about a mile from the garden, and from two draw-wells situated at its western extremity. Each division is subdivided by walks a foot and a half broad into two hundred and eighty beds, two feet square, and half a foot deep, in each of which only one species of plant is cultivated. These divisions are enclosed by fences formed of common rose-trees (rosa gallica, Lin.); and between these and the beds there is a broad walk, with a border about three feet wide, in which different ornamental plants, inost of them liliaceous, are symmetrically arranged at equal distances, in masses. There is externally, between the said fences of rose-trees and the walks of the garden, a border or platband about four feet broad, bounded on the outside by an edge of myrtle or box, about ten inches high, where large umbrageous trees, generally exotics, are planted, about eighteen feet distant from each other, the shade of which preserves in summer the plants of the school from the excessive heat of the sun, and without which they would inevitably perish. The spaces left between tree and tree are occupied by shrubs or dwarf-trees, which may be pruned; as the yew-tree, Viburnum tinus, Prunus laurocerasus, Rosmarinus officinalis, Ruscus aculeatus, &c.; or by those naturally of a fine shape, as the Robinia hispida and umbraculifera, Medicago arborea, Cytisus austriacus and laburnum, Spartium junceum, &c.; and by various herbaceous plants of ornament, such as iris, wall-flowers, columbines, different kinds of candy-tuft or rock-cress, dahlias, pæonies, common day-lily, and yellow day-lily, ranunculus, anemones, upright larkspurs, a great many varieties of common gillyflowers, speedwells, primroses, sun-flowers, star-worts, wild marygolds, and various others. The trunks of some robust trees are clothed with creeping shrubs, as ivy, virgin's bower, virginian silk-tree, trumpet-flower, Coccoloba sagittifolia, which flowers and fruits there in the open air; two kinds of sarsaparilla, Menispermum canadense, and some others. The divisions of the two plots appropriated to perennial and biennial plants of the practical school are divided into twelve parts, each containing twenty-four beds, disposed as we have already mentioned, and may hold about eight thousand species, a number which will not easily be collected there, considering the climate of Madrid, which is excessively cold in winter, and very hot in summer. It was projected that each bed should have an iron ticket, with the number of the bed, and the systematic name of the plant it contained, in Spanish; but this plan could not be carried into execution, owing principally to the want of funds. Consequently we were obliged to confine our tickets

to the spot where each class, order, and genus began, that the number of the beds might not be lost, and might correspond with that of the systematic catalogue in manuscript, of which there are two copies. This catalogue was written by the author of this sketch in 1815, having before him the printed catalogues of the best gardens of Europe; and is arranged according to the sexual system, suppressing, however, the following classes - dodecandria, monoecia, dioecia, and polygamia.

The upper plot is appropriated principally to the cultivation of ornamental plants, and its walks to the reception during the summer of those plants which, from the middle of October to the middle of April or beginning of May, require to be kept in the green-houses. In consequence of this, though it is also divided into four quarters, the divisions are more numerous, and therefore smaller, and their interior division is changed, at least, once every two years, forming various figures in them, some regular, and others irregular. The transverse walks are considerably less wide than those of the two lower plots, and are all planted with umbrageous trees and fruit-trees alternately, whose shade in summer protects the flower-pots which are placed in the walks. These divisions are enclosed by fences made of rose-trees of various descriptions; as cabbage rose, red China rose, white rose, and others; while the circular plots of the crossings are crowned with a border in the manner of a garland, formed either of lavender, thyme, cat's thyme, sage, savory, sea-thrift, woolly-leaved mouse-ear, or others, and have in the centre a tree remarkable either for its handsome top or for its flowers. At each of their extremities there is a small wood planted irregularly, in the English fashion; and at the upper side of the division are side of the division are two green-houses, 170 feet long by 30 wide, running from north to south, and presenting a handsome vista when seen from the promenade of the Prado. They are joined by the portico which we have said terminates the principal walk, and by two small parterres, situated between the extremities of each, and a vine bower. Each parterre has a little fountain, which furnishes water for all the squares in its side. The flower-pots are watered with watering-pots made of tin, which are filled at a beautiful fountain occupying the centre of a circular plot, which is almost in the middle of the large one, and at the junction of the four principal walks. In each of these two plots there are four stone seats, placed under the shade of the tufted trees which surround them, and which invite to repose those visitors who in the morning and evening of spring

and summer are attracted thither through pleasure or curiosity.

At

All round the part of the garden which we have just been describing there is a walk, twenty-five feet broad, most of which, in summer, is shaded by the trees planted along the borders; the whole of the upper plot is embowered by a beautiful trellis, supported with iron arches, and formed by about twenty different varieties of vines. the western extremity of this plot there is a green-house, facing the south, which contains about 4500 flowerpots. It is the best, or at least in better condition than the rest, in that establishment. A sloping bank, planted with resinous trees, among which there is the cedar of Lebanon, separates it to the south from the other part of the garden, of which we shall presently treat; and between the trelliswork and the wall that separates it from the Buen-Retiro, to the east, rises in the centre a building, in which there is a hall for delivering lectures, a seed-room, and another apartment, similar to the latter, which was formerly used as a library. On the left there is a very handsome basin, constructed in 1802, and another much older and half ruined, as well as one of the draw-wells above mentioned; and on the right another old basin, also in very bad condition, and a plot in which they prepare the different soils.

