48 KEV. J. C. CLTJTTEKBTICK — rEODTJCTS OF HERTFORDSnTRE. 



Tlierc is another product in which Hertford sliire seems to excel, 

 if we may judge by the reputation of the cultivators of roses at 

 Berkhampstead, Cheshunt, and AValtham Cross. We find that these 

 places are either on the banks or in the valleys of the Lea and 

 Gade ; whether these situations are specially favourable to the 

 cultivation and perfect development of this justly popular and 

 fragrant flower, or whether mere accident or peculiar convenience 

 has fixed on these sites, I do not know. Every year makes us ac- 

 quainted with fresh varieties, and has the happy feature of pro- 

 longing the season of the presence of the flowers. The commercial 

 value of the rose is far different from what it was of old, though 

 as to varieties, I remember seeing a rosery of, I think, 400 sorts in 

 the gardens of Cassiobury, more than sixty years ago. The suc- 

 cessful cultivation of the rose on either side of the county, and 

 under corresponding conditions, is not without interest, and could 

 scarcely be passed over without notice. 



There are doubtless other products which have not suggested 

 themselves to me, and some to which I have done scant justice. 

 For these and other shortcomings I must plead a long absence from 

 residence in my native county, though the same excuse cannot be 

 pleaded for the imperfect account of those 1 have ventured to bring 

 before you. The chief characteristic of the county is that it has 

 attractions which make it especially residential ; it has no grand 

 geological or physical features, no mountains or lakes, no mines, 

 few lofty chimneys. It has its palatial seats, surrounded with 

 beautiful and extensive parks, and its villas and humbler cottages 

 daily springing up, as at Watford ; it is gifted, nay blessed, with a 

 soil and atmosphere proverbially healthy, refreshing and invigorat- 

 ing many a hard- worked citizen of London ; a naturally pure source 

 of water underlies a great portion of its surface, a large volume 

 of which it parts with by copious springs of unchallenged purity, 

 to supply a large portion of the ever-increasing population of the 

 metropolis, which it rivals, and in some sort excels, in that it now 

 is dignified by a city of its own, bearing a name linked with 

 the undying memory of the past, and sanctified by the sufferings 

 and blood of the proto-martyr of Britain. 



