76 QProc. B.N.F.C. 



man in a happy combination. The plants are arranged with 

 the intention of gratifying the landscape gardener as well as 

 being grouped to illustrate botanical affinities or variations in 

 species; the place is laid out to contribute to an enjoyment 

 of the beautiful in nature as well as to provide instruction 

 for the serious student. Even the casual observer was struck 

 with the colour harmonies and contrasts in the groups of 

 pseonies interspersed between Japanese maples, the round, full 

 bloom of the paeonies — some white, others delicately tinted — 

 setting off the delicate beauty of the quivering maple leaves. 

 The same thought is carried out in the grouping of the ferns, 

 which here seem at home rather than finding a temporary 

 resting-place awaiting export to some far corner of the globe. 

 In places we find a rose tree of the sweet-smelling sort that 

 was once the favourite in old-fashioned gardens; in another 

 place we find the most recent of specialities, all in a state of 

 perfection. 



The cultivation of the common rose goes on side by side 

 with the latest of hybrids, the Penzance briar; next we find 

 a Oistus, and close at hand many different species; Rosdmarina 

 folia was specially admired, with its showy blooms. Osmundce. 

 came in for a good share of our attention. The O. regalis was 

 known to all as producing sporangia on the upper divisions 

 of the frond, the lower portion being leafy and barren. Close 

 by this group Mr. Smith pointed out a variety of Osmunda 

 that bore sori on the lower portion of the frond, with pinules 

 on the upper portion of the same frond, while a third variety 

 sends up shoots that produce sporangia alone. This gave 

 rise to a discussion as to the functions played by parts of the 

 plant; and rapidly we passed from one flower to another, 

 hearing the characteristics and peculiarities of each described 

 in rapid succession by Mr. Smith. 



It would be impossible to do justice to the lower garden 

 by sampling out a few; everyone would be attracted by diffe- 

 rent plants, but the following were the subjects of special 

 attention: — Euryhia ilUcifoUa, Clirysolactron Hookers, Mer- 

 tensia elongata, Polygonum splicerostachyon, Kalmia grandi- 



