1072 



STATISTICS OF GARDENING. 



Part IV. 



The chief ornament of the county, and celebrated for nearly a 

 century for its gardens. When beheld at a distance, this place 

 appears like a vast grove, interspersed with columns, obelisks, 

 and towers, which apparently emerge from a luxuriant mass of 

 foliage. The gardens obtained their celebrity from the alter- 

 ations effected by Lord Cobham, in the early part of the last 

 century. The first artist employed was Bridgeman, whose 

 drawings are still in possession of the marquis. Stowe was the 

 most eminent place in the ancient style, and set the fashion of 

 employing numerous statues and architectural ornaments. 

 Kent was called in probably about 1755 or 1760; he abolished 



several formalities ; and among other improvements substi- 

 tuted the sunk fence for the high wall. A stranger, in passing 

 through the grounds, is astonished at the number, the beauty, 

 and the magnificence of the buildings ; and the house, with its 

 extended front, elevated site, and extensive prospects, is a truly 

 grand object. The gardens of every kind are kept in high 

 order, especially the flower-gardens, lawns, and shrubberies, 

 near the house. The buildings and other objects are too nume- 

 rous to be even enumerated here ; a copious account of them, 

 accompanied by plates, will be found in Heely's Description of 

 Stoiv. 



7549. BEDFORDSHIRE. A surface of 260,000 acres, not much varied; the soil sandy in many- 

 places, and a strong clay in others. It contains a few mansions, and the princely residence of the 

 Duke of Bedford ; and the village of Sandy, on the borders of the county, has long been famous for 

 growing pickling cucumbers, which are sent to the London market, and sold by the bushel. 



Ampthill Park, — Ampthill ; Earl of Upper Ossory. The 

 mansion, a superb edifice, built in the Grecian .tyle; the 

 park contains 2000 acres, extensive and flat, but furnishes 

 some pleasant prospects ; it has a fine water view, and many 

 ancient oaks. 



Luton Hoo, — near Luton ; Marquis of Bute. The house is 

 large, and contains one good front by Adams; the library is 146 

 feet in length, and inferior only to that of Blenheim. The park 

 is extensive, well wooded, and watered by the river Lea, which 

 expands into a lake, varied by inlands at the base of the emi- 

 nence on which the house is situated. The gardens of the farm 

 were formerly kept in high order, but are now (1821) much 

 neglected. 



Vrest, — near Selsey ; Baroness Lucas (1800). An ancient 

 seat, the ground* of which were submitted to Brown, who 



formed here a noble serpentine river, their principal ornament, 

 and has occasioned this place being called the Stow of Bed- 

 fordshire^ They abound with architectural ornaments, and 

 contain many fine large trees. 



X Wobum Abbey, — near Wobum ; Duke of Bedford. A 

 first-rate residence. The abbey, or palace, is in the Ionic style, 

 very extensive, and was much improved in the end of the last 

 century, from the designs of Holland. From the duke's 

 apartments a covered way leads to a green-house, 140 feet in 

 length ; and from the end of the green-house a piazza of 

 nearly a quarter of a mile leads along the margin of a flower- 

 garden to the dairy, a handsome Chinese building, ornamented 

 with stained glass. The park is very extensive, varied in sur- 

 face, and abundantly clothed with trees ; but it wants one fea- 

 ture of essential importance, water. This might be given, but 

 it would be at considerable expense. At present there 

 are several small pieces or lakes ; but they have no ef- 

 fect in a general point of view, though some of them are 

 pleasingly picturesque as recluse scenes. One of them, 

 contrived to fall in the way of the approach, is crossed 

 by a viaduct (jig- 744.) designed by Repton. There 

 are many fine old cedars, silver firs, and pines, in 

 one part of the park, which were planted under the di- 

 rection of Miller; and there is a very tall beech with 

 an erect stem, which has been noticed by Pontey. The 

 gardens are extensive, and abundant in every thing ; 

 and the farm has long been celebrated for the an- 

 nual meeting of agriculturists, called sheep-shearings, 

 to which it gave rise, and at which all the eminent 

 agriculturists of the country, and many foreigners, 

 are annually present. The late duke, Francis, it has 

 been truly observed, did as an individual what is ge- 

 nerally done by society ; he rewarded invention, fos- 

 tered ingenuity, and gave a fair trial to every new 

 agricultural scheme. The present duke has not the 

 same taste as his late brother, but still keeps up the 

 annual meetings, and cultivates the park farm. 



7550. HUNTINGDONSHIRE. A dull, flat, humid, unhealthy surface, of 240,000 acres. 



Hinchinbroke House, — near Huntingdon ; Earl of Sandwich. 

 A large irregular building, built of stone and brick by the 



Cromwells, in the time of Elizabeth ; the park flat, and not 

 extensive. 



7551. CAMBRIDGESHIRE. A surface of 500,000 acres; little varied, but fertile and healthy. It is 

 not remarkable as a gardening county ; but it contains a good botanic garden at Cambridge, and one or two 

 extensive seats. The parent tree of the weeping-ash still exists in this country, at Gamblingay, in a field, 

 close by a farm-house. It is a tall tree, with a naked stem and weeping top. The first graft taken from 

 it was presented to the father of Miss Plumtree, who had the living of Wimpole, and the second to Lord 

 Hardwick's steward, about 1760, or later. (Plumtree's Residence in Ireland, p. 93.) The seedsmen re- 

 ceive a good deal of clover-seed from Royston, and of white and yellow mustard from the Isle of Ely. 

