ELVASTON CASTLE. 



looked. You are now within the paddock, in a serpentine approach, planted on 

 the right and left with variegated holly, backed with Cembra pine, whose sombre 

 shade forms a striking contrast with the pale variegations of the holly. The next 

 turning opens on beds of heather, beautifully in bloom, interspersed with boxwood, 

 and screened from the mansion by towering specimens of Douglas fir and Cedars 

 of Lebanon, whose tops are grafted with Deodars ; the dark green of the former 

 contrasting with the soft green of the latter, you could not resist the impression 

 of the trees being covered with silken mantlets. 



Another turning places the winter garden on the left, and brings you up in 

 front of the mansion, from which you have a full view of the winter garden and 

 mount of pleasure, that has no equal in "Victoria's dominions, or perhaps any 

 other country. By a covered yew walk, you enter the garden, and figure to your 

 mind's eye an old, bushy yew that had been growing for centuries before its re- 

 moval to its present site twenty years ago, forming now a beautiful, artificially- 

 clipped arbor, fifteen feet square and twenty feet high, perfect every inch, not a 

 branch or twig out of place (except a morsel of a new variety, or sport scrupu- 

 lously reserved for multiplication), surmounted by two peacocks formed on the top 

 of each, other, and over them two rings, all made with the shears ; and perhaps 

 the whole cost as much as some of the fine architectural churches of our city. 



The Irish Yew stands in regimental phalanx, about eight feet high, grafted with 

 the Golden Yew, formed into crowns, and shining in the sun with dazzling splen- 

 dor. The Swedish and Irish Junipers make boundaries of various tints of green, 

 are worked up into masses, creating variegations of foliage, habit, and sli 

 contrast of color, and the disposition of plants. The prevailing charact 



