196 THE FLORIST. 



feet in height, whose grey aspect and gracefully weeping habit form 

 a fine contrast with their raore sombre associates ; tlie interior of 

 this interesting sylvan retreat, in addition to this water and fine 

 Araucaria, being filled up with choice specimen Conifers and hardy 

 flowering shrubs. Such is one of the many pleasant openings, 

 rescued as it were from the primitive forest, with which one meets 

 in a walk through the woods of Dropmore. 



One of the main features of the place is an avenue, 50 feet wide, 

 of Cedars, planted, we were informed, in 1808. The length of this 

 avenue may be about a quarter of a mile, but it is capable of being 

 still further extended. At one end it opens upon a long broad 

 valley, each side of which is studded with numerous fine trees, both 

 deciduous and evergreen. The Cedars are varieties of the Cedar of 

 Lebanon, and number about 150. They were planted at twenty-five 

 feet apart in the row ; but their growth has been so rapid that they 

 are now much too close. Mr. Frost's opinion is, that, for an avenue, 

 such trees should be planted fifty feet apart in the row, leaving a 

 clear way of eighty feet from row to row. The " Stump Mound" 

 is another object of some importance. It is an eminence of some 

 forty feet, and composed entirely of the roots and trunks of timber 

 trees that have been felled for the last twenty or thirty years. The 

 summit of this mound is reached by gradually-ascending walks, and 

 here the view is very extensive and varied, embracing Windsor 

 Castle, Caesar's Camp, and several other objects ; even Highgate 

 Church spire may be seen from this point in clear weather. From 

 the bottom to the summit the banks are studded with shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants of all kinds, which, when in flower, have a fine 

 effect. 



We now come to the Arboretum, or rather Pinetum, properly so 

 called, which contains some splendid specimens, rising from a rich 

 soft lawn in the very best of keeping. One of the most remarkable 

 trees here is a Douglas Fir of gigantic dimensions and wonderful 

 beauty. It measures 63 feet 6 inches in height, with a girth of 5 

 feet 6 inches three feet from the ground, and the extent of the 

 branches is 52 feet ! This was planted, we believe, by Mr. Frost's 

 own hands, so that this Fir must be one of rapid growth ; and its 

 wood, we understand, is of excellent quality. Contiguous to the 

 above was Taxodium sempervirens, a noble example, 21 feet high, 

 and 16 feet through. Until we saw this specimen our opinion of 

 this Taxodium as an ornamental plant was not very high ; but now 

 that we have seen what, under good growth, it is capable of becom- 

 ing, we are constrained to pronounce it one of the most ornamental 

 of Conifers. A broad terrace-walk, and a covered way by a circular 

 piece of water surrounded by pillar Roses from 7 to 21 feet high, in 

 admirable bloom, led us into the flower-garden, which was literally 

 one mass of flowers, furnished by multitudes of standard Roses and 

 herbaceous and other plants. This is bounded on the one side by a 

 wall, against which are the glasshouses, and on the other by a back- 

 ground of forest-trees, penetrated here and there by recesses and 

 walks. A little farther down is the mansion, above whose lower 



