StoJce Place. 527 



entering gardener till his leaving, when he should merely pay 

 to his employer the diiFerence between the first valuation and 

 the last. A very little reflection will convince gardeners and 

 their employers that this plan would be the best for all 

 parties. There are two excellent mushroom houses here^ 

 with brick arched roofs, Mr. Patrick having found that roofs 

 for mushroom houses of which wood forms a part soon rot. 

 One of these houses, which is for winter use, is heated with 

 hot water; the other, for summer use, is not heated at all. 

 In the latter was a very abundant crop, on the surface of a 

 covering of clayey loam, like grafting clay, the second spit 

 being used in order to avoid worms. The clay is much 

 thicker, moister, and harder beaten than is usual among 

 mushroom-growers. Mushroom beds treated in this manner 

 are a week or two longer in coming into bearing, but they 

 last nearly double the time of beds made up in the common 

 way. Several pits and houses are heated by hot water on 

 the level system, by a single pipe going out near the top of 

 an open boiler, and gradually declining in its course, so as 

 to enter, on its return, at the bottom. The boiler is drawn 

 together at the top to a diameter of eight or ten inches, which 

 may be covered with a lid. Where the situation admits, this 

 is one of the simplest and cheapest modes that we know of 

 circulating hot water. In the front of the house there are 

 some fine old cedars ; one, with a thick, straight, high top, 

 which bears only male blossoms, while all the others have short 

 trunks, spread out into numerous arms, and produce seed- 

 cones. Mr. Patrick has observed that cedars of the former 

 habit are always the handsomest trees. The house has two 

 distinct fronts ; and from the entrance front, and the approach 

 to it, no idea can be formed of the splendid view which is 

 obtained from the lawn front. This, in our eyes, is one of 

 the greatest beauties in the management of a country house 

 and grounds. The walks were everywhere entirely to our 

 taste, having the grass not more than an inch above the level 

 of the gravel, and having the verges clipped, and not cut, 

 so that every appearance of newness and workmanship was 

 avoided. The family residing abroad, the place was not, in 

 other respects, in very high keeping. 



Opposite the entrance gates of this place there is a very 

 neat Gothic cottage, having a highly kept lawn, beautifully 

 varied with beds of flowers. 



A large, plain, unarchitectural-looking house is building 

 on a site called Stoke Cottage, at a short distance from 

 Stoke Place. We mention it because we could not help 

 being surprised at the want of architectural taste which it 



