424 Visits to Suburban Gardens. 



before us. There is yet time, however, for changing the whole ; and we shall 

 be glad either to see this done, or to hear what arguments can be advanced 

 in favour of the plan adopted. Further, if we should be furnished with a 

 plan of the grounds in their present state, we shall be happy to publish it, 

 along with another plan embodying the ideas which we have above hastily 

 sketched out. We have taken a sketch showing the twistings of the walk on 

 the west side of this hall, which, were we desirous of caricaturing the 

 garden, we should publish ; but we have no such intention. Our object is to 

 do good; and we think that this hall might, with very little care and ex- 

 pense, be rendered a model for structures of the same kind about the metro- 

 polis, and also in other places. 



Whitton Park ; George Gostling, Esq. — A person must be as fond of trees 

 and shrubs as we are, to conceive an idea of the pleasure that we expe- 

 rience when looking over this fine old place. Some large trees were blown 

 down during the hurricane of January 7th, but none of any value, except 

 a deciduous cypress, the dimensions of which are given in our Arboretum, 

 vol. iv. p. 2487., as 81 ft. high, with a trunk of 5 ft. in diameter at 3 ft. from 

 the ground. One or two large cedars were also blown down, and some 

 gigantic silver firs and Scotch pines. The fine specimens of Carya olivEeformis, 

 and C. porcina, are uninjured and coming into bloom. Quercus .E'sculus, of 

 which there are the finest specimens in England, and most of the American 

 oaks, are in good foliage, though Q. Phellos, of which there is an immense 

 tree, has not quite recovered from the effects of the cold of the winter before 

 last. One great charm of this place is the undisturbed state in which the 

 woods appear to have been long kept, in consequence of which some most 

 singular groups of trees have been accidentally formed : for example, close 

 by the house, five oaks have sprung up from the root of a cedar, probably 

 from acorns deposited there by squirrels, with which this park abounds, and 

 their branches mingling with the arms of this tree form a very grand, singular, 

 and picturesque mass. In other places, the sycamore, the ash, the elder, &c., 

 have sprung up at the roots of cedars and formed groups with them. Many 

 of the trees ripen their seeds, which come up ; and, though most of them are 

 killed by some means or other, yet some survive and become trees. The 

 lower branches of the immense Lombardy poplar, which, in February, 1835, 

 was 115 ft. high, with a trunk 19 ft. 8 in. in girt at 2 ft. from the ground, is 

 in most vigorous growth, and the lower branches are assuming the character 

 of those of a round-headed tree, as different from those of the upper part of 

 the tree as the flowering branches of ivy are from the ordinary shoots. It is 

 singular that the seedling cedars die on the cedar mount here, precisely for 

 the same reasons that they die on Mount Lebanon, viz., that the decayed 

 foliage of the cedars forms such a thick stratum, that the roots of the seedlings 

 do not receive sufficient moisture, and the plants consequently wither off the 

 first year. (See Arb. Brit., article Cedar.) We must stop abruptly, however, 

 for when speaking of this place it is difficult to tell where to leave off, without 

 going through the whole, and this would fill a magazine. We were gratified 

 on our present visit with a sight of the plan of the grounds as they existed in 

 the time of the Duke of Argyll, and the present proprietor has kindly per- 

 mitted us to take a copy of this plan, and also to make a plan of the grounds 

 in their present state. With these, and some views which'we have had taken, we 

 intend to illustrate an edition of Whately's Observations on Modern Gardening, 

 for which we have long been collecting notes, plans, and sketches, and in 

 furtherance of which we would earnestly entreat our readers to lend us their 

 assistance. 



Teddington Grove. — The house was built by Sir William Chambers, who 

 may be supposed to have had something to do with laying out the grounds, 

 for they are exquisitely beautiful, and their effect has been greatly heightened 

 by the very superior taste and assiduous care of the present possessor. 

 Though these grounds can have had scarcely any variety of surface naturally, 

 yet they have been slightly hollowed out in so;ne )la ces and raised in others, 



