75 



colour may now be found. They look so vigorous that visitors 

 sometimes enquire what plants they are, when no flowers are 

 visible. The secret of success is a peaty kind of soil, and 

 some moisture which escapes out of the little pond. Poor 

 Selfe Leonard did not live to see them again. He was a keen 

 lover of hardy plants and knew the varieties well. His sad 

 accident in a lift at Rome will be remembered by many of 

 my readers. 



The water for the cascade is supplied from a spring on 

 the top of the hill at the back, which was discovered by a 

 water finder with a divining rod this procedure has been 

 much ridiculed by many. An interesting correspondence took 

 place in " The Times " in January, 1905, and was afterwards 

 commented upon at some length by Professor Barratt. After 

 experimenting on the subject in conjunction with a son of the 

 celebrated water finder, Mr. Mullins, of Colerne, Wilts, I 

 am positively certain it is not an imposture. 



It is a pity water is not more abundant here, it is the 

 one thing necessary to make this beautiful garden complete, 

 and nothing else will compensate for its scarcity. The geo- 

 logical formation around the place the lias is well known 

 as one of the worst for yielding water. 



The above mentioned leakage from the pond also con- 

 tributes largely to the luxuriance of a colony of Spireas by 

 its side. This consists of S. palmata, red, S. lobata, pink, S. 

 Davidii rose, S. aruncus white, Astilbe Thumbergii white, 

 and A. rivularis, white ; all of them herbaceous plants. A 

 plant of a shrubby Spirea S. ariaefolia is also here ; this 



