July 29. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
205 
mere words, what we readily discerned when examining j 
the plans and drawings of departments pourtrayed in 
the colours and forms such as they will be clothed 
with when completed. We cannot paint in words 
the effect of a nave of glass, semi-circular roofed, 
1608 feet in length, and 108 feet high, entered at 
one end through the gorgeous plants of the tropics, 
canopied over by the loftiest l’alms, and cooled to the 
eye hy the broad and tender green foliage of the Musas; 
nor will the wonder cease with the entrance, for from 
the climate of the tropics—without an intervening veil 
even of glass—the spectator will pass on uninterrupted, 
except by a change in the character of the vegetation, 
to the far more extensive portion devoted to an imitation \ 
of the milder climates of the globe. This larger portion | 
will include the transepts—for of these there will be 
three. Our readers will remember the one iii Hyde j 
Park, high arching as it did over the included elms; ! 
but at Sydenham there will be two such, each 108 feet ; 
high, with a central one of 174 feet elevation—thus 
approaching in height the Monument of London! The 
general width of the building will be 312 feet, and the 
lengths of the crossing transepts will be somewhat 
more than that, the central one being 384 feet long, and 
the two end transepts 336 feet. 
Together, tho basement, ground-floor, and galleries, 
will have an area of about 25 acres. The galleries 
will be narrowed, and not be occupied by plants, but be 
reserved for the exhibition of light articles, and still 
more for seats and vacant spaces from whence striking 
views of the interior may be obtained. Clustered round 
by the plants of the milder regions will be various 
courts, of which eight will be occupied by illustrations 
of architecture, and antiquities—Assyrian, Egyptian, 
Greek, Roman, and Mediaeval. Pour other courts in 
the central transept will be devoted to the Natural 
History of the quarters of the globe, nor will either 
astronomy or geology be without its academos within 
the Palaco. 
Even tho warmest portions will be refreshed with ! 
fountains, and there also will bo a vast aquarium, in 
which will be collected together the Victoria regia, and 
other gorgeous water lilies of the tropics. 
A well-informed correspondent, who contributed the 
same information to the Athenccum, observes :— 
“ All these new constructions will be of a kind suited to the 
intended permanent character of the Palace. For example, 
the wooden transept ribs will be substituted by iron ribs of 
increased strength and more aerial appearance; and tho 
strength of the glass will be throughout increased hy nearly 
one-half, from 10 ounces per foot to 21. As the galleries in 
the existing building would seriously interfere with the 
growth of the plants with which so large a portion of the 
interior is to be tilled, they will be kept back to the outside 
] walls, except at those points (as the corners of the tran- 
[ septs and nave) from which the most striking views can 
be commanded of the covp-d’ceil. There will be also a 
narrow gallery on the third story, close under the spring¬ 
ing of the arched roofs. 
“ The building will form a vast conservatory, in which, by 
simple means, the most differing climates will he obtained 
in various parts, and the characteristic vegetation of the 
different quarters of the world be fully represented ; and this 
will be done without that oppressive heat which is so much 
felt in the Palm House at Kew. Among the foliage will be 
interspersed casts of the most noted groups and statues of the 
world—both those of antiquity and those of the great home 
and Continental sculptors of the present day—in a manner 
which will be new to the great majority of those who witness 
it, and will at once set at rest the long-vexed question of the 
right accompaniments to sculpture. Amongst these sculp¬ 
tures, many Englishmen will make their first acquaintance 
with the finest works of Fraccaroli, Tenerani, Kiss, Schadow, 
Danneker, Thorwalsden, Jerichau, Pradier, and the other 
great artists of the German, French, and Italian schools. 
There will be several quadrangles devoted to the illustration 
of the successive periods of Architecture and ornamental 
Art, and of national manners. Thus, the illustrations of 
Indian life will be collected in a representation of the court 
of an Indian palace, with reception rooms, <&c., and with its 
adjoining bazaar and shops. So, also, with the Chinese. 
Tho Architectural series will extend from the Byzantine 
period to that of the Renaissance : different courts or quad¬ 
rangles being appropriated to, and filled with, specimens of 
the productions of successive ages. Amongst these will be, 
a court of the Alhambra, produced under the immediate 
care of Mr. Owen Jones; and a Pompeian house, by Mr. 
Wyatt. In one of the smaller transepts will be collected 
exact reproductions of the most wonderful of the remains 
of Egyptian art, and illustrations of Egyptian manners. 
Among these will be conspicuous the sitting figure of an 
Egyptian king, from Aboo Simbel, in Nubia, more than 
forty-five feet high, completely coloured after the original. 
In the basement below the present ground floor will be re¬ 
produced one of the large Egyptian tombs. 
“ With the series of architectural and ornamental casts 
will be combined all such illustrations of extinct or dormant 
processes of Art as may be interesting as affording either 
illustrations of the past or hints for the future. Thus, in 
connexion with Italian art will be introduced specimens of 
fresco, tempera, sgraffito, mosaic, &c .; in connexion with 
mediceval design, specimens of caligrapliy, metal working, 
mural decorations, embroidery, enamel, niello, &c. All these, 
hy means of casts, fac-similes, and in many cases of the 
objects themselves, are within the reach of the Directors ; 
and the whole will be so enclosed by foliage, interspersed 
with statues and other ornamental objects, as in no way to 
interfere with the harmony and entirety of one great general 
impression. 
“ Large spaces will be left for the general purposes of 
exhibition, in which it is intended to have geological exhibi¬ 
tions—arranged not as mere collections, but so as to render 
it impossible not to comprehend the order, construction, and 
connexion of the various strata and their contained fossils, 
the appearance of the country lying over each, &c. Also 
exhibitions of the great staple materials of the world, from 
their raw condition through all their various stages up to the 
most perfect manufactures—involving the presence of ma¬ 
chinery of the most complicated and interesting description 
in full work. 
“The grounds around the building—which are upwards of 
250 acres—will be laid out as a park and garden, with the 
addition of one feature not common to English parks—that 
of fountains. Those Londoners who have gained their con¬ 
ception of a fountain from the pigmyjets in Trafalgar-square, 
and in the Temple Gardens, will find it difficult to realise 
those of which we speak; the highest jets of which will 
reach an altitude of 150 feet, while in mass and total effect 
they will equal those of Versailles. It is in contemplation 
to provide the lovers of manly sports with every opportunity 
for gratifying their desires, whether taking the shape of 
cricket and archery, or that of the less common games of 
tennis, raquet, and golf. Besides these, there will be baths 
and swimming-places, and extensive skating grounds, so 
shallow that, while they will bear after one night’s frost, they 
will not need the presence of any Humane Society officers 
for the preservation of the skaters.” 
Passing from the palace to the three hunched acres 
of park around it, we can promise our readers that 
these will be devoted with equal care to tho culture of 
hardy trees and other useful plants. Wo believe, and 
we hope, because we know how extensive will be their 
utility, that the Arboretum, Orchard, and Flower and 
