82 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( JqIj si, ISTiS. 



the back wall and climbers on the roof, and at present chiefly 

 filled with fine-foliaged plants. 



To the south-east of the mansion, in front of a terrace wall 

 with stone pillars and brick recesses, and having handsome 

 pavilions at each end, is the flower garden, of which the plan of 

 one sunk panel is given on the opposite page, the other half, 

 of course, corresponding. All the beds are surrounded by a 

 broad stone edging, and when their summer occupants are in 

 full bloom make a very effective display. The planting this 

 year is as follows : — 



10. Glowworm Creranium. 



11. Lord Derby Geranium. 



12. Lord Palmersfon Geranium. 



13. White Ivj-leaf Oerauium. 

 11. Viola corDuta and Cloth of Gold 



Geranium. 



15. Yellow (Euothera. 



16. Blue Lobelia and Gazania. 



17. Blue Lobelia, 

 l.s. Scarlet Ivy-leaf Geranium. 

 19. Dwarf Blue Ageratum. 



The other half is planted to correspond, although the va- 

 rieties used are in some cases different, and the long beds with 

 rounded ends have an elaborate chain pattern along the centre, 

 then come Calceolarias, pink Geraniums, blue Lobelias, and 

 Cerastium tomentosum. 



There is, besides, on the south side, a second terrace with 



1. Vase, surrounded with Le Grand 



Geranium. 



2. Manglesii Geranium. 



3. Purple Unique Pelargonium. 



4. Mauglesii Geranium. 



5. Manglesii Geranium intermixed 



with Verbena veuosa. 



6. Scarlet Tropteolum. 



7. Yellow Calceolarias. 



8. Mrs. Holford Verbena. 



9. Trentham Rose Geranium. 



another flower garden surrounding a handsome fountain facing 

 the centre of the upper terrace ; and a Rose-covered walk with 

 a rockery on each side leads westward. We now again ap- 

 proach the mansion, in front of which on this, the south, side 

 is a smooth-shaven lawn with single specimens of trees and. 

 shrubs dotted here and there in the foreground, clumps o£ 

 these at a greater distance, and farther off some old Elms. A 

 specimen of the Japanese Acer polymorphum was particularly 

 effective by its crimson foliage, though of course only of shrub- 

 like size ; we also noticed here and on the west side good 

 specimens of Araucaria imbricata, Picea Pinsapo, Abies Nord- 

 manniana, and a large Wellingtonia. Some rockwork, exe- 

 cuted by Mr. Pulham, of Broxbourne, next claims attention. 

 We have before had occasion to notice in connection with 

 Battersea Park how well he executes this sort of work, which 

 it must be confessed is one of the most difficult things to 

 manage well in landscape gardening. Where rocks naturally 

 exist the utilisation of them for ornamental purposes can gene- 

 rally be effected with ease and without much expense — where 

 nature does much art is the less required — but the artificial 

 arrangement of rocks in places where they do not naturally 

 occur is more frequently bungled than anything we know. The 

 biggest mountain that man can make is but a molehill to the 

 great upheavals of nature, nor would it be desirable, even if 

 we could attain it, to form any approach to a natural hUl in 



WbSlo.NillltT. 



our gardens ; but, on the other hand, more modest efforts 

 are apt to result in miniature caves that no one can go into, 

 masses of stones that a man and a barrow could take away in 

 a few hours, and for which there is no raison d'etre in a cul- 

 tivated place. Mr. Pulham in this instance has made the 

 rockwork so that it might be supposed to be the remains of 

 the quarry from which the stones had been taken to build the 

 house, and an excellent resemblance to a disused quarry the 

 place bears. " Made to puzzle the geologists of a future age," 

 Mr. Lucas, Mr. Holford's gardener, suggested ; but geologists 

 are a hard-headed as well as hard-handed race, and are not so 

 easily taken in. The rockwork has not been long completed, 

 and accordingly it has yet a raw and unclothed appearance, 

 but it has a natural look, and when its newness shall have been 

 mellowed by the hand of time, it will no doubt form a pleasing 

 feature. 



The extent of glass at Westonbirt is very large ; one com- 

 partment of the garden being reserved for the plant structures, 

 while the Peach houses and pits are placed elsewhere. Against 

 the south-aspect wall of this compartment are an Azalea house, 

 40 feet by 1.5, and four vineries, together amounting to ITiO feet 

 run, in which were excellent crops of Black Hamburgh, Mus- 



cat of Alexandria, and other standard kinds. A portion c-f 

 the outside border is covered with glass, and can be usefully 

 employed for temporary purposes. In front of the vineries 

 are nine ranges of span-roofed houses running north and 

 south, varying from 15 to 21 feet wide, which are exclusively 

 devoted to plant-growing, and more effectively arranged houses 

 we have never entered. The specimens were not large, but 

 they were well grown, clean, and in robust health, and we 

 must repeat their arrangement deserved the highest commend- 

 ation. The whole of these houses are heated by one of Gum- 

 ming & Edmonds's tubular boilers, to which is attached 

 7000 feet of pipe, but there is a spare boiler which is worked 

 month about with the other, and Mr. Lucas informs us that 

 the temperature of the water in the flow pipe in the coldest 

 night does not exceed l-J.?', so that he avoids that parching 

 atmosphere and those troublesome insect attacks which an 

 insufficient amount of piping and a highly-heated radiating 

 surface are sure to entail. By means of sixty-seven valves the 

 heat is so thoroughly under command that the coolest house 

 can be rendered the hottest, or the reverse, as circumstances 

 may require. Added to this the glass, woodwork, and other 

 fittings are of the best and most enduring character, and there 



