and other Suburban Gardens. 481 



Z7'lmus, and of Crate^gus. Among the acers, there is an old tree of A. 

 rubrum, which, Mr. Young informed us, formed a column of deep scarlet 

 in the autumn, so as to be a conspicuous object at some miles' distance. 

 We saw the first plant of Magnoh'a macrophylla which was introduced 

 into the country. It cost Mr. Webb fifteen guineas, about twelve or thir- 

 teen years ago. The soil where it stands seems too wet for it, because it 

 is not nearly so large as several plants of the same species which we have 

 seen ; but, nevertheless, it was in flower. ^Sorbus dom^stica, planted by 

 Mr. Webb's father, has attained the height of 30 ft., and bears abundant 

 crops of fruit yearly ; each fruit having generally not more than one 

 perfect seed. It is singular that Mr. Young should never have thought of 

 raising plants, from these seeds, of a tree so scarce that we do not believe 

 that all the nurseries in Great Britain and Ireland put together could 

 muster twenty plants. Indeed, if Messrs. Loddiges's arboretum were 

 excepted, we question if they could muster ten. We are not a little 

 proud of having two of these scarce trees here at Bayswater, one of 

 which is now in fruit. Among the large trees are fine specimens of the 

 tulip tree (in flower when we saw it), of the oriental and occidental 

 planes, Robin/a, Gleditschk, Sopliora, &c., which, being neither very rare, 

 nor remarkable in their growth, we pass over, to notice a black Italian 

 poplar, nine years old, which, at 5 ft. from the ground, is 6 ft. in circum- 

 ference, and in height is 50 ft. It was little more than a cutting when 

 planted by Mr. Young, so that its leading shoot must have averaged up- 

 wards of 5i ft. of growth every year. We hope to see this arboretum 

 and the Milford Nursery again soon, and in future to have more frequent 

 communication with Mr. Young. 



Busbrklge, near Alilford, July 4. Robert JWunro, Esq. — This is a very 

 interesting old place, though lately much denuded of its most valuable 

 timber. It belonged to Philip Carteret Webb, Esq., the grandfather of 

 the present proprietor of Milford House ; who, being (like his son and 

 grandson) a botanist, had it laid out in the best taste of the time, viz. 

 that of London and Wise, and planted with the rarest trees which the 

 Brompton nursery then produced. The house, with the pleasure-ground 

 scenery, is situated in a narrow valley or dell, through which had 

 originally run a very small rill, which is now dammed up so as to form a 

 number of canals and ponds of different artificial shapes, ornamented with 

 fountains and cascades. The house is a plain modern erection, and is the 

 only part of the place which is not decidedly ancient. The kitchen-garden 

 we could imagine to have been laid out by Switzer, since it very much 

 resembles one of his published plans, having one slope to the north, and 

 another to the south. It occupies, in fact, both sides of the valley, and so 

 steep is the surface, that the outer wall on the north side is backed up for 

 three fourths of its height, as at Albury (see Vol. VII. p. 364.), with the 

 earth of the rising ground behind. Within this wall there is another, 

 which is a terrace wall, and is covered with vines, one of a sort, evidently 

 of great age, since the trunks of some of them, at the surface of the 

 ground, are nearly a foot in diameter. In an old flower-garden stands a 

 half-ruined conservatory (the roof of which is removed every summer), 

 which contains two standard olive trees, 15 ft. high, which bear every 

 year; iaurus indica, with a trunk nearly a foot in diameter; ClaamasVops 

 humilis, 15ft. high; and Justici« Adhdtoda, as high as the roof will 

 permit, and which, like a number of old myrtle trees, has been cut in many 

 times. One of the first trees of Aildntus glandulosa ever planted in this 

 country stood near this conservatory, till within these few years, when it 

 met with an accident, and was cut down. This tree, we are informed by 

 Miller, in his Dictionary, was raised by him and Mr. Webb, from seed, in 

 1751. We could not learn whether it had ever flowered at Busbridge; 



Vol. IX. — No. 45. i i 



