328 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ Octoijcr 27, 18S3. 



elevated on a lofty column so as to be seen from a great 

 distance, and erected to Ms memory, as the inscription tells 

 ns, by a " monming and grateful tenantry." 



From the green sward around the base of that statue, 

 kept as it ought to be with scrupulous neatness, and some 

 hundi-eds of feet above the water level, you look down on the 

 mansion and its offices, the Italian gardens, and pleasure 

 grounds, the lake and its pretty islands, and the silvery 

 specks of white swans spai'kling on its bosom, as if you were 

 examining the details of a map or the beauties of a favourite 

 painting. 



Southward stEl from this wooded hill of the monument, 

 a large width of elevated picturesque scenery extends for 

 miles, almost close to the town of Stone, abounding in such 

 numbers of beautiful green lanes or di'ives, that the stranger 

 could scarcely fail to lose himself in tUeiu, and so massive 

 are the groups of Furze and the ranges of Heather of dif- 

 ferent coloiu's, that but for these, perhaps, too well-kept 

 drives and the luxuriant fronds of the bracken, we might 

 have fancied ourselves wandering amid the bleak mountains 

 of the north of Scotland. Many of the trees in this waste 

 have been planted without any assistance from man ; but 

 much has also been done to add the beauties of diversity of 

 foliage to the scene, by planting masses of one kind of tree 

 in one place, and others quite clitferent in another prominent 

 place, though there has been much to contend with from 

 tlie somewhat wUd deer that conceal themselves amid the 

 Fern, and the flocks of rabbits that keep whisking out of 

 sight at every turn. The groups of most of the commoner 

 trees are doing well, and fine masses of Thorns, Laurels, 

 Hollies, and Ehododendrons, &e., are beginning to tell the 

 effects they wiU produce, whilst in other places the finer 

 of the Piue tribe, Ai-auoarias, and Deodars are thriving 

 delightfully. Upon such exposed heights they will have 

 little likelihood of being iniured by such frosts as those in 

 1860 and 1861, which destroyed so many fine specimens in 

 the low sheltered grounds in the vaUey. 



Amid such heights, woods, and wilds, it would be easy to 

 fix u]3on beautiful situations for a castellated mansion, com- 

 manding an extended view of the surrounding landscape, 

 that fact, as well as the strength of its position, forming a 

 security against the sudden fi-ay and tlie warlike raid. The 

 very tame, low position of the mansion, with no views fr'om 

 its windows but its own rich gardens, lake, and woods, and 

 no apparent means of defence, seem to speak to us of days 

 of peace, progi-ess, and an advanced state of civilisation, 

 in which ease of access and plenty of the conveniences and 

 luxuries of life are moi'e considered than the means to repel 

 a hostile attack. If, unfortvanately, amid the changes of 

 the futm-e such an attack should ever be made, it is to be 

 hoped that there would be no lack of defenders. The warm 

 heart blood of the tenantry that erected the monument still 

 coui'ses in the veins of then- sons. During the last great agi- 

 tation with which om- loved country was afflicted, rendered 

 aU the more distressing on account of the hardships and 

 privations so mtiny of the working jjeople were compelled 

 to endure; and when, amid the dense populations of the 

 potteries, there were mutterings about sacking the residences 

 of the gentry and helping themselves, to the lasting honour 

 of all concerned be it recorded, that gi-eat numbers of these 

 hard-fisted men from the potteries (I forget now the exact 

 number), without receiving a hint from any one, of 

 their own fi'ee will and accord, and withovit expected fee 

 or reward, marched to Trentham and constituted them- 

 selves a guard around the demesne, so that not even an 

 outpost and far less any of the rich treasures of rarity of 

 beauty and of art within the mansion should be touched by 

 the hand of the spoiler. One of the most deUghtftU signs, 

 nay, facts, of the present day is, that so many of our noljility 

 and gentry urged, no doubt, partly by feelings of benevo- 

 lence, biit chiefly by a deep impression of responsibility, 

 are practically acting as if they thoroughly believed that 

 the best security for their honours, and for the safety and 

 preservation of their property, was to be found in the com- 

 forts, the contentment, the warm heai-ts, and the aifectionate 

 sympathies of the working people in their respective neigh- 

 bourhoods. 



With this meagre outline, and omitting all notice of the 

 home farm and the large tracts of well-ciiltivated land held 

 by the tenantry, I shall now enter into more definite details i 



and chiefly as respects gardening in its varied branches. 

