Botanical Gardens.

The Botanical Gardens, opposite the Observatories on Garden street, are well worth a visit at this time of the year, and the plants have been arranged with unusual care this spring.

In the lower part of the grounds, the palms, cacti, century plants and Australian acacias have been effectively massed, giving the appearance of a tropical garden. Among the other flowers, the lady slippers, the German iris, and the columbines, the proposed national flower, make the best display.

In the conservatories the orchids and pitcher plants are interesting. A large specimen of the cycas, or sago palm, is in bloom for the first time in several years. The night blooming cereus, the largest of its kind in the country, will begin to blossom in a few weeks. As many as sixty buds have been known to open and die on this plant in one night.

All the ferns have been gathered into one room. An Australian fern with a trunk four feet thick and a silver leaved fern ten feet high, are the most interesting of these plants. Among the cacti is an excellent specimen of a giant cactus, which was obtained last fall.