Near the principal gate, at the western extremity of the garden, is the other draw-well, and a house which was formerly inhabited by the chief gardener, and which now contains all the implements belonging to the botanical expedition of Santa Fé de Bogota.

In 1802, a stove was constructed for the plants of tropical countries; but during the war of independence it was so much neglected, that, in 1814, it was useless, and has never since been repaired. In the same year, 1802, one of the two green-houses situated at the eastern extremity, and facing the west, was fitted up as a library and herbarium; but both this building and its corresponding one were some years ago declared by the architect in a ruinous condition, and, notwithstanding the repeated applications to government for their re-construction, they continue threatening to bury beneath their ruins every thing which they

contain.

The part which we have hitherto described is what principally constitutes the botanical garden of Madrid; it is much resorted to, and forms one of the most delightful spots of the capital and its environs. Its broad and straight walks, into

most of which the rays of the sun can hardly penetrate; its situation on a gentle slope, which permits the whole to be seen at a glance; the great variety of trees, shrubs, and plants with which its walks are lined, each bearing a ticket in Spanish with its systematic name; the creeping plants which twine round many of the trees; the multitude of flowers which in the spring display their brilliant hues, and fill the air with their aromatic perfumes; the gentle murmur of the waters that run through the trenches, or are poured forth by the fountains; - all these, united to the harmonious songs of a variety of singing-birds, which have fixed their abode in the thickets, give to the botanical garden of Madrid a decided superiority over the other pleasure-grounds of that city, where the climate during the summer is excessively hot.

The garden is open to the public from the last day of the month of May to the last day of October, and from half-past four in the afternoon till dusk. All persons decently dressed are admitted, and it is very much frequented by the higher classes, and the royal family. In the morning, those only are admitted who are well known, and those who have a ticket of admission from one of the professors. The foreign ambassadors may go in with their families at any hour they please, and at all seasons, as well as any traveller who arrives at the capital, and who, if he be himself a professor or an amateur, is attended in his visit by one of the professors of the establishment, who presents him with a specimen of every living plant he may wish for, and, in case of the professor's absence, he is attended by one of the most intelligent gardeners. The students who choose to repair there are admitted at all hours.

The other smaller division of the garden, of which mention has been made, is situated to the south-east, and may also be divided into upper and lower parts. The latter is a prolongation of the inferior plot, extending over four or five fanegadas of ground, and separated from the rest of the garden by a fence formed of the common shrubs, hare's-ear, white-thorn, common privet, syringa, and common lilac. Two thirds of it form a single division, which is irregularly divided into smaller ones by means of winding walks, in the style of those in the English gardens. It is used also for rearing fruit trees, and as a depôt for the residue of plants which serve for the demonstrations, and for the medicinal herbs, which are given gratis to the public. The remaining third part, on which formerly stood the lecturing-hall, is used now as a kitchen-garden, in which are cultivated in small portions various kinds of vegetables, such

as lettuces, cauliflowers, French beans, potatoes, onions, love-apples, egg-plants, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, asparagus, &c. and some fruit-trees. This department is terminated by a yard, in which manure is collected, and where there is a house inhabited by the contractor, who furnishes the manure required for the garden, and who draws the water from the draw-wells.

The upper part, which is bounded by the Buen Retiro, and with which it communicates by a gate, forms a small acclivity, from which a great part of the city and its environs are seen. Its most elevated point, which cannot be watered, is planted with about thirty different varieties of vine, which are in bad condition. On the southern slope of this acclivity, which may be watered, there is about half a fanegada of ground used for the cultivation of different varieties of strawberries, gardenhyacinths, narcissus, and tulips, and of some shrubs for forming fences; about two fanegadas and a half are employed for rearing in small quantities the cerealia, and another portion, about a fanegada, for the cultivation of the Arundo donax, whose reeds are used in various ways in the garden. Lastly, another fanegada is employed as a nursery for trees affording shade, and for some different varieties of olive-trees, and other fruit trees which are cultivated in the Peninsula. A walk some twelve feet broad surrounds this part of the garden, and has on both sides, in that part where the vineyard is, a palisade, which is covered over by various varieties of vines cultivated for the table; and with respect to the kitchen-garden, it has on its borders fruit trees, with gooseberry-trees between.

are

The seeds of all plants, with the exception of the cerealia, and of some trees and shrubs of Europe and North America, sown in flower-pots, and in the open air, towards the end of January or beginning of February, and this continues till April, and sometimes till May, and even June. Generally the seeds gathered in the garden itself are the first that are sown, beginning with those families which can best endure the severity of the season. From the year 1816, the umbelliferous plants, cisteæ, gramineæ, perennials, and several others that will live in the open air, have been sown in autumn; it being observed that their germination was more certain than if they were sown in the spring, and that annual umbelliferous plants so managed grow and fruit much better, the generality of those sown in spring being destroyed by the first heats, without permitting their fruit to ripen, and frequently even before they were in