Gardens and Gardening in Durham. 441 



ber, called somebody's white-spined. Of melons, the Egyptian 

 green-fleshed is preferred to all others. 



In the kitchen-garden (which stands behind the flower-garden 

 and the melon-ground) a highly picturesque Swiss cottage has 

 lately been erected for the gardener, Mr. Lawson. 



The mansion is well situated on the brow of a gentle slope, 

 looking to the east, and commands a fine view of the Cleveland 

 Hills over the intervening vale. Here there is a very pretty lawn 

 in front of the house, but no regular flower-garden ; and the 

 kitchen-garden is merely a narrow slip ; it, however, can boast 

 of a wall of the best peach and apricot trees that I have seen for 

 some years. 



A few hundred yards from the last-mentioned place, and pos- 

 sessing similar natural advantages, is Polam Hill, the residence of 

 another of the Messrs. Backhouse. But the grounds at this place, 

 in defiance of their natural capabilities, exhibit a wretched per- 

 version of taste, or, I should rather say, a total absence of taste, 

 in the laying out. Seen from a slightly raised grass terrace on 

 the south front, the pleasure-ground greatly resembles a game- 

 cover, in which the trees have been planted " without end or 

 aim," except for producing shelter. The terrace is continued 

 along the east front ; and a gravel walk leading from it descends 

 by a few steps into a small geometrical flower-garden on the 

 north side of the mansion. The kitchen-garden here is of a good 

 size, and two hot-houses in it contain the best- managed vines 

 that have come under my observation in the neighbourhood of 

 Darlington. These houses are heated by hot water, and, in winter, 

 are filled with pelargoniums and other flowering plants, in the 

 culture of which Mr. Byears, the gardener, is said to excel. 



When the convenience and cheapness of fuel are considered, 

 it is rather a matter of susprise that the forcing of fruits and 

 vegetables is so little practised round Darlington. Not one of 

 the four gardens above described contains a peach-house; nor 

 does the grape appear to form part of the dessert earlier than the 

 end of June or the beginning of July. Floriculture, in its many- 

 coloured mantle, is decidedly in greater favour than its more 

 substantial, relative, horticulture, although its claims to our con- 

 sideration are unquestionably of a much weaker character. I do 

 not sympathise in taste with that celebrated personage who ex- 

 claimed, " Of all the flowers in the garden, give me the cauli- 

 flower ;" still the immense importance of fruits and vegetables, 

 as articles of subsistence, leaving out of view the comforts and 

 pleasures they aftord us, assuredly demands for them the highest 

 r^nk in our estimation. 



August, 1837. 



