SEPTEMBER. 205 



being now thoroughly established, begin to assume a very interesting 

 appearance. To procure masses of shrubs as gardenesque specimens 

 in a short time on the lawn, Evergreens have been planted en masse ; 

 that is, such things as evergreen Oaks, Arbutus, Laurustinus, Portugal 

 Laurels, &c. have been planted in clumps of from twelve to two or 

 three dozen plants together, the object being, I presume, to get the 

 semblance of large specimens as quickly as possible. At present the 

 plants have a lumpish dwarfed appearance, the height not being 

 proportionate to the width ; and even when the plants get more fully 

 formed, I doubt whether they will be so permanently interesting as 

 two or three good specimens occupying the same space. In a few years 

 the " battle for life" must commence ; and though the strong may 

 overpower and destroy the weak, the result will be gaps, and any 

 thing but healthy progress. 



On the lawn are also some fine masses of Rhododendrons, in 

 splendid health, and some fine specimens of the rarer kinds of Coni- 

 ferse. Cupressus Goveniana was obliged to succumb to the terrors 

 of the "ice king" during the past spring, and a number of choice 

 kinds were killed about two-thirds of their height from the top. One, 

 a fine plant of Cupressus macrocarpa, was killed, as if seared by light- 

 ning; and on examination I found the bark most injured on the north- 

 east side, as if the injury had been the result of a sudden thaw; and 

 what makes this supposition more probable is, that where the main 

 stem was protected or shaded by the surrounding branches, there 

 the injury stopped, and the bottom branches were quite healthy. Of 

 Cryptomeria japonica and Taxodium sempervirens, there were some 

 large plants ; but both bore evidence of a severe winter, from the 

 effects of which they are not likely to recover for some time. 



Roses, especially the finer kinds of Tea and Perpetuals, are 

 here quite " at home," and grow with a wild luxuriance that would 

 gladden the heart of a Rivers, a Paul, or a Lane. The more popular 

 varieties, as Geant des Batailles, La Heine, Cramoisie superieure, &c. 

 are dispersed in large masses; and the last-named formed a mass of 

 glowing fiery crimson, such as I never saw before. To say that some 

 single stems, and there were many such from a plant, bore trusses 

 of bloom from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter, with from fifty 

 to a hundred expanded flowers, and hundreds of buds coming on, 

 is quite within the mark ; so that the bed formed a dense mass of 

 bloom. These plants have been established several years. In the 

 spring they were pegged down, and flowered very splendidly ; but 

 the branches which are blooming now have started principally from 

 the base of the plants, and no doubt have derived considerable ad- 

 vantage from their vertical position. They and all the Roses in the 

 place have, however, been materially assisted by liquid manure thus 

 prepared : during the lambing season, a number of ewes were folded 

 in a large shed ; and weekly, or more frequently if necessary, the 

 litter, when well saturated with urine and droppings, was collected 

 and placed in a heap in the garden ; adjoining this heap a hole was 

 formed (for it is only necessary to dig a hole here to form a tank, the 

 clay being so very impervious), into which the essence from the dung 



