JUNE. - 7 169 
when finished, and the planting has been allowed time to grow, to 
furnish the garden, will produce an excellent effect. It has the great 
merit of oneness in its composition, and it is not overdone with flower- 
beds, having a large extent. of turf and sloping embankments—refreshing 
features near large towns; and. we hope the authorities will make 
arrangements for keeping the turf green, by having water laid down, 
so that it may easily be watered in dry weather. Nothing strikes one 
more in Paris than the greenness of the turf in their public gardens, 
even in the hottest weather, which is effected by constant watering. 
The turf in the neighbourhood of London burns very quickly, and we 
hope, therefore, the turf in the Kensington garden will be preserved 
verdantly fresh at all seasons, as it will form a great relief to the London 
Parks and dusty roads in the vicinity during summer. 
As the arcades running on each side the, garden are to be on different 
levels, Mr. Nesfield has adjusted his side terraces to correspond with 
them ; and, from these, steps lead to lower terraces, which occupy the 
centre of the garden, the compartments for turf and flower-beds being 
pannelled, so as to be more easily overlooked from the terrace-walks. 
It.is almost impossible to form a correct idea what the effect of all this 
pannelling will be when complete by a mere reference to the plan, and 
without having carefully studied the ground; so we must wait its 
further progress. For instance, we do not see how the ground marked 
29 is adjusted to the level of the walk and steps leading from EK to F. 
We also have some doubts whether the compartments 15, beautiful as 
they look on the plan, will not be too flat when carried out. _ But these, 
and the question of whether more trees must not be introduced as the 
work proceeds, are mere details which do not in the least interfere with 
the great merits of the design, taken as a whole; in which, as it appears 
tous, variety and means for floral display are artistically interwoven 
with architectural decorations, which, when completed, will form a 
garden worthy of the Horticultural Society. 
Sk 
HOMES OF THE FLORISTS.—No. IV. 
PLANTATION, MONKSTOWN. NEAR DUBLIN. 
Amonasr. the many things to be included in the visit I made to 
Ireland, last month, the charge was laid on me from north and south, and 
east and. west—‘‘be sure you give us a full, true, and particular account 
of the Monkstown Auriculas;” and in obedience to my instructions, I 
made my appointment with their owner, but little anticipated the way 
in which it was to be done. Had I been unmarried, and young, 
instead of a benedict, with ‘‘ wrinkled brow and frosty pow,” there is 
no knowing what a romantic story I might have been the subject of ; 
for, given a lady, rescuing her beloved Skye from the grasp of a New- 
foundland dog, and consenting in so doing to have the joint of her finger 
bitten off, and one hastening to the rescue, running off for the doctor 
(who was a good hand at dressing a finger without a top, as in top- 
dressing an Auricula); and what a pretty story might not be built upon 
