50(3 HORTICULTURAL TOUR. 



prevent much unnecessary cxpence, and many serious dis- 

 appointments, which are often discovered too late for amend- 

 ment. There is also here a large mushroom-house, with 

 shelves, on which there was at this time a great crop of 

 fine mushrooms. 



We then visited Chiswick, the seat of the Duke of De- 

 vonshire. There is here a magnificent suite of hot-houses, 

 303 feet in length, and said to have cost L. 15,000 Ster- 

 ling. The conservatory is placed in the middle of the 

 range, having a gilded dome, partly glazed, and form- 

 ing a portion of the roof. In the centre of the conserva- 

 tory there is a fountain and basin, with a few aquatic 

 plants in it : the fountain is only permitted to play on par- 

 ticular occasions, as a supply of water can only be obtained 

 by forcing it up from the Thames. Behind the conserva- 

 tory is a small company room, furnished with chairs and 

 sofas. The pineries front east and west, and are placed in 

 connection with the range at each end, projecting north- 

 ward over the gable of the sheds. The effect of the whole 

 is certainly very grand ; but more attention seems to have 

 been paid to ornament than to the adaptation of the build- 

 ings to the principal object for which they are intended. 

 Here we saw the American aloe, Agave Americana, in flower, 

 the stem rising 30 feet high. There are eight very large ce- 

 dars of Lebanon, on each side, in front of the palace ; the 

 trunk of one of them measured 13 feet 4 inches in circumfe- 

 rence, and the tree appeared to be from 70 to 80 feet high. 

 There are also some fine trees of the same kind, with very 

 beautiful tops, on the north side of the mansion. In front 

 of the hot-houses is a flower-garden, disposed with good 

 Utfte; and in the pleasure-ground between the palace and 

 the hot houses, a jet dVau, which we saw play for a few 

 minutes. \V< had not an opportunity of seeing the kit 

 chen garden 



