502 Improvements in the Kitchen-Garden 



fig. 493.) ; but, judging from appearances in this garden, the 

 desired result is not very likely to be attained. The walls, 

 which were of rubble stone, were covered with a wooden 

 trellis, and to this the shoots of the trees were tied with 

 withered rushes ; but the gardener here seemed to have no 

 idea of filling every part of the wall with shoots. In short, 

 in this operation, as in most others, an English gardener has 

 nothing to learn, in exactness and neatness, from his brethren 

 in France. This garden was very neatly laid out ; the walks 

 edged with box, and covered with granite pounded to about 

 the size of peas ; the borders planted with dwarfs, except 

 in the angles formed by the turnings and intersections, where 

 a tree trained en jpyramide was planted. In the compartments 

 we observed beds and rows of Perfumed Cherry (Cerasus 

 Mahdleh Mil., hois de St. Lucie^ Fr.), which were intended for 

 forming plantations of coppice, that wood being highly prized 

 for fuel on account of its agreeable odour. The stems of 

 some apricot trees from which the gum had issued were 

 covered with what seemed to be pitch, and thatched with 

 wheat straw to exclude the influence of the sun. On the 

 whole, the garden was in good order, and is the only part of 

 the residence that we can recall to mind with any satisfaction. 

 The gardener, Claudel le Coint, is a good-humoured man, 

 walks in sabots when in his garden, but puts on shoes when 

 he goes to Rouen ; reads, occasionally, gardening books as 

 well as chansons d Loire, and says he can write comme iljaut. 



In our next we shall notice the other country seats which 

 we visited in the neighbourhood of Rouen. 

 {To be continued.) 



Art. II. Some Account of the Duke of Northumberland's Im- 

 provements in the Kitchen-Garden and Forcing-Department at 

 Si/on. By the Conductor. 



The improvements in these gardens, as we have formerly 

 observed (Vol. I. p. 349. and II. p. 107.), were commenced in 

 April, 1826, by the construction of a boundary wall along the 

 public lane from Brentford to Isleworth {^g. 99. a a), the erec- 

 tion of an excellent house for the gardener {b), and the general 

 reformation of the surface and walks of the kitchen-garden. 

 The ground within the walls contains between three and four 

 acres, a quantity which may appear rather small for so large a 

 family; but it must be considered that the Dukeof Northumber- 



