328 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 5, 1888. 



largest portion of it was, nevertheless, left in forest, and 

 the alterations subsequently effected have consistently 

 looked towards the preservation and development of its 

 natural chqrms. As it now appears, it is tlie model of 

 what a great public park, to be used by the inhabitants of 

 a populous city, should be — amply provided with spacious 

 concourses, drives and promenades, adorned with works 

 of sculpture, many of which are indeed intrinsically poor, but 

 almost all well placed and appropriately environed, and 

 yet, over the greater part of its surface, i)resenting to the 

 eye a constantly varying succession of natural-seeming 

 landscape effects. No contrast could be greater than that 

 presented by the most formal and the most natural por- 

 tions of this park. Here we have the long, straight drive, 

 which leads from the Brandenburg Gate to the confines of 

 the suburb of Charlottenburg, and there deep, bosky glades, 

 wild-looking little lakes, or passages of forest scenery ap- 

 parently as untouched by the hand of man as though the 

 city were a hundred miles away. Yet there is no dishar- 

 mony between part and part, for the transition from one to 

 another is rightly managed, and insteail of an impression 

 of unmoti\'ed diversity, we gain an impression of unity in 

 variety. 



The illustration herewith given is from a jihotograph 

 which represents, not one of the wildest corners of the 

 Thieij^arien, }'et one in which, although the work of man 

 conspicuously appears, natural character has not been de- 

 stroyed. The bridge, called the "Lion Bridge," from the 

 figures which support it at either end, serves for foot-pas- 

 sengers only, and if less beautiful than some others, is in- 

 teresting as showing that at least a comparative degree of 

 beauty and an air of simplicity and appropriateness to 

 rural surroundings are not impossible of achievement by 

 the use of iron. The natural development of the trees has 

 in no way been interfered with, and the vista of distant 

 plantations, which the space between them affords, is 

 much more beautiful than could be .shown in a picture 

 of this size. But the chief point to which we wish to call 

 attention is the management of the water. Too often we 

 see the streams and pools in parks brought into more or 

 less formal shapes and bordered with a stiff line of stone or 

 concrete; or, even when this is not the case, kept "tidy" 

 by constant interference with the natural growth of the 

 grasses or shrubs which border them. Formally shaped 

 and bordered ponds have, of course, their place — as ele- 

 ments in a design the general character of which is for- 

 mality. But when a natural landscape aspect is desired, 

 the water should be as naturally treated as the ground. In 

 this picture we see the results of such treatment, partly 

 due, of course, to natural causes, but partly, no doubt, to 

 intelligent, fostering care. No words are needed to explain 

 how beautiful are the irregular borders of this pool, and the 

 rich, encroaching growths of its aquatic plants. To pro- 

 duce, or to preserve, such effects as these, is the highest 

 art when harmony permits them — it is the art which con- 

 ceals art, and thus equals or surpasses Nature herself in 

 the impression it produces. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



INCESS.\NT rains ha\'e played havoc with out-door 

 gardens ; flowers are not only later by a fort- 

 night or more, but the crop of bloom, e.x'cept on 

 hardy slirubs, has been poor. Strawberries have been 

 almost a total failure, and bush-fruits, especially Rasp- 

 berries, are a poor crop, and insipid in flavor. A wet 

 summer, however, is not an unmixed evil, and we shall 

 enjoy the benefit of it next season, for out-door vegetation 

 of ever}/- description is growing in a marvelous wa}^. 

 Ornamental trees and shrubs are making such growth as 

 we have not seen for years, and large fruit trees, though, 

 as a rule, borne down with fruit, are forming vigorous 

 shoots, 



Under glass the effects of a svmless sky for weeks in 

 succession are not so apparent, and this is particularly 

 noticeable in the great gardens and nurseries, where a 

 large variety of plants is grown. Our great national gar- 

 den at Kew, for instance, has l)een greatly benefited by 

 tlie wet season, anil both in the open air and in the 

 houses I have ne^'er seen the \'egetation look finer, and 

 even at the present time, when the flower season is usu- 

 ally considered on the \\ ane, the gardens beam with beau- 

 tiful, rare and new plants in flower, so numerous that I 

 shall devote the present letter to mentioning some of the 

 most noteworthy among them. 



