October 7, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



281 



while the most nnpromisiDg will probably start into vigorous 

 growth if a free-growiug sort. 



It is unkind to be glad to findgther persons are as badly off as 

 yourself, but the testimony of so muny correspondents about 

 the uncertainty of Mareehal Kiel, tells me that the fault was not 

 mine that four plants mostcareluUy tended have ceased to live. 

 " Try again " is my motto, for it is such a beauty that any 

 pains are well bestowed to obtain a good plant. Last year our 

 best Rose-grower, with his own hands, to prevent disappoint- 

 ing me, put into Devoniensis and Gloire de Dijon stocks at 

 least a dozen buds, not one of which succeeded. When it takes 

 to the soil it will grow nearly as strongly as Devoniensis. In 

 Mr. Pavitl's garden here, whence orisinally the Ciirabiug De- 

 Toniensis was procured, Man'chal Nicl grows more freely than 

 any modern Hose, and his oldest tree is a sight, having many 

 shoots upwards of 6 feet long, this year's growth. He cuts 

 trusses of bloom, that show how well he understands its manage- 

 ment. From him I learnt that if you wish a Devonieusia to 

 grow strongly and retain its so-called climbing character, insert 

 buds from a free-growing branch. If, on the other hand, the 

 future tree is to he of a shorter and more compact character, 

 select buds from flowering and more stumpy side branches. I 

 have no doubt that this rule is of almost universal application ; 

 it is so in the case of Fear grafts. — J. S. B. 



OAK LODGE, 



The Eesidence of Jajies McHexhy, Esq. 

 The grounds, entered by a carriage drive from the Addison 

 Boad, Kensington, are of no great extent, but afford striking 

 evidences of wealth and luxury. The forms and figures are 

 all gently rounded off and unite softly with each other. Lawn 

 and gravel, shrub, tree, and flower, with all the less common 

 and more costly appendagf s appear to belong to one another, 

 and to fit into the place in which they occur. The idea of 

 size is not to be realised within narrow limits by mere sim- 

 plicity ; it is indefiniteness, giving the eye a number of points 

 to rest upon and recesses to explore, and giving the imagi- 

 nation a field for its active exercise, that produce the required 

 result. 



The conservatory attached to the house is furnished with a 

 large mirror set in an ornamental door-like frame which, seen 

 from the drawing-room, reflects and gives the appearance of 

 increased length and breadth to all the statues and floral orna- 

 ments the conservatory contains. Of these may be noticed 

 Dicksonia antarctica, 6 feet high in the stem, with fronds 

 10 feet long, various other Ferns, Camellias in pots, &c., and 

 the walls are covered with Plumbago capensis, Lapageria rosea, 

 Passiflora ImpC*ratrice Eugenie, &c. Marble statues occupy 

 niches, and china vases are tastefully arranged on the floor. 



On the garden or east front of the house is a terrace walk 

 with vases filled with flowers on the balustrades ; and the 

 narrow borders around, edged with stone, are planted with 

 Flower of the Day Pelargonium, with a bordering of the blue 

 Lobelia. The view from the house comprises the lawn, lake, 

 rockwork, clumps of trees, and single specimens, so disposed 

 as to produce variety without intricacy. As you pass along, 

 flower beds come into sight, with the lake and rocks, the latter 

 surmounted with shrubs and tall flowering-spikes of Yucca 

 filamentosa. backed with two large specimens of Wyoh Elms, 

 and in the distance by Holland Park woods. 



A vista to the right is composed of nine flower beds on grass, 

 four circles of which are filled with Calceolaria Kayii in the 

 centre, then Tom Thumb Pelargonium, edged with Cerastium 

 tomentosum ; two oblong beds with Christine Pelargonium, 

 edged with Crystal Palace Tropa;olum ; two beds with Bijou, 

 edged with blue Lobelia ; and the centre bed contains Coleus 

 Marshall! and C. Verschaffelti, edged with the Golden-feathered 

 Pyrethrum. In various vistas and recesses around the lake 

 that open up to view as you pass along the serpentine walks are 

 flower beds. One is planted with yellow Calceolaria and Tom 

 Thumb Pelargonium, edged with "blue Lobelia; another with 

 Calceolarias and Stella Pelargonium, edged with Gnaphalium 

 tomentosum ; small circular beds with Mrs. Pollock Pelar- 

 gonium, edged with the Golden Feverfew ; and a circular bed 

 divided into four parts, two of which were planted with Purple 

 King Verbena and two with Flower of the Day Pelargonium, 

 edged with Golden Feverfew. 



