Part 4
I was much pleased by the simple mode of grafting the _Camellia_ and orange trees, which appeared to be very successful, and is generally practised by M. Liebig the gardener, which method is what we term in this country crown grafting; by this mode the shoot or graft, after insertion in the stock, is only tied neatly to the stock, with a bit of worsted thread, and then sealed over as well as the top of the stock, by a little bees-wax, (without clay as practised here); when this operation is completed, the plants are put into a frame or pit, with a little moist heat, until the graft and stock begin to coalesce, when they are shortly afterwards gradually exposed to the air of the greenhouse. In this establishment there are several very good hothouses for plants. In one of the ranges is placed a circular shaped conservatory, heated by hot water, on rather a novel construction; these hot water pipes being formed into perpendicular columns, rising from the floor to the height of from ten to twelve feet. These pipes, thus constructed, gave out a great command of heat, and answered the original intention very satisfactorily. The plants in this nursery garden were very well grown, and all in a healthy state.
I next visited the nursery of M. Hofrath Kreyssig, which is only a short distance from the Botanic garden. I saw likewise some good kinds of greenhouse plants, as well as many rare species of the Rhododendron tribe; the _Rhododendron campanulatum_, a fine specimen; a collection of orchideous plants is also forming in this nursery garden. There are several small hothouses for the growth of Cape and tropical plants, which are also cultivated for sale; but the space of ground is much too limited, as well as confined by houses to do justice to a collection of hardy species. After visiting these gardens and grounds, I took my leave of Mr. West, to whom I was much indebted for the kind interest he took in the object I had in view, and who appears devotedly attached to plants and gardening. Professor Hughes having recommended me to see the chateau erected on the banks of the Elbe by the late Lord Findlater, an English nobleman, I expected to have found some fine gardens, or collection of plants, but, to my surprise, on my arrival, I found it now occupied as a tea garden; it is much frequented by the inhabitants of Dresden, in consequence of its romantic situation on the banks of the Elbe, commanding a prospect of the country, studded with small villages situated in the valleys between the hills, or rather eminences; but these are not to be compared with our Scotch mountains. Along the Elbe is a great extent of vineyard, which did not appear to be in a very prolific state, the soil being of a poor sandy texture. Many pretty villas were also situated along these banks, which had very pleasant prospects from them.
September 2nd. Having agreed to meet Mr. Lehman early this morning, we proceeded to the Catholic church, which belongs to the court, and is certainly a magnificent building, the interior richly ornamented, and well worth the stranger's notice; we next visited the Protestant church, which is likewise a splendid erection. The museum and post office are also very magnificent buildings. I was however surprised at the appearance of the royal palace, which consists of a dark gloomy looking old fashioned residence, and with little in its exterior appearance, calculated to give a stranger the idea of its being the seat of royalty. Through the assistance of Mr. Lehman, who procured tickets of admittance to the gallery of paintings, I was favoured with a sight of this celebrated collection, which is considered to be amongst the finest in Europe, and is said to contain one thousand five hundred pictures; among so many there are undoubtedly some very splendid ones. On our return from the gallery, we passed through his majesty's coach-house, which must at least have contained no less than sixty different carriages; a very splendid one lately presented to the king by Prince Metternich, was pointed out to us. From hence we proceeded to the museum or repository of minerals, birds and animals. The collection of the feathered tribe in this establishment is particularly extensive; some very large blocks of petrified wood, that were much prized, were pointed out as remarkable curiosities. In one of the departments was a table four feet in diameter, of a solitary piece of wood of the _Tamarindus indicus_, (tamarind tree.) In front of the building various orange trees are arranged along the edge of the walks. What is called _Bruehl's_ garden is also deserving of notice; it forms a public promenade for the inhabitants, and is pleasantly situated, containing a picture gallery, which is denominated the gallery of duplicates.
Dresden is said to contain about 80,000 inhabitants, and is much admired for its fine houses and streets. It is considered by many as one of the finest towns in Europe; but I must confess that in my opinion it is inferior to either Berlin, Munich, or Brussels. It is situated on a flat spot of ground with the river Elbe running through it; the bridge over which is said to be 1450 feet long. The Arsenal is a large building, but I had no time to see it, as the diligence left this day at twelve o'clock for Munich, and as these conveyances only go twice or three times a week at most from the principal towns throughout Germany, the losing of an hour to see an object might detain one for two or three days. Having taken my leave of Mr. Lehman, I seated myself in the diligence for Munich, a journey which occupied us three days and three nights. The road winds along the river side from Dresden to the first stage on our way to Munich, and is very beautiful, the scenery much diversified, and resembling that of some of our Scotch mountains; the plantations of forest trees comprise a mixture of silver fir, beech and Scotch-fir. The hill and dale that continued for a considerable way along this line of road rendered the scenery very interesting and picturesque, and which appeared so to continue until it became quite dark, when all view of the country was lost.
