August 13, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
787 
An enlargement of the gardens took place in 1858 and 
again in 1865,and in 1877 the Town Council purchased 
Inverleith House and grounds and handed them over 
to the Crown to be formed into an Arboretum—the 
Crown undertaking the obligation to maintain them 
as a scietific educational institution. Botanic 
Gardens and Arboretum together now extend to 
sixty acres; and a more beautiful spot there is not 
within the municipality of the city. The Govern¬ 
ment, acting on the advice of a Treasury Committee 
that reported in 1890, sanctioned an important 
change in the administration of the gardens, under 
which progressive improvement became possible, and 
also voted the sum of £8,000 for extensive alterations 
on the Palm houses and greenhouses, so as to bring 
them into harmony with modern requirements. 
Up to 1890 the Botanic Garden was under the 
divided jurisdiction of the Treasury and the Board 
of Works. There was money voted for the 
establishment, but the divided jurisdiction made it 
difficult to get it applied for work other than what 
was absolutely necessary to keep the gardens up as 
a going concern. In 1889, largely owing to the 
representations made by Professor Bayley Balfour, 
the Regius Professor of Botany, the whole adminis¬ 
tration was transferred to the Board of Works, and 
from that date, with a sympathetic permanent secre¬ 
tary of that Department in the person of-Mr. H. W. 
Primrose, the gardens got a new lease of life and 
vigour. The whole funds, amounting to over £3,000 
a year, which Parliament voted, became available 
for garden purposes ; and a scheme of improvements 
was then formulated and commenced. One of the 
first things achieved was the reconstruction of the 
herbaceous gardens. Instead of being scattered 
about the place, these plants were brought together 
into a compact and central space, and arranged in 
their natural order in small beds, with strips of grass 
between, so that consultation of the specimens is 
now rendered an easy and a profitable task. One of 
the works on which Professor Balfour is engaged 
this year is the welding of the gardens and Arbore¬ 
tum into a homogeneous unity. Bit by bit, as we 
have hinted, was added to the gardens from time to 
time; the Arboretum was acquired, but no attempt 
was made to treat these splendid properties from the 
landscape gardener’s point of view, so as to give 
them, now that the public use them so extensively, 
a more pleasing external form. This is being done. 
A work at present in progress is the removal of the 
high wall between the Botanic Gardens and the 
Arboretum. The effect at the part where the wall 
has been demolished is admirable. It is at that 
point in the grounds just below Inverleith House ; 
and looking up from the gardens the eye is carried 
onward through a fine tree-shaded glade to splendid 
prospects of the town beyond. A sense of spacious¬ 
ness is also secured to the gardens, which the 
boundary wall, with its three narrow doorways into 
the Arboretum beyond, previously destroyed. By 
way of welding the two into one, a broad walk, com¬ 
mencing at the Arboretum gate, will be carried along 
the foot of the hill, where the public, as a matter of 
fact, had already made a footpath to the gardens. 
This walk has nearly all been made. A broad border 
on each side has been planted with trees and shrubs, 
and will constitute a shelter to the trees, which will 
by and by be planted for educational purposes It is 
also intended to form a walk along each side of the 
boundary of the Arboretum, and when that is done, 
a path which at present exists along the face of the 
eastern slope will be sown down with grass. The 
construction of these walks will necessitate some 
alteration in the existing arrangements of the 
shrubberies, but the present stock will be utilised i 
so far as this is considered desirable, in connection 
with the new arrangements. 
An important reconstruction of the conservatories 
in the gardens will immediately take place. At 
present plants and trees are grown under glass in 
the Palm house, a building 100 by 60 ft., to which 
there is a smaller annexe in the range of houses, 
142 yards long, situate between the lecture-room and 
the Palm house, and in the conservatories opposite 
the herbarium, which was originally erected by the 
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. To begin 
with, the whole heating arrangements are to be re¬ 
modelled. At present there are in the gardens no 
fewer than twenty boilers in eleven stoke-holes. 
This disposition of the boilers entails an enormous 
amount of superfluous work, and is wasteful of fuel. 
