586 Notes on Country Seats and Gardens. 



course of ornamental gardening that is so little understood as the formation 

 of rockwork. Most creations of this kind are little better than rubbish heaps, 

 because they appear to consist of all the sorts of stones that are found lying 

 about in the locality, including vitrified bricks, brickbats, shells, roots, &c. 

 No man can form a rockwork that has not the eye of an artist; and, if all the 

 best rockworks in England were examined, it would be invariably found, that 

 each consists only or chiefly of one kind of stone. Compare the rockworks of 

 the last century at Pain's Hill, Ascot Place near Windsor, Fonthill, Wardour 

 Castle, with those erected at the Coliseum, London, under the direction of 

 Mr. Gray, and with those of Lady Broughton, at the Hoole near Chester, 

 and of Mr. Wells at Redleaf. Li none of these rockworks will there be found a 

 miscellaneous assemblage of materials heaped up; but, on the contrar}', blocks 

 of stone of one kind, or imitations of blocks of stone, are ranged so as to 

 assume some natural-looking character of stratification or position. We repeat 

 that no man who has not the eye of an artist should attempt rockwork. 



The roof of a low portion of the house, looked down on from the library 

 windows, Mr. Cullis has very ingeniously covered with a collection of low- 

 growing saxifrages ; and, on the whole, this place does him much credit. 



Holly Walk is a street finely bordered with old oaks, elms, and hollies, some 

 of the latter having trunks 2 ft. in diameter, and the oaks and elms 6 ft. 

 There are several villas in this street deserving notice, particularly one in the 

 Elizabethan style, called Oak House, and another in a sort of Indian Gothic, 

 the residence of T. S. Hellier, Esq. 



Danby Cottage, the residence of John Williams, Esq., in the interior of the 

 town, is a villa in the Gothic style, handsome, and surrounded by fine trees. 



Radford Cottage, the residence of Squerell, Esq., architect, is an ex- 

 ample of the EUzabethan style, admirably worked out, in all the exterior 

 details of the house, offices, boundary walls, and gates ; and, as we passed 

 rapidly by it, it appeared to us one of the best things of the kind in Lea- 

 mington. 



Mr. Callis^s Nursery extends over many acres in different parts of the town 

 and neighbourhood, the progress of building compelling Mr. Cullis every now 

 and then to retreat further and further into the country. The seed shop, 

 conservatories, and house garden are still, however, in the same situation in 

 which we saw them in 1831, as noticed in our volume for that year, p. 410. 

 The conservatory was then being planted, the more rampant-growing sorts 

 being placed in bottomless pots, resembling chimney pots, 6 or 8 inches in 

 diameter, and 2 or 3 feet in length. After nine years' growth, and notwith- 

 standing annual prunings, the plants, as may always be expected, had become 

 too large, or too disproportionate to one another. They were, therefore, 

 recently taken up, the soil entirely renewed, and a collection of young plants 

 planted in the same manner as before. Every conservatory, to be kept in the 

 best manner, ought to be taken up and replanted every seven or eight years, 

 and we think the whole mass of soil ought to be separated by concealed per- 

 pendicular divisions into squares proportionate to the bulk of the plants which 

 are to be planted in them. Mr. Cullis's mode is excellent for a nursery con- 

 servatory, where the object is to display as many kinds as possible, on a small 

 space ; but, for the conservatory of a private gentleman, more effect is pro- 

 duced by a few choice specimens clothed with branches and foliage from the 

 ground upwards, than by a crowd of species drawn up by one another. For 

 such specimens, a considerable extent of surface is necessary, not only to 

 admit of their growth and bulk, but to promote the ripening of the wood and 

 the formation of flower buds ; and hence dividing by rectangular partitions 

 is preferable to planting in bottomless pots, as giving more room for surface 

 roots ; because, without these, large plants can never be expected to flower 

 well. Mr. Cullis has a very considerable collection of hardy trees and shrubs, 

 and among these is the largest stock in England of C'upressus torulosa, all in 

 pots, and between 2 ft. and 4 ft. in heigiit. 



Leamington, like most other country towns in England, is laid out more at 

 random than on any definite system ; nevertheless, the streets are broad, and 