 Clark is the principal nurseryman at Cambridge. 



Public Promenades There are a few shady walks belonging 



to some of the colleges open to the public in general, and some 

 private gardens ; but none of them of any note. 



The Cambridge Botanic Garden — was established in 1763, 

 by Dr. Walker, vice-master of Trinity College, who purchased 

 nearly five acres about 1761 for that purpose, and gave it in 

 trustto the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the Uni- 

 versity, for the purpose of a public botanic garden. Tho- 

 mas Martyn, the titular Profesor of Botany, was appointed 

 reader on plants, and Charles Miller, son to Philip Mil- 

 ler, (who had assisted Dr. Walker in choosing the ground,) 

 was made first curator. To him succeeded Donn, who died 

 in Is 17, and was succeeded by Mr. A. Biggs, the present 

 curator. This garden has obtained considerable celebrity en- 

 tirely through the exertions of Donn, who, in a short time, 

 formed a very extensive collection, and published the Hortus 

 Cantabrigiensis. 



Madingley, — near Long Stanton ; Admiral Sir Charles 

 Hinde Cotton, Bart. The house is in the Elizabethean Gothic, 



and resembles that much-admired example of this style, Hol- 

 land House. The grounds are umbrageous and picturesque. 



Chippenham Park, — near Newmarket ; John Thorp, Esq. A 

 magnificent mansion ; it was erected from a design of Inigo 

 Jones, about the end of the seventeenth century, and the 

 grounds laid out in the geometric style. The present proprietor 

 has increased the property, and made very great improvements 

 on the grounds. There is a beautiful sheet of water near three 

 quarters of a mile in length, the joint work of the late Mr. 

 Eames and Mr. Lapidge. The hot-houses form a range of 

 nearly 500 feet. In the plantations upwards of a million of 

 trees have been planted. 



X Wimpole, - near Gamlingay ; Earl Hardwicke. The 

 most splendid private residence in Cambridgeshire. The man- 

 sion is a large brick structure ; the park isextensive, but rather 

 flat ; the river Cam flows through it, and there are three lakes. 

 The whole has been greatly improved, and the farming estab- 

 lishment is eminently distinguished, and ranks with those of 

 Wobum and Holkham. 



7552. SUFFOLK. A surface of 800,000 acres, generally level, the soil sandy towards the sea, but clayey 

 inwards. It is an old county, and contains some venerable seats and woods. Great quantities of peas are 

 grown for the London market at Woodbridge, and especially the pearl pea; Leostoff is famous for car- 

 rots ; a good deal of clover, with some turnip-seed, is furnished from the different parts of the county ; 

 and there are good nurseries at Bury, Ipswich, and Barton Mills. 



Bury Botanic Garden — was established in 1819, by W. Hud- 

 son, of Chapel House, formerly of the War-office, a great lover 

 of plants. Its extent is between two and three acres, and the 

 collection of hardy plants is already considerable. The ex- 

 penses are defrayed by annual subscribers at two guineas each. 

 It is in contemplation also to establish a botanic garden at 

 Ipswich. 



Ampton Hall, — near Bury ; Lord Calthorpe ; and Liver- 

 mere, N. L. Acton, Esq. adjoining. The owners have made 

 a noble river through both parks at their joint expense, by 

 which means they have ornamented their estates to a degree 

 otherwise impossible. In Mr. Acton's grounds the river ter- 

 minates in a scoop, or painted perspective, in the Dutch 

 style ; a thing rarely to be met in England. The Rev. M. 

 Young, author of the Agricultural Survey of the County, has 

 given 'a description of the river, and says, " the scoop has an 

 excellent effect. " 



Elvedon Hall, — near Elvedon ; Earl Albemarle. A demesne 

 of 4000 acres : a few years ago, of barren sand, but now 

 planted and improved ; the agriculture conducted with gTeat 



skill and assiduity by the proprietor, who ranks high as a 

 farmer and breeder. 



X Euston Hall, — near Thetford ; Duke of Grafton. A com- 

 modious red-brick mansion, with little decoration, surrounded 

 by immense trees, and watered by the Ouse. The park con- 

 tains 1450 acres, and an elegant temple designed for a ban- 

 queting-house, by Kent, and erected in 1746- The late duke 

 was an able and successful agriculturist, and kept upwards of 

 3200 acres in his own hands. 



Flixton Hall, — near Beccles; A. Adam, Esq. A noble 

 structure, near the river Waveney, in Inigo Jones's Gothic, 

 built in 1615, but in excellent preservation. The grounds con- 

 tained originally some fine old woods, and have lately been 

 enlarged and embellished with extensive plantations. 



Finborough Hall — near Stow-market; R. Pettiward, Esq. 

 An elegant building of Woolpit brick, from a design by 

 F. Sandys. The park, of 200 acres, gently slopes from the 

 mansion, into a circular valley, through which runs a stream ; 

 there is a fine winding walk to the church, and beautiful 

 groups of straggling thickets of trees. 



