Last summer (July, 1885) when I visited Chicago and St. Louis, I spent much time in looking through the parks and private plant-collections of these cities. The most attractive park of Chicago is Lincoln Park on the north side of the city, with its highly picturesque landscape views, under superintendence of Mr. H. J. DeVry, an eminent German landscape gardener. Nothing can be more impressive than the gigantic flower beds in front of the greenhouses. There beautiful specimens of carpet gardening maybe seen. The air was filled with the fragrance of Iberis, Cheiran-thus, Heliotrope, Mignonette and Sweet Alyssum. Interesting were also the sub-tropical beds. I have seen many greenhouses, but none so interesting, so attractive and clean, everything so tastefully arranged, as the Lincoln Park houses in charge of Mr. Albert Dorl. Beautiful specimens! were there of Cordyline indivisa, Dracaena ferrea, D. rubra, D. Brasiliensis, D. Haageana, D. con-gesta, Crotons, Achimenes, Gloxinias, Peperomias and Ruellias. Especially interesting were the large plants of Alocasia odorata, A. violacea, An-thurium magnificum, Philodendron pertusum, Spathiphyllum cannaefolium and other foliage plants. The sweet odor of Peperomia resedaeflora filled the whole house. And now let us enter the palm house.

There is no large collection to be looked at, but very beautiful specimens are to be seen, and every plant is labeled by Mr. Dorl in such a way that the visitor can plainly read the name. I have never before seen such nice specimens of Seaforthia elegans and tree ferns, such as Alsophila Australis and Blechnum Brasiliensis. There the plant lover can see fine plants of such palms as Livistona sinensis, Chamaerops excelsa, Corypha Australis and many others. Strong plants of Strelitzias, Marantas, Bananas, Ficus imperialis F. Alphzelli, Cycas revoluta, Curculigo recurvata, Elletaria cardamomum, Pimenta aromatica, Aralia leptophylla, Imatophyllum miniatum (the last in flower) may be seen. In this house is also a good though not extensive collection of orchids, mostly growing on blocks of wood hanging down from the roof. I observed Phajus grandiflorus, Oncidium al-tissimum, Lycaste aromatica, Epidendrum aromati-cum, - last three in flower - Peristeria elata, and a few others not named. Such a beautiful plant-house which has so many attractions, and in which everything is so tastefully arranged, with the immense flower beds in front of it, must awake a taste for flowers and ornamental gardening in due time.

On the northwest side of Chicago, we find Humboldt Park, with its still lovelier landscape scenes. The soil is here black and productive, contrary to the pure sand of Lincoln Park. Trees and shrubs look here much healthier. The greenhouse, though crowded with many interesting plants, is too small. A new and large one is already built. Mr. G. Rahfs is superintendent, and he is assisted by an eminent landscape gardener, Mr. Karnatz. In the greenhouse of this park I have seen a huge specimen of Philodendron pertusum; also Fourcroya interrupta, Dasylirion acotrichum, and different kinds of Agaves and Cacti. On the west side of the city is situated Garfield Park, then comes Douglas Park, and on the south side the most frequented South Park. All these parks are highly interesting and every one has its special attractions.

Mr. Dorl, the gardener of the Lincoln Park greenhouses, told me: "If you like to see rare plants, go to Mr. G. Wittbold, Lake View," And so I did. One fine morning I started. I was in a great degree surprised when I looked this collection over and over again. I have never seen before such a variety of Aechmeas, Bilbergias, Til-landsias and many other Bromeliads as here. There the plant lover can also find a collection of rare Dracaenas, Yuccas, Agaves, Cacti, Fourcro-yas, Dasylirions and other plants. The collection of orchids, though not large, is very interesting. A large mass of Sobralia macrantha, a very charming terrestrial orchid, attracted my attention especially. The large flowers were of a beautiful rosy-violet color. Among flowering kinds I noticed Lycaste aromatica, Saccolabium ampulla-ceum, Dendrobium chrysotaxum, D. Parishii, Odontoglossum Alexandrae, Oncidium (?), Bras-sevola (not labeled), Cymbidium aloifolium and others. Beautiful specimens of Araucaria Bidwilli, Aucuba japonica, Raphiolepis ovata, Murraya exotica, Pittosporum floribundum, many Palms, Anthuriums, Marantas, Ferns, Caladiums, Philo-dendrons are to be found here. Mr. Wittbold, although a plant dealer, publishes no catalogues.

In the first place he is an enthusiastic plant lover, and many of his rare plants are presented by him to the public parks.

I intended to visit the celebrated orchid collection of Mr. Chadwick and the collection of Cacti of Mr. Schmidt, but I had not the time. Flowers and bedding plants seem to grow much easier and much more vigorous in the soil of northern Illinois than they do in and around St. Louis. In Oak Park, Austin, River Forest, River Side, and other beautiful suburbs of Chicago, one may see fine private gardens with lawns and flower-beds, ornamental shrubbery and fine street and lawn trees.

