HAM HOUSE 191 



ill-proportioned wall is hidden, well and good, 

 but often the trailing creeper hides an exquisite 

 piece of architecture. In which case the taste is 

 decidedly at fault, and the admirer of the flower 

 is forgetful of the beautiful work it hides, and 

 which in time it will seriously damage. 



Beyond the old Bowling Green, which has a 

 little Shrubbery on one side, lies the Wilderness, 

 filled with trees, shrubs, and Rhododendrons, as 

 well as beautiful Scotch Fir trees, the first ever 

 grown in England. These were planted by John, 

 Duke of Argyll, the well-known general and 

 statesman, grandson of the Duchess of Lauder- 

 dale. This Duke of Argyll had a passion for 

 Gardening, and laid out many Gardens for his 

 friends, and at Ham, his birthplace, he left a 

 living example of his taste, viz., these Firs, which 

 can be seen from every point of view. 



With Ham it is the same as with many old 

 Gardens, their written history is but what gossips 

 of each fleeting day thought fit to record. The 

 owners loved their Gardens for their beauty, 

 but did not think of making notes of their form 

 and design, or of the planting of a new seed, or 

 any such matters ; they simply left the Garden 

 to speak for itself. Among the chance records 

 of Ham and its Gardens is an allusion by 

 Evelyn in his scholarly Diary to "the Orangeries," 

 and "the Aviary," while in 1678 Defoe, in his 



