Chips and Slips. 219 



poplars, etc., being treated in a similar manner. Among the shrubs are many 

 plants of sub-tropical origin, very choice and in rich variety, and plainly- 

 printed labels help the visitor to call them by their proper names. 



Paideii. — On the 26th May a nevf public park — a gift to the town by a 

 deceased citizen, Mr. Robert Brodie, accountant — was opened with much 

 ceremony. The park is situated at High Can-iage-hill, in the southern part of 

 the town, and extends to about twenty-two acres. Its value is estimated a^ 

 £16,000, and during the past year or two the Town Council have expended 

 about £2,800 in laying it cut and ornamenting it. 



Gateshead. — Since the grounds of ^Ir. William Wailes, at Saltwell, were 

 purchased by the Gateshead Corporation and converted into a park for the 

 use of the inhabitants, who, at that time, had little or no place approaching 

 to a recreation ground, great improvements have been made by way of further 

 beautifying the estate. For some time past the park committee have been 

 pushing on the work of improvement with rapidity. One of the chief features 

 will be the long promenade, which is at present under formation at the north 

 end of the park. On either side of the promenade the ground has been laid 

 out under the direction of Mr. Heath, of London, landscape gardener. 



The Tuees ix Sackville Street, Dublin. — Some people inform us that these 

 trees are growing, but we have failed to see whether it is upwards or down- 

 wards, healthy or rotten. They are plane trees, we believe — very plain treeSy 

 and not likely to make much noise in the wind or the world. They have a 

 habit when they cast their leaves in autumn to be in doubt about the 

 necessity of renewing them, thinking it scarcely worth their while to look 

 green again. — Irish Builder. 



Weeping Beech. — There is an extremely handsome specimen of the 

 weeping beech growing at Meynell Langley, Derby. It is about seventy years 

 of age, in luxuriant health, with a trunk at 4 feet from the ground 8 feet 10 

 inches in circumference. The diameter of the branches from north to south 

 is 90 feet, and from east to west 74 feet, giving a circumference of about 240 

 feet. Can any one say where there is a finer specimen of the weeping beech 

 in Britain ? 



Erratum. — The paragraph at the top of page 94 of our last number, begin* 

 ning " The price of underwood," &c., should read, — ^The price of underwood 

 reached its climax in the winter of 1873, from which date it has fallen con- 

 siderably in value ; owing chiefly to the increased cost of labour for cutting 

 and conversion, the above mentioned prices were, however, obtained during 

 the past season. 



Estate Impeovements now best Efeected. — Although money can readily 

 be obtained from the Lands' Improvement Companies for effecting any im- 

 provement of a permanent character at a rate of interest which pays off the 

 debt within a period of from twenty-five to thirty years, still some part of this 

 payment must be drawn from the yearly income of the landlord ; hence the 

 difficulty of obtaining his assent. Taking the period of redemption at twenty- 

 five years, the rate of interest will be 6? per cent. ; under ordinary circum- 

 stances, we consider that .3 per cent, on building, and 6 per cent, on drainage, 

 is as much as any yearly tenant can pay. If equal sums were expended on 

 each, it would entail a charge of 2^ per cent, on the owner. Suppose the 

 owner of an estate of £15,000 a year to spend £20,000 on estate improvements, 

 the charge on the landlord would only be £450 a year — a sum which, on an 



