1877.] 



AND HORTIGULTUBIST. 



315 



appeared to be costly stone, surrounded each 

 bed. The effect was very pretty ; but a close ex- 

 amination showed the stone to be only painted 

 wood. Near by is a very beautiful garden, made 

 up in the grandest style, for in the centre is the 

 celebrated Greek slave, which, as a work of art, 

 drew so much attention at the first and great 

 World's Fair. The fountain basin is of polished 

 granite ; but soon after, we pass out into real 

 nature under an arbor of roses and vines. At a 

 little distance is an Alcove, made in a terrace 

 wall, and we are struck with the apparent 

 richness of the work, and the general choice 

 appearance of everything in it. But as we 

 get closer we see that the pretty flowers and 

 foliage apparently carved out are only sea- 

 shells fastened on the wall in that way, and 

 the whole washed with stone-colored cement, 

 and the massive ebony work is but polished coal. 

 About these very artificial garden parts are, in 

 excellent taste, the more artificial-looking plants, 

 and the different kinds of Palm enter largely 

 into the beautiful effects. Some of these Palms 

 must be very valuable from their great size. 

 Here, for instance, is a Chtem crops* himulis, 

 about ten feet high, and with numerous young 

 ones about it, so as to make a complete mass of 

 palm leaves. Though even the Orange grows 

 here so well, that there were some fruiting on the 

 garden walls, it is thought best to protect the 

 palm in Winter a little, and it is boarded over. 



As I have said, the Queen prefers natural 

 beauty to sheared trees, except when such shear- 

 ing harmonizes with artificial work, and in the 

 square in which is one of the geometrical gar- 

 dens, are four sheared Bay trees in each of the 

 four corners. They are of huge size, and here 

 their effect is good. Leading down to the sea is 

 also a wide gravel walk on each side of whicli are 

 sheared Portugal Laurels, which also have a 

 good effect. Around tlie palaces in Paris are 

 huge Orange trees which have been kept in large 

 square tubs for many years. They are all sheared, 

 or rather trimmed with knives, so as to be all 

 exactly of one size. If one could look along the 

 top of a hundred of them in a line, no one would 

 show a quarter of an inch higher than tlie others. 

 These, during the Summer, in France, are set 

 out in their tubs alongside the walks at equal 

 distances. But they cannot well have oranges 

 at Osborne: but they have Portugal Laurels in 

 huge tubs, looking for all the world like these 

 French Orange trees, as they are treated and 

 placed in the same manner. But they appear 



grander, for the tubs in which they are growing 

 are very much greater, and the trees are larger 

 in every respect. But the secret is explained 

 when the reader learns that the tubs are never 

 moved. The tree being hardy, remains there Win- 

 ter and Summer, indeed the tubs have probably 

 no bottom, and the Laurels are really growing 

 in the ground. Yet these neatly painted -tubs 

 with globes on the four upper corners, give 

 all the grandeur of the Ver-sailles Orange trees , • 

 and what is of more consequence to an Ameri- 

 can and an Englishman, at very little cost for all! 

 The piece of landscape gardening connected 

 with this tub-laurel-lined avenue is a master- 

 piece of good art. There appears to be only two 

 or three acres on each side of the avenue, but 

 while one is kept flat and smooth, and relieved 

 only by the groups of Conifers and other artistic 

 trees, the other side lias a rolling contour of 

 surface, and has massive groups of decidu- 

 ous trees to match with the heavy swells of 

 ground surface. Yet so well is the long straight 

 walk carried through, that no incongruity be- 

 tween the scenery on his right and his left 

 strikes even the most critical. 



Here, as everywhere, the aim in bedding is to 

 have some carpeting unique, and not a copy of 

 some one else's work. One might write a vol- 

 ume of what he sees in this respect, but it would 

 be out of date by another j'ear, as the object is 

 to have new styles, as our ladies have new bon- 

 nets. In these grounds, coming to a place where 

 some roads cross, there are beds in the angles in 

 which the plants are arranged as playing cards. 

 The hearts, clubs and diamonds are outlined 

 chiefly with a sort of golden Stellaria, or perhaps, 

 it may be a Cerastium and Alternantheras. I 

 remember, however, that the diamond was made 

 of Echeveria for the outline of the character, and 

 the filling in wasof gqlden Pyrethrum. 



The vegetable garden is not large, the Queen 

 having most of the kitchen wants supplied from 

 Windsor. What is grown, however, has to be of 

 the very best character, and everything did look 

 well. Those who think that pruning injures 

 trees, would especially be struck by the healthy 

 appearance of the wall fruits, which are here of 

 immense age, having been growing here before 

 the Queen bought the place. A pruned plant, of 

 course, never has a large stem. The Osage Or- 

 ange in our country, unpruned, makes a large 

 stout tree in a few years— in hedges, cut back, in 

 twenty years is no stouter than one's wrist. So 

 here in this garden we have Pear trees trained to 



