Book IV. 



PUBLIC GARDENS OF INSTRUCTION. 



103i 



beds of herbaceous plants ; and a space at one end or side for the hot-houses, frames, 

 compost-yard, &c. will be sufficient ; surrounding the whole with a walk, which may 

 also cross the garden in one or more places. Such a walk to display in succession every 

 remarkable feature, is essential to all gardens, whatever may be their extent or kind. 

 7327. In a complete botanic garden, the following seem to be requisites : — 



1. A curator's liouse, with seetl-room, office for business, i 7. Bt^rdcrs, shadetl and kept moist in different degrees for 



library of reference, herbarium, room for lectures or demon- 

 strations. This is most generally situated at or near tlie 

 entrance of the garden. Some consider it preferable to place 

 a lodge at the entrance for the under-cardeners, and to place 

 the curator's house with its accompaniments as above, in con- 

 nection with the range of hot-houses; and this the more 

 especially eis botanic gardeners are rarely family men, at least 

 in Britain. 



2. A raii^e of lwt-hi>Kse3, either in one line, or in a semi- 

 circle, circle, square, half square, &c. according to taste and 

 other circumstances ; \rith back sheds for all the usual purposes 

 of such, including rooms for the journeymen, where there is 

 HO lodge ; and lo<lgings for one man, even if there is a lodge, in 

 order to attend to the fires. 



3. An adjoining arrangement of )yits and frames, but not in 

 front of the range of hot-houses, as m a nursery. 



4. A comixyst-irroiind for all the usual pur^ioses. 



5. ^11 aquarium, includi ig a bog, pond, spring, and salt- 

 water cistern, for marine algiE. 



6. .-1 rock-tvork and underneath pendent walls, tunnels, 

 Taults, and caves, open in different degrees and directions for 

 the growth of mosses, ferns, fungi, &c. 



ferns and other appropriate plants. 



S. A fuiuri-groHiid, shaded by trees or vaults, and containing 

 stumps and roots of trees of different kinds, and other means 

 for the preservation, as fur as art will go, of a collection of native 

 or hardy fungi, etlible, and poisonous. 



9. An American, or hof;-far/h ^ound, either a border, or 

 connected groups, or a composite figure surroiuided by walks. 



10. An estifutium, or paved area, for setting out the green- 

 house plai\ts in summer for air and exercise by wind. In the 

 pavement ought to be holes, in which to insert iron rods to be 

 connected with wires, to which to tie the taller and more flex- 

 ible plants. 



11. A grass-ground or gramineum, for bringing all the grasses 

 togetlier. 



12. A compartment for the ii?iih/s used in medicine, according 

 to the Pharmacopceias of the different universities, itc. 



l.T. A compartment for the linrdij poisonous pliiiiJs. 



14. Compartments for the plants and trees used in agriculiure, 

 hortictdiure, dyeing, and other branches of general economy. 



15. A compai-t'ment forjii'rists' and border Jhnvers. 



16. A compartment, or, what is generally preferable, sur- 

 rue 



rounding border or belt, for trees and sfirubs. 



732S. J'^arious other snb-aiTaiigements or compartments of this nature maybe contrived, 

 as for creeping plants, climbing natives of particular countries, succulents, bulbs, &c. ; 

 and the association of plants in this way by strong natural and artificial (alluding to their 

 use) affinities, is well calculated to facilitate both their culture and study. The most 

 complete arrangements of this kind are to be found in the Paris, Dublin Society's, and. 

 Glasgow gai-dens. The size and shape of these sub-aiTangements will, of course, be 

 various, which will add gi-eatly to the interest of the walks. They will, in general, be 

 most advantageously placed round the outskirts of the garden, witliin the marginal plant- 

 ation, and should be separated by different sorts of rustic walls, or mounds of rock-work, 

 hedges, thickets of evergreens, and other means. Tliey should all be connected by a walk 

 in such a way as that a general spectator may see each scene without being obliged to 

 enter minutely into it ; and that whilst none can escape the botanist, he may have an easy 

 opportunity- of entering minutely into each or any of them. 



7329. The central, or principal part of the ground, should be devoted to one general 

 arrangement of all the phanerogamous plants, including hardy exotic trees and natives. 

 Tlie trees may be kept dwarfed, by being propagated from cuttings, or layers, and by 

 planting in pots, and pruning ; and the stove, and other exotics, will of course only be 

 plunged in their appropriate places for a few weeks in the warmest part of each summer, 

 as in the Paris garden. Eveiy plant ought to have its name painted on strong cast-iron 

 tallies, on a bevelled face, in letters so large as to be legible without stooping. If to 

 the name, systematic and English, could be added the Linnaan and Jussieuean class, 

 native country, and time of flowering, it would obviously greatly facilitate the peripatetic 

 study of plants. The t*illies once placed there, should never be removed, excepting when 

 the arrangement is to be enlarged, because the name will show tliat the plant exists, or 

 ought to exist, somewhere in the garden ; and will or ought to be placed there in the 

 proper season. Such a collection should, in short, be a transcript of the catalogue of the 

 garden ; some of the filices, and most of the fungi, algaj, and musci excepted. 



7330. Whetlier the arrangement in the compartmeiits or main area of such a general col- 

 lection ought to be Jussieuean or Linnaean, must depend on the opinion of those con - 

 cerned. In tlie present state of botanical science, that of Linnfeus is the best for the 

 study of nomenclature and technology ; it is that generally adopted in Britain and the 

 north of Europe ; whilst that of Jussieu is almost universally adopted in France and Italy. 



7331. The botanical arrangement in the hot-houses, and as far as tiiat kind of an-ange- 

 ment is applicable, in the different subsidiary or habitat arrangements, should, in our 

 opinion, decidedly be Jussieuean, as presenting the strongest natural affinities, and cal- 

 culated to promote variety in general appearance, facility in recollecting names, and 

 often answering as to kind of culture. The Paris garden is the most complete in Eu- 

 rope as to comprehensive arrangement ; thougli the collection of plants is inferior to 

 that at Kew or Liverpool. It is remarkable also for its menagerie, containing a collec- 

 tion of living animals of many kinds, lodged in appropriate buildings Mith surrounding 

 enclosures of different degrees of extent. It also contains specimens of all the different 

 soils, composts, and operations of horticulture and agriculture. A plan of tliis garden, 

 which contains about seventy acres, and %vas arranged in its present form by the chevalier 

 Molinos, has been given by Professor Thouin, in the Annales du Musce ; and another 

 published more recently by the professor's brother, G. Tiiouin Jardinier) , in 

 Plans Raisonnces des Jardins, &c. This plan i'^^-. 734.) not only contains the ichno- 

 graphy of the garden (1 to 21 but in the margin are placed elevations (22 to 42) of 

 tJhe houses in wliicli the living animals are kept, of the immense buildings in which the 



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