152 KINGSBRIDGE 



twenty- seven feet in height : this plant was transplanted the 

 previous year, which perhaps threw it into bloom, as the 

 leaves were not quite so large as those of its predecessors. 

 At the present time (1842) a sixth Aloe is coming into bloom 

 at Cliff House, the residence of Mrs. Prideaux. This plant 

 is between thirty and thirty-five years of age, and is inferior 

 in beauty to the others that have bloomed at Salcombe, as 

 instead of sending up a central flower-stem, seven stalks 

 have protruded themselves from different parts, the principal 

 of which are about ten feet high. From this circumstance 

 the peculiar character of the plant is lost, and it is at present 

 a mass of stems and flower-stalks, upon which only one or 

 two blossoms have yet expanded. At each of the places 

 mentioned, many fine young Aloes, of large size, are growing 

 luxuriantly; and in another small garden, overhanging the 

 sea, and constantly exposed in stormy weather to the spray, 

 five magnificent specimens are manifesting more than ordi- 

 nary vigour. 



It may not, perhaps, be out of place to speak of Salcombe 

 itself, and the other tender plants that flourish there. It is 

 a populous village,* carrying on a considerable trade, and 

 situated between Torquay and Plymouth. At the west end 

 are Cliff House, and the mansion of Lord Kingsale, with 

 other respectable abodes, and towards the entrance of the 

 harbour, which is about a mile from the village, are placed 

 in their wooded grounds the delightful residences of Wood- 

 ville and the Moult. From the south-west gales, which in 

 this part of Devon blow with such resistless violence, the 

 harbour is entirely protected by the magnificent head-land, 

 called the Bolt Head, and from the storms from other 

 quarters by lofty hills on almost every side. In point of 



* So denominated when this paper was written, but decidedly a town now 



