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JOUBNAIi OP HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I Septemliei' 2, 1875 



decoration, may venture a journey from Sussex, and will, 

 mayhap, find his ideal realised ; " D., Deal," the redoubtable 

 champion of florists' flowers, may come, and perhaps his Car- 

 nations may give him greater enjoyment by the contrast of this 

 style of gardening and that ; and Mr. Douglas may arrive from 

 Essex, and the sweetuesB of his Phloxes and the stateliness of 

 his Gladioli will be none the less enjoyable after the change of 

 fare which he will admit is spread by a master's hand. 



All these and others may come and not feel that they are in- 

 truders, for I Lave authority to say that Mr. and Mrs. Ealli, 



with a generosity which all true gardeners must appreciate, are 

 desirous that that which is so greatly enjoyed by themselves 

 should also be enjoyed by others. For that graceful act of 

 generosity the whole gardening fraternity owe the owners of 

 this garden a hearty vote of thanks. 



Yet this is not a great but a small garden, the part under 

 notice not exceeding two acres ; but if small it is good both in 

 its design and perfect keeping. The mansion is a square erec- 

 tion in the Grecian style of architecture. On the south-west 

 front is a terrace, at the foot of which are the almost matchless 



O 



Fig. 40. 



carpet beds. They are arranged on a circular piece of lawn 

 about 80 feet in diameter, which is surrounded by a walk, and 

 bounded opposite the house by a raised bank of evergreens 

 fringed with Kioinus. This green fringe is an appropriate 

 framework for the briUiant picture which it partly encircles. 

 The principal beds are only seven in number — a circular bed 

 12 feet in diameter, and six oblongs each 20 feet in length, and 

 of an average width of G feet. In these beds — a border CO yards 

 long by 8 feet wide, and a few other minor beds — upwards of 

 sixty thousand plants are arranged, and there is not in 

 carrying out the designs one plant too many or — such is their 

 completeness — one too few. 

 The beds are raised — that is, ramped up by tnrf to about a 



foot above the lawn level, and the surface of each has a very 

 gentle rise towards the centre. In planting and finish they are 

 perfect, and in colouring brilliancy is combined with chaste- 

 ness. Rich tones are imparted by Golden Feather and Alter- 

 nantheras ; a cool yet lively character is given by the free use of 

 Mesembryanthemum oorjifolium variegatum ; while quietness 

 and repose are afforded by a dense neutral carpet of Sedum 

 glaucum, brightened gently yet effectively by glowing tufts of 

 the lovely alpine plant Nertera depressa. The association of 

 these two lowly gems is the chff-d'auvre of Mr. Legg's taste. 

 Tha dense and brilliantly-berried Nertera nestling in the 

 silvery-grey carpet of the miniature Sedum is a happy idea 

 admirably carried out. If the birds do not carry off the berries 



