Ja]y 3, 1873. ] 



JODRNAL OF HOaTIGULTUfiE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



detached portions, necessitated from the difficulty of securing 

 ■a sufficient area in a ring fence. In all it measures over forty 

 acres. In an establishment of this extent we expect to find a 

 great deal. There is, of course, the ordinary nursery stock of 

 ■forest trees, hedge plants, and such shrubs and flowering trees 

 as are usually planted for the ornamentation of grounds ; bnt 

 besides these there is a very full collection of trees and shrubs 

 snch as are nsed to form arboretnms, and what is more sur- 

 5)rising in the present day, Mr. Wheeler has preserved and 

 -added to his long-existing collection of herbaceous plants, 

 ■which cannot be less in number than two thousand species and 

 varieties. These he continues to cultivate with all his wonted 

 assiduity — not starved things in No. (50-pots, but largo masses 

 planted out in the open borders after the fashion of botanical 

 collections, whereby the habit and full character of the plants 

 can be easily judged of. The glass houses contain the ordinary 

 stovo and greenhouse plants, but there is a specialty in the 

 Calceolarias grown by Jlr. Wheeler which must be seen to 

 be appreciated. The strain he has succeeded in obtaining 

 is a very dwarf-habited plant not more than G to '.) inches high, 

 producing a mass of flowers like a head of Cauliflower, remark- 

 able in the size of the flowers, in their colours, and markings. 

 This is the finest strain of Calceolarias we have ever seen. 

 We cannot undertake to mention, far less to describe, all we 

 saw at Mr. Wheeler's ; but we can promise those who have a 

 Jove for plants, and who are not " bedders-out " ouly, if they 

 pay a visit to Warminster and call on Mr. Wheeler they will 

 be amply repaid, however far they may have journeyed. 



There is a good healthy gardenin::; spirit of emulation about 

 Warminster. Eoses and Rhododendrons are here in the ascen- 

 dant, and here, too, resides oar excellent friend and correspon- 

 dent, Mr. Hinton, who, while he is not engaged in ministering 

 to the physical and sanitary well-being of the population, may 

 be found tending his choice collection of Roses, and otherwise 

 storing his mind with gardening lore to be dispersed for the 

 benefit of all living thi-ough the pages of our .Journal. 



The private garden of Mr. Smith, a resident in the town, is 

 well worth seeing at this season of the year. In acreage it is 

 not extensive, but is of good size for a villa garden. The great 

 feature here is a bank of Rhododendrons and Azaleas, which 

 even Knaphill and Bagshot could not surpass. There are also 

 some good specimens of Conifers and other ornamental trees, 

 and especially a handsome Purple Beech. Mr. Smith's specialty 

 is Roses, and these he cultivates to perfection. Such flowers 

 of Marechal Niel must be seen and not described. No wonder 

 -that in the "election of Roses" so skilfully conducted by 

 Mr. Hinton, Mr. Smith should have placed the JIarechal at 

 the bead of the poU, for we never saw such Roses. Mr. Scott 

 has also a good Uttle garden upon which he bestows great 

 care, and in which, besides a nice collection of stove and green- 

 house plants, he cultivates very successfully a choice collection 

 of Roses. 



irEYTESEUKy. 



While at Warminster we took the opportunity of running 

 •down to Heytesbury, a quiet, secluded, pretty, little village, 

 nestling under one of the southern slopes of Salisbury Plain, 

 and a quondam borough disfranchised at the first Reform Bill. 

 Here, at Heytesbury House, is the residence of Lord Heytesbury, 

 situated in a beautifully wooded park, which, like that at Rood 

 Ashton and other parks in the county, would be improved if 

 some of the trees were thinned-out, and those left were thrown 

 more into groups. The fact is that some of these parks 

 assume more the aspect of forests than parks, through a 

 jadiciouB arrangement of the trees having been unattended to. 

 At Heytesbury there is ample material to work upon, and beau- 

 tiful as the park is, a judicious thinning would add still more 

 to its beauty. 



Gardening at Heytesbury is at present in a transition state. 

 The old garden, which was an extensive walled-in space, was 

 situated on the north side of the house ; but the present lord 

 being desirous of including this in the park, and removing the 

 Rarden farther from the house, a new one is in the course of 

 formation on the opposite side of the turnpike road which 

 passes through the estate from Warminster to Salisbury, and 

 as yet little progress has been made with it. We have there- 

 fore little to say about the gardening of Heytesbury, which has 

 for the last thirty-eight years been well presided over by 

 Mr. Rose. 



