Febi-uory 29, 1872. ] 



JOUKXAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



sume to give a few hints, I hoiie my iloiiig so will be talien in 

 good part by aU. 



I am sure you •will admit tliat we iliillauJ gaa'tleners! camiot 

 successfully compete at such au early season as the gardeners 

 of Comwail and Devoushii'e. Take, for instance, the Carter 

 cup at Nottingham last year. The Peas were full and good 

 from the outh, but oui'S were not so, the reason being that 

 the southerns enjoyed a better, warmer, and more congenial 

 climate. I shoiild like to know what is to be done to satisfy 

 us all '? I am sure your correspondents' great experience will be 

 able to solve the problem. — E. Gildekt, Burghlnj. 



AN AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE. 



The day was far spent as we neared a stream where we in- 

 tended to encamp. for the night, when "sounds of revelry" 

 and boisterous uiii'th became more audible as we descended a 

 hill. The noise and " roUcking-fuu " soon after ceased, when 

 the vocal strains of a fine tenor voice sang loud and clear the 

 charming air and pleasant song, 



" The maids of merry England, bow beautiful ai-e tbey." 

 The sentiment, so sweet and true, was harmoniously joined 

 in by the party, whose voices commingled in the pleasing 

 refrain. 



As we hstened to the once familiar words we felt certain 

 that the voice of the singer was equally so, but when and 

 where heard could not well remember. Our- footsteps were 

 quickened, as anxious " to join the jovial crew," we pushed 

 onwards to the camp-fires, where a number of happy-looking 

 mortals were enjoying themselves in various ways, which 

 seemed to prove that there was such a state as rural feUcity 

 even iu the forest shades of New Holland. 



With but little ceremony we iuti'odueed ourselves as "travel- 

 lers from Melbourne, on our way to Geeloug," and were cor- 

 dially welcomed to a share of their glowing fires and bivouac 

 for the night. In the person of a handsome and gentlemanly 

 fellow we fancied we recognised the smger whose song awakened 

 thoughts of home and the loved ones there. Scarcely had we 

 been seated, before our new acquaintance inquired, ^Yhat j^art 

 of England did you come from, and how long have you been 

 away, and what are you doing now ? Similar questions were 

 asked and answered all round, when our iuten'ogator some- 

 what surprised us with the information that his name was 

 May, and was at one time in the nursery busmess near Bedale, 

 in Yorkshire. " -And my name is Harding, and well do I rcf- 

 momber you when a young man, and in your father's employ 

 years ago." The recognition was mutual when we referred to 

 the time we heard him sing the same song he had just repeated, 

 at a village party long ago. He, too, had not forgotten the 

 time v,-hen bidding each other "good-bye" at the niu'seiy 

 gate, one c"old December's morning, when, with " great expec- 

 tations," we journeyed to the great metropolis, the centre in 

 circumference of horticulture, where all young and aspuing 

 gardeners aim for. 



It was then, and may be so now, considered necessary to 

 have a course of practice in and around London to qualify a 

 gardener for a fii"st-class position. 



To sleep was out of the question ; it seemed utterly im- 

 possible for anything mortal to slumber with the myriads of 

 mosquitoes, fleas, ants, and other abominable insects torturing 

 us iu every way ; so we passed the night in the smoke of the 

 camp-fire, discussing " auld lang syne." 



It was our good fortune to have fallen in with a party of 

 " gum-pickers," who were gathering gum from the Acacia 

 trees for exportation, and little inferior to the gum arable of 

 commerce procured iu Senegal and the East Indies; from 

 Acacia fera and A. arabica trees. 



The varieties of Acacias are many, and number nearly two 

 hundred species, indigenous to Australia alone ; and are indis- 

 pensable for greenhouse and conservatory decoration. Few, if 

 any, flowering trees or shrubs are more beautiful or interesting 

 than some of them. Such, for instance, as Acacia pubescens, 

 A. couspieua, A. undidata, A. grandis, and A. Drummondii, 

 giand beyond comparison. A. cultriformis, very curious ; 

 A. platyptera, A. XieUi, A. albicans, A. urophyUa, so fragi-ant 

 and pretty ;A. amcena, a lovely gem ; A. suaveolcns, deUciously 

 sweet ; A. pulcheUa and A. spectabihs, beautiful indeed. These 

 are but a few named of the many varieties, and all of easy 

 culture. They v.-iU bear a good deal of hard usage and thrive 

 moderately well, or perhaps better than most plants, in dweU- 

 ing-house windows, and for setting-oft' a choice bouquet we 



know of nothing more graceful or pretty. — (A merican Gardener's 

 ilonikhj.) 