 I have ak'eady intimated that the kitchen gai'don is on the 

 east side of the mansion, but though close at hand nothing 

 of the latter is seen fi'om the former, except jjai-t of a lofty 

 ojjen tower fuUy 100 feet in height. One peculiai-ity is, that 

 unless when close to the walls, the kitchen garden is so 

 banked and flanked with shrubberies, and its main walks 

 are so skii'ted with flowers, that the idea of jileasiu-e grounds 

 is at first sight thrown over the whole. The entrance on 

 the north-east is by massive gates with huge stone balls on 

 the top of the pillars, and a drive through a shi-ubbery 

 takes the visitor up to the gardener's house, situated near 

 the middle of the north side of the main garde'-. On the 

 south and west sides of the house is an open spac j of gravel 

 enriched with raised beds, covered with Ivy, and planted 

 with Geraniums, aad centered with noble plants of Humea 

 clegans. The road from the entrance goes on v,-estward, at 

 the back of a range of lean-to buildings, with the main 

 range of glass houses in li'ont, facing the sun at about half- 

 past eleven. North of this roadway all the way from the 

 entrance-gate, but flanked and concealed pai-tly by shrub- 

 beries, and arrived at by crossing a brook, is a village or two 

 of plant-houses, forcing-pits, workshops, &c. These, again, 

 are backed by slu-ubberies, the cottage or children's gai-den, 

 and these by slu-ubs and jjlantations, concealing the mansion 

 and the river between until we get to it. 



The garden is said to be five acres in extent, and we 

 should imagine fuUy one-third of that to be under glass. 

 We should consider it very small for the wants of such an 

 establishment, but learned that most of the coarser vege- 

 tables were cultivated elsewhere. This permits of a greater 

 degree of regularity and of neatness than can always be 

 obtained in a garden where everything wanted must be 

 grown. Wh.atever may be said in praise of the mansion 

 nestled in the vale, and thus knowing but little of the huge 

 chimneys a few miles distant, eaily vegetables and fruits 

 find the disadvantage of such a low position, and in srich 

 close proximity to the river and the lake, with tlieu' attendant 

 fogs and frosts, disadvantages which only seiTcd to whet 

 into gi-eater activity the abilities and genius of a Fleming, 

 and the energy and the enthusiasm of a Henderson, -without 

 which accessories Trentham coidd never have held the posi- 

 tion it now does as to its gardening. Wlien we admire 

 results we should also think of the difficulties that have been 

 surmounted by drainage, superior cultivation, and never- 

 ceasing care. But even with all these, loads of fine 

 Ehododendrons and the finer of the Pine tribe were de- 

 stroyed in 18G0 and 1861, though escaping uninjured at 

 higher elevations. — E. F. 



{To be continued.) 



G^iEDEWEES' NAMES OF FLOWEES. 



I WAS very glad to see my reverend and most able brother 

 " D." of Deal, write as follows on the above subject : — " I am 

 not inclined to agree with the notion that we must pro- 

 nounce names of flowers as gardeners have done." 



With the utmost respect, and in some cases reverence for 

 the practical skUl and scientific knowledge of gardeners, yet 

 I humbly think it would be a i-etrograde day in horticulture 

 if gardeners' pronunciation of the names of flowers was 

 received by the classically educated as coiTCct. There would 

 aiise this among other difiicidties, " Where should the line 

 be drawn ':"" If the verdict of a peer's gai'dener was received, 

 why not that of his neighbour the squii-e's ? But hall and 

 rectory are often related, its inhabitants branches of the 

 same family: why not, then, the word of a clergyman's 

 gardener ? Again, if so, where should we stop ? I have con- 

 stantly heard gardeners call the Eose " Goaut des BataUles " 

 " Genty Battle," and even (it was a beer-loving fellow) 

 "Jolmny Bottle." I have also heard the "Bon Chretien" 

 Peai- called " Bun Christian." The other day a lady, very 

 pai'ticular about the con-ect pronunciation of names, told 

 me that her gardener would call " Cyclamens " " Sicklyuns;" 

 and ujion asking him to give them in future their right 

 names, he replied, " Well, ma'am, they are such ' sickly uns ' 

 that I think it is a very good name." 



Now these I at once grant are extreme cases ; but surely 

 it is right in this, as in all instances, to endeavour to raise 

 men to the correct standard rather than sink the standard 



