4 THE FLORIST AND 



ports itself. After the pot is well filled with roots and the flowering shoot? 

 appear, the application of liquid manure once or twice, a week is of great ser- 

 vice. When housed particular care must be taken not to let the roots get; 

 too dry, or the flower buds are sure to drop off. The only insect which ap- 

 pears to attack this plant is the greenfly, but this is easily destroyed by fu- 

 migating with tobacco. When done flowering set the plant underneath the 

 stage, or in any out of the way place ; all that it wants while lying dormant 

 is to be kept from frost and as much water only as will keep the wood from 

 drying up. When all danger of frost is past, prepare for growing again ; 

 cutting the branches well in according to their strength ; shake the soil from 

 the roots and cut them well in with a sharp knife ; pot in fresh soil and 

 plunge out at once in a bed of sand or coal ashes, using the same treatment 

 as before, and by so doing you will make a specimen plant clothed with fresh 

 foliage from the mouth of the pot upwards and crowned with a profusion of 

 flowers. Etna. 



THE NEW CRYSTAL PALACE AT SYDENHAM. 



It is generally acknowledged that England possesses no example of pub- 

 lic gardens worthy of her intelligence and limitless resources, and that in 

 this respect she has hitherto been greatly outstripped by her neighbor 

 France. Of recent years the Royal Gardens at Kew have been greatly en- 

 larged and vastly improved, and now certainly occupy the first place in 

 Europe as botanical gardens. But although these are tastefully laid out,, 

 their artificial decorations hardly deserve the name when compared with such 

 as are to be seen in France. The reason of this inferiority on the part of 

 England is no doubt to be found in the fact, that while the government of 

 France has been in the habit of undertaking the execution of great public 

 works for the people, the English government leaves all such works to be 

 executed by the people, or by private companies ; and until Sir Joseph 

 Paxton's happy idea of combining gardens with the Crystal Palace, no com- 

 pany seems to have ventured upon the formation of highly artistic gardens 

 for the people. Now, however, the Crystal Palace Company, aided by 

 the genius of Sir Joseph Paxton, bids fair to produce such a work as will 

 place England as much in advance in this respect as she has hitherto been 

 behind. 



The Crystal Palace itself occupies a commanding position on the top of 

 elevated ground some two-hundred feet above the Brighton Railway, which 

 passes near the southern boundary of the park. The central portion of the 



