536 Notices of some Gardens and Country Seats 



little tree, and Coronilla glauca and Medicago arborea have 

 become large bushes. In short, there is no greenhouse plant 

 that might not be trusted out here summer and winter. The 

 woods in some places rise from a covering of tutsan, and in 

 others from one of ivy ; which is also introduced into dry 

 stone walls near the bottom, and soon changes these walls 

 into evergreen hedges. The common ash, Mr. Gullet finds, 

 will transplant better than any other tree when of large size, and 

 it also stands the sea breeze remarkably well. Miss Johnes, 

 the proprietress of Torquay, is sister to the late Colonel Johnes 

 of Hafod in Cardiganshire, a splendid place, where we had the 

 pleasure of passing a few days professionally, so long ago as 

 1805. Miss Johnes is upwards of ninety years of age, and in 

 perfect health. 



Sept. 8. — Torquay to Paington, Totness, and Kingsbridge. Tor 

 Abbey is principally remarkable for some fine ruins, stone coffins, 

 large elms, and an avenue of lime trees. There is a Catholic 

 chapel, which always commands our respect, as being charac- 

 teristic of an old family and an old place. The effect of the 

 ruins is in a great measure destroyed by the sycamores, elders, 

 and other trees with which they are overgrown. Ivy is almost 

 the only plant that can luxuriate among ruins without injuring 

 their dignity. Trees may be allowed to spring out of the actual 

 walls, because in that situation they never grow large, or, if they 

 do, that circumstance enhances the idea of the age of the ruin ; 

 but luxuriant trees growing out of the ground, which completely 

 cover the ruins by their branches, prevent them from being- 

 seen as a whole, and consequently from making their charac- 

 teristic impression. There is here a fine old Saxon doorway, 

 and near it a sweet bay, SO ft. high. In the kitchen-garden, 

 Cistus ladaniferus is upwards of 10 ft. high. The gardener, 

 Mr. Pullinger, from Prudhoe Castle, Northumberland, is an in- 

 telligent industrious man, who reads, and who deserves a more 

 extensive charge. 



Paington. Celebrated for its cabbages, which are a coarse 

 sort, coming nearer to the Strasburg or Scotch cabbage than 

 any other variety, and, like it, attaining a large size on well 

 manured loam. It cannot be recommended for the garden, 

 unless perhaps in those of cottagers who may require it as food 

 for cows or swine. Spoke with two of the growers, and brought 

 away some seed (see p. 485.). A very old yew in the church- 

 yard, with a hollow trunk filled in with brickwork. 



Berry Pomeroy Castle ; the Duke of Somerset. This is the 

 ruins of what has been a lofty and widely extending castle; but it 

 is now shorn of much of its dignity, by the duke's tenantry 

 having, till within the last twenty years, taken away almost all 

 the master stones of the building, such as the lintels and jambs 



