Calls at Suburban Gardens. 1 25 



by the late Mr. Fox in laying out the grounds. It is most gratifying to 

 observe that every part of these is kept in as high order and polished neat- 

 ness, as the greatest admirer of garden scenery could wish. We cannot 

 enter into a detail of their beauties ; those of architectural art and sculp- 

 ture, as the temples, covered seats, and antique statues, are easily described 

 or copied, and may be reproduced anywhere by wealth ; but to depict or 

 imitate the disposition of the trees and shrubs, requires a degree of taste 

 and talent much less common than either money or architectural skill. 



Among the trees are some fine cedars. A large one, which we should 

 have thought upwards of half a century's growth, was brought here a 

 small plant, by Mrs. Fox in her carriage, from Lee's Nursery about 50 years 

 ago. It is now upwards of five feet in circumference at the ground's surface. 

 Looking from the house to the distant scenery, the variety of kinds and forms 

 of trees in the foreground, their colour, grouping, and connection are parti- 

 cularly happy. Notlesssoisthemannerin which the kitchen-garden is placed; 

 blended on two sides with the pleasure-ground ; on the opposite two enclosed 

 by beech hedges; concealed from the exterior by evergreens ; and the garden 

 itself intersected by grass walks. The effect of the latter and the green 

 hedges, being so different from that of the broad surfaces of gravel and 

 bricks in ordinary gardens, gives a charm to the scene which in the present 

 day may be considered as quite original. It is true, indeed, that the enjoy- 

 ment of wall fruit is wanting, and there is only one small hot-house ; but to 

 have introduced much glass or brick walls would have marred the effect of 

 the place when viewed from other places. A proof of this may be seen at 

 Cooper's Hill, where a former proprietor of Kingswood Lodge, a situation in 

 many respects similar to St. Anne's Hill, introduced a red-walled kitchen- 

 garden in front of his house, which is, or was some years ago, a harsh and 

 disagreeable feature from many parts of the country which lie before it. 



In front of the house, some lozenge-shaped groups of China roses, bor- 

 dered by low hedges of iv}', have a particularly good effect. Mr. Tucker, 

 the gardener, deserves great commendation for the high order and keep- 

 ing of every thing under his charge : he has held the situation 20 years, 

 which adds to his value. 



Sunbury Forcing-Garden, Mr. Shepherd, May 15. 1826. — This is a small 

 garden, almost wholly occupied by hot-houses and pits, in which pine- 

 apples and grapes are grown for the market in a very superior manner. 

 The most remarkable circumstance as to the grapes is, what we have already 

 hinted at, that the vines have been in a state of continued pine-apple heat 

 for 50, and some for nearly 40 years, all the while bearing excellent crops. 

 The sorts are chiefly the black Hamburgh and Sweetwater, with some Mus- 

 cats ; but the latter do not thrive well in this garden ; in some houses even 

 theSweetwater does not thrive so well as mothers; but,in all, the Hamburgh 

 grows freely and bears abundantly. Mr. Shepherd's general practice is, 

 to keep his pines at a very low temperature in the autumn, and very high 

 in the beginning of summer, the difference between which gives the 

 vines a comparative winter; add to this, that they are chiefly trained over 

 the back path, and that, by letting the sashes down during the greater part of 

 the day in September, the leaves and shoots are exposed to the direct influ- 

 ence of the weather. A sort of winter is in some cases produced, or at least 

 prolonged, by training the shoots so close under the roof glass, as even to be 

 in contact with it ; that position being, in the winter season, the coldest in 

 the house, from the radiation of heat from the exterior surface of the glass. 

 Mr. Shepherd strips the leaves off the vines every year, in the end of October, 

 or beginning of November, because soon after the latter period the sap begins 

 to rise. In general, the Sweetwater vine so treated ripens its fruit about the 

 beginning of April, and the Hamburghs about a month later. The plants at 

 the warmest end of the house, where the flue enters, in some cases ripen 



