October 1, 1868. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



243 



of Sir John YoniiK, Kat. All tbe nnmarked white swanfl, four 

 hundrod in number, were then sei/od in pursuance of tlie 

 Queen's writ, for if found in a river unmarked they belong to 

 the Crown. Joan then pleaded that " there was time out of 

 mind a gumo, or lUght, of wild swans," belonging to the abbots 

 of the monastery of Abbotsbury ; that the swans wore not 

 marked, but the abbot marked some of the cygnets yearly, by 

 cutting olT part of the pinions, and these were for helping to 

 sustain the monastery's hospitality. She further pleaded that 

 Henry VIII. at the time of the monastery's suppression granted 

 the swannery to Giles Strangeways, Esq. Joan's plea prevailed ; 

 she was wedded to one of his descendants, and to his descen- 

 dants, now Earls of Ilchester, the swannery still appertains. 



Swans were especially valued by our ancestors, in whose 

 banqueting regard to quantity far surpassed daintiness as to 

 quality. This is testilied by the boars' heads, barons of beef, 

 and porpoises which loaded their oaken tables. So the law 

 specially protected the said swan for its cut-and-come-again 

 merit. It was the only bird that could be claimed by its owner 

 as a stray ; and he who stole one had to render to its owner as 

 much corn as was necessary to cover another swan hung up by 

 the beak, which, considering its length of neck, must be not a 

 few bushels. One of the standard dishes of the first course 

 for Henry VIII.'s dinner *' on a flesh day," was " swanne, great 

 goose, or storke;" and as early as the fifteenth century this 

 was the orthodox sauce or " Cn.vuDERX for Swannks : — Take 

 the lyver and al the offall and make hit clene, and let hit sethe, 

 and when hit is sothen, take hit up and pylce oute clene the 

 bones, and dresse the lyver and al the entraile, and chop the 

 best ; and take bredde steped in brothe, and drawo hit up with 

 the blode and brothe thurgh a streynour ; and do hit in a pot, 

 and let bit boyle, and do therto wyn, and a lytel vynegur, and 

 pouder of pepur, and of clowes, and of gynger, and serve bit 

 forthe." 



Foiled in my purpose I strolled back to Abbotsbury, and in 

 its churchyard near the door through which he passed into the 

 cburch, is a raised gravestone thus inscribed : — 



WILLIAM THOMAS HORNER, 



4th Earl of Ilchester. 



EOUN Ttit of may, 1795; died IOtii January, 1865, 



" The Memory of llie Just is Blessed." 



At one end of the gravestone is the family heraldic shield and 

 motto, *^Fairc snm rfm-," (To act without boasting) — by his 

 example especially appropriate, for no one looking at that grave- 

 stone, neighboured as it is by the greensward mounds over tlie 

 village dead, would think that a descendant of tbe Plantagenets 

 lies there. Yet so he was, for the Straugways come lineally 

 from one of the sons of Edward III. ; and William Thomas 

 Horner Fos-Strangways, whom that, stone commemorates, was 

 one of the most worthy of the race. He had long been em- 

 ployed in the diplomatic service of England ; and whilst acting 

 as Secretary of our embassy at Vienna in 1832 he noticed the 

 Pinus austriaca, or Austrian Pine, and introduced it into this 

 country. When Under-Secretary of State at our Foreign Office 

 be had the opportunity, and fully availed himself of it, to pro- 

 mote the acquirement of new plants ; and the Transactions of 

 the Eoyal Horticultural Society record the names of many 

 rarities which he contributed to its stores. When he retired 

 from public life ho made the culture of plants still more his 

 recreation. The mild climate of Abbotsbury rendered that the 

 favourite repository for his plant treasures, and this, and other 

 associations telling of a loving heart, prompted him to direct 

 that, though he died at Melbury, his last resting-place should 

 be near his mother in Abbotsbury churchyard. The best tes- 

 timony to the Earl's worth was this by Mr. McNeil, the gardener 

 at Abbotsbury — " He was liberal to his tenants and servants, 

 and a true friend to the poor." 



I had often heard of Melbury as tbe mansion of the Ilchesters, 

 but no one ever talked of their Abbots Castle residence. Tbe 

 keeper of the decoy first aroused my attention by saying, 

 " There ia a wonderful many strange trees in the garden." 

 Then I remembered a photograph of an Agave that flowered 

 there — but it is a photograph probably unknown except in the 

 cottage window of Mr. Green, the really clever photographer 

 at Abbotsbury. These facts combined made me resolve to see 

 the Earl's garden, and thoroughly well was I repaid for my 

 determination. 



Every great patron of plant collectors has some special mode 

 of enjoying the novelties they introduce. The late Duke of 

 Devonshire, for example, had them one at a time brought 

 before him as he eat in his easy chair, and he had the then 

 Mr. Paxton with it to talk over the plant's peculiarities. The 



Earl of Ilchester, on the other hand, had no delight in potted 

 ])lants, but be was unwearied in accumulating those into his 

 Abbotsbury garden which he thought might endure our climate. 

