Stoke Farnii Burnham^ Dropmore. 643 



less danger from overheating in the dung-bed, and much less 

 risk of the plants damping off from vapour arising from the 

 soil. The improvement was made by Mr. Patrick, who for- 

 merly lived at this place, and who has promised us a plan and 

 section of the pits. All the houses and most of the pits here 

 are heated by hot water. There are a good many hedges of 

 spruce fir, which, when not too severely cut, lasts many years ; 

 and there is a wall of loose ragstone, covered with ivy, 

 which makes a very handsome evergreen fence. Mr. Oldacre 

 has had the plantation which sheltered the north side of this 

 garden removed to the distance of 300 ft. from the walls, as, 

 when it was within 50 ft. of them, the birds were found to 

 destroy almost every thing in the garden. This is an im- 

 provement wanted in very many gardens. 



Burnham. — Near this village is a small villa in the cas- 

 tellated Gothic style, faced with beautiful white Stourbridge 

 brick, in tolerable taste ; but the grounds are badly arranged, 

 and neglected. We entered this villa through the grounds 

 belonging to a very pretty cottage occupied by a Mrs. Jackson. 

 The passage is under a veranda, which, beyond the house, 

 changes to an arcade of climbing plants ; through the open- 

 ings in which are seen groups of flowers on lawn. 



Dropmore^ Earl Grenville. — July 3 1 . Beautiful as this place 

 always is, it has been very much improved since we last visited 

 it in 1826. (See Vol. III. p. 257. and p. 481.) Mr. Baillie has 

 been succeeded by Mr. Frost, a most active and intelligent 

 young man, well fitted for such a situation. A new entrance 

 lodge has been formed on the Burnham side, covered with 

 trunks of trees, in the manner of a Russian log-house, with a 

 chimney top in the style of those of Venice ; rather an incon- 

 gruous assemblage, which forms a false note of preparation 

 for a place which, in other respects, is generally in consistent 

 taste. We were first shown into the range of flower-gardens, 

 which forms a line with the lawn front of the house ; and cer- 

 tainly there is nothing of the kind in a flat situation, that we 

 know of, superior to it. In point of picturesque beauty, the 

 flower-garden scenery at Redleaf, Montreal, and Bromley Hill, 

 is much finer ; but the flower-garden at Dropmore shows what 

 may be done by art on a surface wholly without natural ad- 

 vantages. The effect is produced by the arrangement of the 

 beds, and by the distribution of pedestals with vases, statues, 

 and other sculptures, and by therms and other mural and 

 architectural ornaments. To connect the whole with the 

 house, there is an architectural wall, with an open Italian 

 parapet in the front of its border in one place, and in others 

 various hot-houses, which are placed against it. The vases 



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