Jane 18, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



491 



scribed as " a cool, shrewd, and eiBcient man," (a character 

 which might be taken as descriptive of its present owner), 

 acquired it, together with Lathom, by marriage, and became 

 possessor of the Isle of Man by gift. It was his grandson 

 who, as second Baron Stanley, placed the crown of England on 

 the head of Henry VII. on the field of Bosworth, and was made 

 Earl of Derby. The glory of the house is, however, generally 

 considered to have been James, the seventh and " Great Earl 

 of Derby." He it was who married Charlotte de la Treraonille, 

 daughter of Claude, Duke of Thenars, whose heroic defence 

 of Lathom is so well known, and who has found, if not an 

 historian, at any rate a principal advocate, in Sir Walter Scott 

 in his " Peveril of the Peak." Coming down to later times we 

 have to notice that the grandfather of the present Earl greatly 

 enlarged the gardens at Knowsley, and was a devoted student 



of natural history. His collection of mammals and birds was 

 celebrated throughout Europe, and his museum now forms 

 part of the collections of the liiverpool Free Library. 



Those who approach Knowsley, as I did, from the Liverpool 

 side, fail to see it in its best aspect, for the grand entrance is 

 on the other side, close to the town of Prescot, where stand 

 two lodges with handsome iron gates, and where, as else- 

 where throughout the park, the motto of the Stanleys, "Sana 

 chancier," meets the eye. The park is seven miles in circum- 

 ference, beautifully wooded, but, to my mind, lacking those 

 grand features which distinguish some I know. This arises 

 in a great measure from the flatness of the district ; and the 

 extent of trees of course in such a case shuts out the view. 

 The house is a large and not very handsome building of various 

 periods, but is said to be comfortable and roomy. I suppose 



A COTTAGE AT KNO'VVSLEY. 



such places as I saw last year, Trenthjim and Chatsworth, 

 rather spoil one for Knowsley. 



Lord Derby had very kindly written to his agent, Mr. Hale, 

 by whom I was most courteously received, and I was some- 

 what amused to find that even the people who lived in the 

 park could not tell me where he lived. I do not lay it down to 

 their stupidity, but to my southern tongue, for, as the foreman 

 said to me, " If you asked them where Knowsley was they 

 could not tell you, perhaps ; but they would know ' Narsley " 

 it you asked for it." At the period of my visit his lordship's 

 able gardener, Mr. Harrison, wag absent, bat his very excellent 

 foreman took me through the houses and gardens. 



One too often heai's on going over gardens depreciatory re- 

 marks on the last incumbent's work, to be used as a sort of 

 foil to set off the present state of things ; but at Knowsley 

 there has been really such a condition. The late gardener was 

 for a very long time in a very bad state of health, and conse- 

 quently things fell into a very indifferent state. He was at 

 last obliged to resign his post, and has been succeeded by Mr. 

 Harrison, who was lately gardener to Mr. Wright at Osmaston 

 Manor, and under his able management Knowsley will soon 

 re-establish the prominent position it has always held as a 

 fruit garden. There is but little ornamental gardening. Be- 

 tween the gardener's house and the walied-in garden there is 

 a very effective Rhododendron garden, and it was somewhat 

 surprising to find the plants perfectly untouched by the very 



destructive frosts we have lately experienced. The soil, too, 

 is a strong loam — another instance that this tribe of plants suc- 

 ceeds in other soil than peat. Nothing could be more vigorous 

 or healthy than they were. 



I must confess to a great difficulty in going through the 

 details of a place like this. Of course in every large garden 

 there are Pine pits, vineries. Peaches, Ac, and I do not know 

 that there is much interest in stating tbat the Pine house is 

 so many feet long and the succession pits in good condition, 

 ttc. I must therefore do as I have done in recording my visit 

 to other places — notice a few salient points. In the flower 

 garden there was an ingenious contrivance I noticed for the 

 purpose of having a sloping bank covered with Roses. The 

 bank was turf, and of course the difficulty was to get at that 

 to keep it neat. Mr. Hale hit on the contrivance of an iron 

 trellis on hinges. The Roses are planted just in front of it 

 and tied on to it, and then when the grass has to be cut the 

 trelUs is moved on the hinges and the grass mown, when it is 

 again laid down. One error, I think, was in using standards 

 on Briars. I think that had all been the Manetti, as some 

 were, it would have answered better. 



The houses are, most of them, old-fashioned with small 

 panes of glass ; and although not so sightly as the newer kind 

 with large panes, yet I believe the experience of many is now 

 that both for fruit and flowers glass may be too large. The 

 arrangement of the Pine house, which is about 100 feet long 



