THE BOOK OP THE ROYAL 



by the Baroness Eotlischild. Also a Rhododendron arboreum, 

 1 5 feet high ; Tree Ferns presented by Sh Daniel Cooper ; 

 fine Palms and a magnificent Eugenia myrtifolia, from the Duke 

 of WeUington ; many large specimens of rare plants from Mr. 

 Blandy ; and other rarities too numerous to mention. Nor 

 are the contents of the Conservatory confined to beautiful 

 flowers and fine specimens ; some pleasing or instructive objects 

 are always to be found there — sometimes Horticultural or 

 Botanical, at others touching on some kindred branch of Natural 

 History, or more or less du-ectly connected with Art, but always 

 in harmony with the building and its objects. 



In the Conservatory was to be seen last year (1862) the 

 rare spectacle (in this country) of an American Aloe in flower. 

 Mr. Nash, of Bury House, Edmonton, had two specimens of the 

 required age for flowering (not a hundred years old — the period 

 popularly assigned to it, whence the name " Century Plant," 

 commonly apphed to it in America — but half that age) ; one 

 had flowered in his own garden the previous year, and he 

 presented the other to the Society for the gratification of the 

 Fellows and visitors to the Garden. "Without its being made 

 absolutely a speciality, there are always a good many specimens 

 of plants of economic interest in the Conservatory — such as the 

 Cotton-plant, the Camphor-tree, the India-rubber-tree, Tea-tree, 

 Coffee-tree, the Coco-plant of Peru, the Bamboo, the Locpiat, 

 the Cafire Bread-tree, the Hog Plum, &c. There are also many 

 succulent plants, which are the more valuable that now-a-days 

 they have gone out of fashion and almost out of cultivation, 

 except in the National collections and in those of two or three 

 scientific enthusiasts, to the liberahty of one of whom (Mr. Wilson 



