110 



JOOUNAL OF HORTICULTUSE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



I Februaij -23, 1877. 



lationB between the humidity of the batl; and that of the wood 

 r.re so constant that a useful classification could be based on 

 them. It apppare, farther, that the smallest amount of water 

 contained by the branches of certain trees, as, for inelaEce, 

 the Fir, is observed duiicg the teason when the vepetation i3 

 in fullest vigour, and that this circumstance, as well as some 

 other important tacts, is in ulose relation with the development 

 of leaves. Altogether tLe reFearchfs, which are yet far from 

 being completed, promise to diEclose, and probably explain, a 

 variety of very ilatereEtiug facts. — {Nature.) 



PRIMULA INTEGRIFOLIA. 



SixcE attention ha9 been more particularly directed to old 

 species of garden flowers, this somewhat rare Primula has been 

 inquired for. Only a few of the modern c^inJeners know this 

 plant, and fewer pofK?6sit. Not that tulllcient time has not 

 elapsed for its increase, 

 for it was known and was 

 probably more plentiful in 

 Phillip Miller's time than 

 it is now ; at any rate it 

 is alluded to by that old 

 author, who quotes de- 

 scriptions of it by Haller, 

 Soopoli, Jacquin, and 

 others. It is a dainty gem 

 from the Swiss, Pyrenean, 

 and Austrian mountains, 

 having somewhat of the 

 habit of P. auricula, but 

 flowers perhaps less freely 

 than that species. In fo- 

 liage it is perfectly distinct. 

 The colour of the flower 

 is a deep rosy red, with a 

 white centre and yellow 

 anthers. It is a hardy 

 plant, but cannot endure 

 stagnant water, and ia 

 worthy of the shelter 

 afforded by rugged stones 

 or rockwoik. lilr. (K F. 

 ■Wilson ia succestf ul in the 

 culture of many delicate 

 alpine plants, by protect- 

 ing them with stones set 

 on edge, forming trian- 

 gular recesses for choice 

 species. Mr. Matthews of 

 We8ton-snpcr->[are has also provided earthenware protections. 

 which cannot fail to be useful for " old and rare " alpine plants 

 of low stature and subject to injury by prolonged wet. A 

 plant of P. integrifolia was figured in the "Botanical Maga- 

 zine" more than half a century ago from a specimen raised by 

 Mr. Loddigea from seeds which had been i^tut from Auatiia. 

 It is readily increased by oiLsets of the roots, which are pro- 

 duced freely ; the plant, in fact, may be said to grow more 

 freely than it flowers, atill it is a " dainty alpine gen " worthy 

 of notice. 



WORTLEY HALL, 



THE r.ESIDlvNCE OF KABL OF WHARNCLIFFE. 

 Tms grand old Knglish mansion is siluate^ in the midst of 

 a thickly populated district, nice miles from Sbeftield and five 

 from Barnsley. The Hall is a fine stone mant ion, which covers 

 nearly an acre of ground, and is encircled by verdant lawns 

 and thiiving shrubberies. The Earl of Wharncliffe is this 

 owner of other estates, as extensive as Wortley, in Scotland 

 and the north of England, besides possessions in Cornwall and 

 elsewhere; hut the Wortley estita is the most valuable, ou ac- 

 count of its coal and other minerals. In the seclusion of the 

 parks, which extend around the Hall on every side, the 

 stranger would never suspect that he was in the centre of one 

 of the most densely populated industrial districts in England, 

 and that underneath the very ground on v.hich he stood there 

 was for liules in all directions a working population, day and 

 night, nearly as nuiuerous as that a'^ove ground. Though 

 none of the pit shafts or villages, or even a bouse, are visible 

 from theHall,b£can?pof the surrounding woods, the pit "work- 

 ing's" are pushed up to within a few hundred yards of it, and 



Fie. 1!>.— PniM 



Eo near the surface do they come insomeplaeea that the aonnd 

 of the colliers' mattocks can be heard from the surface, while 

 the colliers can bear the travellers' footstfpa overhead. This 

 is near the "outcrops" however, for in oilier directions the 

 coal seams descend rapidly to a depth of some -JOO yards. Not 

 far off is the fatal Oaks Colliery and Swaith r\laiu, which with- 

 in the last few years have rntombcd at leasi seven hundred 

 victims, besides oilier explosions, brirging the destruction of 

 human life up to nearly one thousand. 



