110 JOURNAL OF TPTE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and Lagersiroemia, the most beautiful summer-flowering shruB at 

 Constantinople. Cedars in pots sunk into the ground line each side of 

 the principal walk. 



One of the two greenhouses in the harem garden was devoted to the 

 Strawberry Guava {Psidium Cattleyanum), fine bushy plants, which 

 fruited with great freedom. 



(3) The Merassim Kiosk (fig. 49) built to accommodate the Kaiser on 

 one of his visits to Constantinople, is usually regarded as the most 

 imposing building at Yildiz. Hollies and conifers, interspersed with 

 Magnolia grandiflora, are planted at the foot of the walls ; a garden with 

 an artificial streamlet overgrown with Purple Loosestrife {Ly thrum), 

 and crossed by a small ivy-clad bridge, has been laid out in front. A 

 little further away is a winter garden and an orangery. The principal 

 bedding plants used in this garden last summer were Petunias and 

 Salvias. Isolated groups of Bocconia, Eulalia, and Acanthus created a 

 good effect. From the Merassim Kiosk one gets an exceptionally fine 

 view of the Bosphorus and the upland country beyond. 



(4) The forcing ground consisted of a range of span-roofed glass- 

 houses 33 metres long, 5 m. broad, and 3 m. high, heated by hot-water, 

 and used principally for forcing grapes and peaches planted out in beds, 

 and peaches, plums, and figs in pots; a house, 45 by 5 by 3 m., for 

 fruit trees in pots, early French beans, and small vegetable marrow^s 

 (courgettes coureuses) ; ten brick frames, 20 by 2 m., devoted to melons, 

 cucumbers, and okra {Hibiscus esculentus) ; three lean-to pineapple and 

 strawberry pits, heated by fermenting material; three long span-roofed 

 pits for orchids and evergreen decorative plants ; a large greenhouse for 

 storing plants during the winter and for propagating ; an orangery with 

 1,500 plants of various kinds of Citrus, and a winter garden containing 

 bananas, &c. Vanilla fruited freely in one of the houses; it had, of 

 course, to be fecundated by hand. 



Particulars as to the crops formerly grown at Yildiz have kindly 

 been supplied by M. Henry, late gardener to the ex-Sultan. Many of 

 the plants grown under glass suffered during the revolution, as it was 

 impossible to obtain a sufficient quantity of fuel for the furnaces. 



(5) The houses of the princes, each with a separate garden. 



(6) Separate buildings devoted to the various trades carried on in the 

 Palace grounds : printing, clock, gun, and cabinet making, glazing, 

 besides a foundry and workshops for the locksmiths, joiners, and re- 

 pairers. There was also a library and the offices for the chamberlains, 

 secretaries, and bodyguard. 



The number of gardeners employed during the reign of the ex- 

 Sultan, Abdul Hamid, was 250 for Yildiz and 450 for the whole of the 

 Imperial gardens. The gardeners consisted of nearly equal numbers 

 of Albanians and Turks — the latter from those provinces of Asia Minor 

 which border the Black Sea. 



Th6 gardeners were paid at irregular periods at the rate of 27s. a 

 month, the foreman receiving 54s. to 90s. Each workman was sup- 

 plied with a sufficient quantity of bread, lanip oil, firewood, and also 



