492 LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



central feature to a wide park, that rises into hills and flows into 

 graceful swells behind the house, and fill it with herds of deer and 

 groups of fine cattle, and you have a general idea of the sylvan fea- 

 tures of Wimpole. 



But it is not yet complete. Behind the house, and separated 

 from the park by a terrace walk, is a parterre flower-garden, lying 

 directly under the windows of the drawing-rooms. Like all Eng- 

 lish flower-gardens, it is set in velvet lawn each bed composed of 

 a single species the most brilliant and the most perpetual bloom- 

 ers that can be found. Something in the soil or culture here seems 

 admirably adapted to perfect them, too ; for nowhere have I seen 

 the beds so closely covered with foliage, and so thickly sprinkled 

 with bloom. Some of them are made of two new varieties of scar- 

 let geraniums, with variegated leaves, that have precisely the effect 

 of a mottled pattern in worsted embroidery. 



Beyond this lie the pleasure-grounds, picturesque, winding 

 walks, leading a long way, admirably planted with groups and 

 masses of the finest evergreens and deciduous trees. Here is a weep- 

 ing ash, the branches of which fall over an arbor in the form of half 

 a globe, fifty feet in diameter ; and a Portugal laurel, the trunk of 

 which measures three feet in circumference. A fine American black- 

 walnut tree was pointed out to me as something rare in England. 

 And the underwood is made up of rich belts and masses of rhodo- 

 dendrons and English laurels. 



I must beg you to tell my lady friends at home, that many of 

 them would be quite ashamed were they in England, at their igno- 

 rance of gardening, and their want of interest in country life. Here, 

 for instance, I have been walking for several hours to-day through 

 these beautiful grounds with the Countess of H., who, though a 

 most accomplished person in all other matters, has a knowledge of 

 every thing relating to rural life, that would be incomprehensible to 

 most American ladies. Every improvement or embellishment is 

 planned under her special direction. Every plant and its culture 

 are familiar to her ; and there is no shrinking at barn-yards no 

 affected fear of cows no ignorance of the dairy and poultry-yard. 

 On the contrary, one is delighted with the genuine enthusiasm and 

 knowledge that the highest class (and indeed all classes) show in 