From a seat on rising ground beyond the ornamental rustic 

 bridge, a fine view is obtained of the lake, the rockery, the 

 Ivy-clad church of St. Barnabas on one tide, and on the other 

 a portion of the lawn, rising np like an amphitheatre to the 



distant shrubs, backed by the woods of Holland Park. The 

 lake itself, though small, is a source of variety, with its beautiful 

 changes of aspect, and the reflections of lawn, plant, and sky 

 which are so softly mirrored on its glassy surface. The pleasure 

 ground of a mansion can scarcely bo considered complete 

 unless it contains a piece of rockwork, either natural or arti- 

 ficial. There are, however, few persons who can imitate 

 natural rock successfully. Eocks where they exist naturally, 

 or where artificial ones are judiciously introduced, tend greatly 

 to beautify a piece of water. What can be more appropriate 

 than rocks for the high banks of a lake ? Here there is an 

 excellent example of rockwork, furnished with all the best 

 sorts of shrubs too numerous to name. Ivy and other climbers 

 overhanging the rocks, and from a seat in front of a waterfall 

 a pretty landscape view is obtained. The rockwork is on a 

 large scale, not one continued line, but broken at intervals, in 

 one part lost beneath the surface of the earth, and again rising 

 in another part and resuming its sinuous form. The method 

 of making artificial rockwork is to have every stone arranged 

 to suit the eye, and the interstices are then to be filled up with 

 any kind of rough mortar. Of course, fissures and similar 

 places intended for plants which are to cover the rock must 

 be left open, so that the roots may penetrate to the soil beneath 

 the stones. The next operation is to daub the whole mass over 

 with Eoman cement. 



A BeuriC Diel Pear tree growing high above the rockwork, 

 with a few Apple trees interspersed among the shrubs are con- 

 spicuous. I have often thought that there is no species of 

 tree that produces greater variety of form than the Pyrus 

 tribe ; indeed, it would be difficult to imagine any form of 

 deciduous tree that may not readily be found in one or other 

 of this interesting tribe. Fruit trees in shrubberies ought to 

 be more abundant than they are, for they are quite as orna- 

 mental as most of our deciduous trees and shrubs at present 

 in use, both in spring when in bloom and in autumn when 

 laden with fruit, for who is there who does not admire either 

 Apples or Pears ? For villa and small gardens in general there 

 is nothing equal to them for ornamental planting, either as 

 standards or bushes, intermixed with a few evergreens, to give 

 the garden a finished appearance in winter. 



If fruit trees, as in France, were planted along the high 

 roads and in the hedgerows instead of the useless pollards that 

 now disfigure them, we should have an abundance of useful 

 fruit and fewer complaints of pilfering. There are public path- 

 ways through many orchards in Kent, and through the market 

 gardens in the neighbourhood of London, and there are but 

 very few complaints of the loss of fruits or vegetables. 



The specimen house, 70 feet long by 20 feet wide, contains 

 about seventy Indian Azaleas. About fifty of them are from 

 2 to 5 feet in diameter, and G feet in height ; not one-sided, bat 

 cone-shaped, and feathered all round from bottom to top. 



Running east and west are two houses, each 120 feet long, 

 with a promenade walk and borders between, furnished with 

 handsome, spiral, young Box trees and other shrubs. The 

 first range is divided into early and late vineries and Peach 

 houses. The wood of the Tines in the early house is as fine 

 as could be wished, and in the late house there is a splendid 

 crop. The Peach houses are fine examples of good manage- 

 ment, which was proved this year by a prize at the May 

 Show of the Royal Horticultural Society. The other range in- 

 cludes the stove, intermediate house, and New Holland house. 

 In the stove were two splendid specimens of Allamanda grandi- 

 flora, with between seventy and eighty expanded blooms on 

 each, also Croton pictum, C. variegatum, the Cocoa-nut Palm, 

 large specimens of Ixoras, Bougainvillea glabra, covered with 

 its beautiful pink flowers ; Franciscea calycina, and Eucharis 

 magnifica, which had borne upwards of one hundred rose- 

 coloured racemes from 18 inches to 2 feet long. 



The other houses contained large specimens of Clerodendron 

 Thomsons; Balfourianum, Azalea sinensis, besides many va- 

 rieties of Azaleas and Ferns. In the New Holland house was 

 a miscellaneous collection of Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, Boronias, 

 itc. To the north of the house is a bank overlooking the lake, 

 which is planted with a row of Irish Tew, then Aucuba 

 japoniea, then a row of Berberis Aqnifohum, edged with Hyperi- 

 cum — a succession of shrubs as here displayed most suitable 

 for embankments. 



On the north side of a hedge in the kitchen garden are tem- 

 porary pits where the largo specimens of New Holland plants 

 are placed in the summer. Amongst them I noticed an Erica 

 depressa, 5 feet high and 4 feet in diameter ; Genetyllis fuchsi- 

 ! oides, G. tulipifera, Erica colorans tnbiflora, 4 feet in diameter ; 



