338 Calls at Nurseries 



overlooks a beautiful serpentine piece of water, richly wooded, and overhung 

 by weeping willows, where wild fowls dwell in peaceful retirement, and which 

 is termed " the Wilderness." Descending from this we passed the water head, 

 which has a rocky cascade studded with alpine plants, and ascended, through 

 the shrubbery (which bounds Lord Spencer's park), to the grotto which is 

 situated at the termination of a creek of the main sheet of water (of seven 

 acres). This grotto was formed by Bushel], who constructed the grottoes at 

 Oatlands, Pain's Hill, and other places, and who was the most celebrated 

 grotto and cascade artist that ever appeared in England. The grotto at Pain's 

 Hill, constructed for Bond Hopkins when he was proprietor of that place, is 

 considered his chef-d'oeuvre. Bushell's son is said still to follow the same 

 business. 



Passing through a wood of forest trees, we next came to a light iron bridge, 

 which communicates with the embankment of the large piece of water. Near 

 the iron bridge are an immense pollard oak, some centuries old, covered with 

 ivy, and a very large Magnolk acuminata, the first plant of that species brought 

 to England by Fraser. There are two islands on this lake : one containing 

 baths, &c. ; and the other the remains of an enriched Gothic building, which 

 was used as a Catholic chapel by the Prince de Conde, who resided here be- 

 fore the place was purchased by Mr. Marryat. After crossing the iron bridge, 

 we proceeded through the farmyard, and a complete poultry yard, &c, to 

 the kitchen-garden, in which, in 1828, we observed, for the first time in Eng- 

 land, a compartment devoted to the culture of maize as a culinary vegetable. 

 The plants were placed in groups of four under a hand-glass; the groups, or 

 hills as they are technically called, being four or five feet apart every way. This 

 is done in May, the plants being raised in a hotbed; and in June, when all dan- 

 ger from frost is over, the handglasses are removed. The plants are earthed 

 up two or three times in the course of the summer. They produce mag- 

 nificent masses of shoots and foliage, and abundance of ears, first from the 

 main stems, and afterwards in succession from the larger and smaller side 

 shoots, from the beginning of July to the end of September. These are 

 gathered when the grains are in a milky state, and fried or boiled, and eaten 

 with melted butter. In the south of France, and, we believe, in America, the 

 ears are gathered when the seeds are in a more advanced state, and, being 

 boiled with milk, form a dish like what is called frumenty in England, or brose 

 or knotty porridge in Scotland. 



We now enter the hot-houses, two of which are devoted to grapes, one 

 large central house to green-house plants, and a third large house to plants 

 from the tropics. The forcing of peaches, cherries, and strawberries, and all 

 the other descriptions of forcing, together with the rearing of reserve plants 

 for turning out into the flower-beds, supplying deaths, &c, and the nourish- 

 ment of sick plants, are carried on in a division between the kitchen-garden and 

 the farmyard, termed the melon ground, expressly devoted to that purpose. 



In the plant-stove we found, in 1828, a plant of Psidium pyriferum in a 

 pot, which had borne from sixty to a hundred fruit, as large as crabs, and 

 as good as any Mrs. Marryat ever tasted in the West Indies, or as Mrs. Bow- 

 dich, then present, had ever eaten in Africa. In the botanic stove, Caragudta 

 lingulata, a new species, raised from seeds presented to Mrs. Marryat by Mrs. 

 Bowdich, was then coming into flower for the first time in England. We 

 noted many fine specimens both in the hot-house and green-house ; but we 

 pass on through the flower-garden to the house. In the flower-garden 

 we noticed a fine basin with a fountain, surrounded by rockwork and choice 

 plants ; and two covered walks, the one on the east side and the other 

 on the west side of the garden, both in the direction of north and south, and 

 one covered with laurels and other evergreens for winter, and the other 

 with roses and honeysuckles for summer. One side of this flower-garden 

 is bounded by a wall, on which are many half-hardy exotics, and among them 

 a fine specimen of the silk tree, a pomegranate which bears fruit, and fine 

 plants of Wistaria, Chimonanthus, Edwards/a, &c. The area of the garden is 



