in Sussex, visited in October; 1842. 611 



manship. The park is already well furnished with native oak 

 woods, and will be improved by the addition of pines, firs, 

 cedars, and other evergreens, especially near the castle. There 

 are an excellent kitchen-garden, and some delightful shady and 

 terrace walks ; besides a flower-garden, which will be connected 

 with an architectural conservatory entered from the drawing- 

 room. We anticipate at Wad hurst Castle, at no distant period, 

 such a collection of ornamental trees and shrubs as will form a 

 select arboretum ; and there are few places where, from the 

 shape of the grounds and the facilities for walks and drives, an ar- 

 boretum could be set off to so much advantage. The church of 

 Wadhurst has a spire covered with shingles, which is seen from 

 some parts of the grounds ; and within the church are some 

 monuments of cast iron; Sussex, to the middle of the last 

 century, having been the chief seat of the iron manufacture in 

 England. A small nursery has recently been commenced here 

 by Mr. Macdonald, formerly gardener to the Marquess Camden 

 at the Wilderness in Kent. 



Oct. 15. — Wadhurst to Battle Abbey, Beaufort, and Rose Hill. 

 The day was fine, the roads smooth and firm, though hilly, and 

 the foliage of the woods delightfully varied with autumnal tints. 

 In some of the artificial plantations we observed here and there 

 an American oak, the leaves of which were of an intense red, 

 scarlet, yellow, orange, and sometimes purple. In the planta- 

 tions to which we allude, there were also some American acers 

 and the Norway maple, exhibiting dark reds and rich yellows. 

 The degree to which these trees enhanced the interest of the 

 plantations alluded to can only be conceived by those who are 

 as fond of trees as we are, and who know a good many foreign 

 kinds. At what a small expense interest of this kind might be 

 created by planting foreign oaks, acers, &c, wherever planta- 

 tions are to be made, and by grafting or budding wherever they 

 already exist. It is true it requires rather an expert operator to 

 graft the oak with success ; but every gardener can graft or bud 

 Grecian or American thorns on the common thorns of the 

 hedges, American acers and scarlet horsechestnuts on the common 

 sorts, Pyrus spectabilis on crabs or thorns, the flowering ash on 

 the common ash, with scores of other foreign trees or shrubs on 

 native ones. If nothing more were done than grafting a few 

 common sycamores or maples with ^'cer rubrum or eriocarpum, 

 the result would be an ample compensation for the trouble. 



Battle Abbey; Lady Webster. The word Battle is impressive 

 of itself, and the feeling is well supported by the abbey, which 

 exhibits grandeur in all its dimensions, length, breadth, and 

 height, enhanced by antiquity, by the high ground on which it 

 stands, and by the grand entrance, forming the termination to 

 the main street of the town. There are few gate-houses which 



