f 
THE Hoirricui.TUEAL society's gaeden. 
effect has little to recommend it ; and, as if to make bad worse, the original designere displayed 
little taste in laying it out, as to render tlie Arboretum at the present time little better than a for 
scene, -where, 
but for the 
smooth turf, 
thecxoticeha- 
racter of the 
trees, and 
marks of cul- 
tivation, and 
design in the 
walls and 
buildings, a 
stranger may 
fancy himself 
in a primeval % 
forest, for, de- 
spite the mag- 
nificent in- 
crease which 
the plants had 
made for a 
so 
■est 
number of p-a, .,=nop.is amabiiis. 
years, thej' soon became so thoi-oughly choked with each other's 
braivches, as to destroy the habits of the plants, which has left 
a great number little better than decrepit specimens. True 
there are some noble plants, but these form the exception rather 
than the rule, for when we consider the extent of ground -s^-hich 
the gaitlen occupies, it is quite certain that it ought to have pre- 
sented good specimens — that is trees and shrubs complete in every 
part — of all the leading genera which grow in the open air in 
this country. 
At the present time a vast assemblage may be seen, some of 
them such as Arauearia imbrieata, Ceeh-us Deodara, Pinus Sabi- 
niana, Douglasii, and Lambertiana, of remarkable size ; and this 
makes one the more annoj'cd, that a greater number displajing the 
same character are not to be met with. The soil is of excellent 
quality, being rich and deep ; but had it been thoroughly drained 
at the time the garden was formed, it would not have been less 
suitable for the purposes intended. Manjf plants, more especially 
the more delicate species of Coniferas, show the want of thorough 
drainage, as do also some of the fruit trees in the orchard and kitchen garden. 
At the present time some important improvements are going on under the du-ection of Mr. 
Glendinning, and it affords us great pleasure to congi-atulate the council and garden committee ujjon 
the step which they are making at last in the right du-ection. Those who have been in the garden 
of the Society, and who have been to the Cliiswick Fetes, are awai-e that a broad walk runs from 
the main entrance gate to near the Council Room, that a set of long narrow beds, edged with box, 
with walks scarcely wide enough to bo usable, formed what was called " The Flower Garden" on the 
eastern side of the garden, and that the tents for the exhibitions in the season, are placed near the 
large conservatory. Well, at a right angle with the bix)ad walk before mentioned, another walk of 
the same character, passing thi'ough and destroying the flower garden, and ternunating opposite the 
end of the large conservatory has been formed ; and at a right angle with this walk, another of the 
same dimensions, leading to and terminating at the conservatory, is in course of formation. At the 
east end of this walk, a new entrance to the garden is to be formed, wliich, in addition to its more 
commanding and appropriate position, will afford visitors the means, on wet days, of visiting the 
exhibition tents and the conscrvatorj', without being exposed to the " pittUess peltings of the storm," 
and walking over the shoes in water, as has been frequently the case within the last fom- years. This 
is an improvement which we doubt not will be appreciated by the visitors to the garden. At the 
