Strathfieldsaye. 0,1 B 



dually rises, and is crowned with wood. The house itself is 

 low, and altogether unworthy of the place, and there is scarcely 

 a flower-bed on the lawn. There is an old orangery, and 

 there are some orange trees in tubs, the sides of the latter 

 neatly clothed with pine cones, and the surface of the mould 

 covered with pebbles about the size of pigeons' eggs. The 

 pine cones, besides giving a rustic appearance, exclude the 

 heat; and the pebbles regulate the distribution of the water 

 from the watering-pot. The kitchen-garden is of considerable 

 extent, with several forcing houses and pits. Altogether, it is 

 better than could be expected in a place which had been so 

 long neglected ; and it is made the very most of by Mr. 

 Cooper. Mr. Cooper was educated as a gardener at Bulstrode, 

 in the high and palmy days of gardening, under Mr. Haycroft, 

 who studied the horticulture of the Dutch in Holland, and 

 introduced at Bulstrode the forcing: of fruit trees in Dutch 

 pits. Mr. Cooper has done the same thing here, and he finds 

 that peaches and apricots in pits, like those at Hylands, with- 

 out heat, either from flues, dung, or any other means than are 

 afforded by the sun and retained by a covering of glass, ripen 

 their fruit a month sooner than the trees on the open walls. 

 It is a great advantage to Mr. Cooper, that he has been edu- 

 cated under Mr. Flaycroft; for, while it does not prevent him 

 from trying every other manner of forcing, it enables him to 

 adopt the Dutch mode with confidence. Our countrymen, 

 the Scotch gardeners, on the other hand, are not only practi- 

 cally unacquainted with the Dutch mode, but they have the 

 prejudices of us Scots to contend with, against adopting any 

 thing with which we are not well acquainted. There are, how- 

 ever, exceptions among Scotch gardeners; and, among others, 

 we may name our esteemed correspondent, Mr. Wood of 

 Deepdene. Mr. Cooper forces 25 sorts of figs; the duke, 

 like ourselves, esteeming that fruit beyond all others. Some 

 trees which Mr. Cooper has removed from a wall to a forcing- 

 house are 45 years old. There is a vinery stocked with plants 

 6 years old, producing an excellent crop. Mr. Cooper has 

 invented a very excellent utensil for sending cut flowers to 

 London, or to any distance, v/ithout injury: it is simply a 

 cylinder of tin, or of any other suitable material, of 3 or 4 feet 

 in length, and 8 or 9 inches in diameter. In the centre of this is 

 a cylinder of tin of an inch in diameter, which fits into sockets 

 in the bottom and in the lid. Round this small cylinder the 

 flowers are tied as they are upon a maypole ; the pole so 

 charged is inserted in the socket in the bottom, then the tube 

 is filled with water, and corked, and the lid put on, in which is 



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