PARIS. 443 



hillock next to the garden, is thickly covered with Lyceum 

 Europaeum, and, when thus supported on one side, it forms 

 a very tolerable hedge next to the old hot-houses. 



We looked into the dry-stove destined for succulents. 

 Many were set out in the open air ; but some curious cacti 

 and stapelias remained. This house has a very lofty glass 

 roof, which appears to have been raised chiefly for the sake 

 of a specimen of Cactus tetragonus thirty feet in height ; 

 and from this circumstance the name of Lanterne des Cier- 

 ges has been bestowed on it. 



We next proceeded to a kind of sunk compartment of 

 the garden in front of the large serre temperee, where there 

 appears to have been an original hollow of the ground. 

 This compartment is destined to various important pur- 

 poses, and is generally kept under lock and key, though 

 readily opened to those who are curious in plants. It con- 

 tains a number of hot-beds, some covered with glass-frames, 

 and some uncovered ; the first for the raising of seeds of 

 tropical plants ; the latter for such as are more hardy. It 

 likewise contains a large pit-frame for rearing Cape and 

 New Holland plants. Some beds are here prepared with 

 suitable soil for the culture of the finer bulbous and tube- 

 rous rooted hardy flowers ; and others for the rearing of 

 new or little known plants, till their characters and place 

 in the natural arrangement can be ascertained. A damp 

 border, shaded in a considerable degree from the sun, is 

 appropriated to plants that cannot resist the heat and 

 drought of the open garden. A sloping bank, supported by 

 a parapet-wall and divided into seven steps or stages, front- 

 ing to the north-east, is dedicated to the cultivation of alpine 

 plants in heath soil. Notwithstanding these precautions, 

 the alpine plants seem frequently to die out; and at this 

 time a good many were wanting, which succeed perfectly 

 well, or are regarded as of easy culture at the Botanic Gar- 



