186 



PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



of form or beauty of flower, they, wlien new, should 

 be presented in considerable masses, in order that they 

 may be introduced to public notice, and their decorative 

 value may be clearly ascertained and exhibited to the 

 eye. This is a function properly belonging to horticul- 

 tural gardens, and which, it must be owned, they have 

 as yet imperfectly discharged. The horticultural prints 

 teem with advertisements of flowers, fruits, and apparatus, 

 for the worth of which the editors cannot possibly be 

 made responsible ; and if the ill-advised purchaser trusts 

 implicitly to some of these seductive statements, he will 

 soon find that he is paying dear for his experience. We 

 should wish to see all these lauded articles tested in 

 the Horticultural Gardens, and marked with the impri- 

 matur of these societies. Surely fair dealers would find 

 it for their benefit to establish such a practice ; at least 

 the protection of the public requires that something of 

 this kind should be done. 



Horticultural Museum. — This is another improvement 

 which we earnestly desire to, see introduced. Most of 

 the societies, it is believed, possess drawings, and models 

 of fruits^ and dried collections of horticultural products 

 more or less extensive, but they are seldom so arranged 

 as to be easily accessible by strangers, or even to be 

 readily consulted by those in charge of them. "Why 

 should there not be a spacious room, well aired and 

 lighted, fitted up with glass cases, etc., for the reception 

 of objects worthy of preservation ? We would assemble 

 there specimens or models of the fruits and vegetables of 

 our OAvn and other climes. We would have an herbarium 

 of the plants and shrubs that have occupied a place of 

 distinction in the flower-garden, as many of these, 

 through the influence of fashion, pass away and are 