BATTLE ABBEY, 



The Seat op the Duke of Cleveland. 



■When the Anglo-Saxons are named it is usual to associate 

 then- possession of England with the name of Alfred, to dwell 

 on their triumphs over the early Britons and the Northmen, 

 and to remember how they fostered the Christian missionaries 

 in England ; but when six centuries had passed they no longer 

 retained the same characteristics, and one who has written 

 theti' history tells that for the most part their sovereigns were 

 feeble-minded, their nobles factious and effeminate, their clergy 

 corrupt and ignorant, and the people servile and depressed. 

 Thus England was becommg the possession of a debased, 

 divided, and ignorant people. At this time of their decay the 

 Normans came. Their dukes, though foremost as warriors, 

 loved peace, theh' subjects were brave, united, and truthful ; 

 they were charitable, pious, lovers of hteratui'e, decorous, and 

 moral. They conquered the Anglo-Saxons, and " from the 

 mighty ruins with which the Conquest overspread the land, 

 raised that great character of government — clergj', nobility, 

 and people — which has since never ceased." 



Knowing this we stood but a few days ago on one of the 

 terraces of Battle Abbey, looked over the valley where eight 

 centuries since the one decisive victor}' efi'ected that conquest. 

 Behind us — wo were about to write " in our rear," for we had 

 been reading of the strife until we had on our mind the mUitary 

 phraseology — was liigher ground, and on it " The Watch Oak," 

 marking where the Saxon sentinels looked out on the plain 

 towards Pevensey on the movements of the approaching Nor- 

 man host ; and on Telham hUl, beyond that plain, was planted 

 the standai'd of the mvading duke. Our feet were within the 

 Saxon position. Harold's standai'd was her-e, near to it he 

 was slain ; the spot where he fell was covered by the High Altar 

 of the Abbey, and the ruins of the altar's foundation remain. 



We could dwell long and detail minutely the incidents of 

 that bloody contest, but they are not within our province, and 

 we may only note that the Conqueror had vowed, if victory 

 was with him, he would build an abbey on the battle-field. 

 He fulfilled his vow — 



'* And tber, as the bataile waa, 

 An abbey be lets reie 

 Ot Soiut iloitin, for the soules 

 Tbat tbere siayn woie," 



Tire Abbey was dedicated to the Trinity, the 'Virgin, and St. 

 Martin, but this title, as usual, was popularly abbreviated, and 

 it was known as " St. Martin's Abbey of Battle." Although 

 eoiui'v.iced the year after the victory, the Conqueror did not 

 live to see it completed, and William Eufus was at its conse- 

 cration in 1094. It was surrendered to Henry VIII. when he 

 abolished monasteries in 1538, and he granted, in the following 

 year, the Abbey aud the manor to his Standard-bearer and 

 Master of Horse, Sii' Anthony Browne. His son, created Vis- 

 count Montacute (erroneously spelt Montagu), demolished 

 the chief part of the Abbey, and adapted the remamder for a 

 residence ; but the sixth Viscount, about the middle of the 

 last centm-y, sold it to Sir Thomas Webster, fi-om whose 

 descendants it passed to the family of the Duke of Cleveland. 

 The Viscount was high in the favour of Queen Elizabeth, but 

 we are not aware that she visited Battle Abbey. It is certain 

 that she was entertained in the August of 1591 at Cowdray, 

 the other residence of Viscount Montacute, and afterwards 

 she was in the western parts of Sussex. The weatlier was 

 projiitious, aud the companj- numerous, for it is recorded that 

 the Queen frequently cUned in the garden, that the table was 

 48 yards long, and that for a breakfast three oxen and one 

 hundred and forty geese were provided. 



We have endeavoured to give a shght historical sketch of 

 Battle Abbey, but for a monastery so important aud richly 

 endowed, strange to say, comparatively httle appears to be 

 known of its history even a hundred years after its completion. 

 Some parts of the buildmg have evidently been built at a 

 later date than the rest, and some are known to have been 

 rebuilt by Sir Anthony Browne soon after the Eeformation ; 

 but we are sorry to record the fact that httle care seems to 

 have beeu taken by former proprietors to preserve what at 

 one time must have been, indeed still is, a noble and interest- 

 ing building. Parts of it have been used as barns and gi-ana- 

 ries, and other parts lay long buried in the earth, or were 

 suffered to fall to the ground. The entrance from the street 

 of Battle is by a Norman archway aud tower ; eastward the 



