APRIL. 
103 
Exhibitions : a part of it is, however, to be appropriated to Perns 
and Rock plants. Belts of evergreen shrubs, trees, and statuary 
are to be disposed around us here; looking northwards on the left is a 
maze of Holly and Hornbeam, about a quarter of an acre in extent; 
surrounded by trees may be an aviary for song birds, standing upon 
turf and within a mass of shrubs. The compartment for American 
plants is on our right, secluded by a belt of evergreens, and surrounded 
by Grass alleys; near the centre walk, and as a companion to the 
aviary, may stand a pheasantry, 50 feet by 30 feet. Quitting the 
station beside the basin for Nympheeoe, we advance beyond the limits 
of the ante-garden, marked by a turfed slope to right and left, and 
ascend by a shallow flight of steps to the garden proper, having before 
us some splendid Deodars and other trees, which, when time matures 
them, will be highly picturesque ; a circular basin on either hand is to 
mark the intersection of the next wing pathway, going parallel to that 
by which we entered, called the south cross-walk of the principal 
garden. The view obtainable here is to be enhanced by a bridge, 
which, ascended by steps, traverses the sides of the garden, marked 
again by banks of turf and beds of flowers,—ramps giving access to 
higher levels with ease, as well as diversifying the aspect of the whole, 
•—producing light and shade and variety of colour. These turf ramps 
are disposed in geometrical order over various parts of the garden, and 
form boundaries for the different terraces. 
A further progress along this centre walk will give us another station 
for looking around, and place us in what may be styled the heart of 
the garden, which, from its superior level, is preferable to that last 
quitted. Here the path divides to right and left. Hence we get a 
notion of the whole, and shall be near enough to examine one of the 
marked features of the design ; this is, the employment of beds of 
coloured earth, formed by use of pounded stones and other durable 
substances, which, when Nature no longer furnishes flowers, will, as 
well as may be, add colour to the landscape. Some of these beds have 
their surfaces inclining inwards towards the centre of the garden, so as 
to catch the spectator’s eye fully, and occupy more space to the sight. 
To the north is a great rectangular basin, into which pours a cascade 
18 feet wide and 11 feet high, from the base of a pedestal to be sur¬ 
mounted by a memorial sculpture of the Great Exhibition of 1851. 
Immediately to the right and left are to be standard Portugal Laurels 
on the verges, which latter are 15 inches above the surfaces of the 
compartments and promenades. An alley of these evergreens will 
stand on either side of the centre walk, flanked by low ramps, backed 
over the Grass plats by masses of divers shrubs and taller trees. At 
the east and west of our station are basins with jets of water, the back¬ 
ground to which will be flights of steps ascending to the terraces and 
corridors. We will now go further on, and stand by the site of the 
cascade above the principal basin. It will be remembered that the 
great colonnade, with its horns curving inwards, has been in front of 
us all this time; in the centre will rise the glittering mass of the con¬ 
servatory, disposed to an appropriate architectural design, with its bal¬ 
cony on the roof, to be filled with gay crowds, the dark masses of the 
