208 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



small courts at each end of the building, or before 

 the wall, where they can be seen and studied to 



advantage. 



The care of these hot-houses for the last twenty- 

 two years has been confided to M. Riche, a man 

 perfectly skilled in this branch of culture, who 

 shews them to strangers with permission of the 

 professors. As he is acquainted with the ama- 

 teurs and nursery-men who cultivate rare plants, 

 he is informed of the reception of new species, 

 and procures them by exchange. 



The remaining part of this hot^house was 

 constructed in the summer of 1821, for the fine 

 collection just received from India and Cayenne, 

 and named Philibert's hot-house, after the cap- 

 tain on board whose vessel M. Perrottet, gar- 

 dener of the Museum, took passage with the 

 plants, of which he had collected the greater part 

 himself, and which he brought in the finest con- 

 dition to the Museum (1). It is 75 feet long, 

 12 broad and 10 high, and is heated by two fur- 

 naces : it is worthy of remark, that the divi- 

 sion immediately behind is improved since its 

 construction. 



(1) Several of the trees cultivated in Cayenne, especially those 

 affording spices, were furnished by M. Poiteau, author of several me- 

 moirs inserted in our Annals, and successor of M. Martin in the 

 management of the royal plantations at French Guyana. 