On the north side of the conservatories is a disused 
engine house of substantial construction, with an 
ornate chimney stack, and this building is in 
process of being converted into a central source of 
heating for the whole of the reconstructed conserva¬ 
tories and for the Palm houses. There will be four 
low-pressure boilers placed underground, and a 
modern system of heating by hot-water pipes will be 
imroduced by Messrs. Mackenzie & Moncur. The 
long range of conservatories consists, it may be 
remembered, of a large domed central hall and 
wings. It has a southern exposure, but is of old 
construction. The central domed hall will remain, 
so will portions of the wings, to serve the purposes 
of a corridor ; but in the way of new buildings there 
will be erected four .conservatories, set at right 
angles to the present range—two on each side of the 
central hall, and running a considerable way into the 
ground at present occupied by specimen shrubs and 
trees. These trees and shrubs will all be removed 
so as to open up the area to the influence of the sun’s 
rays, which, in winter, are- almost excluded from it. 
Each conservatory in the range as reconstructed will 
shut off from s neighbour by partition and door ; 
and in them will be arranged the following classes of 
plants, which are not provided for in a satisfactory 
manner at present, viz. : — Orchids (cool and 
tropical) ; Ferns, foreign economical plants, and 
stove plants. The central hall will be reserved as a 
sort of show house, in which rare and beautiful 
plants will be exhibited when in their best condition. 
Just overlooking the herbaceous gardens, on the 
terrace, t q the south of the reconstructed conserva¬ 
tories, there will be formed a broad walk, which, 
with iron chairs, and backed by flower beds, will be, 
from a public point of view, one of the nicest spots 
in the gardens. 
The Palm house will also undergo a thorough 
remodelling. Architecturally, it is a capital piece of 
work; but from a cultural standpoint it has too 
many dark places, on account of the distribution of 
windows and wall space. Henceforth that portion 
of it which is first entered from the gardens will be 
devoted to the cultivation of Palms requiring only a 
cool temperature, for tree Ferns, and for temperate 
plants generally ; and as at Kew, the tubs in which 
the Palms have been grown will henceforth be done 
away with, and the Palms and plants set in earth 
beds on the ground level specially constructed for 
the purpose. This in itself will be an immense 
advantage. In order to admit as much light as 
possible, there will be no side stagings. The wall 
spaces, however, and the pillars carrying the roof 
will be festooned with creeping plants, which should 
have a fine effect. The inner portion of the Palm 
house, where the spiral stairs are placed, will be 
separated from the outer portion by a glass partition, 
and will be devoted to the cultivation of Palms of 
delicate constitution and requiring tropical conditions 
for their growth. This portion of the building will 
be enlarged by the construction of an annexe of 
semi-circular form, which will not only give more 
space, but light to the rest of the building. The 
other conservatories in the rear of the Palm house, 
will gradually be reconstructed, and the whole of 
this portion of the grounds will by-and-bye be made 
available to the public. As a depot for soil and 
implements it is proposed to utilise a corner at the 
south-west of the gardens beyond the Palm house 
which is little used by the public at present, and 
which is well screened from sight by trees and shrubs. 
The range of conservatories opposite the herbarium, 
and near to the rock gardens, will be demolished. In 
consequence of its dilapidated condition it has been 
shut to the public for some years; and to put it in 
repair would cost a large sum. Besides, it could not 
very well be worked from the central heating house. 
Its site will be utilised by an extension of the rock 
garden, which is one of the finest features of the 
establishment It is suggested that by-and-bye, in 
the neighbourhood of the other conservatories, there 
should be one specially set apart for the growth of 
tropical aquatics—a class of plants for which there 
is at present no provision in the gardens, though they 
are grown both at Kew and at Glasnevin, In con¬ 
nection with the culture of outdoor aquatic plants, 
alterations have recently been made on the pond by 
lowering its level 3 inches, so as to keep the water 
from the tanks along the margin overflowing from 
one into the other. The water from the new boilers 
is to be led into the pond, and as there will then be a 
superfluity of it a proposal has been made, but not 
yet sanctioned, that a small artificial stream should 
be constructed from the pond to the lower extremity 
of the grounds, along the banks of which bog and 
moisture loving plants might be cultivated. 
