REPORT OF THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 89 



cool, and members had ample opportunity of viewing a very 

 considerable tract of interesting country. At the entrance gate 

 Mr Camm was awaiting the arrival of the company, and on 

 behalf of Lord and Lady Astor gave them a hearty welcome to 

 Cliveden. 



Upon entering the extensive and beautifully-kept policy 

 grounds the attention of members was first directed to a 

 magnificent grove of holm oak {Quercus Ilex). This fine 

 grove of evergreen oaks is called "The Ribbons," and is known 

 to have been there in the time of George IV. These trees 

 apparently receive a considerable amount of attention in the 

 shape of an annual mulching from lawn grass and other decayed 

 vegetable matter. They are in excellent health, and their 

 beautifully-clothed appearance and perfect foliage bear testi- 

 mony to the value of the treatment they receive. There are 

 many specimens of ornamental conifers, such as Aines lasiocarpa^ 

 A. cephalonica, A. ?iobilis, Retinospora Squarrosa, and others. 

 Those of the excursionists who visited Whittingehame last summer 

 were interested to see here a eucalyptus tree thriving vigorously, 

 which was raised at Whittingehame and sent to Cliveden in 1908. 

 It is now 35 feet high. 



The whole of the policies are heavily timbered, oak and beech 

 being the dominant forms. Of the former, one of the oldest 

 specimens on the estate, known as " Cookham oak," has a bole 

 with a girth of 17 feet at breast-height. There is a splendid 

 mansion in the Italian style of architecture, by Barry, the 

 architect of the Houses of Parliament, and the pleasure-grounds 

 have been charmingly laid out in gardens, shrubberies, and 

 wooded parks, from various parts of which most beautiful views 

 of the Thames can be enjoyed. One of the finest of those views 

 is got from the grand terrace in front of the mansion-house, 

 where one looks up the upper valley of the Thames, with the 

 pretty town of Maidenhead nestling in its bosom. The most 

 pleasing and also the most touching incident of the day was 

 when the party was taken to what was once a flower garden, 

 laid out in the Italian style, but is now a cemetery, another 

 reminder of the great war. During the progress of the 

 war a hospital for Colonial soldiers was in the near neighbour- 

 hood, in which Lord and Lady Astor took a great interest. 

 Amongst the men and nurses who died there, were some who 

 had no friends to claim their mortal remains. Alone in a strange 



