HYDE PARK 
47 
putting out of comparatively tender plants in the 
summer months, when the same general effect could be 
got with a less expenditure both of money and plants. 
But on the other hand numbers of people come to study 
the beds, note the combinations, and examine the use of 
certain plants which they would not otherwise have the 
opportunity of testing. The public who enjoy the results, 
and often those who most severely criticise, do not know 
the system on which the gardening is carried out. Many 
are even ignorant enough to suppose that the whole 
bedding out is contracted for, and few know the hidden 
recesses of Hyde Park, which produces everything for all 
the display, both there and in St. James’s Park. The 
old place in which all necessary plants were raised was a 
series of greenhouses and frames in front of Kensington 
Palace. The erection of these pits and glass houses com¬ 
pletely destroyed the design of the old garden, although 
even now the slope reveals the lines of the old terraces; 
and they entirely obscure the beauty of the Orangery. 
A few years ago three acres in the centre of Hyde Park 
were taken, on which to form fresh nurseries. Gradually 
better ranges have been built, and soon the old unsightly 
frames at Kensington will disappear. The new garden is 
so completely hidden that few have discovered its where¬ 
abouts. The ground selected lies to the north-west of 
the Ranger’s Lodge. There, a series of glass houses on 
the most approved plan, and rows of frames, have been 
erected. The unemployed have found work by excava¬ 
ting the ground to the depth of some eight feet, and the 
gravel taken out has made the wide walk across the Green 
Park and the alterations in the “Mall.” A wall and 
bank of shrubs and trees so completely hides even the 
highest house in which the palms—such as those outside 
