SCOTTISH GARDENS 



there when you will, there is always plenty to 

 delight anybody, whether he be curious in rare and 

 beautiful vegetation, or whether he be content to stroll 

 over sunlit lawns and through shady alleys, with the 

 shining lakes on either hand, peopled with hundreds 

 of wild-fowl. The sward is kept to the texture of an 

 Axminster carpet, with what amount of patient labour 

 may be guessed from the fact that upwards of seventy 

 acres are constantly shaven by mowing machines. 

 It might seem unkind to dwell on these delights if 

 they were only those of a private pleasure ground ; 

 but thousands of visitors avail themselves every year 

 of the considerate decree which opens the gates of 

 this paradise to the public on two days a week. 



In the private flower-garden are some objects of 

 much interest to botanists and gardeners. The 

 quaint and beautiful bottle-brush shrub, Callistemon, 

 often erroneously confounded with Metrosideros and 

 usually grown in greenhouses, flourishes on the 

 terrace near the house with no other protection 

 than a low wall and a mat cast over it in winter. 

 It flowers freely and ripens seed every year. 

 Near to it are such choice things as Rhaphiolepis 

 japonica, Clianthus puniceus and Eugenia (Myrtus) 

 apiculata. In a shrubbery hard by, some of the 

 more notable plants are various species of Pittosporum, 

 the Nepalese laburnum (Piptanthus), Acacia dealbata 

 twenty feet high, 1 and Eucalyptus globulus thirty feet. 



1 Since this was written this plant has succumbed to the frost of 24th April, 

 8, which, taking effect upon the vigorous growth induced by preceding heat, 

 killed it to the ground level. 



82 



