100 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
cence. The guests will be limited to six hundred, in order that the comfort of 
each shall be insured. On Wednesday morning the Botanical Congress will 
open in the Raphael Cartoon-room, at South Kensington Museum, under the 
presidency of that distinguished European botanist, M. Alphonse De Candolle, 
of Geneva. A large number of foreign botanists and horticulturists will be 
present, and a number of papers have already been furnished to the Congress 
Secretary. On the evening of Wednesday a Conversazione will be held at the 
South Kensington Museum, which, together with the Haphael Cartoon-room, 
has been liberally and kindly placed at the disposal of the Executive Com¬ 
mittee by Her Majesty’s Government. The suitability of the place is so 
apparent that it needs no commendation, and the numberless articles of interest 
stored there, together with the picture-galleries, &c., will be valuable auxiliaries 
to such a gathering. 
On Thursday, the 24th, a Horticultural Dinner on a very extensive scale 
will take place at St. Martin’s Hall. This, though not promoted by the Execu¬ 
tive Committee of the International Horticultural Exhibition, has their entire 
sanction, and is regarded by them as a valuable adjunct to their engagements. 
This dinner is promoted in order to give an opportunity for those of the nur¬ 
serymen, gardeners, and amateurs from the provinces and in the metropolis to 
meet together at the “ festive board.” The movement promises to be a great 
success, is being extensively patronised, and will be carried out in a very 
spirited manner. The Committee of Management will shortly publish their 
programme. 
On Friday morning there will be another Sitting of Congress, and probably 
it will be continued on Saturday. The Conversazione which was to have been 
held on the evening of Frit.ay has been definitively abandoned, owing to the 
multiplicity of engagements already and in course of being contracted. 
Besides the special invitations that have been issued to distinguished 
foreigners allied to botany and horticulture, a great number of other invitations 
have been issued, a large proportion of which have been accepted. Delegates 
will also be present from several of the continental Governments, some of 
which have already named the gentlemen who will represent them. 
That the weather will be propitious is the earnest desire of all who look 
forward with interest to this great meeting, and also that the movement should 
be a pecuniary success is hot the less earnestly hoped for. 
On the opposite page is a ground plan and cross-section of the Exhibition 
tent, which is 30 feet in height, 563 feet in length, and 293 feet in width, thus 
covering a superficies of more than 3f acres. Of this area about 55,000 square 
feet will be devoted to plants arranged on turf-banks and mounds, and 60,000 
square feet for promenades, which, as stated above, will allow space for 15,000 
visitors at one time. For the Orchids and other tender plants a division 500 feet 
in length and 40 in width has been set apart, and every precaution has been 
taken not only to insure a sufficiently high temperature whatever the weather 
may prove, but also to secure that which is not less essential to their safety, a 
due amount of ventilation. The beautiful design, according to which the 
ground has been laid out, is due to Mr. Gibson, the Superintendent of Battersea 
Park, assisted by his son, Mr. John Gibson, jun., and the whole of the works 
have been carried out under his active supervision, and this gratuitously given, 
and pursued with that energy and perseverance which he brings to bear on all 
which he undertakes. Viewed merely in outline, the graceful curves of the 
design have an excellent effect; what, then, will this be when those mounds 
and valleys are covered with the most choice of all that is beautiful in flower, 
and leaf, and fruit, gathered together not only from every corner of our own 
country, but from all parts of Europe as well ? 
