AMSTERDAM. 215 



ner told us, that he had sawn off the top part, which, ha- 

 ving been planted in a pot, had struck root ; and he shewed 

 us a small specimen as the identical top so cut off, but 

 which, unless we had been informed otherwise, we should 

 certainly have considered as a young plant, or sprung from 

 a germ recently unfolded. 



The greenhouse is of a large size, capable of receiving a 

 numerous assemblage of tall plants ; and, though construct- 

 ed after the fashion of the oldest English greenhouses, may 

 in this country be regarded as rather a handsome structure. 

 In front of it grows a large vine, about eighty years old, 

 and which spreads over the roof. It is of the Red Franken- 

 thal kind, and by much the largest tree of this variety 

 which we have seen, the stem being 9> feet 2 inches in cir- 

 cumference at three feet from the ground. The hot-houses 

 for tropical plants, in immediate connection with the green- 

 house, are also pretty extensive, but do not deserve any 

 other praise. There is another stove, of great length, but 

 extremely narrow, and altogether of an incommodious and 

 awkward construction. There is no proper walk within it ; 

 and the roof consists only of single glazed frames or win- 

 dows, which are sloped at an angle perhaps of GO , and 

 which are not moved like our sash-lights, but are opened 

 and shut by means of hinges attached to the rafters. Here 

 the pots containing the plants are sunk in tanners-bark 

 At this season of the year, there was only one row of plants 

 in the middle of the house. The garden contains, in all, 

 about 480 feet, in length, of glazed houses ; but near 200 



Britain. We regret to have to add, that the Edinburgh specimen was not 

 lost on account of any inherent decay in the plant itself, but merely from 

 the want of the necessary funds for raising the glass-roof of the dry-stove 

 in which it was situate. 



