252 Notes on Gardens and Country Seats : — ■ 



The number is continually increasing; and, however per- 

 plexing to the botanist, who will have the disagreeable task 

 of distinguishing between indigenous species and these endless 

 horticultural varieties, yet it must be owned that to this art 

 of hybridising the flower-garden is,, and will be, indebted for 

 a great accession of beauty and enjoyment. Of the many 

 achievements of this nature at Highclere, the most striking is 

 to be found in the crosses effected between R. arboreum and the 

 hardy species. These hybrids, which as far surpass the com- 

 mon rhododendrons as the new double Scotch roses do the old 

 wild ones, are perfectly hardy, exceedingly floriferous, and can- 

 not be surpassed in splendour. Of the azaleas, the most splendid 

 are bred between the fine garden varieties of Azalea calendu- 

 lacea and Azalea nudiflora var. rubescens ; and it may be pre- 

 dicated of all these hybrids, that they possess a much greater 

 tendency to profuse flowering than the unadulterated species. 

 [Some account of the origination of these will be found in VII. 62.] 

 The history of the hybrid R. alta-clerense is curious in the 

 way of floricultural anecdote. To obtain it had been a great 

 desideratum ; but the specimens of R. arboreum at Highclere 

 had shown no disposition to flower. The only places in England 

 where it then (1826) flowered were Hylands (Mr. Labouchere's), 

 and at the Grange. From the latter place an umbel was obtained 

 and conveyed to Highclere in a tin case. By means of its 

 pollen the flowers of R. ponticum and R. maximum were fe- 

 cundated, and about 1800 seedlings were raised, many of which, 

 after supplying his private friends, Lord Caernarvon desired 

 might be distributed among the nurserymen. This was done in 

 the spring of 1831. Those which were retained at Highclere 

 have now attained a flowering age, and form extensive shrub- 

 beries round the house." 



The pleasure-grounds are about 100 acres in extent, and con- 

 tain many fine specimens of exotic trees and shrubs, among 

 which were tulip trees, black walnut, deciduous cypress, Virgili# 

 lutea, and Magndlz'tf acuminata and tripetala. The climate is 

 so severe, that M. obovata and the stuartias can hardly exist. 

 Among the shrubs, a large-leafed variety of Cotoneaster micro- 

 phylla insulated on the lawn, its branches covering a space of 

 thirteen yards in circumference, is a very conspicuous object. 

 The formation of these shrubberies, we were told, was an 

 arduous operation : the ground has been made to the depth of 

 between three and four feet, and the mould was carted from the 

 park woods in the vicinity of the lakes, a distance of nearly two 

 miles. 



" The climate of Highclere, as might be expected from 

 its situation, immediately under the northern termination of an 

 extensive range of bleak woodless downs, is very unfavourable 



