674- Notes on Gardens and Cowitry Seats : — 



about ]00 ft. in diameter, to the left of whicti is the entrance 

 front of the house ; to the right, and also in front of the 

 long avenue, are straight roads forming approaches in different 

 directions. We met Mr. Cooper, the very polite and well- 

 informed gardener, at the commencement of the pleasure- 

 grounds, and walked round them and the kitchen-garden with 

 him, leaving the place afterwards by the London approach, 

 which branches from the avenue in a winding direction at about 

 two thirds of its length from the house. The pleasure-ground 

 is of very limited extent, and perfectly flat; but it contains 

 some very fine specimens of cedars, larches, Weymouth pines, 

 spruce firs, and other foreign trees, including, we may say, most 

 of those which were to be found in the London nurseries about 

 the middle of the last century. There was, in particular, the 

 largest hemlock spruce, we believe, in England ; we guessed 

 it at between 40 ft. and 50 ft. in height ; the trunk at the base 

 at about 12 ft. in circumference, and the extent of the branches 

 at between 15 and 16 yards. The trunk divides in two about 

 the height of 2 ft. from the ground, otherwise there can be no 

 doubt the tree would have grown higher. It stands on the 

 centre of a semi-oblate spheroid (a flattened dome), and under 

 the branches are a great number of seedlings. Whoever has 

 grounds of his own, and wishes to have a memorial of Strath- 

 fieldsaye, ought to beg from Mr. Cooper one of these plants. 

 There is an old sickly catalpa in flower, from the appearance 

 of which, and from that of those in the wood at White Knights, 

 it is evident that a wet-bottomed soil does not suit this tree. 

 Of N^'ssa aquatica, there is a very fine specimen about 20 ft. 

 high, and with a stem 6 in. in diameter. There are a very large 

 liquidambar, several fine tulip trees, and decidedly the largest 

 scarlet oak we ever saw : it was about 4 ft. in diameter, and 

 above 100 ft. high. The trunk is straight, and covered v^ith 

 a clear smooth bark. Mr. Cooper informed us that he found, 

 from some branches which he had had occasion to cut off this 

 and other scarlet oaks, that the wood was remarkably hard 

 and close-grained. Our readers are aware that the wood, 

 when matured, approaches to the same colour as the leaves in 

 autumn, viz. a deep scarlet, and that the same observation will 

 apply to the wood of trees in general. There are good spe- 

 cimens of iaurus Sassafras and L. Benzoin. Among the 

 common oaks are some, 5\ yards in circumference at the 

 surface of the ground, still growing vigorously. Standing at 

 the lawn front of the house, the ground descends so gently to 

 the Loddon as almost to appear a level surface; a little to the 

 right is an artificial cascade, and to the left the river appears 

 to be lost in meadow land, which on the opposite bank gra- 



