When the grounds were acquired it was intended that they should be laid out, not only as Zoological Gardens, but also as an arboretum. There are many trees in the Gardens, the most striking of which are the evergreens, the pines, the cedars, and the cypresses. During the summer months a number of ornamental plants are set out, such as agaves, yuccas, fan palms, etc. There is also to be seen one of the finest collections of ferns in England.
In 1901 the total number of visitors, irrespective of subscribers and their friends, was 113,319. Animals sold realized £133 6s., including a young dromedary and five lion cubs, all of which were born in the Gardens; £249 16s. were paid for new animals, including a pair of lions from Herr Carl Hagenbeck of Hamburg. The new lion house, built in 1900, cost £2,742 12s. The total turnover for the year was £10,158 4s. 6d., the largest on record since the foundation of the Society.
GARDEN AND LAKE, CLIFTON.
On entering these pretty Gardens and turning to the left, a long terrace, with well-kept flower-beds and trees on either side, confronts one. The first house is the new lion house, a small but well-made and beautifully clean structure. After this we come to the old lion house, containing a very valuable and representative collection of the larger carnivora. The monkey house is next, and this is followed by the bear pits. In the centre of the Gardens is a band-stand, a parrot and reptile house—erected in 1892—some tennis-courts, a large lawn, upon which were grazing a number of wild geese of many varieties, and a museum. Next we come to the elephant house, containing an Indian elephant, some zebras, and camels. After this the deer and zebu sheds are found, with outside paddocks, and then we come to the aviaries. A long line of bird enclosures is now in course of construction in the grounds.
These Gardens, although small and containing comparatively few animals and birds, are exceedingly pretty and picturesque, and are justly celebrated for the number of lions bred in them.
CHAPTER XXXV
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, BELLE VUE, MANCHESTER
These well-known Zoological Gardens, occupying some eighty acres on the south-eastern border of the city of Manchester, were founded in June, 1836, by John Jennison, in whose family the property remains to the present time. He had opened a small zoological collection in 1828 at Stockport, when Belle Vue House with land became vacant, and gave a name to his Garden and opportunities for extension. A lithograph of the Gardens, taken about 1846, shows only cages for domesticated animals and birds, a few parrots, monkeys, and deer.