 The result' was before me, and never did I see such an accu- 

 mulation in a small garden in any other corner of the British 

 Islands. Mr. McNeil, the obliging and well-skilled gardener, 

 really bewildered me as be took mo from one shrub and tree to 

 another, planted without the elightest attempt at order, but 

 evidently stuck in as soon as received in any place where there 

 wan a vacancy. 



For tbe following list of some of the tree?, shrubs, and other 

 plants I am indebted to Mr. McNeil: — , 



Garrya mrtcropliylla 



(■llipticii, iiiiilo 



ellipticti. foinalo 

 Aralia lonsifolia, 12 ft. 10 in. 



trifoliata, 11 ft. 



Sbepherdii 



Sieboldi 



papyrifera 

 Eriobotrya japonica, 15 ft. 10 in. 

 Clethra arborea 

 Kerria japnnica 

 Cliantliiis puuiceus 

 Lauras indica 



coriacea. 



fretens 



canariensia 



borbonica 



reffia 



carolinensis, and others 

 Hovenia dulcis 

 StercuUa palmata 

 Lager*ti"cemia indica, 14 ft. 6 in. 

 In the shrubbery iu perfect 

 health, but has never flowered. 

 One on a south wall forthe List 

 twelve years is nowin beautiful 

 lt)loora for the first time. 

 Thea assamensis 



bohea 



viridis 

 Punica, red and white, flowering 



well. 

 Psoralea glandulosa 

 Pittosporum undulatum 



bracteolatum 



scoparium 



Mayii 



tobira, and others 

 Hex magellanica 



perado 



sen- at a 



ferox 



cras&ifolia 



fruf'tu-luteo 



balearica 



dahoou 



latifolia 



opaca 



vomitoria 



mexicana, and others 

 Carmichaelia australis 

 Quercus regilops 



japonica 



reticulata 



annulata, beautiful. And Al- 

 cock's. Turner's, Miller's, 

 and a great variety of Ame- 

 rican and other Oaks, fine. 

 Edwardsia microphylla 



macrophylla 



grandillora 



recvirva 



chrysophylla 

 Pistacia lentiscus 



narbonensis, and others 

 Nandina domestica, 11 ft. 

 Prinos glaber 



prunifolius 



Benthamia fragifera; Of lato 

 years fruited well, this seaBou 

 deficient, 

 Olea oxcelsa 



ilicifulia 

 Nerium ypleudous 

 Philesia b'lxifolia 

 Cantua dependens 

 Smilnx in variety 

 Escallonia ptoroeladon 



montevidensis 



organensia 

 Enrybia furfur.icea 

 Ceratonia siliqua 

 Myrtua bullata 

 Viburnum japonicum 

 Tetrantbera japonica 

 Drimys Winteri. 19 ft. 9 in. 

 Rhododendron Falconeri 

 Tasmannia arom-xtica, 6 ft, 

 Ceratopetalum apetalum 

 Mitraria coccinea 

 Myrsino africaua 



retusa 



bifaria 

 Rhynchospermum jasminoides 

 Cailicarpa purtiurea 



liinceolariii 

 Beaufortia purpurea 



decussata 

 Eucalyptus montana, 25 ft. 10 in. 



coccifera. 7 ft. 



cordata, 11 ft. 

 Magnolia grandiflora, standard, 



19 ft. 10 in. 

 Maudcvilla suaveolens 

 Physianthus albiens 

 Billardiera fruticoaa 

 Kadsura japonica 

 Deutzia gracilis 

 Dianella caerulea 



FERNS. 

 Cyrtominm falcatiun 

 Doodia caudata 



aspera 

 Osmunda spectabilia 



cinnamomea 



gi-acilis 



jnten'upta 

 Lomaria magellanica 



chileusis 



alpiua 

 Polystichum vulgare proliferum 

 Nephrodium acrostichoides 

 Adiantura fulvum 



Cunninghamii 

 Phyuiatodes Biilardieri 

 Pteris cretica 



longifolia 



serrulata 

 Asplenium decompositnm 



ebeneum 



fontauum 



Incidum 

 Microlepia novm-zelandije 

 Onoclea sensibilis 

 Woodwardia radicans 

 Plat>loma falcata 



I have not recorded these as specially rare ; but I do ask for 

 attention to the fact that the Loquat, Eriobotrya japonica, 

 quite a standard tree, Lagerstramia indica, the Theas, the 

 Pittopporums, Ilex vomitoria, Drimys Winteri, Pihododendron 

 Falconeri, the Callicarpas, Handevilla suaveolens, and Bil- 

 lardiera fruticcsa have endured many winters unprotected in 

 the shrubberies. I do hope, and all lovers of gardening will 

 hope, that the present Earl of Ilchester will enable Mr. McNeil 

 to extend the garden, and to give more space by judicious 

 shiftings and arrangements to the many beautiful specimens 

 suffering from overcrowding. They are truly worthy of the 

 outlay. — G. 



Pomegranates Ripening in the Open Air.— Mr. Daubuz 

 informs us that the Pomegranates have ripened this year out 



