368 Select Suburban Residences. 



rapidly, they are better adapted than any other description of path for 

 walking on after a shower ; thus permitting a lover of plants to examine 

 them in one of the most interesting states in which they can be seen in 

 spring and summer, that is, when just revived by a shower, and while yet 

 covered with drops of rain. The beds are planted with a very choice 

 selection of herbaceous plants, perhaps unequalled in the country for com- 

 bining compactness and neatness of growth with beauty and rarity. The 

 walks are 2\ ft. wide, and the beds 6 ft. wide ; so that any person can reach 

 from the margin of the bed to the middle without putting a foot on it. 

 The space beyond the circumferential walk is planted with a collection of all 

 the best azaleas ; not crowded together in one mass, as collections of this 

 shrub and rhododendrons commonly are, but in distinct bushes, so that 

 each is covered with flowers from the ground to the summit on every side. 

 To insure this gardenesque appearance, the plants are taken up, reduced, 

 and replanted in fresh peat soil, as soon as ever they begin to grow out of 

 bounds. To this practice, our attention was first directed by the late 

 Rev. Thomas Gamier (see Vol. X. p. 126.), who followed it with all his 

 American shrubs, and, indeed, with his roses, and with all his shrubs 

 that were valuable for the beauty of their flowers; and it cannot be too 

 strongly recommended for imitation. 

 g, An aquarium, on the margin of a bank of rockwork, of which fig. 90. in 

 p. 375. is a view, which extends from the English garden nearly to the Dutch 

 garden. The walk connecting these two gardens, and also a branch from 

 it to the conservatory and kitchen-garden, are covered with an arcade of 

 creeping shrubs, sufficiently open on the sides to admit a view of the 

 bordering plants, which are all of the more rare and beautiful kinds. There 

 are here, also, various sanctums, and minor compartments for small plants, 

 not shown in the plan ; and also a large space for setting out the green- 

 house plants during summer. 

 h, Experimental garden. Here seedlings of various ornamental plants, such 

 as dahlias, heartseases, herbaceous calceolarias, picotees, polyanthuses, &c., 

 are reared till they come into flower ; when the more beautiful sorts are 

 selected, and the rest thrown away. It was in this garden that the first 

 dwarf dahlias were raised by Mr. Joseph Wells, Mr. Wells's gardener, in the 

 year 1825. 

 i, Gardener's house, which serves, also, as a lodge to the Penshurst entrance, 



of which fig. 80. in p. 364. is a view. 

 k k, Borders of azaleas, rhododendrons, and other American flowering shrubs 

 /, Kitchen-garden. 



m n, Conservatories and green-houses. In one of the conservatories, there 

 are some remarkably large and luxuriant specimens, particularly of Wistaria 

 sinensis, the Madras citron, Clianthus puniceus, and Enkianthus quinque- 

 florus. In an adjoining conservatory, the back wall is covered with camellias, 

 which are not trained in close to the wall, like fruit trees, but have their 

 young shoots projecting out like a camellia hedge ; and the intensely dark 

 green of their leaves, and the profusion of flowers which they produce under 

 this treatment, show how well it is adapted to them. In general, it may 

 be observed that these conservatories exhibit the true kind of beauty which 

 a conservatory ought to produce; viz., free, luxuriant, and seemingly un- 

 controlled growth ; presenting every where a picturesque appearance ; and 

 directly opposed to the beauty of the green-house, in which the plants are 

 kept in pots on stages, and in which trimness, neatness, and the close train- 

 ing of climbers (in a word, the gardenesque), ought every where to prevail. 

 It may be useful, both to amateurs and to gardeners, to bear in mind these 

 distinctive characters of the conservatory and the green-house. The 

 orangery presents an aspect somewhat different ; because the plants, instead 

 of being in small pots on stages, are in large pots, boxes, or tubs, and, for 

 the most part, placed on the floor : but still the arrangement of the interior 

 is every where guided by the principles of the gardenesque. 



