8 



KEW GARDENS. 



In descending the steps, notice the two hardy palms, Chamcerops 

 excelsa^ on each side, in large China vases. The mass of ivy at 

 the back of the cloak room is worth lool^ing at ; which reminds 

 lis to note here the pretty and uncommon cut-leaved ivy in front 

 of the Museum. 



Reascending the steps, a noble w^alk is before us, terminated by 

 the smoke-shaft of the great Palm House, in the guise of an Ita- 

 lian Campanile. It stands nearly live hundred feet from the struc- 

 ture to which it is accessory. The smoke from the furnaces is con- 

 veyed by flues to a shaft within the tower, and by the use of coke 

 for fuel little is perceptible. Hidden by shrubs, not far from the 

 tower, is a coal-yard, and also the entrance of the tunnel, which, 

 by means of a tram-way, conveys fuel, and brings back ashes, <fec., 

 from the furnaces. The tunnel is about eight feet high, conve- 

 nient to walk in, and lighted and ventilated by shafts from above, 

 many of whose grated openings are concealed in flower-beds. Of 

 course, the pubhc are not indiscriminately admitted to these sub- 

 terranean wonders. An understanding must first be had with the 

 well-behaved gnomes, w^ho 



* Here, in a grotto shelter'd close from air, 



And screen'd in shades from day's detested glare,' 



give the first impulse to the machinery which elaborates the beau- 

 tiful vegetation overhead. 



Water is the vehicle to the Q-rand Palm-stove of whatever Phi- 

 losophers may decide heat to be, whether substance or accident, 

 essence or effect. Twelve mighty boilers, six belonging to one 

 half, six to another, are the hearts propelling the ' thermidor' fluid 

 through pipes, which, by the circulation passing within them, re- 

 present rudely a venous and arterial system. This battery has 

 been wisely calculated with a prospect to extreme cases. During 

 the three years the Palm-house has been in action it has never 

 been found necessary to light more than eleven furnaces. In Ju- 

 ly and August four fires are sufficient to keep things going. There 

 always ought to be a reserved power in estabhshments whose very 

 existence depends on the maintenance of a given temperature ; 

 otherwise, a frost might occur to destroy the whole invaluable 

 contents of this Palm-house in a single night. We shall never 

 forget the story told us by a lighthouse-keeper, on a coast much 

 exposed to north winds, of the awful anxiety lest the oil should 



