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St. Fagans.— The castle of St. Fagans, the Welsh home 

 of the Earl of Plymouth, crowns the summit of a low hill 

 within a few minutes walk of St. Fagans station. It is of 

 ancient origin and its strong, encircling walls— of which a 

 considerable portion are still intact— afford evidence of its 

 importance in the war-like times of the past. 



Signs of the gardener's art are most conspicuous in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the castle, where a plateau enclosed 

 by the old walls is divided up into a series of small gardens, each 

 of which is devoted to some special feature. Thus, there is the 

 Dutch garden with a central lawn on which flower beds have 

 been arranged with a lavish hand, interspersed with formal and 

 fantastically clipped golden yews. The beds at the time of my 

 visit were filled with bedding plants conspicuous for bright 

 coloured foliage and flowers, which in conjunction with the green 



effective ^^ Sh °° tS *""* f ° Hage ° f the yeWS pr ° Ved m0St 



From this garden access is gained to the mulberry garden, 

 famous for its venerable mulberry trees, which are remarkable 

 on account of their low, horizontal branches, which grow out to a 

 considerable distance from the centre of each tree. They are 

 undoubtedly of great age, and their general appearance suggests 

 that these horizontal branches are due to an attempt on the part 

 m a n + i eC °J er fr ? m som e disaster which has occurred to the 

 Zl*h«I n i ** imeS l0 , ng Past Alt *™gh central trunks are 

 T ft i?!! n ' ? ?w n ?^ ° f brancbin g and the general aspect of the 



some nr^f ***', **?£. mUSt have been normal specimens at 

 some previous period of their history. 



tvnV^ J?.? 611 ' Plante f With serous varieties of the best 

 harden t ff "J? 8 ' f ° rmS a pleasant f ea ^e. The annual 



Sher ™i,n,T? an - PaSSing iQterest ; thi8 is a P art from the 

 SIS and contain s a number of old fruit trees, the ground 



^Z^&r^ll^ gr ° Upa ° f the -st'ornaLntal, 



num h e e rous he mhl a t PaVe i d f^ which is P eculiar b ? reason of its 

 pav^d nath« tI 6 i *? * mte J sect ^ by narrow ornamentally 

 KLous n, Jn. e ? 6dS T u fiHed With dwarf > old-fashioned, 

 oHardens mo * 1' r^l ?* ° ld pIace recaIis descriptions 

 cenfuiSs aln A delighted our forefathers of a couple of 



no£b e fn a smX ^f ° f old " fashio ^d, ornamental paving is 

 the pavement \T£ tt c ^ m ' d near the annual garden. In this 



togeC wfth t£ ! T 8 ° f irregular size and sha P e > fitted 



^^n^t^ greateSt exacti ^de, the whole forming an 



th^ om'wtlfs ^nri 0118 ^ 6 is 8truck h ? the raanner in which 



^LCZl^Zt" s - & waU garden - Although some 



°- P^^ and hosts of 



of forma lake? wi A S?; 0Und falls rapidly b J terraces to a series 

 MaTcam p! J ^ ell -^ooded pleasure grounds beyond. 



a good f^r m^7? n aUghting fr ° m the train at P ° rt Talbot ' 

 gooa tour miles have to be traversed before the grounds 