Among the Orchids a few rarities are in bloom, the 

 choicest and most beautiful lieing Sobralia leucoxantha, a 

 new species of which only about half a dozen plants are 

 said to be in the country. In grovi'th it resembles the 

 dwarf form of .S'. viacianiha, and the flower is almost as 

 large, being four or five inches across. The sepals are 

 snow white, as are also the petals, which are broader, 

 while the laljellum has a circular lobe exquisitely frilled, 

 and of a bright, clear yellow. Its flowers differ from 

 those of the other new Sobralia, S. xantholeuca, the sepals 

 and petals in the latter being yellovi% while the centre 

 only is white. Like its relative, the common ^', inacran- 

 /ha, it succeeds well in the Cattleya house. The charm- 

 ing little PhaLvnopsis JMaricp, which was discovered by 

 Mr. Burbidge while traveling for the Messrs. Veitch, is 

 in bloom. It belongs to the Sumatrana section ; has 

 long, green leaves and short spikes of small flowers. 

 Their color is M'hite, heavily blotched with coffee-brown, 

 and with a narrow, filose labellum stained with purple or 

 amethyst. It is also one of the rarest species. I ought to 

 mention the wonderful success obtained at Kew in flower- 

 ing the great moth Orchid, P. gj-amitflora. A few years ago 

 this could not be even grown in a healthy state, but now 

 it grows like a weed and flo\vers abundantly. The plants 

 are grown in upright c) linders about a foot high, made 

 of strips of teak wood, and filled with drainage-material, 

 with only a little compost of peat-moss and charcoal at 

 the top for the plants to get a root-hold in. The speci- 

 mens in some of the cylinders carry five spikes, with 

 from twelve to eighteen flowers on each. This magnifi- 

 cent display, numbering two to three dozen spikes in all, 

 has been enjoyed for the past two months. The little 

 Cypripediums of the niveum group are in flower together, 

 and one may see what affinity there is lietween C. niveum, 

 C. concolor, C. Gode/'roj'ce and C. bellalulujii Though 

 they merge, as it were, into one another, there is no ques- 

 tion but that they are distinct from the gardener's purpose. 

 C. bellatidutn is very heavily spotted, and is a rounder 

 flower than that of the C. Godefroyce, and is, therefore, 

 at once distinguishable. 



A rare Ipoma?a, named /. Hardmgei, is in bloom in 

 the tropical Water-Lily house, and a very beautiful plant 

 it is. This is said to be a hybrid, one of its parents being 

 the common /. pankidala. The flowers are similar in 

 size, color and form to those of the parent, but the leaves, 

 instead pf being digitate, are bilobed, larger and hairy. 

 It is a rapid growing stove-climber, and is capable of gar- 

 landing a roof or pillar in a charming way. 



A new water plant, Eichorjiia tricolor, is in flower at 

 Kew for the first time. In habit of growth it closely re- 

 sembles E. azureci, the leaves being cordate, bright green, 

 and with swollen petioles, but the flowers are not so fine. 

 The lower petals are rich purple, the upper ones pale blue 

 with yellow centre, and are borne on erect spikes about 

 two feet high. On seeing it I at once compared the 

 flower with those of the common Schizanlhuf pinualus, 

 the resemblance being very striking. It is only valua- 

 ble for growing with trojiical Water Lilies and other 

 aquatics. 



A tropical bulbous plant, Hirmaii/Inis KaHiariiup, is now 

 in full flower, and a more brilliant or imposing summer 

 flowering bulb for the stove is not in cultivation. P'rom 

 the great globular bulb it sends up a stout stem bearing 