We passed through Freyberg, a small town situated on the river Mulde, and is said to be 1179 feet above the level of the sea. The next town or village that we came to was Chimnitz, where we stopped for supper.
September 3rd. Arrived at one o'clock in the morning at Zwickau, at which town the road from Leipsic joins the one from Dresden, where the diligences from both towns meet, and the passengers are transferred from the Leipsic diligence to the one from Dresden. Whilst waiting for the vehicle getting ready to start, I was agreeably surprised to find Mr. Parker, seated at the same inn; he had arrived from Leipsic by that diligence: when we parted at Berlin we had no expectation of again meeting each other so soon.
One of my fellow travellers from Dresden was a Frenchman, but he was evidently as awkwardly situated whilst travelling for want of a knowledge of the German language as I was myself; consequently we both kept Mr. Parker pretty busy in acting as an intermediate interpreter whilst we were together.
The scenery about Zwickau is beautifully varied with hill and dale, and woods, with a small river called the Mulde running along by the bottom of the rocks. The houses are neatly built, and of considerable number, containing a population of from seven to eight thousand. The roads in the vicinity of this town are rather mountainous, but not so much so as in the preceding stages. The next small village that we passed through was Plauen, where we arrived about seven o'clock in the morning: it is said to contain about 700 inhabitants.
We next proceeded to Hof, where we arrived at ten o'clock, changed diligences, and had to stop for several hours before we could again get on our journey. On entering this town we passed by a large tea garden, situated on the side of a hill, at the bottom of which is a small river, that tends greatly to enliven the scenery. The town of Hof is in the kingdom of Bavaria, and the population is said to amount to 6,000, living in handsomely built houses. The main street that leads through it I should imagine is nearly a mile in length, and very wide; there appeared to be a fair in the town on this day, which occupied a great part of this street.
The cathedral is an ancient building; the entrance consists of a handsome Gothic door, the walls of which must be about eighteen feet in thickness. The town-hall is likewise a fine erection, and the houses and streets appeared all in clean and neat order.
From Dresden to Hof the country productions principally consist of agricultural produce; the potatoe and oats are extensively cultivated. A sharp frost this morning blackened all the potatoe tops.
At one o'clock we got into a Bavarian diligence, and proceeded to Berneck, a small town surrounded with beautiful scenery, that much reminded me of the Derbyshire rocks, to which in picturesque appearance it was fully equal.
Arrived next at Bayreuth, at eight o'clock in the evening; it is a town of considerable size, said to contain 10,000 inhabitants. On the diligence driving up to the inn door we found the space in front of it completely covered with a military band, and a large concourse of people listening to their music; this band belonged to a cavalry regiment that was on its march through the town. We next started for Nuremberg, where we arrived at half-past eight o'clock the following morning.
September 4th. On our arrival at Nuremberg, we found that we had to remain here for several hours before the diligence started again: we made the best use of our time, proceeding to St. Laurence's Church, a Gothic building, the doors and windows richly ornamented with groups of sculpture and other carved work in bronze; the painted glass is very handsomely executed. This church was begun in 1254 and is a most magnificent building. The tabernacle consists of a beautifully carved and richly ornamented spire, executed in 1496 of carved stonework. Although it has been converted into a Protestant church, yet the Catholic ornaments are still remaining. We next proceeded to view the Catholic church, which is likewise a very splendid Gothic building, erected in 1355, and the exterior walls richly ornamented. In the Market place, we were much gratified with a very pretty spiral fountain, richly carved, erected in 1356. The town-house is also a very fine old structure, containing many good paintings in the large and small hall. The fresco paintings in the latter apartment are beautifully executed on the ceilings and walls, which are also highly ornamented by gilt mouldings. The paintings in the great hall consist of various pieces of fresco, by the celebrated Albert Durer. The triumphal car of the emperor Maximilian, drawn by twelve horses, in beautiful fresco painting, and a very fair picture of the present king of Bavaria, by Byng of Munich, is also to be seen here.
From hence we went to the cathedral, in which is St. Sebald's Tomb, highly deserving of the stranger's notice. This church contains the oldest metal font in Germany; it was formerly used in baptising the emperor's children. The saint's tomb, by Fisher, is a masterpiece of workmanship, executed in 1508; there is also a curious figure of the artist himself. The tomb is a pretty Gothic structure, cast in bronze, and the body of the saint enclosed in a silver coffin, under an elegant Gothic canopy. We next proceeded to the picture gallery, which contains a good collection of paintings by German artists, in good preservation. From hence we went to the imperial castle, where there is growing a Lime tree, _Tilia europæa_, said to be seven hundred years old. I measured the girth of this tree, at four feet from the ground, and found it to be fifteen feet in circumference; it still appeared in a pretty healthy state.
