8a 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 11, 1858. 
was only one form of six or seven variations of size and colour 
from 
lions of the edifice give it both a spacious appearance 
within and a commanding aspect from without. The Palms, 
formerly crowded and almost packed together in the older 
building, have now been distributed over both. Many of the 
taller ones have, from time to time, had to be pruned and 
cropped to save the roof, but in the new building they will 
have the amplest limits. The Edinburgh Botanic Garden is, 
probably, the oldest in the country, having been established in 
1670, originally in the centre of the present city ; and after 
successive removals, it was established in its present pictu¬ 
resque situation at Inverleith, in 1822. The cultivation of the 
Palm was an early object of interest in the garden, and some 
of the fine Palms decorating the new building were brought 
from the old garden at Leith Walk. About two and a half 
imperial acres of beautifully-wooded ground will shortly be 
added to the garden on the west side, making its whole area 
seventeen acres. It is also in view to unite with it the garden 
of the Caledonian Horticultural Society immediately adjacent, 
and to use the latter as an arboretum. The Professor of 
which Iris pumila assumes, in different parts of central Em 
rope, and through Taurida to the Caucasus. 
The normal type of the species, in our gardens, is a pur* 
plish-blue flower, common enough among our spring flowers ; 
the Crimean variety of it has a pale yellow flower, and there 
is a white form of it; also a lilac and a pale lilac, and other 
shades, but they all agree in having a bearded flower and a 
one-flowered scape. 
Mr. Rivers tells me, after the dispute was decided, that he 
lias barrow loads of Crimean Irises, and other spring flowers, 
but he never offers them for sale; “ but he would give me 
enough to break my back, for the Experimental, if 1 woidd 
only run down and fetch them.” Much obliged was I, but 
having had a sufficient experiment on my back already with 
again under 
a 
the lumbago, I should be loath to risk it on 
load of spring flowers, or bedding plants ; still I should much 
enjoy a handling of “ auld warld plants ” for the Experi¬ 
mental, after flowering 
iind to use the latter as an arboretum. The Professor of | mental, after flowering those beautiful 
Botany of Edinburgh University teaches a class of about 200 Algssum Gemonense, which Mr. Rivers 
mmils annually in the garden and museum, and for a series of with the new hardy Grapes. These 
years nearly 40,000 persons have aunually visited the garden. 
Application is being made to Government, for an addition to 
the present allowance to the establishment, which was fixed in 
1833 at £1000 a year, since which date the museum has been 
opened, the hothouses extended, and the new Palm house 
built, it being found that, without an increased grant, it is 
impossible either to maintain the establishment creditably and 
efficiently, or to complete the present improvements. 
ADENOSTOMA FASCICULATA. 
are 
Iberis unifolia and 
sent me last winter 
now in full bloom 
with me, and most beautiful things they are. —D. Beaton, 
Raised from seeds col¬ 
lected in California, by Hart- 
weg. 
A small Heath-like bush, 
with erect weak branches. 
Leaves linear, sharp pointed, 
ooncavo - convex, arising in 
fascicles from the axil of 
primordial leaves of the same 
form, but dying early and 
leaving behind a pair of spine- 
pointed stipules; in this ar¬ 
rangement they may be com¬ 
pared to Berberries and simi¬ 
lar plants. Elowers white, 
small, in terminal panicles, 
with much the appearance 
of the Alpine Spireea. The 
leaves of the cultivated plant 
continually evince a tendency 
to become two or three-lobed 
near the point. It is said 
to grow two feet high, in 
open exposed places near 
Monterey. 
In point of beauty, it is 
inferior to the worst of the 
Spiraeas, and it is a mere 
botanical curiosity. Whether 
it is hardy or not lias not been 
at present ascertained. — 
(HorticulturalSociety's Jour¬ 
nal .) 
% 
I 
mb, 
A 
IRIS PUMILA. 
A few days after the Horticultural Society’s Exhibition at 
St. James s Hall, Mr. Rivers sent me an Iris in flower, and he 
asked me to “ decide a dispute, to say if the enclosed is the 
Crimean Iris, or is of the same race.” It was exactly the 
same kind as the one which attracted her Majesty’s attention 
at St. James’s Hall, and the Horticultural Society called it 
h is pumila, which might have caused the said dispute. It 
NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT—No. 22. 
GARDEN GOSSIP—BERLIN. 
“ ’Tis an ill wind that blows nobody good,” says an English 
proverb ; and as a proof of this old saw, which needs no 
proving, I shall show that the gardening world is the better 
for the Revolution of ’48. There were two Jews here, who— 
Avlien that revolutionary epidemic swept over the Continent, 
carrying desolation, carnage, and woe wherever it went—spent 
every penny they had, in buying railway shares and stock, 
when the money mai’ket was at its lowest ebb; and, as a 
natural consequence, when more peaceful times came, these 
canny men found themselves as rich as Hebrews proverbially 
are. They very wisely employed part of their capital in keep¬ 
ing up good gardens, and the horticultural establishments of 
the Messrs. Reichenheim, at Nos. 19 and 33, Tlieirgarten 
Strasse, are in this part of the world quite celebrated. Though 
presenting no features which would astonish an Englishman, 
they are yet very pretty places, and no excursionist, interested 
in such matters, should visit Berlin without seeing them. The 
one at No. 33 is the best, though both have good collections 
of Orchids in the most perfect health, and evidently under 
the best of management. A little glass box, on the front stage 
of one of the Orchid houses at this garden, contained some 
pet plants, which were perfect models. First, there were five 
or six species of JSnectochilus, with their gold or silver-veined 
velvetty leaves; then a pan covered with Sonerila margari- 
tacea , with its pearl-dotted leaves and spikes of crimson 
flowers ; Begonia Thwaitesii, the foliage of which is densely 
covered with purplish-brown hairs; B. albo-plagiata some¬ 
what similar, but its hirsute covering almost white; and B. 
splendid a, a most gorgeous plant, the young leaves and leaf 
stalks like bright crimson velvet. Then there was also a fine 
plant of the interesting Yenus’s Fly-trap (Dioncea musdpula ), 
well grown in chopped moss and sand, the pot standing in a 
shallow saucer of water; and the no less interesting Austra¬ 
lian Pitcher Plant ( Cephalotis folliculotis ). 
In an English garden of such pretensions as this, one of the 
principal features would be the forcing department, but here 
it holds a very subordinate place. Pines are not grown at all, 
although house after house is filled with Orchids. The fruit 
trees in the open garden, and the wall trees, are anything but 
what might be expected; indeed, they are everywhere in this 
neighbourhood much neglected. 
At No. 19, the Orchids (upon which I cannot send any 
notes that will be new to your readers) again form the prin¬ 
cipal feature. There is also a collection of Pitcher Plants most 
beautifully cultivated. Nepenthes JPhyllamphora, with a per¬ 
fect nest of Pitchers clustering at the base of the stem, and 
lying upon the surface of the soil. In a greenhouse, among 
choice Conifers, Camellias, &c., were some fine specimens of 
Linden’s Aralias, subdivided into the genera Panax, Oreo- 
panax, Didymopanax, &c.; but all of them most beautiful 
foliage plants for a cool house while young. If allowed to 
