470 Notes on Gardens and Country Seats : — 



to be wondered at that the farmers on this estate should raise 

 large crops, notwithstanding their inferior system of culture. A 

 curious practice with meadow lands was pointed out to us by 

 Mr. Stanley. Where the soil of such grass lands is stiff, the 

 farmers strew stubble, or dry litter, such as old thatch, and the 

 sweepings of stack yards, slightly over it ; these straws the worms 

 draw into their holes, and in this way are supposed to fertilise 

 the ground, and render it lighter. Mr. Stanley is convinced that 

 this practice has a good effect ; but as to how it operates he is not 

 quite so clear. In going to see the old barn, in which Henry VIII. 

 is said to have been married to Jane Seymour (the mother 

 of Edward VI., who established so many schools), we observed 

 the process of building mud walls going on. It is here practised 

 by common day labourers ; and Mr. Stanley assured us that, 

 when built on good flint or brick foundations, and well thatched, 

 with the eaves projecting so far as completely to throw off the 

 rain, these walls will last for an unknown length of time. They 

 are very common in Wiltshire, and make excellent farmyard 

 as well as garden walls, and the warmest of all cottages. In our 

 Encyc. of Architecture, § 838. to 843., will be found a detailed 

 description of the mode of building cob walls in Devonshire, 

 where houses two or three stories high are built in this way. 

 This account was sent us by a clergyman, who states, as a proof 

 of their great durability, that he was himself born in a cob 

 parsonage, built in the time of Elizabeth. The Devonshire 

 mode, and that practised in Wiltshire, appear to be exactly the 

 same. The Cambridgeshire mode is different, and is also given 

 in the work referred to, § 159. The French mode (pise), which 

 is more elaborate, will be found in our Architectural Magazine, 

 vol. i., as applicable to one of the most economical designs for a 

 group of four roadside cottages (by Mr. Wilds, surveyor, Hert- 

 ford), which we have anywhere seen. We would not, however, 

 be understood as recommending cob, mud, or pise walls, either 

 for cottages, or anything else, where brick or stone can be pro- 

 cured ; but we should certainly prefer them to loghouses, as 

 being safer from fire, warmer in winter, and cooler in summer. 



Tidworth, Thomas Ashton Smith, Esq. — Aug. 18. This 

 gentleman is celebrated in the annals of sporting, and we visited 

 his place chiefly with the view of seeing the plans of his stables 

 and dog-kennels. We were, however, agreeably surprised to 

 find an excellent house, and kitchen-garden, and a very intelli- 

 gent young gardener, Mr. Saunders, the brother of our Bristol 

 correspondent of that name. (IX. 425.) The steward of the 

 estate here is Mr. Northeast, an enlightened and well-informed 

 man, who has followed the same system of improving the cot- 

 tages under his care> as Mr. Iveson has in those of the Tottenham 

 Park estate. 



