310 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



poeony, which was long supposed to be an imaginary variety of the Chinese, but which 

 is now said really to exist ; like the yellow Camellia, which has lately been seen by 

 Mr. Fortune. Corresponding with the dairy is a small room over the stoke-hole, 

 with a fire-place. The dairy is not used as such, but is merely to be considered as a 

 collection of Chinese dairy porcelain. This conservatory, having a thatched roof, and 

 being in a situation sheltered from high winds, requires very little artificial heat, even in 

 the most severe winters. It is used to protect orange -trees, large myrtles, and such 

 green-house plants as are in a comparatively dormant state during our winters. In sum- 

 mer, most of the plants are turned out, and others brought from the green-houses and 

 forcing-houses, as they come into flower ; it being found that in this comparatively cool 

 and shaded house the bloom is retained much longer in perfection than it otherwise 

 would be. We remarked here some orange-trees, lemon-leaved myrtles, and camel- 

 lias, which had not been turned out into the open air for several years ; and, though the 

 young shoots were etiolated to a considerable extent, yet the intensely dark green of their 

 leaves appeared to show that sliade was more favourable to them than sunshine. The 

 thatch, being of reeds, has a handsome appearance. An old cottage or bam might 

 easily be turned into an orangery of this description. 

 /, A bUliard-room, with a rustic veranda, also placed in the Dutch garden. It is raised on 

 a rustic stone basement ; and the veranda, which is returned at the angles, is paved with 

 oak chumps, and forms a most convenient place for taking exercise in during rainy wea- 

 ther ; an use which harmonises well with that of the bilUard-table, which, to an amateur 

 gardener, is chiefly valuable as affording liim salutary exercise when he cannot be at 

 work out of doors. 



All the walks in the Dutch garden are paved with white brick, and edged with stone ; 

 and, as they have all a gentle inclination so as to throw off the rain rapidly, they are 

 better adapted than any other description of path for walking on after rain ; thus 

 permitting a lover of plants to examine them in one of the most interesting states in 

 which they can be seen in spring and summer, that is, when just revived by a shower, 

 and while yet covered with drops of rain. The beds are planted with a very choice 

 selection of herbaceous plants, perhaps unequalled in the country for combining com- 

 pactness and neatness of growth with beauty and rarity. The walks are 2| ft. wide, and 

 the beds 6 ft. wide ; so that any person can reach from the margin of the bed to the 

 middle without putting a foot on it. The space beyond the circumferential walk is 

 planted wth a collection of all the best azaleas ; not crowded together in one mass, as 

 collections of this shrub and rhododendrons commonly are, but in distinct bushes, so that 

 each is covered with flowers from the ground to the summit on every side. To insure 

 this gardenesque appearance, the plants are taken up, reduced, and replanted in fresh 

 peat soil, as soon as ever they begin to grow out of bounds. 



g. An aquarium, on the margin of a bank of rockwork, of which z?^. 97. in p. 187. is a view, 

 which extends from the English garden nearly to the Dutch garden. The walk connect- 

 ing these two gardens, and also a branch from it to the conservatory and kitchen-garden, 

 are covered with an arcade of creeping shrubs, suflSciently open on the sides to admit a 

 view of the bordering plants, which are all of the more rare and beautiful kinds. There 

 are here, also, various sanctums, and minor compartments for small plants, not shown in 

 the plan ; and also a large space for setting out the green-house plants during summer. 



/(, Experimental garden. Here seedlings of various ornamental plants, such as dahlias, 

 heartseases, herbaceous calceolarias, picotees, polyanthuses, &c., are reared till they come 

 into flower ; when the more beautiful sorts are selected, and the rest thrown away. It 

 was in this garden that the first dwarf dahlias were raised by Mr. Joseph Wells, the late 

 Mr. Wells's gardener, in the year 1825. 



», Gardener's house, which serves, also, as a lodge to the Penshurst entrance, of which /^. 

 190 , p. 307., is a view. 



k k. Borders of azaleas, rhododendrons, and other American flowering shrubs. 



/, Kitchen-garden. 



m 11, Conservatories and green-houses. In one of the conservatories, there are some remark- 

 ably largo and luxuriant specimens, particularly of Wistar/Vi sin^-nsis, the Madras citron, 

 Clianthus puni'ceus, and Enkiantlius quinqueflorus. In an adjoining conservatory, the 

 back wall is covered with camellias, which are not trained in close to the wall, like fruit 



