December ■£,, 18«6. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



487 



brought her to the bedside, and the body was burned in the 

 fire of the chamber. On a following night the midwife was 

 again blindfolded, placed on the pillion, and put down at her 

 cottage door. " Wild Darrell " was tried and convicted for 

 that murder ; the principal witness against him being the mid- 

 wife. She described the kind of road they seemed to travel, 

 the apparent distance, tho water thoy forded, and, above all, 

 she produced a piece of the bed-curtain which she had cut 

 from it as she watched by the bedside. It corresponded with 

 and litted a holo in a bed-curtain at Littlecote. She described 

 the bedroom before she was again taken to it, and she identi- 

 fied " Wild Darrell " as the murderer of the infant. Its mother 

 was his wife's waiting woman. 



Though convicted he was pardoned, and Sir John Popham, 

 Lord Chief Justice, who tried him, became the possessor of 

 Littlecote. " Wild Darrell," as he passed from its domain, 

 was thrown from his horse and killed at a place still known as 

 " Darrel's style." 



The bedroom in which tho murder was committed is on the 

 front of the house opposite to that shown in the accompanying 

 drawing, and the corroborating bed-curtain was not destroyed 

 until a few years since. 



These pages are not a fitting place for discussing for what 

 consideration Sir John Popham became Lord of Littlecote, nor 

 will the changes be here traced that time and taste have 

 wrought in the grounds around. 



At present the park is entered through a lodge-gate near 

 Chilton, up an avenue of very old Elms, now going fast to 

 decay. Nearly half a mile has to be passed over before coming 

 to the entrance-gates, from which extends a fine-cut Yew 

 hedge hiding the boundary-wall. On each side of these gates 

 is a large circle of turf around which passes the gravelled 

 carriage approach to the front door. In the centre is about 

 half an acre of grass-plot, with a sundial in the middle. Each 

 side of this entrance is very tastefully planted with very old- 

 fashioned shrubs, and in the centre, near a greenhouse of tho 

 olden time, is a very tastefully laid-out garden filled with a 

 fine collection of herbaceous plants. At one end are two very 

 large Tulip Trees with seats around them. At the back is a 

 raised terrace commanding a view over all the south-front 

 ground. Leaving this, let us to the west end of the house which 

 the engraving shows. This part of the garden is about half 

 an acre, with a geometrical garden for bedding-out plants ; and 

 on the south side are two large houses, one a stove, the other 

 an intermediate house for supplying the greenhouse with 

 flowering plants. 



The south front of the dwelling-house is much covered with 

 Pears, Figs, Pomegranates, and Roses. Before them is a six- 

 feet border for bedding-out plants. 



_ Next is the chapel-yard. It is a square piece of gravel, each 

 side, measuring about 20 yards, with a border before each for 

 evergreens on the north side, and Chrysanthemums on the 

 south side. The wall is occupied chiefly with Figs. This part 

 covers about four acres altogether. 



Next is a square walled-in garden of two acres more, one 

 part for bush fruit and Strawberry-ground, and the south part 

 containing the forcing department with two long ranges of 

 forcing-houses, one range vineries and Peach-houses, the other 

 for fruiting Pines, and in each a very choice collection of most 

 of the best varieties. In the front of these houses are two 

 ranges, one for succession Pines and suckers, the other range 

 for Cucumbers and Melons. 



The east wall of this garden has Peaches, &c, the west 

 Pears and Plums. At the west end is the gardener's cottage, 

 very tastefully built about sixty years since. 



On the other side of this garden is the Wilderness, laid out 

 on a French plan. A few years ago this was quite a thicket, 

 but now it has been broken up and planted with vegetables 

 and Filberts standing here and there, but the Wilderness still 

 remains. 



Beyond the Wilderness is the north terrace, which is a very 

 fine surface of grass covering half an acre. 



At the bottom of the Wilderness is a Holly hedge separating 

 it from two long flower-borders and three long grass walks. A 

 fine trout stream runs the remaining length of the garden. 



