TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A CATALOGUE OF THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF CACTEÆ
IN THE GARDENS AT WOBURN ABBEY.
BY JAMES FORBES, A.L.S.,
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
AUTHOR OF "HORTUS WOBURNENSIS," ETC.
LONDON:
JAMES RIDGWAY AND SONS, PICCADILLY.
1837.
CHELSEA:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLATCH, 23, EXETER STREET,
SLOANE STREET.
TO
M. OTTO,
DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, BERLIN,
THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
AS A SLIGHT
TESTIMONY OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS KINDNESS,
AND AS A
TRIBUTE TO HIS INDEFATIGABLE ZEAL
IN THE
PROMOTION OF BOTANICAL SCIENCE,
BY HIS OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT,
JAMES FORBES.
The continental gardens and botanical collections having been rarelyvisited by the British gardener, his Grace the Duke of Bedford, with hisusual anxiety for the promotion of useful knowledge, very liberally andkindly proposed in the autumn of 1835 that I should undertake aHorticultural Tour, through several parts of Germany, Belgium, andFrance, with a view of inspecting the different collections andproductions cultivated in some of the most celebrated horticulturalestablishments in these countries.
The notes which are now submitted to the public contain a cursory detailof the various gardens and objects that came under my observationduring a tour occupying a space of eight weeks,—a period of time whichthe reader will readily understand required the utmost diligence on mypart to fulfil the objects I had in view. Yet I was enabled toinvestigate such modes of culture as were adopted in the principalgardens, where the produce appeared in any way superior to our own; tobecome thoroughly acquainted with the different systems practised atvarious seasons of the year would have required an actual residence ofmany months.
In the mode of forcing fruits and management of the kitchen gardendepartment, the English gardener will find but little abroad superior towhat he is daily accustomed to see at home. It must however be observedthat the zeal and anxiety displayed throughout Germany in thecultivation and increase of their collections of plants are in no wayinferior to our own. In fact, in succulent plants they far surpass us;more particularly in their collections of Cacteæ, which appeared to be afavourite tribe in the principal establishments on the continent. Theyare certainly deserving of a more extensive cultivation in this countrythan they have hitherto obtained. Their various shapes, numerous spines,angles, and the splendid flowers of many of the species, form aninteresting and pleasing addition to our botanical establishments; andof all plants requiring the protection of the greenhouse and artificialheat, the Cacteæ may be cultivated at the least expense, and exact lessattendance than is generally requisite for hothouse plants. The Palmæare also extensively cultivated throughout the continent, andnotwithstanding many of them are planted in gloomy