The dining room in this ancient castle, formerly used by the king, is of large dimensions, and contains a large number of old paintings, which are in good preservation; the rooms although uninhabited for the last four hundred years are still in good condition. From the windows in this castle we have a beautiful prospect of the town as well as of a considerable extent of country. On our return from hence we visited the house in which Albert Durer resided, which is now converted into a gallery for modern paintings, exhibited for sale, many of which appeared to be most beautiful pieces of art, and objects of great interest to numerous visitors who were then present admiring them. By this time it was drawing near the hour we had to start by the diligence. We made the best of our way back to the hotel, and got all ready by one o'clock, the appointed hour of our departure from Nuremberg, which is a town of considerable size, containing a population of upwards of thirty thousand people.
In the environs are large tracts of ground under vegetable culture, but I was unable to learn of the existence of any botanic garden or good nursery establishment in the immediate neighbourhood. Large fields of tobacco were cultivated in the suburbs, as well as extensive plantations of the _Hop_, which appeared very prolific. The soil we passed from Nuremberg to Munich was more sandy than it previously had been; the scenery is also more flat and less varied than in our preceding stages.
Sept. 5. Arrived at Pfaffenhofen, at six o'clock in the morning. Near to this town large quantities of the _Genista germanica_, were growing close by the road-side, also the _Dipsacus laciniatus_, in great abundance. Approaching nearer to Munich, I observed growing in a plantation the _Vaccinium Vitis Idæa_, in great plenty, reminding me, from its occurrence, of the mountains of Scotland. The scenery in the vicinity of Munich, is of a great sameness, but the Tyrolese mountains appearing in the distance considerably add to its picturesque effect. We reached Munich at eleven o'clock, where we found some difficulty in getting apartments, the hotels being then so full of strangers.
In the afternoon I was accompanied by Mr. Parker to the Botanic garden, which is situated close to the town, having a very handsome entrance with Ionic columns, and neat iron railing, which encloses a large part of this garden. The _Arboretum_ of trees and shrubs is confined to the two ends of the garden, it being an oblong square, but the south side is much the longest. The space of ground is very confined for the growth of large trees; the entire space devoted for this purpose is not an acre of ground, consequently the different sorts are much crowded together.
The interior of the garden, in front of the range of hot-houses, is laid out in numerous oblong squares, with gravel walks intervening; in the centre walk are three round basins of water. These squares are again divided into beds for the herbaceous plants, wherein a good collection are cultivated. In one of the divisions there is an _aquarium_ for aquatic plants, which consists of oblong square troughs, lined with brickwork for retaining the water; these are about two feet wide by two deep, and an intervening space of ground, of from six to eight feet, in which are grown such species as do not require the water: but a damp situation, notwithstanding, is requisite: In the apartments where the hardy perennial plants are cultivated, are numerous apple trees, all in full bearing; these ought to be eradicated and their places supplied with ornamental trees or shrubs. Apple-trees, however useful, are not in character with a botanical collection; more especially as the apple is so common by the road sides through Germany; a collection of this fruit should find a place elsewhere than in the botanic garden, where the space of ground is already much too limited for the collection of plants. A lofty range of hothouses about five hundred feet in length, has a very good effect; they are only furnished with upright sashes in the front, the back and roof opaque, the latter finished in the semi-cove form, and neatly plastered. I was surprised to find the Palms looking remarkably healthy, notwithstanding these dark houses, many of the species had really grown from twenty to twenty five feet in height.
The collection of the Brazilian species is very numerous, but many of them appeared drawn and too much crowded for want of light and room in the pits. The Cape and New Holland kinds were then out of doors, very healthy and well grown. I was much pleased also with some very fine specimens of _Cacteæ_, the variety of which is reckoned but little inferior to that of Berlin. In short, there is an extensive assortment of the various species of _Succulentæ_ in this establishment. The director, M. Seitz, having been long a collector, has succeeded in forming a great variety of this curious tribe; he was extremely liberal in parting with any of his duplicates.
Sept. 6th. M. Seitz having the kindness to accompany us to the Royal gardens at Nymphenburg, which are situated about four English miles from Munich; we proceeded thither immediately after breakfast, and found that these grounds required no little time to make even a hasty inspection.
