1877. ] 
THE EOTAL PARKS AND GARDENS OP LONDON. 
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scheme of 19 beds, and on the north side of the Palace a conservatory, which is 
lacking in elegance, and not well adapted for plants, though we have seen it 
effectively filled in the autumn with Chrysanthemums. Next comes the Duchess of 
Teck’s garden at Kensington Palace, a rectangular piece of lawn with beds at the 
margin, and surrounded by a belt of deciduous flowering and evergreen shrubs. 
Kensington Gardens, 250 acres in extent, are the centre of a fashionable 
quarter of the metropolis. They are remarkable for their fine old trees, “ and 
judging from the healthy young specimens which may be seen growing, and the 
great ability displayed in the planting of them, there will be no lack of shade for 
generations to come, for here we have beautiful avenues, groves, and glades, among 
young trees growing every year into beauty.” The most fashionable and pleasant 
of promenades in the Gardens is the long Flower-Walk, 700 yards long, which 
possesses many charms—amongst others, a large assortment of correctly-named 
trees and shrubs, the shrubberies being fringed with herbaceous, bulbous, sub¬ 
tropical, and bedding plants. The Ivy Cottage and its semi-circular garden-plots 
opposite attract thousands of admiring spectators during the summer months. 
The Eoyal Horticultural Society’s Garden in this neighbourhood occupies 
about 23 acres, and is a parallelogram in shape, laid out in the Italian style, and 
surrounded by colonnades and covered arcades, with a large and singularly elegant 
conservatory in the centre of the north side. The trees are now growing up to a 
size which produces depth of greenness and breadth of shadow, and breaks the 
continuity of view, which was at one time so glaring and objectionable. The 
Society has done much good service to horticulture during the past sixty-eight 
years, and deserves a better fate than the troubles, and squabbles, and comparative 
neglect into which it has lately fallen. The bedding-out in this Garden has 
always been good. 
The Eoyal Botanic Society of London has a garden of about 18 acres, com¬ 
prising the whole of the Inner Circle of the Eegent’s Park. This has been 
admirably laid out, and is both ornamental and park-like in appearance. There 
is an ample conservatory or winter garden, and a fine range of houses for medical 
and economical plants ; while the garden itself, owing to its being near some of 
the principal medical schools, is much used by professors and teachers, as well as 
by students of various kinds. 
Hyde Park occupies nearly 400 acres, with a sheet of water called the Serpen¬ 
tine. It is freely wooded, both with old and young trees, and is a favourite 
resort of beauty and fashion. Spring flowers are successful!}’- grown the entire 
length of Park Lane, and the effect is charming. The Early Hyacinths are the 
chief ornaments, the most effective being Amy and Eobert Steiger, bright red ; 
Sultan’s Favourite, blush-white; Sir Edwin Landseer, dark pink; Grandeur a 
Merveille, blush-pink; Norma, delicate pink; Voltaire, wax-like blush-white; Grand 
Vainqueur and La Candeur, pure white; Eegulus, porcelain-blue; Charles 
Dickens, pale shaded blue ; William I., violet-black. ‘‘ Those are twelve of the 
best Hyacinths for bedding ; they all flower at the same period, and they are of 
the same height, thus ensuring unifomi and equal effect.” 
