1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



59 



more an honor to be allowed to see and talk 

 with xny early benefactress and friend. 



The estates are very lar<>e — I am almost afraid 

 to say how lai'ge, for fear I have forgotten accu- 

 racy, bnt I believe about 15,000 acres. The large 

 liouse is delightfully situated among particularly 

 grand old trees, and it is no wonder that it was 

 ^a great favorite with the Dutchess of Kent, and 

 the Princess — afterwards Queen Victoria — who 

 frequently visited there. Most of the trees that 

 T met with in England gave the impression of 

 under size in comparison with ours, but on this 

 •estate were some of the most remarkable trees 

 that I saw in all England. In the old church- 

 yard near the mansion house, is a Yew tree which 

 measured twenty-six feet in girth several feet 

 from the ground. I took the trouble to make an 

 accurate measurement of its height, which was 

 ififty-nine feet, and the diameter or "spread" of 

 the branches was seventy-five feet across. I have 

 no doubt the tree was much older than the oldest 

 'of the mammoth trees of California. As in most 

 •of the old English places, a grand vista formed 

 hy a double line of trees leads from the house. 

 In this case these were of Elms, and were perhaps 

 eighty feet high. I measured an average one, 

 ■and found the trunk fourteen feet round. Many 

 specimen trees on the grounds were of majestic 

 proportions. A Beech tree, twenty-three feet in 

 •circumference, was quite remarkable, and a meas- 

 urement near the ground — as so many measure — 

 made it forty feet ! The huge head was ninety 

 feet across. Among English Ashes, twelve feet 

 in circumference was a common measurement;! 

 and as they had had room to develop their heads \ 

 for perhaps hundreds of years (for trees live to 

 a great age in England, as compared with ours), I 

 they were perfect models of beauty. It is strange i 

 how much the climate of England favors long I 

 life in trees. One of the earliest inti'oductions i 

 •of our Locust is here eight feet round; but its 

 life is nearly gone. Though the tree is native to ! 

 our own country, I never saw it in such wonder- 

 ful beauty as it exhibits in England and France.,] 

 And then the Rhododendrons ! On this estate | 

 •they were truly grand. Specimens sixteen feet ; 

 high, and nearly as wide, were common. The}^ 

 tare planted here in immense quantities; indeed 

 natural sown seedlings abound. Their favorite 

 place of germination seemed to be under the 

 •coniferous trees. I lifted the bi'anch of a beau- J 

 tiful Deodar cedar, in order to measure the trunk, ' 

 :and found seedling Rhododendrons in thousands 

 Jbeneath. On inv own grounds I have an Abies 



Pindrow, which I have been twenty years getting 

 up to three feet high, and I could not but so far 

 envy a climate wiiich gave one here twenty-five 

 feet. What a beautiful thing it is with age I The 

 habit is pendulous as it grows. The Turkey oak, 

 with its beautiful spread of branches, makes a 

 grand object. I afterwards saw larger ones on 

 other estates in England, but these — one nearly 

 ten feet round — were large enough to be remark- 

 able. One of the most remarkable objects in 

 the tree line is a Silver Eir — Abies pectinata — 

 which was thirteen and a half feet round, as 

 perfect m form as we generally see this beautiful 

 tree ; but at five feet from the ground a huge 

 arm extended itself in a horizontal direction. I 

 suppose it was an accident in its younger days ; 

 but I wonder people do not often make such 

 accidents on purpose, so as to have such pictur- 

 esque objects as the trees grow. 



I have already remarked on the general scar- 

 city of American trees in English gardening. It 

 was a pleasure to find more than usual here. But- 

 ternuts, Catalpas, Red Oaks, and others showed 

 that we were quite at home. An Abies nobilis, 

 some fifty feet high, was very beautiful, and the 

 Douglas Spruces and other representatives of the 

 coniferie of our western coast, made me wish 

 our Atlantic district would grow things like these. 



The flower-beds here, as is generally the case 

 in most of the old English gardens, are on a 

 complex geometrical plan, when near the dwell- 

 ing, as more in keeping with architectural design. 

 The more natural styles are reserved for the more 

 distant parts of the grounds. In the geometrical 

 gardens but one, or at best a few kinds are 

 grown in each bed, arranged according to har- 

 monies. The plants for these are selected by 

 Lady Ilarcourt, as is the usual practice with cul- 

 tivated English ladies, and the gardeners see to 

 haying all the kinds ready by bedding time in 

 Spring. Hardy ferns are a great delight to Lady 

 H., and the Fern garden is one of the attractions 

 of Buxted Park. It is arranged as a rockery, in 

 a piece of wood, with walks through in every 

 direction, aflbrding easy access to all. Here were 

 many hundreds of kinds, species and varieties, 

 all plainly and accurately named. I made here 

 the memorandum, that while there were many 

 things so beautiful in England our climate and 

 circumstances would deny to us, there was no 

 reason why any one who had a piece of woods 

 should not have a hardy fern garden ; and I made 

 a resolve when I returned to my own land that 

 I would have one for myself at any rate. 



