Bagshot Park. 43 



houses, &c. We reached here about ten o'clock, but unfor- 

 tunately did not find Mr. Toward, the excellent gardener, at 

 home. 



The great peculiarities of Bagshot Park are the grouping 

 and arrangement of the flower garden so as to comprise a 

 great deal in a moderate extent of surface. The soil, like 

 that already mentioned at Bagshot and Knap Hill, is a loose, 

 black, sandy peat, termed very poor, but admirably adapted 

 to the cultivation of American plants, which thrive with the 

 greatest vigor; indeed, so suitable is the soil to the rhodo- 

 dendron, that thousands of plants spring up from self-sown 

 seeds, and they are yearly distributed through the grounds as 

 underwood, in the place of laurels. The choicer and more 

 select rhododendrons are taken up every few years, the soil 

 renewed and trenched, and then planted out again. 



The walks are circuitous and numerous, and being some- 

 what in haste to reach Windsor before night, we hurried on 

 faster than the many interesting objects would allow, if we 

 intended to do them full justice. We first looked into a small 

 greenhouse, in which we found a variety of interesting plants, 

 more particularly fuchsias, of which we noticed a specimen 

 of formosa elegans, six feet high, the cutting from which it 

 grew being rooted in March; a remarkably luxuriant growth. 

 We saw here, also, a fine large specimen of Miller's petunia 

 punctata, but it did not come up to our expectations of a 

 spotted flower; the spots seeming more like the discolora- 

 tions of a faded bloom, than distinct spots of a freshly opened 

 flovv^er. In front of this greenhouse was a group of beds on 

 turf, planted with scarlet geraniums, fuchsias, salvias, petu- 

 nias, verbenas, &c., &c., also baskets of wire work filled with 

 the same plants ; the effect of these was beautiful in the ex- 

 treme. The fuchsias and scarlet geraniums were exceedingly 

 brilliant and showy. Proceeding on, we arrived at the her- 

 baceous flower garden, planted in beds, with box edgings, 

 and grave] walks ; a neat arrangement ; and opposite to the 

 side from the walk, a neat rustic arbor, designed and exe- 

 cuted under the direction of Mr. Toward, the whole being 

 made of small branches inlaid in diamond, square, or other 

 forms, so as to create a rustic appearance. 



Continuing on, we arrived at the mansion, which is an or- 



