July 38, 186b. ] 



J0T7RKAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



73 



Meredith cut the Grapes which so astonished the visitors 

 at the Royal Horticultural Society's Gai-den on July 1st, and 

 for whicifi he obtained the first prize. Perhaps some of 

 your readers are not aware that Garston is six nules distant 

 fi-om Liverpool. Omnibuses leave Castle Street every half- 

 hour for Garston, and excursion trains are running from 



nearly all parts of England to Liverpool, affording gar- 

 deners a good opportunity of visiting the above place. The 

 other vineries. Pine-pits, ic, are very ex-tensive, and contain 

 very fine shows of Grapes in later stages, but the one house 

 alone is worth a journey of a hundred miles to see. — 

 W. L. K. 



PLAN OF ONE OP THE FLOWEE GAEDENS AT PENTILLIC CASTLE, C'OENW.y.L. 



1, 8, IS, 23. Tom Thumb Geranium. 



2, 7. 17, 22. Purple Peiunia. 

 10, II, H, 15. Saponaria. 

 12, 13. Heliotrope. 



9, 24. Calceolaria fioribunda (which has been I 



uiit all the winter), 

 ■'i, 4, 18, 21. Geranium Flower of the Day. 

 3, 6, 19, 20. Geranium Manglesii. 



In irrass border.— All the small circles Calceo- 

 laria .lurea floribunda. 

 2.'), S2, 30. 37. 4fi. 51, 41, 39. Ivv-leaved Geranium. 

 27, 4S, 24, 41. Lobelia. 



HAEDY DECIDUOUS TEEES. 



Fine old trees connect the present age with the many 

 that have gone before it, and remain, as it were, a living 

 chronicle of the many revolutions of society that have oc° 

 curred during then- growth. It is, therefore, with no 

 ordinary interest that we ought to look on such trees, 

 venerable alike in appearance and in the associations they 

 call up, and we ought to regard their loss as that of old 

 friends when accident or misfortune deprives us of them. 

 Fortunately of late years the laudable desu-e to retain those 

 emblems of the past has greatly increased, as well as the 

 love of other objects of antiquity. There is no reason 

 why an old work of natm-e should not find the same favour 

 as does an old work of art — a remnant of masonry is 

 certainly not more an object of just interest than an aged 

 Oak. The latter, doubtless, bears the mark of time, and 

 if in a state of decay is looked on with feelings of interest ; 

 the other is regarded with regret that the barbarous usage 

 of a former generation should have left us so little of a 

 pOe we gaze on with admu-ation. But old trees and old 

 buildings are not unusually associated together, and nothing 

 can keep company with greater harmony than those two 

 relics of foi-mer times ; not all the wealth of the present day 

 can give that grandeur to a building which is often afforded 



by the old trees by which another structure of less preten- 

 sion is suiTounded. 



How many of the abodes of our nobility are not less re- 

 markable for the venerable appearance of the trees in their 

 parks than for their dwellings. Who has not often heard 

 of, and admired too, the stately Oaks, the sombi'e Beeches, 

 and magnificent Ehiis, with which a park is studded ? and 

 while the mind is admu'ing theii' beaiTties as the visitor 

 approaches the abode of the owner, a feeling of respect is 

 engendered for bygone generations who have left such lega- 

 cies to the present one. 



Fine old trees also give an importance to a place which 

 wealth cannot command; for however cleverly constructed 

 the machines u\ay be which the various inventors have 

 patented for the purpose of transplanting large trees, fine 

 old ones are beyond their power, and if such trees were 

 even moveable, they are not often articles on sale. 



With no ordinary interest, then, ought we to regard fine 

 old trees ; and any of om- readers who happen to know of 

 remarkable ones for size, woidd confer a favour on the read- 

 ing community by forwarding their dimensions. Trees of 

 unusual size are scattered far and wide, and they often 

 enough floiu'ish unknown .almost to any but to the limited 



