202 Gardens and Gardening in Yorkshire, 



limes ; and a magnificent oak, of singular growth, dividing, near 

 the ground, into several tree-like limbs. An opaque-roofed 

 green-house stands in the corner of the pleasure-ground : the 

 plants it contains are of the commonest kinds, except some of 

 Barratt's new fuchsias. A mass of flower-beds, enclosed by a 

 wire fence, is extremely ill placed close to the west front of the 

 house : these beds have nothing whatever to recommend them, 

 and it is seen at a glance that they have no business where they 

 are. The gardener, Mr. Smith, has, in the short time he has 

 lived here, made some very judicious alterations in the pleasure- 

 ground, which, however, is still capable of being greatly im- 

 proved. 



The kitchen-garden is large, and excellently situated, sloping 

 gently to the south, and well sheltered at the back and sides. 

 It is a parallelogram, with the melon ground at the east, and a 

 small flowei'-garden at the west, end. The hot-houses are placed 

 against the north wall : they are old, and of the common con- 

 struction; nor did they, when I saw them (July 11.), contain 

 any thing worthy of praise, except some young vines planted 

 last year by Mr. Smith, which are exceedingly well managed. 

 The south wall of the kitchen-garden is rather oddly ornamented 

 with a considerable number of vases placed along its top. It 

 may be owing to my defective taste ; but it struck me that orna- 

 ments of this description, stuck upon the top of a common brick 

 wall, of which the obvious intention is the production of fruit, 

 and unconnected with any other architectural object, have a 

 singularly incongruous effect. 



in the melon ground are two new fruiting pine pits, very neat ; 

 but economy of space, which, next to " fitness for the end in 

 view," is the most important consideration in the construction 

 of houses intended solely for the growth of fruit, has been en- 

 tirely lost sight of. Against the back of one of these houses 

 there are stone troughs, after the manner of those described in 

 the account of Studley, in which cucumbers are planted and 

 trained to wires fixed in the wall. A new variety of cucumber, 

 called, if I recollect right, " Walker's Improved," is grown 

 here, and Mr. Smith speaks highly of its merits. [Probably 

 the cucumber raised by C. J. S. Walker, Esq., of Longford, near 

 Manchester, of which we saw a perfectly straight fruit, measur- 

 ing 39 in., in 1831.] 



The family reside here only during part of the autumn and 

 winter months, and the place is not kept in high order at other 

 times. The evils of absenteeism do not fall upon Ireland alone ; 

 its blighting effects are too visible about many of our fine old 

 country residences. 



It should be here observed, that, in hastily looking at an 

 extensive place, many things are unavoidably passed over, which, 



