1S4I.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



71 



Fia 



3. — Interior View of the mahi Entrance lo ihe Derby Arboretum. 

 Style Klizabetlian. 



a line along the centre of the walk, and by cross drains from this line 

 to the edges of the walk, communicating with gratings fixed in stone 

 at regular distances. There is nearly a mile of drains, and there are 

 150 cast iron gratings. The upper coating of gravel is of a good 

 colonr, brownish yellow ; and, as when kept in proper order by rolling 

 it binds very hard and smooth, the walks will be of the most dry, com- 

 fortable, durable, and agreeable description. 



In order to disguise the boundaries of the ground, and to conceal 

 the persons walking in the side walks from those in the centre walks, 

 I have raised undulating mounds of soil, varying in heiglit from 7 feet 

 to 10 feet, in the directions indicated by the shadows in fig. 2 ; and 

 these, even without the aid of the trees and shrubs which are planted 

 on them, effectually answer the ends proposed. Certam spaces on 

 the lawn throughout the garden are left perfectly smooth and level, on 

 which tents may be fixed, or parties may dance, &c. I should have 

 made certain hollows and winding hollow valleys, as well as the hills 

 and winding ridges; but the retentive nature of the soil, the difficulty, 

 or rather the absolute want, of drainage for such hollows, as well as 

 the very limited space, and the necessity of having a broad, straight, 

 nearly level walk down the centre, rendered this impracticable. 



In moving the ground, care has been taken to preserve some of the 

 old surface soil to form the new surface ; and this new surface has also 

 been drained where necessary, and every where rendered perfectly 

 smooth and even, by raking and rolling, before sowing the grass seeds. 



The seats have b^en designed and placed, chiefly by Mr. Strutt him- 

 self, reference being had to the following rules: — To make choice of 

 situations under the shade of trees already existing in the belts, or of 

 situations where some kind of view or feature is obtained ; to place 

 some in gravelled recesses along the sides of the walks, and others on 

 the turf; some open to the sun for winter use; but the most part look- 

 ing to the east, west, or north, for summer use. Those seats which 

 are placed in recesses ought to be 1 foot back from the edge of the 

 walk, in order that the feet of persons sitting on them may not be in 

 the way of passers by ; and the gravelled recess should extend 6 inches 

 beyond the seat behind and at each end, for the sake of distinctness, 

 and to prevent any difficulty in weeding the gravel or mowing the 

 grass. No seat should be put down, along the walks, in such a situa- 

 tion as to allow persons approaching it to see the back of the seat be- 

 fore they see the front of it ; and, hence, the seats should generally be 

 placed in the concavities of the turns of walks rather than in the con- 

 vexities of bends. No seat to be put down where there is not either 

 a considerable space directly in front, or at an angle of 4.i", or some 

 other equal and large angle on each side. No seat to be put down where 

 there will be any temptation to the persons sitting on it to strain the 

 eye looking to the extreme right or left. None to be put down where 

 more than one point of the boundary of the garden can be seen from 

 the seat. None to be put down on the tops of the mounds, by which 

 a person sitting would, at least before the trees and shrubs grow up, 

 get a panoramic view of the entire garden, and thus defeat the main 

 object of the mounds, and of the winding direction of the side walks. 

 No seat to be put down, nor any device contrived, by which both the 

 lodges can be seen at once from the same point of view ; or even where 

 one of the lodges and one of the pavilions can be seen from the same 



Fig. 4 — East Lodge of the Derby .Arboretum, sh<i«ing the public Room. 

 Tu.lor Style, time of Henry VII. 



seat. Seats which are placed on the lawn always to be backed by 

 some of the trees or shrubs there, so that no person may ever come 

 close up to a seat from behind ; or, if seats are placed in the open lawn 

 without trees or shrubs near them on either side, then such seats must 

 be made double, with a common back in the centre, or they may be 

 benches without backs, or single seats, such as chairs or stools. All 

 fixed seats, whether on the lawn or on gravel, to have foot-boards for 

 the sake of aged persons and invalids. Round the central circle the 

 seats should have stone backs, and a more architectural character than 

 in any other part of the garden. 



The flower-garden with its covered seat, the cottage in it with its 

 public tea-room, and the ivied tool-house formerly attached to Mr. 

 Strutt's kitchen-garden, are preserved ; and also a a large weeping 

 ash with seats beneath, the branches of which have been trained into a 

 regular form by iron rings 



In order to design the entrance lodges and gates, and the central 

 statue, I called in the aid of Mr. E. B. Lamb, M.I.B.A., whose designs 

 for the lodges and gates are shown in fig. 3, 4, and .'>, and the ground 

 plans of which are in accordance with Mr. Strutt's instructions in re- 

 gard to public rooms, yards, and other accommodations. It may be 

 added that the design of the garden will not be comj.lete without an 

 obelisk, or some such object, in the centre of the radiating circle in 

 fig. 1 ; but this part of the plan is left to be completed by the commit- 

 tee of management. 



As my instructions were to preserve as much as possible the belt 

 and the trees in the interior of the ground already existing, I con- 

 sidered it most convenient to adopt the surrounding walk as a line of 

 demarcation between tlie collection or arboretum in the interior of the 

 grounds, and the miscellaneous assemblage in their circumference. 

 Had the belt not existed, I should have extended the arboretum over 

 the ground occupied by it, and thus have obtained room for a greater 

 number of species, and a larger space for each individual tree and 

 shrub. As things are, I have extended the belt in those places where 

 it was wanting, and added to its interest by evergreen undergrowths, 

 such as rhododendron, kalmia, laurustinus, box, holly, and mahonia; 

 by low trees, such as arbor vifee, red cedar, and cypress ; and by large 

 trees, such as cedar of Lebanon, silver fir, hemlock spruce, and ever- 

 green oak. I have also introduced a collection of lOU diflferent kinds 

 of roses, all named ; and placed the genera [/'Imus, Quercus, Populus, 

 and .S'alix in the new part of the belt, in order to give more room in 

 the interior. 



All the ground not covered by trees or shrubs I have directed to be 

 laid down in grass to be kept closely mown ; but round each tree and 

 shrub fonningthe collection I have preserved a circular space, varying 

 from 3 feet to 5 feet in diameter, which rwith the hill in the centre, 

 comprising one-third of the width of the circle, and on which the 

 plant is placed) is not sown with grass, but is always to be kept clear 

 of weeds. The use of this circle and little hill is to prevent the grass 

 from injuring the roots of the trees while young, and to admit ot the 

 larger roots showing themselves above the surface, where they ramify 

 from the stem, as before mentioned. It has been found since the gar- 

 den was completed that these little hills have served as an effectual 

 preservative of the plants; because, notwithstanding the many thou- 

 sands of persons that visited the garden during tlie three days of the 



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