MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROxAI EXGI.A.XD. 



line of the immediate accessories of Woburn Abbey. They occupy the space of a little vil 

 lage in themselves; but you would gather no idea of the luxury and comfort they afford did 

 you for a moment forget that the whole is managed with that order and system which are 

 no where to be found so perfect as in England. I must add, to give you another idea of 

 the establishment, that a hundred beds are made up dail}' for the family and household 

 alone, exclusive of guests. The pleasure grounds, which surround three sides of the house, 

 and upon which these rooms open, are so beautiful and complete that you must allow me 

 to dwell upon them a little. They consist of a series of different gardens merging one 

 into the other, so as to produce a delightful variety, and covering a space of many acres — 

 about which I walked in so bewildered a state of delight that I am quite unable to say 

 how large they are. I know, however, that they contain an avenue of Araucarias backed 

 by another of Deodar Cedars in the most luxuriant growth — each line upwards of 1,000 

 feet long. A fine specimen of the latter tree, twenty-five or thirty feet high, attracted my 

 attention, and there was another, tvventy-five feet, of the beautiful Norfolk Island Pine, 

 growing in the open ground, with the shelter of a glazed frame in winter. These plea- 

 sure grounds, however, interested me most in that portion called the American garden — 

 several acres of sloping velvety turf, thickly dotted with groups of Rhododendrons, Aza- 

 leas, &c., forming the richest masses of dark green foliage that it is possible to conceive. 

 In the months of jMay and June, when these are in full bloom, this must be a scene of 

 almost dazzling brilliancy. The soil for them had all been formed artificially, and consist- 

 ed of a mixture of peat and white sand, in which the Rhododendrons and Kalmias seemed 

 to thrive admirably. 



Besides this scene, there is a garden composed wholly of heaths, the beds cut in the 

 turf, one species in each bed, and full of delicate bells; a parterre flower garden in which a 

 striking effect was produced by contrasting vases colored quite black, with rich masses 

 (growing in the vases) of scarlet geraniums. I also saw a garden devoted wholly to Willows, 

 and another to Grasses — both tlie most complete collections of these two genera in the 

 world — the taste of the former Duke — and with which I was familiar before-hand, through 

 the " Salidum Woburnense," and Mr. Sinclair's work on the " Grasses of JFoburn." 



The park is the richest in large evergreens of any that I have ever seen. The planting 

 taste of the former Duke has produced at the present moment, after a growth of fifty or 

 sixty years, the most superb results. The Cedars of Lebanon — the most sublime and 

 venerable of all trees, and the grandest of all evergreens, bore off the palm — though all the 

 rare pines and firs that were known to arboriculturists half a century ago are here in the 

 greatest perfection — including hollies and Portugal laurels which one is accustomed to 

 think of as shrubs, with great trunks like timber trees and magnificent heads of glossy 

 foliage. A grand old Silver fir has a straight trunk eighty feet high, and a lover of trees 

 could spend weeks here without exhausting the arboricultural interest of the park alone — 

 which is, to be sure, some ten or twelve miles round. 



A very picturesque morceau in the park, enclosed and forming a little scene by itself, 

 is called the Thornery. It is an abrupt piece of ground covered with a wild looking copse 

 of old thorns, hazels, dog-woods and flintastic old oaks, and threaded by walks in various 

 directions. In the center is a most complete little cottage, with the neatest Scotch kitchen, 

 little parlor and furniture inside, and a sort of fairy flower garden outside. 



All this may be considered the ornamental portion of Woburn, and I have endeavored 

 to raise such a picture of it in your mind as would most interest j^our readers. But 

 must remember that farming is the pride of Woburn, and that farming is 



of immense importance, involving the outlay of immense capital, and a personal 



