St. Ami's Hill, Goidworth -Nursery. 501 



SL Ann's Hill; the Honourable Mrs. Fox. — We found this 

 beautiful place in the best order ; no expense being spared in cart- 

 ing water, and in labour, to water not only the herbaceous plants 

 and culinary crops, but also the principal shrubs, and many of 

 the trees. There is a magnificent cedar here, planted by Mrs. 

 Fox forty years ago : it is 50 ft. high ; the circumference of the 

 trunk, at one foot from the ground, is 1 1 ft. ; the space covered 

 with the branches is 72 ft. in diameter ; and this year it has 

 above 800 cones. There is another cedar, also planted by Mrs. 

 Fox, nearly as high, the branches of which cover a space 75 ft. 

 in diameter, and the trunk of which girts 12 ft. A deciduous 

 cypress, planted by Mrs. Fox thirty-five years ago, is 45 ft. 

 high, and the branches cover a space 35 ft. in diameter. It is a 

 most beautiful tree, with pendent branches sweeping the lawn ; 

 and it is now laden with small green cones, resembling a good 

 deal those of the hemlock spruce. There are five other hand- 

 some trees of the same kind, none of which, however, bear 

 cones : indeed, with the exception of a tree at Bagshot, and 

 another at Purser's Cross, we are not aware of any other cone- 

 bearing deciduous cypresses in England. We should be glad 

 if our readers would examine all the trees of this kind within 

 their observation, and let us know if they have discovered any. 



There are a great many other fine trees at St. Ann's Hill, of 

 all of which we have received the particulars, in a Return Paper 

 carefully filled up by Mr. Tucker, the gardener, who was the 

 inventor of a handsome flower-stand, an engraving of which ap- 

 peared in one of our early volumes. 



Mr. Do?iald's Arboretum at Goldworth is in a most thriving 

 state ; and the pines, firs, cypresses, thorns, and various other 

 genera, are bearing seeds. That noble tree Araucdria imbricata 

 has stood out three years without the slightest protection. We 

 were sorry to see the effect of this arboretum much injured by 

 dahlias, madias, and other showy flowers being planted in it. It 

 cannot be too often repeated, that, wherever trees and shrubs are 

 intended to be the principal objects, whether for botanical study, 

 or general effect, the attention of the spectators ought never to 

 be distracted by planting flowers among them. A complete 

 natural arrangement of named herbaceous plants has been formed 

 adjoining the arboretum, since we last visited Mr. Donald ; so 

 that his nursery is now an admii'able botanical school; and, 

 considering the wild beauty of the surrounding country, and the 

 cheapness of house-rent, Goldworth appears to us to be a most 

 desirable place for a family to retire to during a few summer 

 months. When the Southampton railroad, which passes close 

 to the nursery, is completed, this part of the country will soon 

 afterwards be covered with villas ; a purpose for which it is in 

 many respects admirably adapted, having a dry soil, an irre- 



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