222 



MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



lofty as tlie roof is, some of the palms of 

 South America have already nearly reached 

 the glass. From the branches and trunks of 

 many of the largest, hang curious air plants, 

 brilliant, and apparently as little fixed to one 

 spot as summer butterflies. 



But I shall never bring this letter to a close, 

 if I dwell even slightly upon any interesting 

 scene in detail. I must mention, however, in 

 passing, the arhoretuni — perhaps a mile long — 

 planted with the rarest trees, and every day 

 becoming richer and more interesting to the 

 botanist and the landscape gardener. The 

 trees are neither set in formal lines, nor 

 grouped in a single scene, but are scattered 

 along a picturesque drive, with space enough 

 for each to develop its natural habit of growth. 

 There are some very graceful Deodar Cedars 

 here, and a great many Araucarias. But the 

 two most striking and superb trees, which I 

 nowhere else saw half so large and in such 

 perfection, were Douglass' Fir, {Abies Dou- 

 glassi,) and the noble Fir, [Abies nobilis.) 

 They are two of the magnificent evergreens 

 of California and Oregon, discovered by Dou- 

 glass, and brought to England about 18 

 years ago. These two specimens are now 

 about 35 feet high, extremely elegant in their 

 proportions, as well as beautiful in shape and 

 colour. I cannot describe them, briefly, so 

 well as by comparing the first to a gigantic 

 and superb Balsam Fir, with far Ir/i-ger leaves, 

 a luxuriance and freedom always wanting in 

 the Balsam, together with the richest dark 

 bronze green foliage ; and the latter to the 

 finest drooping Norway Spruce, equally mul- 

 tiplied in the scale of luxuriance and grace. 

 They grow upon a rocky bank, overhanging a 

 pool of clear water, and look as if thoroughly 

 at home, on the slope of a hill side in Oregon. 

 The arboretum walk forms a complete col- 

 lection of all the hardy trees that will grow 

 out of doors at Chatsworth, with space for 

 planting every new species as it may be intro- 



duced into Great Britain. A fine efl'ect is 

 produced by grafting the Weeping Ash into 

 the top of a common ash tree with a tall trunk 

 30 feet high, whence it falls on all sides more 

 gracefully and prettily than when grafted 

 low ; a hint that I laid up for easy practice 

 at home. 



A mile further on, and you reach the tower, 

 on the hill top, where the eye commands the 

 whole of Chatsworth valley, — such a picture 

 of palace and pleasure ground, park and forest 

 scenery as can be found, perhaps, nowhere 

 else in the circle of the planet. 



After a long exploration — after exhausting 

 all the well bred expressions of enthusiasm in 

 my vocabulary, and imagining that it was im- 

 possible that landscape gardening, and embel- 

 lishment, and park scenery, and pleasure ground 

 decoration, could farther go — the DuKE 

 reminded me that I had neither seen the 

 kitchen gardens, the great peach tree, nor the 

 famous new water lily — the Victoria regia ; 

 and that Mr. Paxton, his able chef, would 

 never forgive a neglect of so important a fea- 

 ture in a place. As the gardens where all 

 these new wondei's lay, were quite on the op- 

 posite side of tlic park, we gladly took to the 

 carriage after our industrious morning's ram- 

 ble. 



I shall not attempt to describe these large 

 and complete fruit and forcing gardens. But 

 the peach tree of Chatsworth has not, to my 

 recollection, been described, though it de- 

 serves to be as famous as the grapevine of 

 Hampton Court. It is the more wonderful, 

 because, as you know, peach trees do not 

 grow in England in orchards of 500 acres, 

 like those of the Eeybold's, in Delaware; 

 but are only seen upon walls, or under glass 

 Yet I assure you, our friend R.'s eyes, accus 

 tomed as they are to peach blossoms by the 

 mile, would have dilated at the sight of this 

 monster tree, occupying a glass house by it- 

 self, and extending over a trellis — I should 



