

 number of good practical men we have in our farms and 

 gardens, who are also keen observers and eager learners, 

 the more there will be to rise to broader attainments in 

 knowledge and superior skill in practice, and the more cer- 

 tain will be the supply of scientiiic students, experimenters 

 and explorers of the first rank upon whose patient work the 

 hope of our agriculture and horticulture must ultimately rest. 



A German Pleasure-ground. 



THE issue of Gar/cn/Iora for October 15th contains an 

 interesting illustrated description of a peculiar 

 pleasure-ground, called the " Rheinanlagen," which lies 

 along the right bank of the Rhine at Coblentz. When the 

 late Empress Augusta established herself at Coblentz in 

 1850, her husband, the future Emperor, beu then Prince 

 of Prussia and military governor of the dis,r: .t, the ground 

 now covered by this park was chiefly wa;;te land inter- 

 spersed with hillocks and a few bits of meadow. Her at- 

 tention was soon attracted by the neglected spot, with its 

 beautiful views of the river, and through her efforts, and 

 largely in accordance with her own ideas as to how it 

 ought to be arranged, it was gradually transformed into the 

 very pretty pleasure-ground of to-day. It measures nearly 

 two miles in length, with an average breadth of only some 

 four rods, some ten feet of which is absorbed by a towing- 

 path skirting the water, for the convenience of the drivers 

 and teams which must drag up stream the clumsy traffic- 

 scows which drift downward with its current. This path, 

 however, along the confines of the park has been hand- 

 somely built, and is much frequented by the public toward 

 evening, when the tows have tied up and the opposite 

 western shore of the stream is already in shadow. A small 

 spot has also been reserved for the use of the military 

 Pioneers, whose pontoon practice-ground is on an island 

 near by. Nevertheless, skillful treatment has done won- 

 ders in beautifying this narrow strip of land. Its narrow- 

 ness, of course, prevented any attempt at extensive planta- 

 tions or large showy flower-beds. It was wisely decided 

 to make its chief feature a long avenue running parallel 

 with the Rhine. This avenue is planted along half its 

 length with Lindens, and along the other half with Plane- 

 trees and Chestnuts, and forms first a carriage-way for 

 about one-third of the length of the pleasure-ground, and 

 leads to a pretty restaurant, after which it is a foot-way 

 lined with ornamental benches. On either side of it, as 

 the width of the ground permits, are small and varied 

 masses of shrubs and flowering plants. 



At one end the confines of the ground are marked by a 

 tall column, crowned by the imperial eagle, and at the 

 other by the abutments of the railroad-bridge which crosses 

 the river, masked by a thick group of trees. Near these is 

 a pretty plantation of conifers and a little Rose-garden ; 

 and, as the pictures show us, architectural and sculptural 

 adornments have been tastefully introduced at many points 

 to vary the aspect of the grounds. Here we have two 

 large arches, springing near the balustrade with rises above 

 the towing-path, covered thickl}'- with vines, and forming 

 effective frames for the pretty picture made by a village on 

 the opposite shore of the river. Then we see a projecting 

 platform with a flight of steps leading down to the towing- 

 path, and encircled by an iron railing, the piers of which, 

 however, are of stone and bear charming little statues. 

 And, again, at the edge of a luxuriant mass of shrubs stand 

 four statues of children playfully simulating antique gods, 

 which are connected by a low plinth that gives architectural 

 effect to the intermediate flower-beds it encloses. There 



are also a little observatory for those who are not satisii 

 by the perpetually changing and perpetually beauti 

 glimpses of the river which the ground itself affords, s( 

 eral prettily designed shelters, and an ornamental gro 

 hidden away in a thick shrubbery, while occasional lai 

 trees give an air of dignity to the whole. Indeed, 

 newest portion of the pleasure-ground, laid out some fifte 

 years ago, is covered with woods and naturalistica 

 treated, with a few winding walks, but no sculptural 

 architectural decorations. 



When one reads how much has been done on so nam 

 a bit of land as this, and how much refreshment a 

 delight it gives to thousands of people, our own 11 

 lect of otherwise useless pieces of ground seems doul 

 regrettable. Of course, the close vicinity of the not: 

 river plays a major part in the beauty of this garden ; b 

 we have hundreds of towns lying on the shores of 15: 

 rivers, and it seems as though in each and every one ■ 

 them a narrow strip of ground might be secured, which, 

 tastefully arranged, would be of priceless value not on 

 to the appearance of the iown but to the bodies and spir 

 of its population. No matter how small it may be 

 spot can be made varied and lovely by an artist's han 

 and there are often better possibilities in a long, thou 

 very narrow, strip than in a square one covering an eqi 

 area, especially if it lies along the borders of a sheet 

 water. Even the fact that the water's edge must not 

 shut off from practical public service need not be a fa 

 blot on an adjacent pleasure-ground, as is shown by t 

 example of the one which the Ernpress Augusta treated. 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XVII 1 



IT is probably not too much to say that no private nurs' 

 or horticultural establishment in the world has done 

 much for the advancement of horticulture, in all its brand) 

 during the last fifty years, as that of Messrs. James Veitch 

 Sons, proprietors of the Royal Exotic Gardens at Chelsea i 

 those at Coombe Wood. The fifth generation of the na 

 have now entered the business, which is still carried on w 

 all the energy and enterprise characteristic of the firm in 

 past and with a greater prestige than ever. The Veitches h: 

 been indefatigable as collectors, sending agents to all av 

 able parts of the globe where there was any chance of find 

 new plants for use or ornament. Members of the firm h: 

 themselves gone on these expeditions, and every active lie 

 culturist knows of or has benefited ijy the collections of : 

 late John Gould Veitch, made in Japan and Australasia 0, 

 thirty years ago. His son, now one of the young member: 

 the firm, started last September for the countries and isla 

 of the Pacific on a collecting trip, which is expected to last' 

 years. The firm is not, however, merely known as collecl 

 and distributers of rare and new plants, for it carries on a !, 

 tem of hybridizing, cross-fertilizing, testing, etc., worth), 

 any horficultural school or specially endowed institution, i 

 indeed, the results obtained are far ahead of many insfituti 

 of which this work would naturally Ije expected. 



Besides the nurseries already alluded to, there are t 

 grounds and nurseries at Fulham, Slough and other points, 

 the traveler on the railway from London to Kew passes by on 

 theirstations atTurnham Green. In the matter of publicati( 

 too, the firm is not satisfied with perennial catalogues 

 price-lists, but has issued other publications which are v 

 able monographs to all cultivators. Among tliese (he Mar. 

 of the Co7iiferce stands as an extremely useful hand-book o 

 the cone-bearing trees in cultivation up to the time of its ] 

 lication, eleven years ago ; while the Maritial of Orchidac, 

 Plants, cultivated under glass in Great Britain, now b( 

 issued in parts, is indispensable to every intelligent and 

 gressive Orchid-grower, and even those who have only a \ 

 eral interest in these flowers will find much that is interes 

 and instructive. 



The Royal Exotic Nurseries at Chelsea are the headquai 

 of the various branches, and the plants grown here are nK 

 those which require the protection of glass houses, of w' 

 there are considerably over a hundred given up to propaga 

 and cultivation. Such a collection is too great to be full) 

 predated in the course of two or three liours, but the ) 

 wlio comes here with a hobby for Orchids of any class, 

 Nepenthes, Hippeastrums, Begonias and the gorgeous Ja 

 ese and other greenhouse l^hododendrons and Azale; 