In connection with the management of the excel¬ 
lent herbarium which exists at the gardens, the 
Treasury having recently sanctioned the appoint¬ 
ment of a curator, who is now on the civil list, so 
that this department, so important from a teaching 
point of view, will now be well attended to It has 
also been suggested that considerable advantage 
would result from the interchange between Kew and 
Edinburgh of duplicate specimens ; and a system of 
communication between the two institutions is re¬ 
commended for the purpose. 
Even more important is the announcement which 
we can now make, that arrangements have been 
settled whereby the Arboretum will be utilised for 
the purpose for which it was bought by the town 
and handed over to the Government: as a teaching 
institution. At the meeting last year of the Royal 
Scottish Arboricultural Society,Professor Bayley Bal¬ 
four propounded a scheme designed to meet a practical 
objection which had never before been overcome— 
viz., how young foresters were to be supported in 
Edinburgh during- their pupilage. By the arrange¬ 
ments which have been made, a number of young 
men in training as gardeners and foresters will be 
employed in the gardens during the day for a certain 
number of hours. For this they will receive suffi¬ 
cient to support them during their pupilage of two 
or three years, as the case may be, and they will re¬ 
ceive instruction free in the afternoon or evening in 
such subjects as chemistry, physics, meteorology, 
geology, surveying and mensuration, entomology, 
botany, forestry, and horticulture - the subjects being 
arranged so that no more than two lectures would be 
given in one week. The nurserymen of the city are 
also to co-operate. Young men from these establish¬ 
ments will be admitted free also to the classes, and 
in this way a practical school for the training of 
gardeners and foresters in their professions will be 
inaugurated before many months are over, and will 
add to the usefulness of the gardens. All Scotland 
will thereby be benefited. The money has been 
voted for the payment of the lecturers. In view of 
such teaching the lecture halls and laboratories have 
recently been all lighted and heated, at a cost of 
£500. It only remains to add that the public, in 
ever-increasing numbers, are taking advantage of 
the gardens both for the purposes of study and for 
quiet recreation. They promise to become to 
Edinburgh what Kew is to London. As many as 
15,000 people have visited them in one day, and it is 
satisfactory to hear that, with such large crowds, 
the plants and flowers and trees are as well pre¬ 
served as they were in the days when the visitor had 
to ring the bell to get through the gate. Pilfering of 
flowers has not entirely ceased, but thefts are rare, 
except by people whn seem to know the value of 
what they carry off.— Scotsman. 
-- 
Flying Dutchman Tomato. 
At several places in the West of England I have 
come across the “ Flying Dutchman ” Tomato, and 
everywhere it is well spoken of, wherever it has been 
tried. It was sent out last season by Messrs. Robert 
Veitch & Son, of Exeter. It is not an exhibition 
variety, but it seems to be the very acme of perfec¬ 
tion for general work, and is more particularly an 
amateur's Tomato. In colour it is a light scarlet 
The fruit is of medium size, round, with just the 
faintest sign of corrugation. But its most peculiar 
feature is that as soon as the plant has attained a 
height of 12 in, to 15 in. it throws out a spray of 
half-a-dozen flowers. These set, the plant 
seems to wait until the fruit is fairly formed. Then 
up it goes another 10 in. or 12 in. and throws out 
another branch of fruit, the fruit-bearing panicles 
holding the fruit in suspension in the form of a 
bursting skyrocket when it breaks out into falling 
stars in its descent. It certainly is peculiar in this 
this respect. For a small house it is the very thing 
wanted, and as the fruit is heavy, solid and well 
flavoured it is well worthy of a place in the already 
too-long list of Tomatos. I saw it staged at Crediton 
Flower Show a fortnight ago, and the exhibitor told 
me he had a plant with a hundred fruits upon it.— 
Dtvoniensis. 