The French garden in front of the palace consists of straight and broad gravel walks, with long stripes of grass lawn, and borders about twelve feet wide of shrubs running parallel to the avenues of horse-chesnut trees. Along the edges of the walks various vases and other ornamental sculpture are arranged; leading from these walks, a straight piece of water, more in the form of a canal, than an ornamental lake, runs parallel in two different directions; the one parallel to the palace, is crossed by two wooden bridges, which are prominent features from several points of view. The centre, or main canal, leads in a straight direction for a considerable distance, and is broken by several very pretty cascades, and handsome marble basins, as well as different groups or figures of sculpture. The water comes rushing over the marble ledges with great force, and was certainly the brightest and purest that I had ever previously seen. There are also some very fine jets in which the water is propelled to a great height by machinery. A well formed lake nearly adjoins the bathing house, said to occupy about fifty Bavarian acres of ground, the outline of which is much varied with different projections of land, islands, and the banks of turf tastefully planted with trees and shrubs, forms a very pleasing contrast. A curious bark is placed on this sheet of water, consisting of two small boats, with a platform, on which is placed a chair, so that a person may sit and read, or fish, and at the same time guide this boat by his feet, that are resting generally on the paddles.
Close by the margin of this lake, is a very pretty circular temple, with a figure of Apollo, that forms a prominent object from several points of view. A small cascade passing under a ledge of rockwork, on the top of which is placed a marble figure of Pan, and a goat at his feet, forms another object of interest in this part.
The grounds from the south west of the bathing house, (or Pavilion, which is ornamented by paintings and statues) have been lately much improved, and are now considerably varied with different clumps of trees and shrubs, undulations and rockwork. The surface is naturally a flat, but art has, during the last three years, created great inequalities and alterations in this part of the grounds; the banks and undulations are very judiciously formed, the trees and shrubs tastefully grouped together; the walks and rides are of great extent, and very neatly kept and gravelled.
The range of plant houses at Nymphenburg is the most extensive and substantially built of any that I had previously seen in Germany, about one thousand feet in length, and varying from twenty to twenty four feet in width, the height not exceeding twenty-eight feet. I was here surprised to find that the hothouse in which a fine collection of _Palmæ_, and other Brazilian plants were grown, was heated by very small hot water pipes, which I imagined were far too small to sustain the temperature of such a house, although the back and roof are opaque, and of course require considerably less artificial heat than if constructed with glass on all sides. The boiler that heats this house is about seven feet long, three deep, and three feet six inches wide, and consequently contains a large body of water, when once heated it gives out a great portion of caloric from its sides and surface, being placed at the back of the house, but in the interior, and concealed by the plants. The pipes branch right and left from the boiler and appeared to be only two inches in diameter, yet, I was informed, they were found quite sufficient for the heating of this conservatory. Undoubtedly the boiler being so very large rendered pipes of greater dimensions unnecessary. The frost is, however, much more intense in Germany than in England; the _Lauristinus_, _Arbutus_, _Rhododendrons_, _Portugal_ and _Common Laurel_, were cultivated at Nymphenburg as green-house plants; they are too tender to endure the winters there.
In front of this botanical range, or more directly opposite to the palm house, is an arboretum of hardy trees and shrubs, but the site, for that purpose, is badly chosen, and by far too contracted, and should have been selected in the pleasure ground, at some distance from these houses, where there is ample space, and would have formed an interesting feature. As at present the more common kinds of trees and underwood are the only hardy species of decoration in many parts of the ground. Opposite to the east end of the range of plant houses is an oblong piece of ground, laid out in narrow beds by the edge of the walks, which are occupied with a collection of dahlias, and other herbaceous flowering plants.
On our return from this botanical range we visited a small private garden, close by the palace, which has also a very pretty cascade at its extremity, and ornamented by sculpture.
The palace of Nymphenburg forms almost a semicircle of a large radius on the Munich side, or principal front, but that facing the gardens is more of an oblong square, and in consequence of the numerous roofs appearing from the semicircular front, that are disconnected and of various elevation from the main building, it has more the appearance of a number of small villas, than of a royal residence, particularly as we approach it from Munich, by the side of the straight canal that leads to the principal entrance. Nearly opposite the centre of the palace on this side is a circuitous basin of water with a fountain in the centre and rockwork around it. This water is conveyed into the gardens, and must be of great extent from the appearance of the course it was running, which leads a considerable way towards Munich. After our return from Nymphenburg gardens, we proceeded to the English garden, which is said to contain about five hundred English acres of ground, and is a favorite promenade for the inhabitants of Munich. This park, or pleasure ground, is rather of a flat surface, but much diversified by clumps of various trees and shrubs, and fine sheets of water, the margins of which are much varied, but unfortunately full of weeds. The drives and walks that lead through these grounds in different directions are very extensive, some of them being nearly five miles in length. The grounds adjacent to the queen's palace are very well kept, and deserving of notice; but a piece of water in view from it is very filthy, which is the more extraordinary, as it might be easily kept clean by turning into it a branch of the river that runs through these grounds.