50 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1894. 



very broad base, struck me as having a certain beauty and grandeur 

 in its massiveness, but it is spoken of by a writer much more capable 

 of judging than myself as follows, — " It is an ungainly and ungrace- 

 ful example of bad taste as the kingdom could supply." 



A few days later, after passing the great natural parks, including 

 Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine, and the Trossachs, we stood on Stirling 

 Castle as the sun was sinking in the west and saw one of the most 

 magnificent views possible for the eye to look upon. It was not a park 

 as we use the term, but nature and man had combined to produce the 

 effect. Mountain, hill, valley, castle, and monument, green fields 

 and hedges, and even the fields of Bannockburn lay spread out before 

 us. No wonder Victoria said, as she stood on the battlements and 

 cast her eye over the beauty that lay spread out before her, "It is the 

 fairest scene in all my realm." 



We enter England; its green meadows, winding rivers, well- 

 trimmed hedges, beautiful oaks, elms, and other deciduous trees, now 

 rich in foliage, all combine to please the traveller. 



The Duke of Devonshire is one of the richest men in England, 

 having the inherited wealth of many generations. He is the owner of 

 Chatsworth, where he spends a few weeks each year, but he kindly 

 allows his palace and grounds to be enjoyed by the public, with only 

 a few necessary restrictions. The palace, for it is nothing less, is in 

 the midst of a beatiful park of 1,200 acres, on both sides the river 

 "Wye. In the luxuriant green meadows, dotted here and there by grand 

 old trees that spread their giant arms, rich with foliage, to shade the 

 quiet herds of cows and fallow deer so peacefully reclining beneath 

 their shade, we had a scene worthy the finest landscape painter who 

 ever drew the brush. The palace, through which we were kindly 

 shown, is one of the finest in Europe. It is filled with the choicest 

 works of art. The gardens outside are in keeping with everything 

 else. The conservatory was planned and constructed by the wisdom 

 of Sir Joseph Paxton, afterwards the architect of the celebrated 

 Crystal Palace at Hyde Park, in which was held the great world's 

 exhibition of 1851. The conservatory covers onlj^ about one acre of 

 ground, but it contains some of the finest specimens of choice exotics 

 from all the warmer countries of the world. The appliances for heat- 

 ing are said to be so arranged that each species flourishes in its own 

 temperature without intervening partitions. The building contains 

 seven miles of six-inch piping, chiefly used for heatiug purposes. 

 Outside are some vei'y fine fountains, one of which, named the 

 "Emperor," in honor of Nicholas I. of Russia, who once visited the 