Then come three walls. The east is a Pear wall, and the 

 west is a wall for Plums and Cherries. The south wall has 

 upon it Apricots, with a 14-feet border for early Strawberries 

 and early Peas. This part occupies four acres. 



Then occurs another square walled-in garden of about two 

 acres, known as " The Orchard." There is a very large carp 

 pond in it, qnite hid from the garden by two Filbert hedges, 



and Quince trees hanging over tho water. On the north wall 

 are trained Morello Cherries, on the west wall are Coo's Golden 

 Drop Plums, and on the east wall a mixture of Peaches, Pears, 

 and Plums. 



There aro two orchards well stocked with very large produc- 

 tive trees. Something like 150 sacks were gathered from them 

 at a time when in their prime. 



The park is very large and beautifully timbered. About six 

 hundred deer range within it. 



The accompanying drawing shows the old greenhouse, the 

 library, the chapel, and the billiard-room, with a side view of 

 King William's room, and three bedrooms in the centre. 

 " King William's room" is that in which be slept when : .1 

 vancing upon London to the dethroning of James the Second. 



FIGS. 



Two or three years ago I saw at Chiswick a good-sized house 

 devoted to the examination of all the varieties of the Fig winch 

 the Royal Horticultural Society were able to procuie. It was 

 understood that synouymes were to be rectified, and the nomen- 

 clature of the fruit placed on a satisfactory basis. May 1 ask 

 whether any report has yet been published, and if so whether 

 we may hope to see it transferred to your pages ? — G. S. 



[We believe some progress has been made at Chiswick in 

 determining the synonymes of Figs ; but as last year was the 

 first that was attended with any success, and that only partial, 

 it is probable that no report will be made till after another 

 season's experience.] 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 EXAMINATIONS. 



On Tuesday and Wednesday last the first of the examina 

 tions of gardeners by the Royal Horticultural Society was held 

 in the council-room at South Kensington. Eighteen "candidates 

 had sent in their names, but four of these having retired, the 

 number that appeared was fourteen. Six of these were 

 students from the garden at Chiswick, four were from the 

 Royal gardens at Kew, and the remaining four were from 

 private gardens. Three went in for the examination to qua- 

 lify them as Associates of the Society, and the others competed 

 for certificates. 



We haVe reason to believe that the result of the examina- 

 tions has been most satisfactory, and highly encouraging. 



SUPPLY OF SEEDS. 



In your Number for Jauuary 31st, In:;-",, you have—" Amongst 

 the wonders of the age is the price at which our leading seed 

 merchants send out their seeds." True, the moderate price is 

 wonderful, but amateur gardeners could be further benefited 

 by a greater reduction — viz., by half the quantity being in the 

 package, and thus each being sent out at half the price, and 

 so they could obtain two sorts instead of too much of one. 

 What is the use of my having two-and-sixpence-worth of 

 Hibiscus when one-shilling's-worth would be more than 

 enough? — Seeds, Cloyne, Co. Curl;. 



WORK FOR THE Yv r EEK. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Little can be added to previous directions under this head. 

 The operations one week are but a repetition of what has been, 

 and still will be, necessary for some weeks to come. It is truly 

 said that " necessity has no law," and it may as justly be said 

 that most of our operations at this season have no law as re- 

 gards the time of performance, that being entirely dependant 

 on the state of the weather. Common sense will suggest to 

 every one desirous of excelling, that no opportunity should be 

 allowed to slip by of getting the soil in a favourable state for 

 the reception of the various crops which must soon be com- 

 mitted to it, and as the basis of success is allowed by all good 

 practical gardeners to be a thorough system of drainage, no 

 time should he lost in attending to this most material point. 

 Whatever is done should be done well. We would never allow 

 a drain to be put down that was likely to become deranged 

 in its operation, as the good that might otherwise be derived 

 from it would be nullified by the difficulty of ascertaining where 



