464 



JODBNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I Jane 15, 1876. 



ore hidd(n from sight amongst the mass of foliage. The 

 ground is boldiy undulated — is, in fact, a series of jutting 

 mounds and deep delle, but the principal promenades are per- 

 fectly Itvel. At certain points the avenues open into large 

 open planted spaces. Seats are provided with almost prodigal 

 liberality, and the main avenues are lighted with gas. There 

 •are cafes, and fountains, and music, the park affording a 

 delightful retreat for the thousands of citizens of every rank 

 and strangers from almost all countries who congregate within 

 its precincts in the days and nights of summer. There are no 

 prohibitory notices to " keep o£t the grass," no requests that 

 "visitors must not touch," &c., but all are free to etroU, and 

 ramble, or sleep, according to their tastes. It is a park 

 established for enjoyment and wholesome recreation, and 

 serves its purpose admirably. The trees are principally Elms — 

 alarge-leaved form of Ulmus oampestris (U. campestris major), 

 ■and are fine lofty specimens. There are also many splendid 

 examples of Planes and some Chestnuts, but Elms and Limes 

 predominate. 



Paiks in towns are frequently made too gardenesque, and 

 the promenades are too narrow and unshaded to afford that 

 easy freedom of enjoyment which is to greatly appreciated in 

 •summer by those who have been cramped and confined in the 

 stifling atmosphere of office and warehouse. Such persons 

 ■long for a retreat where Nature is seen and felt to predominate 

 over Art — where the artificial work of man is overshadowed 

 by the freer, bolder, grander expression of Nature's alluring 

 pictures. The park at Brussels may not in all respects be a 

 •model park, but it affords an excellent example of meeting the 

 requirements of citizens as a place of public resort, and that 

 it answers the purpose for which it was established is suffi- 

 ciently demonstrated by the thousands of viEitors who assemble 

 under its dense canopy of foliage. In the public parks which 

 are now being formed in Eogland (I do not allude to the great 

 London parks, which both in extent and variety are superior 

 i,o the parks in Belgium), trees are planted freely enough, and 

 •afford a shade so dense that the shrubs and flowers beneath 

 them Etrnggle for existence; but where shade is required for 

 ■those whom the parks were intended to benefit little or none 

 is afforded. The chairs and seats, as a rule, are placed on 

 "Walks where they cannot be occupied in comfort under the 

 broiling summer's sun. A striking example of this is seen in 

 the gardens of the Thames Embankment. Where the trees 

 are planted and shade will in due time be afforded there the 

 visitors cannot assemble to enjoy it, while the walks and seats 

 are perfectly unprovided with the means of shade, which is the 

 most prohibitory arrangement that could have been adopted 

 of rendering the gardens really enjoyable. The Brussels park 

 suggests that the first and greatest requisite in a public park 

 is delicious enjoyable shade — a suggestion which may well be 

 recorded, and one worthy of being kept in mind by those en. 

 gaged in or anticipating the formation of public parks in 

 England. So far as regards thorough sterling gardening none 

 was observed in Belgium at all comparnble with the practice 

 \?hich prevails in England ; but the Belgian parks by their 

 formation and keeping suggest useful lessons deserving of 

 being studied by those contemplating the formation of en- 

 elojures of the same nature and for the same purpose in the 

 vicinage of cities and provincial towns in England. The 

 Belgian parks all proclaim the same sentence — Keep out the 

 carved stones, the artistic terraces, the chilling artificiality of 

 formal garden treatment, and bring in the trees, the shade, 

 the er'jovable refreshing freedom of Nature's bolder embelliah- 

 ment— J. W. 



■WHICH IS THE BEST EARLY TURNIP? 

 Februaby the 24th was a day of bright sunshine with a 

 brisk wind, preceded and followed by a long spell of dull, 

 dreary, wet weather. I took prompt advantage of that bright 

 day to sow a quantity of seeds on a border specially prepared 

 for that purpose in the preceding autumn. Among other seeds 

 sown was a small bed of Early White Dutch Turnip, and 

 alongside it another of Eivrly White Stone or Six-week^ Turnip. 

 Well, the plants sprang up in due time and were thinned, but 

 uo contrast could be greater than that of the two beds at the 

 present time. The Dutch kind has yielded some capital little 

 Turnips for the past fortnight, and not a plant shows any 

 sign of bolting now; while the White Stone have all bolted to 

 seed without forming anything like a useful root, and to-day 

 (June 9th) an excellent dish of greens has been gathered 

 from the run-away tops. Now, I wonder what is meant when 



the White Stone is described as "keeping well?" Certainly 

 in future I shall revert to the good old White Dutch for 

 my earliest sowings, for had I depended entirely upon the 

 other kind this season a vexatious failure ■would have ensued. 

