November 4, 1905 



H ORTICULTURC 



475 



and a writer on bulbs. A rockery with 

 a small collection of Alpine plants 

 shows by its condition that this pretty 

 and interesting class of plants has a 

 warm place in his heart. Here I saw 

 the beautiful rosette-like Raymondia 

 Pyraenica tor the first time; a piece 

 of rough wall admirably serves it for 

 a home. Mr. Burbidge, being away 

 from home on a week-end vacation, 

 greatly disappointed me, as I had an- 

 ticipated much pleasure in meeting 

 him. 



The vacation habit, common to all 

 classes, I found strongly intrenched in 

 the British Isles. Forty years ago, 

 during my experience as an under gar- 

 dener in England, a radius of twenty 

 miles would cover the extent of the 

 peregrinations of myself and others of 

 like standing, year in and year out. 

 Now the "week end," with the help of 

 cheap rates on the railroads, has 

 changed all this. The "week end" is 

 a week-end holiday, and is, moreover, 

 a very elastic term. It may mean 

 from Saturday evening until Monday 

 morning, but it usually means a good 

 deal more. It covers trips to the 

 Continent, to the Lakes, to Wales, and 

 to the Scottish hills. Tradesmen say 

 there is too much of it, that it inter- 

 feres with the payment of rent and 

 grocery bills. I think this is a libel. 

 The people who take the week-end hol- 

 iday are not apt to be those who shirk 

 payment of their bills; it is more like- 

 ly that the rum shop is the cause for 

 this wail of the landlords and grocery 

 keepers. Rum is the curse of the Brit- 

 ish Isles. If my memory .serves me 

 right, the drink bill for" the British 

 Isles last year was $800,000,000. Eight 

 hundred millions taken from the peo- 

 ple's food, housing, clothing and edu- 

 cation, to say nothing of luxuries or 

 pleasures! Were this money used in 

 the proper channels, instead of being 

 used for drink, we should soon cease 

 to hear of the physical deterioration 

 of the British. This is a digression. 

 I could not, however, refrain from 

 touching on the subject. The condi- 

 tions of the drink traffic in the larger 

 cities are such as to deprave men. 

 women and children alike. 



The country around Dublin is most 

 charming. Howth, Kingston and Bray 

 are right on the bay. From Bray bead, 

 a hill of some four or five hundred 

 feet, a fine view of the bay can be had, 

 with the Hill of Howth about six 

 miles away in the distance, while be- 

 tween lies Kingston, in the hollow, 

 with its fine old picturesque houses. 

 Kingston is an older settlement than 

 Dublin, from which it is distant about 

 eight miles. The Dane.s held the coast 

 at this point a few centuries ago, and 

 two or three of their strongholds, now 

 in ruins, lend additional interest to the 

 scene. 



At Kingston X took the Holyhead 

 mail boat, and in three hours I stepprd 

 on Welsh soil and boarded the train 

 for London. The scenery between 

 Holyhead and Chester is just such as 

 to tempt one to don a knapsack and 

 wander through its mountain ranges. 

 That it is a great resort for tourists is 

 quite evident from the large amount of 

 passenger business at each station. 



At Chester, which was reached at 

 five in the afternoon. I stopped for a 

 day or two. Chester is one of the old- 

 est towns in England. There is good 

 evidence that it was a town of consid- 



Cragsidk, RoTimiitY, England 

 The Country Seat of Lord Armstrong 



erable importance prior to its occupa- 

 tion by the Romans in the first cen- 

 tury of the Christian era, and it is 

 famed in song and story. Its walls 

 make a continuous promenade of two 

 miles, and are the only complete speci- 

 mens of that order of fortification re- 

 maining in the British Isles. The 

 ground around the walls upon which 

 we stood has been deluged in blood. 

 The Romans, the Picts and Scots, the 

 Saxons and the Danes, have all fought 

 for possession of the town. At a still 

 late date the Parliamentary forces of 

 Cromwell were kept at bay for two 

 years by its hardy defenders. From 

 a tower on the walls Charles the First 

 had the mortification of seeing his 

 army of relief defeated before his eyes 

 on Rowton moor. The besieged, how- 

 ever, did not capitulate until twenty 

 weeks later, after being reduced to the 

 utmost straits. A walk around the 

 walls of old Chester is replete with in- 

 terest; on every hand are objects that 

 connect the present with the past. The 

 beautiful cathedral of Chester, found- 

 ed by a Saxon king In CGO, is within a 

 stone's throw; nearby are the remains 

 of Roman occupation, as evidenced by 

 baths and altars; further on is the 

 quaint old stone Dee bridge, built by 

 command of Edward I, 1280. A fine 

 stone bridge, built in 1832, 40 feet high, 

 with a clear span of 200 feet, is one of 

 the glories of the town. Still further 

 on is Chester castle, hoary with an- 

 tiquity, while everywhere are fine ex- 

 amples of timbered houses of the Eliz- 

 abethan period I have purposely 

 dwelt at some length on Chester, for 

 I think one of the pleasantest mem- 

 ories of my trip is laid within its 

 walls, and I wi^h to commend it to you 

 as a place worthy of a visit. 



Near *he Bridge of Dee I took a 

 small steamer and sailed up the river 

 for Eaton Hall, one of the seats of the 

 Duke of Westminster. The hall is 

 modern and stands on ground .gently 

 rising from the Dee. Broad vistas of 

 lawn stretch out toward the river. No 

 trees of great size are to be found, the 



plantations being apparently of no 

 greater age than fifty or sixty years. 

 Beeches, oaks and limes predominate; 

 a few Cedrus Libani, forty or fifty feet 

 high, give promise of future greatness. 

 . The gardens are in excellent condi- 

 tion. They partake largely of the old- 

 fashioned style; hedges and cosy nooks 

 abound. Climbing roses are every- 

 where, Dorothy Perkins especially. It 

 was here that I first experienced Eng- 

 lish hospitality. The gardener, Mr. N. 

 F. Barnes, gave me a hearty welcome, 

 and placed himself wholly at my dis- 

 posal during my visit, Mrs. Barnes 

 being not one whit behind her husband 

 in kindness. In the course of my con- 

 versation with Mr. Barnes I found that 

 the En,glish gardener, like the Ameri- 

 can park superintendent, has an un- 

 happy time when he undertakes to do 

 any thinning out of his trees or shrubs. 

 I found, also, that the English garden- 

 er is very often trammelled in the mat- 

 ter of planting good things (in them- 

 selves) in unsuitable places, and that 

 he cannot always plant things where, 

 in his judgment, things should be 

 planted. So it is not always fair to 

 the gardener to lay upon his shoulders 

 the blame for violations of the artistic 

 which may be found in the place over 

 which he has charge. I was shown the 

 new bothy at Eaton Hall. It is a pret- 

 ty two-story house, in the timbered 

 style, of which the Cestrians seem so 

 fond. Each gardener has a bedroom 

 upstairs; a dining room, kitchen and 

 a parlor occupy the lower floor. The 

 place had an appearance of comfort. I 

 was glad to see this improvement in 

 the home life of the gardener. I found 

 other estates on which the same Im- 

 provement has been made. On many, 

 however, the same old hovels exist as 

 of yore, noticeably in the two botanic 

 gardens of Dublin. 



The English gardener labors under 

 great disadvantage, as compared with 

 other occupations. In the past forty 

 years the wages in England of me- 

 chanics, masons and carpenters, for In- 

 stance, have increased over 75 percent, 



