the Residence of the Rev. Theodore Williams. 221 



with in either small or large gardens. To give some idea of 

 the extent to which this high keeping is carried, we may mention 

 that, though the whole space occupied by the garden and plea- 

 sure-ground is only about an acre and a half, yet several gar- 

 deners are kept ; the head gardener, Mr. Lawrence, is a man 

 who ranks high in his profession, and his foreman is also a very 

 superior cultivator. 



Mr. Williams, considering that, in all works of art, and in all 

 natural objects which are to be examined singly, one of the 

 greatest beauties is symmetry, has those trees and shrubs which 

 he manages in a gardenesque manner brought into the most 

 perfectly symmetrical forms, by tying the branches up or down, 

 inwards or outwards, as may be necessary, with small almost in- 

 visible copper wire ; by which means, not only every plant in a 

 tub or a pot is perfectly symmetrical, whatsoever be its form, 

 but those trees and shrubs which stand singly on the lawn, or 

 compose gardenesque masses, are individually so treated ; and, 

 standing as they do a few inches apart from each other, the 

 separate shape of each plant is seen by the spectator. The same 

 care is bestowed on the dahlias, which are here grown in large 

 quantities, and of sorts most of which were raised under the 

 direction of Mr. Williams, from seeds saved in his own garden. 



That which renders Hendon Rectory altogether uni(jue in a 

 gardening point of view is, a collection of Coniferae in pots ; as 

 remarkable in its way as the collection of fruit trees in pots 

 which was maintained for so many years, for the purpose of prov- 

 ing and describing the kinds of fruit, by that celebrated pomo- 

 logist, Dr. Diel of Nassau-Dietz, the author of OhsL-Oran- 

 gerie in Scherben. These Coniferas are in part set out on the 

 lawn in the summer season, and in part kept under glass ; and 

 all of them are trained into the most beautifully symmetrical 

 shapes that are any where to be seen. As the pine and fir tribe 

 is liable to be attacked by insects in the summer season, it is 

 the business of one gardener to attend entirely to them and to the 

 Cupressinae ; in other words, to the pines, firs, cedars, araucarias, 

 dammaras, cypresses, dacrydiums, junipers, and arbor vitaes, in 

 pots. They are thus kept regularly watered, accurately tied 

 into shape, and perfectly free from insects. Some of the plants 

 of this kind at Hendon Rectory are of great value ; one, a dacry- 

 dium, in particular, is matchless for its size, beauty, and rarity. 

 The same plan of dividing the labour of the place is adopted with 

 reference to the dahlias, which, from the day they are planted out 

 till the time the roots are taken out of the ground, are con- 

 stantly under the care of one individual. Another man is solely 

 occupied in propagating by cuttings or otherwise ; and one 

 is kept as a man of all work, to assist the others, and to 

 look after the walks. The duty of the head gardener is to see 



