Highclere. 253 



to horticulture. The profusion of lichens and green moss upon 

 the trees attest its humidity. Many shrubs which endure the open 

 air well at Newbury, only five miles off, live with difficulty here ; 

 and the only counterbalancing advantage is a comparative ex- 

 emption from autumnal frosts. The site of the house is about 

 600 ft. above the level of the sea. Cunningham/a lanceolata 

 lives out well in a shrubbery in the pleasure-ground. Among 

 the rhododendrons is a healthy specimen of the very scarce 

 .Rhododendron campanulatum (Nepal), which has not yet 

 flowered. It has the habit of a sturdy bush, or rather, perhaps, 

 of a small tree. Its leaves are about the size of those of R. 

 catawbiense, and are of a very deep green on the upper surface, 

 but beneath are covered with the deepest cinnamon-coloured 

 pubescence. [This rare and beautiful rhododendron has lately 

 flowered with Messrs. Loddiges, and in Mr. Knight's Exotic 

 Nursery. The corolla is white spotted with lilac, large, and bell- 

 shaped.] We noticed two beds, containing nearly 100 bushes of 

 hybrids between Azalea and .Rhododendron. The method lately 

 pursued, as before mentioned, is to mass the varieties and species 

 as much as possible together. Thus, Andromeda: acuminata, 

 forming a small bed, is very ornamental. .Erica vagans is so 

 treated, and kept compact by an annual cutting in with the 

 garden shears; Menz'iesia caerulea, gualtherias, and the close- 

 growing vacciniums, are all so treated, and with great effect. 

 Indeed, small low shrubs, like the humbler rhododendrons, 

 andromedas, vacciniums, and ericas, planted in large shrub- 

 beries, produce no effect compared with what they do when 

 indulged with a space to themselves, where they are free to 

 show their natural habits. ^Spiraea trilobata is very handsome, 

 when so treated ; as are S. bella and S. #riaef61ia. Ribes san- 

 guineum grows rapidly at Highclere, but dies suddenly in the 

 middle of summer, when three or four years old, in whatever soil 

 or exposure it has hitherto been placed. Of Crataegus grandi- 

 flora and tanacetifolia there are fine specimens, near the 

 house : the yellow fruit of the latter is eatable, resembling an 

 apple, but more insipid. iVymphae'a advena thrives exceedingly 

 in Milford Lake, and is very hardy. Among the rarer aquatics 

 is Auphar minima. A double-flowering American sagittaria 

 has increased rapidly. Pinus DouglaszY appears to be of very 

 rapid growth, and extremely suitable to the climate. Xilia 

 heterophylla is a tree of very fine foliage, and apparently of rapid 

 growth. The progress of ^4'cer macrophyllum has been very 

 rapid ; and it seems probable that most of the trees from north- 

 western America, near the regions of the Columbia River and 

 noi-th of it, will find in England a very congenial climate. Vir- 

 gilia lutea flowered profusely at Highclere last spring, in racemes 

 of moderate length, inodorous and not showy, being hidden in the 



