360. The villa of Christina, Queen of Sweden, at Baden, is one of the handsomest in the duchy, as far as respects the grounds. The surface is the irregular side of a hill, beautifully varied in itself, and containing finely diversified and picturesque views of the vale of Baden, and the finely wooded hills which form its boundary. The grounds were laid out, in 1821, by M. Hartweg; and M. Arnold was the gardener when we visited them, in 1828. The trees and shrubs are planted in masses, each containing only one kind, in Sckell's manner; and a most judicious use is made of spruce firs, bird-cherries, and Hippophae rhamnoides; Amorpha fruticosa, the vel-low-barked ash, the bladder-nut, acacia, golden willow, fly honeysuckle, red dogwood, privet, lilac, Spirï¾µ'a, &c., all of which present irregular masses of distinct colours from their bark, even in the winter season. The only want here, like everywhere else in Germany, is evergreens. The walks are laid out with good gravel of a grey colour, from a stream which passes through the grounds; and (what we found rare in Germany in 1828) they are filled to the brim. The great defect of walks in Germany is the same as that which is so common in Britain, viz. that they are sunken into the ground, instead of seeming to be formed upon it.