But St. Louis calls something her own that cannot be found in Chicago or elsewhere on this continent, namely, the widely known "Botanical Garden," better known as "Shaw's Garden." I am unable to describe this garden and its plant-houses justly. Hoping that some one else, better posted in the English language than myself, will describe the riches and attractions of this garden, I will only mention a few of the more interesting plants. On the right hand of the main entrance I noticed a beautiful red flowering magnolia (not labeled), and on the grounds many vigorous specimens of Magnolia glauca, large trees of Magnolia acuminata and M. umbrella. Magnolia glauca, with its pretty leaves and highly fragrant flowers, should be grown more extensively in our gardens. It is especially adapted for small gardens, and looks very well in back of Rhododendrons and Azalea beds, and as single specimens. In a small tank the magnificent Nelumbium speci-osum flowered. There were other aquatics (Nym-phaeas) in flower, but they were not labeled. Very interesting is the large collection of Cacti planted out on a wall fronting to the south, and the very extensive collections of Agaves, Aloes, Yuccas, Fourcroyas, Dasylirions and other succulents.

In the houses I noticed very fine specimens of Anthuriums, Philodendrons, Ferns and Raven-alia Madagascariensis (Traveler's Tree of Madagascar), with large banana-like leaves. A very large collection of Crotons was planted out in the open air, also many palms, Clerodendrons, Dracaenas and hundreds of other shrubs and plants. There were also good plants of Imatophyllum nobile in the greenhouse, the only species I saw. Shaw's Garden is worth traveling far to see its treasures, and it can not be done in a few hours; it takes days and even weeks to see all.

Mr. Brown, 1301 Lami street, has a very large collection of rare plants, especially palms. His palm-house contains about 120 different kinds of palms. There is a Caryota urens about 30 feet high, Cocos Romanzoffianus 20 feet high, Licuala grandis, probably the best specimen in the United States, Elaeis guinensis, a pretty large Cocos nucifera raised by Mr. Brown himself, Ceroxylon niveum, Verschaffeltia splendida, an extremely beautiful palm, and many small plants of rare species too numerous to mention. Philodendron pertusum (Monstera deliciosa), Ph. bipinnati-fidum, Ph. pinnatum, Anthurium Andreanum, and A. Scherzerianum, just going out of flower, A. crys-tallinum, A. grande, Maranta Porteana, Dieffen-bachia Leopoldii, Dracaena fragrans, D. Gold-ieana, D. Lindeni and other not common plants could be seen here in fine specimens. I noticed also a very fine Pandanus ornatus, and Cyano phyllum magnificum, a grand and beautiful foliage plant. The collection of orchids contains about 75 different varieties. A Bambusa arun-dinacea in the palm-house was about 40 feet high and extremely beautiful in appearance. There were some fine plants of Zamia, Macrozamia and tree ferns.

Among the last I observed the very rare Cibotium Chamissoi, and among the commoner of the family several species of Al-sophila, Dicksonia, Lomaria and Blechnum Brasi-liense. The interesting Birds' Nest Fern, (Neo-topteris Australasica) was also there. I think Mr. Brown has probably the largest collection of Nepenthes in this country. They find their place in the hot-house, a structure of their own. As the collection is very large I will only mention a few varieties, which attracted my attention more than others: Nepenthes Mastersiana, N. am-pullaria vittata, N. rubra, N. Meehaniana, N. Veitchii, N. atrosanguinea, N. coccinea, N. bical-carata. The temperature in this house in which also some ferns, anthuriums, etc., grew, was very high and the air humid and moist. Mr. Brown's out-door grounds can only be termed sub-tropical. The garden was decorated with fine specimens of Pandanus utilis, Fourcroya gigantea, huge J Agaves, Latania Borbonica, Areca rubra, Sea- | forthia elegans, Corypha Australis and Phoenix dactylifera.

A large and very fine collection of | Crotons was planted around a large Cycas revoluta, supposed to be the largest specimen in the United States. (See July number, 1885, of the Gardeners' Monthly, page 223.) Its measures are as follows : Height with tub 12 feet; the trunk is 7 feet high, by 4 feet 2 inches in the largest and 3 feet in the smallest place in circumference. I am much indebted to Mr. D. S. Brown, who courteously showed me his extensive collection of rare plants, and pointed out to me the most interesting specimens.

About one block east of Mr. Brown's residence we find another enthusiastic plant-lover, Dr. Arzt. His noteworthy collection of plants is extremely beautifully arranged. His conservatory is a glass structure, resting upon a grotesque foundation of rocks and stones from many parts of our country. Underneath this plant-house are grottoes and caves, all very artistically made. Among the stones are growing different species of Cacti, Echeverias, Sedums, Yuccas, Agaves and other succulents. The greenhouse, or conservatory as we may call it, contains mostly foliage plants, especially the fancy Caladiums, Calocasias, Bil-bergias, Crotons, Dracaenas and many others.

The smaller parks of St. Louis, such as Lafayette Park and Benton Park, can not be compared with the large parks of Chicago. They are similar to Union Park of the latter city. But the very large Tower Grove Park will certainly in a few years rival with Lincoln and Humboldt Parks of Chicago. We find in this park highly interesting landscape views, and when we consider that this park is only about twelve years old, we must say that much has been done in a short time. Here we find many trees that cannot be grown successfully in Chicago, and which add much to the beauty of this place, among which I mention the fragrant Magnolia glauca, the magnificent Magnolia acuminata, the spreading Magnolia umbrella, the large-leaved Magnolia macrophylla, the Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Platanus occidentalis, Ailanthus, Paulownia, all used here with good effect. Friestatt, Mo.