The present Hall ia a comparatively modern structure. The 

 original mansion (Wharncliti'e Lodge) was built in I.JIO by 

 S.r Thomas Wortley, that he might have the pleasure of hear- 

 ing the wild duck's bell, a sylvan sound that appears to have 

 been very pleEsing to our accsttors. Tbis lodge, a part of which 

 still stsnJF, was at WharnclilTe Chase, about three milea from 

 the present Hill, and now forms a deer paik 1000 acres in 

 extent. H;re also is Whaixc'ill'a Oak Wood, which comprises 

 about 2200 acres of land, 

 and is said to be the most 

 extensive in England, and 

 Wharncliffe Crags, the 

 traditional home of the 

 " dragon of Wantley," 

 which ate up " geese and 

 cattle," and everything 

 that came in its way, 

 "Save tbe atones poor Jack which 

 it ooulii i;ot cjack. 

 And voii'll tinij them there oa 

 thi hill." 



Through the kindness 

 and liberality of the Earl 

 of Wharncliffe nearly the 

 whole of tbis vast tract ia 

 absolutely free to the pubUo 

 three days in the week, 

 and Worlley station ia a 

 regnUr depTit for "spe- 

 cials " during the summer 

 ! oason .bringing thousands 

 from Manchester, Liver- 

 pocd, and Yorkshire. It is 

 the birthplace oi the Hon, 

 Edward Wortley Monta- 

 gue; and thcHCComplishtd 

 Lady Mary Wortley Mon- 

 tague, ancestress of Loid 

 Wharncliffe, spent a con- 

 isTEr,i;n [,i,n. siderable portion of her 



time at Wharncliffe Lodge, 

 from which port of her correspondence is dated. She it was 

 who iutroduL-ed inoculation into this country from the east, 

 and which led eventual'y to l>r. .Tenner's famous discovery of 

 vaccination. Lady Mary first experimented upon her own little 

 sou, who was icoculated from a Turk. This boy afterwards 

 btoame the famous " Tuik Wortley," and died, it is said, in 

 the Mahommedan faith. I saw a h.aU-Uugth portrait of this 

 member of the family in his Tuikish robes hang in the Hall, 

 and I can say a " p?ifect Turk " he looks. 



From the top of Wharncliffe Crags, more than 1000 feet 

 above the sea level, the spectator gazes upon one of the most 

 extensive and perfectly panoramic views in England— hill and 

 dale, wood and water here all unite to make one of the most 

 beautiful rural scenes imaginable. Far down in the valley of 

 the I'on below the landscape is spread out before you like a 

 map, and away beyot;d risej the Yorkshire hills, which foini 

 pait of tho "backbone" of England. The crags, as they 

 are called, form a precipitous ledge of rock^ some three miles 

 lorg, and tvtiywhere lifted and rent in the most irregular 

 manner. They remind one of Salisbury Crags near Kdinburgb, 

 only that the top3 of the ridge seem to have toppled over at 

 its upheaval anel rolled down into the valley btlow, which U 

 tver,i where strewn with huga fiagmi'uts of rock, many of ihem 

 perhaps .jO or 100 tons in weight. Passengers from Loudon to 

 Manchester i ia the Great Xortberii raihvay pass through 

 five or six miles of Wharnclilf j Wood ; at the bottom of the 

 valley and on both sides of the line great boulders are to bo 

 seen scattered in every direction, but they aie now green and 

 mossy, and half concealed with I'eius and undergrowth. 



With this brief description of the extensive woods, and 

 park', and crags of Wharncliff'd Chase we now retrace our 

 steps and tnrn to the modern gaidena of Wortley Ilall. I 