Returning to Warminster by rail, the next attraction which 

 commands attention is 



I.ONGLE.tT. 



Longleat, or Langlcte, is the princely residence of the Marquis 



of Bath. It is in the parish of IToruingsIiani, and is the 

 domain ouce belonging to a St. Augustine Priory, dedicated to 

 St. Radegund. The Priory was dissolved by Henry VIII., iind 

 the estate granted to John Horsey, and in the year following he 

 conveyed it to Sir John Thynne, ancestor of the family whose 

 property it has continued. He built Longleat, beginning it 

 in lo(i7, and nearly finishing it in 1580, in which year he 

 died. Details of all ho accomplished are in Hoare's " Modern 

 Wiltshire," but we must only record here that " he made a 

 garden and orchard where part of the present garden is, and 

 planted an orchard and Hop yard where the Chestnut grove 

 now is." 



It is said that the drawings of the mansion wore furnished 

 by an Italian architect, and that .John de Padua, " Devizor of 

 his Majesty's buildings " to Henry VIII., was Clerk of the 

 AVorks. The Elm avenue to Frome was formed by one of his 

 successors, murdered in 1G82, but the mansion was completed 

 by his successor. The planting of the park was confided to 

 " CapabiUty Brown," and 50,000 trees are said to have been 

 planted annually during several years. 



It is live miles from Warminster, and about the same dis- 

 tance from Frome. Approaching it from the former, the park 

 gates are reached less than two miles from the town, and 

 from the gates to the house is rather over three miles, through 

 woods of fine timber, the road winding and undulating so as to 

 command the splendid views which, from the elevated posi- 

 tion of this part of the park, are to be seen from various 

 points. This road is wide with broad margins of grass on 

 either side, from which green glades occasionally penetrate 

 the woods, relieving the dull monotony of the continuous 

 margin of trees. If a little more were done in this way, the 

 approach ou the Warminster si(fe might be very much im- 

 proved. Here and there, and at certain distances along the 

 route, large masses of Rhododendron ponticum have been 

 planted. These extend far away among the timber, and on 

 the occasion of our visit they were in their greatest beauty. 

 Lord Bath appears to take ranch pleasure iu this mode of ile- 

 corative planting, to which are added at intervals single speci- 

 mens of the most ornamental Conifers. AVithiu a mile of the 

 house the road begins to descend abruptly till it enters a wide 

 richly-timbered valley intersected by a stream, ou the farther 

 side of which the house is seen in all its stately grandeur. j\.s 

 we approach it we find there are no dressed grounds to pass 

 through in order to reach the entrance front, for the park 

 comes close up to the house, and the road, which from its 

 appearance and the freedom with which Lord Bath permits 

 the public to use it, is more like a highway. And here we take 

 this opportunity of testifying to the self-denying Uberality of 

 this estimable nobleman ; possessed as he is of one of those 

 grand ancestral domains of which Great Britain only can boast, 

 and which he ha'j a perfect right to reserve to his exclusive 

 private use, he nevertheless throws the roads and the park 

 open for the public benefit, that they may roam about and 

 enjoy the amenities of the locality as much as he does himself. 

 Some, we were told, not unfrequently have the bad taste to 

 pic-nic under the trees immediately iu front of the principal 

 entrance, and such is the courteous bearing of the family 

 towards these intruders that they are never interfered with. 

 In short, the inhabitants of Frome and Warminster and the 

 surrounding country have this m.ignilicent park kept up for 

 the public benefit, and we trust they duly appreciate the 

 boon. 



Having now met Mr. Taylor, the competent head of the 

 gardening department, we were conducted over the principal 

 parts of the grounds. 



When we visited Longleat thii-ty years ago, there was on the 

 north side of the house a flower garden of elaborate pattern, 

 designed by the then Marchioness of Bath. It might h.ave 

 been regarded as the forerunner of all tho modern styles of 

 flower gardening, and it showed an originality of invention 

 and a skill of adaptation which the g.arden-designers of our 

 own day have not surpassed. This, however, has been cleared 

 away, and a new arrangement has been adopted, which is being 

 carried out by Mi-. Gibson, jun., in conformity with tho views 

 of the Marquis, who is taking great personal interest in tho 

 new works. Other great changes are being made in tliis part 

 of tho grounds, which when completed will be highly orna- 

 mental. Bounding the flower garden on the north is an old 

 orangery of the origin.al type, a substantial structure with a 

 slated roof and windows only in front, such as were erected 

 from the beginning to tho middle of tho last century. In this 

 tliere are somo very large Camellias of the olden timo which 



