545 Observations on several 



Art. VIII. Observations on several Gardens in England. 

 By Mr. W. Sanders. 



{Continued from Vol. VII. p. 139.) 



EvERLY House, the seat of Sir John Ashley, Bart. — June 28. 

 1830. This place is much improved in appearance since I 

 last saw it (in the summer of 1825) ; arising, in a great measure, 

 from the rapid growth of the plantations which enclose the 

 park, while the interior presents a more finished and orderly 

 aspect, and evidently shows that it is under the care of an 

 able manager. The kitchen-garden is a neat and well- 

 arranged model, well worthy of imitation ; the walls have 

 been in part rebuilt, and have had 2 ft. added to their 

 height. They are well stocked with fine healthy fruit trees. 

 In the framing department, neat and compact pits have 

 been erected for melons and cucumbers ; the melons were 

 orowing luxuriantly in turf loam procured from Salisbury 

 Plain, which appeared of an excellent quality. It may be 

 here remarked what a wide field for improvement this exten- 

 sive waste presents, and how many thousands of the almost 

 starving population might be employed in the cultivation of 

 this now comparatively useless tract of land. A great pro- 

 portion of it is little inferior in quality to that alluded to 

 above. It would afford a fair field for the introduction of the 

 excellent system of cottage husbandry, which in a very short 

 space of time would go far to ameliorate the condition of the 

 industrious peasant, and to ease the shoulders of the farmers 

 from that burden which now presses so heavily upon them, 

 in the shape of poor's rates. In a neighbouring parish, a 

 similar plan has been pursued for some years by a noblemar- 

 quess, who has allotted a large garden to each of his cottages ; 

 and the result has been, that the rates have not risen in any 

 thing like the proportion they have done in other parishes 

 around ; while the farmers, though at first much opposed to 

 the plan, are now delighted with the good effects it has 

 produced. Much in this way might be done by private 

 gentlemen in their respective neighbourhoods ; and it would 

 surely be worth the attention of the legislature, to devise 

 some means to stem the tide of emigration, while so much 

 remains to be done at home. But to return to the garden at 

 Everly, Mr. Ross has, by considerable perseverance, collected 

 a very respectable assortment of herbaceous plants, so ar- 

 ranged in the beds they occupy as to present a succession of 

 flowers during the season ; while, as particular attention has 

 been paid to their various heights, they meet the eye with a 



