FOREIGN NOTICES. 



137 



is cold after that time (that is, what is called cold 

 here.) The row down the river was very delight- 

 ful ; the bands on board her Majesty's ships play- 

 ing, and marines tumbling into boats to go ashore 

 to be exercised under Sir C. Napier. The ships 

 very tine. Presently a Brazilian brig, that had 

 been exchanging salutes with the guard ship at 

 tae mouth of the river, begins banging away right 

 and left in honor of the British ships in the river. 

 We see flash, smoke, and hear report, the echoes 

 on each side of the river repeating every sound. 

 Her English Majesty's ships not behind-hand in 

 returning compliments. We intended to land close 

 to the quinta which we were to visit, but before 

 we got there the boatman (that fine fellow who 

 rowed us to Casilis when you were here,) says 

 No; that there were breakers in the river, which, 

 with the tide and wind, would make our journey 

 unpleasant, and so we put into a little dirty vil- 

 lage a mile and a half on this side the quinta, and 

 I had a donkey to ride and a boy to drive it (the 

 latter brute had eaten so much garlic that though 

 he was always behind the donkey I always smelt 

 it, and thought he had the power of breathing 

 round a corner.) The quinta is situated at the 

 mouth of the Tagus, beyond the convent on the 

 right bank. It was given by the king to the 

 great Marquis de Pombal, and again I longed for 

 you to have seen it, and could not help reproach- 

 ing my conductor, but he says truly the time of 

 your stay was short, and that there were two or 

 three days lost by rain; indeed the weather is finer 

 than when you were here, I think, in October. 

 We were not allowed to see the house, because 

 the Marquis was there. The house and gardens 

 are much in the Italian style, the only things Por- 

 tuguese consisting in parts of flights of stairs and 

 fountains and seats and the coloured tiles we so 

 much admired at Seville. Nothing can be better 

 than the gardens for their size, the beauty of them 

 consisting in their formality; those near the house 

 are laid out with low Box edgings, those distant 

 with high Box hedges I call them, and double ones 

 Si m times. They are so designed that, like those 

 of the Junquera, which you saw near Belem, win- 

 ter or summer, with or without flowers, the effect 

 is good ; but they are better than the Junquera, 

 for they have on every side splendid trees and 

 orange groves of great extent, and here the orange 

 trees were of large size, and especially when 

 seen from on high are really very beautiful ; long 

 walks, shady, and in the hottest days of summer 

 impervious to the sun's rays, are to be enjoyed on 

 one side of the formal gardens ; very fine decidu- 

 ous trees edge a small stream, over which several 

 bridges are thrown^ and walks like those of Ra- 

 malhao are not wanting ; this stream separates 

 the gardens in two parts, and the style of each is 

 the formal, as I have said before, but different. 

 In the lower one, which appears the oldest, and 

 in which are the high Box edgings and a beautiful 

 fountain, there is a Dragon tree, finer than that at 

 the Botanical Garden. I measured the trunk o( 



Vol. iv. 12 



this one : it is more than two yards round ; the 

 limbs look like great snakes, the head had been 

 covered with great spikes of flowers ; it was, I 

 suppose, 20 feet high. Charming stone column? 

 supporting busts are placed at the entrance of 

 each great walk, the offices at the end of the gar- 

 den are made ornamental and a finish to it, by a 

 beautiful architectural wall ; there are stone flight? 

 of steps, with carved balustrades, highly finished ; 

 busts, vases, and every sort of ornament. But 

 the whole scene is spoiled — by what? The most 

 total neglect ; weeds grow in every path, choke 

 up the hedges, force the stones out of their places 

 All that is done is to cut the Box square, and 

 shape the corner Box trees of the parterres. A 

 more neglected place I never saw. A more en- 

 joyable one could not be desired, and I should 

 prefer it to Cintra, as being close to the sea, and 

 because the climate is so fine you might live there 

 both winter and summer. We crossed the road 

 and went down a walk more than half a mile 

 long (Grass.) hedged with tall Laurustinus, break- 

 ing into flower, while the tall blue Periwinkle in 

 full blos^m, but pale, was climbing up them. 

 On each side of the hedge were vast groves of 

 orange trees, loaded with ripe fruit, which per- 

 fumed the air. On one side, at the end of this, 

 we found a great blue wall (semicircular,) en- 

 crusted with the above mentioned tiles, and a high 

 fountain in the centre, with the water trickling 

 through great masses of Maiden-hair fern into a 

 basin below. We ascended a flight of steps near 

 the fountain, and returned to the gardens along 

 a high terrace that overlooked the great orange 

 groves, real gardens of the Hesperides, for their 

 fruit brings gold. The day was so lovely that I 

 walked about. Again sat down on the stone steps 

 under the Dragon tree, gathered violets, and was 

 sorry when the time for the tide to turn obliged 

 me to re'urn to my donkey. The road back gave 

 us beautiful views of sea and land, &c." Gard . 

 Chronicle. .... 



Potato Rot. — The dry cool weather which we 

 have enjoyed for the last few weeks will have 

 saved the potato crop from destruction, if any- 

 thing can. But as all is still uncertain, and as 

 appearances are becoming every week more unfa- 

 vorable, it is desirable that the attention of culti- 

 vators should again be directed to a statement 

 made in our columns of the 9th of June. It is 

 there mentioned that Mr. Tombelle Lomba, of 

 Namur, had saved his crop every year by cutting 

 off the stems, after flowering, and while yet fresh 

 and green, and then covering the ground with earth 

 to the depth of about 1-J inch; the top-dressing 

 thus applied not being disturbed till the potatoes 

 were ripe. 



This proceeding appeared to have the advan- 

 tage of seriously diminishing the amount of the 

 crop, even though it preserved the potatoes ; but 

 it would seem, from a lecent despatch from Lord 

 Howard de Walden to Viscount Palmerston, that 

 this has not proved to be the case. The English 



