144 



Holhham, the Seat of the Earl of Leicester. Vol. Xll. 



Holkham, the Seat of the Earl of Lei- 

 cester. 



This magnificent place has been hitherto 

 known to the public chiefly for its ag-riciil- 

 ture, and the princely hospitality of its own- 

 ers. Men of all countries have been here 

 to learn the arts of rearing the best breeds 

 of cattle, and of turning- the soil to the best 

 account; and no one doubts that the exam- 

 ples here given have been the means of 

 stimulating many throughout the world to 

 carry out similar improvements. There is, 

 however, an additional lesson very legibly 

 displayed here, which proprietors would do 

 well to attend to — I mean its foresting. 

 Trees anywhere, in good land even, are tri- 

 umphs; they are looked upon as such in 

 rich sheltered valleys, on slopes with moun- 

 tains at their back; but to have them of 

 commanding stature, in defiance of every 

 obstruction, soil, situation, climate — a biting 

 sea air in this instance — is an achievement 

 which ought at least to be noted and com- 

 mended to all who have lands similarly situ- 

 ated. The late Sir Powell Buxton took the 

 hint, and not the least of his legacies was a 

 series of thriving plantations stretched along 

 the side of the German ocean at Runton and 

 Trimmingharn. 



Holkham, "on an open, barren estate, was 

 planned, planted, built, decorated and inhab- 

 ited in the middle of the eighteenth centu- 

 ry. Such is the record over the entrance 

 door into the hall. Ceres and Sylvanus have 

 now their temples here ; and it would be 

 difficult indeed to find an estate over wiiich 

 cornfields and woodlands are more judici- 

 ously interspersed. The sale of the timber 

 alone realizes about j£4,300 yearly. 



The chief object of this notice is to draw 

 the attention of land proprietors who have 

 poor lands near the sea, to a grand feature 

 at this seat, caused by«the introduction of 

 the Evergreen oak — Qn.ercus ilex. It is 

 here, as a timber tree, magnificent beyond 

 example in this country, and in the greatest 

 profusion. Its appearance in the Holkham 

 woods, proves two things: 1st, that the tree 

 is well suited to dry exposed soils within the 

 influence of the sea air, as has been fre- 

 quently stated in the Chronicle; and 2ndly, 

 that on chalk bottoms it is entitled to a place 

 beside the beech. In the obelisk wood here, 

 a great part of which is on chalk, it is in se- 

 ^veral instances intermixed with the common 

 English oak, which it surpasses both in 

 height and bulk, growing luxuriantly after 

 the latter has ceased to thrive. 



Of the Evergreen oak as an ornamental 

 object, especially in autumn and throughout 

 winter, it is unnecessary to speak. Thei 



only hindrance to its more general cultiva- 

 tion is its high price, and the uncertainty of 

 its growing when transplanted. I am happy 

 to say that Mr. Gorrie, the forester here, has 

 the merit of obviating the latter objection, 

 and with it the former will, no doubt, be 

 considerably modified. He transplants the 

 seedlings about mid-summer, a plan which 

 has turned out to be completely successful. 

 Following his recommendation, I had several 

 hundred put into small pots in the latter part 

 of June, and I now find that they are not 

 only all alive, but have made a second 

 growth. Those who are in the practice of 

 raismg seedling Ilexes, will have observed 

 that they complete their first growth in 

 June, and that towards the end of the month 

 the buds assume the appearance of maturity, 

 the leaves becoming rigid and glossy, and 

 that the whole plant is apparently prepared 

 tor winter. A few weeks elapse, and it is 

 observed that they commence to shoot with 

 renewed vigor, making in some instances 

 about six inches of additional wood. It is 

 during the interval of rest, therefore, that 

 the plants should be removed. It is of course 

 necessary to shade them from sunshine, and 

 to water them copiously for a week or so 

 after being transplanted. 



All who visit this seat, and are interested 

 in this tree, had better ask particularly for 

 the Ilexes in the Obelisk wood ; for after 

 walking forty miles, a few years since, for 

 the purpose of seeing the best trees, those 

 only on the lawn in front of the house were 

 shown to me. They are certainly fine, 

 spreading, park-like objects; but the others 

 are majestic and forest-like, and almost justi- 

 fy the extravagant language of Pliny, when 

 writing of the species as it grew about Rome. 

 One tree in this district measures 15 feet in 

 circumference at a foot from the ground ; an- 

 other is eight feet four inches in circumfer- 

 ence, has 28 feet of a clear hole, and is 70 

 feet high: a third is nine feet in circumfer- 

 ence, has a clean hole of 20 feet, and is 75 

 feet high: another is 12 feet in circumfer- 

 ence and covers a space of 22 yards in di- 

 ameter. 



The usual approach to this seat, on the 

 Fakenham road, is skirted with thriving 

 young trees of the Araucaria and Cedrus 

 deodara, which in a few years more will be 

 large enough to confer a striking and grace- 

 ful effect. A considerable number of the 

 latter has been raised from the seed by Mr. 

 Gorrie, and it is intended to plant them on 

 an extensive scale, both as ornamental ob- 

 jects and forest trees. The Araucaria grows 

 here without the slightest protection during 

 winter; and it will be interesting to those 

 who are about to plant within the influence 