 — A KiicHEK Gaedesek, 



STUDLEY ROYAL, 



THE SEAT OF THE MARQUIS OF RIPON'. 



When in this neighbourhood it would have been a blame- 

 worthy omission not to visit this fine old place. Its kitchen 

 gardens and forcing houses are very extensive and well managed. 

 The flower garden is well and naturally laid out. There is a 

 magnificent park, which has also been laid out in the first 

 style of the landscape art ; and what is specially interesting 

 to many others besides the antiquary, it contains the splendid 

 ruins of Fountains Abbey. It would occupy too much space, 

 and the information would not he generally useful, if I were 

 to give in detail all the interesting features in the park and 

 the ruins of the Abbf-y. In passing through the park lodge 

 there is an avenue of Limes above a mile in length, and at the 

 end of the avenue is to be seen a handsome new church which 

 has just been erected ; indeed at the time of my visit it was 

 not quite finished. It is a very elegant example of the Gothic 

 style, and consists of a nave with aisles and a chancel. The 

 tower is surmounted by a spire 152 feet high. The foundation 

 of this structure was laid by the Marchioness of Eipon in Sep- 

 tember, 1871. To the left of the church is a lake covering 

 twelve acres, the banks of which rise abruptly, and are well 

 clothed with woods. 



Passing through the grounds by the lake we admire the skill 

 of the landscape gardener and note a few remarkable trees, 

 amongst them a number of splendid Norway Spruce, one at 

 least 136 feet high and about 13 feet in circumference near the 

 base. Close to the Spruce is to be seen a noble specimen of 

 the Pinus canadensis (Hemlock Spruce), quite GO feet high 

 and 7 feet in circumference. These and a number of large 

 examples of other species were planted about the year 1720. 

 Some very old Yew trees have anchored themselves in the 

 fissures of the rifted rocks, the roots of the trees crawling an 

 immense distance down their shelving sides in search of sus- 

 tenance. Through a subterranean passage partly built and 

 hewn out of the solid rock we reach the Octagon Tower, from 

 which we obtain a splendid bird's-eye view of the lakes and 

 grounds, and Studley Hall in the distance. 



Following the woodland paths and through a long avenue 

 of Beech and other fine timber trees, and catching glimpses 

 of a fertile mead, a silvery stream, and banks clothed with 

 luxuriant woods, we reach Anne Boleyn's Seat, and all at once 

 the magnificent proportions of Fountains Abbey burst upon 

 our view. I had seen many ruins of a similar character before, 

 and had viewed Melrose Abbey " by the pale moonlight ;" and 

 if the one at Melrose astonishes by the elaborate carving of 

 the "'prentice's window" and its chancel roof. Fountains 

 Abbey astonishes not only by the beauty of its architecture 

 but also by its immense size. 'Xhe ruins cover an area of 

 twelve acres. Some parts of the majestic structure are in a 

 good state of preservation, but the Abbot's house and certain 

 offices were nearly destroyed by a sacrilegious character named 

 Sir Stephen Proctor of Wareell, who built what is called 

 Fountains Hall in the time of King James I. at an expense of 

 £3000, although he obtained the stones frcm the walls of 

 the Abbey and the Abbot's house. At the north end of the 

 transept is the tower, a splendid structure in excellent pre- 

 servation. The height ia 1G8 feet 6 inches, and the internal 

 area of the base about 25 feet. Of the choir, the chapter- 

 house, the chaptl of the nine altars, the cloister court, and 

 the kitchen oflices with a fireplace sufficiently large to roast 

 a bullock and two or three sheep whole at one time, I must 

 refer the readers of this notice to an excellent guide-book 

 publiehed by Messrs. A. Johnson A Co., Eipon, and from which 

 some of the above dimensions have been token. 



We now retrace our steps, and arrive at the flower garden 

 and the dressed grounds under the charge of Mr. John Clark, 

 the head gardener at Studley Royal. The men were working 

 a Studley Royal lawn-mower on very long grass. It was a 

 small 12-inch machine worked very easily by one man. It 

 seemed to be a most efficient implement of its kind, and it is 

 also most creditable to the maker, being easily set, well finished, 

 and simple in its construction. From the terrace walk, IGfeet 

 wide and 150 yards in length, excellent views are obtained of 

 the sarronnding country. Eipon Minster is seen thiongh a 



