VARIOUS FLOWER GARDENS. 49 



KETTON COTTAGE. This is one of the Elizabethan farmhouses 

 common in the villages round Stamford, with some recent additions. 

 It stands in the village, a short distance from the beautiful church of 

 St. Mary, a few yards from the little river Chater, which, coming down 

 from Leicestershire, falls into the Welland a mile or two below Ketton 

 and as far above Stamford. As the position is sheltered from rough 

 winds, the small space of ground between the road and the river has 

 proved a home for such of the hardy shrubs and flowers planted in it 

 during the last thirty years as find the lime in both soil and water 

 congenial to them. 



The banks of the stream are in places fringed with Royal 

 Fern and the large American Ferns, all of which bear patiently 

 the floods which sometimes in summer and often in winter pass 

 over their heads, lasting now and then for several weeks. All these 

 Ferns thrive in a bed of rough leaf-mould, 6 inches or 8 inches 

 above and below the usual water level, partly coated in the course 

 of years with earth from the floods, and partly denuded by the 

 action of the water, which is prevented in the exposed portions 

 from washing away the roots by a covering of heavy stones, between 

 which there is just room for the crowns to appear. These conditions 

 prevent the growth of seedling Royal Ferns, but the old plants 

 are, after more than twenty years, as vigorous as -their kindred in 

 the Norfolk marshes, the fronds of some in the shade being more 

 than 6 feet in length. In a place rather more sheltered from the 

 force of the stream the American Royal Ferns thrive equally well ; as 

 also on a somewhat higher level a certain number of other strong 

 Ferns which do not suffer by floods. 



On an open part of the bank a quantity of purple Loosestrife makes 

 a good background for the Ferns, and a patch of Meadow Rue gives 

 variety and a distinct autumn colour. For the rest the engraving 

 shows the distinct and very happy effect of the garden, which is a 

 home for many and beautiful hardy flowers. H. 



POWIS CASTLE. Of the many gardens I have seen, very few gave 

 me the pleasure of Powis : first, because of its noble drive through 

 great Oaks with breaks of Fern between, so unlike the dark mono- 

 tonous avenue which spreads gloom over so many country seats. 

 The light and shade and the noble forms of the trees make the 

 picture more beautiful than any primly set-out avenue. The flower 

 garden is beautiful, partly owing to its position, which is that of a true 

 terrace garden i.e. the ground falls so steeply, that terracing is neces- 

 sary. These terraces were wreathed with Clematis and beautiful with 

 shrub, and flower, and life, a picture of what a flower garden should be. 

 As the original name, " Castell Coch," signifies, the castle is built 

 of red sandstone, and stands on the same rock, and the terraces are 



K 



