110 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ August 8, 1878. 
dicecious, yet a specimen at Bicton was singular in producing 
male and female cones on the same branch. Young plants 
have been raised in both England and Scotland from home- 
grown seeds,—EDs. | 
PLEIONE LAGENARIA. 
A CORRESPONDENT, “A. M. B.,”’ sends us a postcard con- 
taining the following request :—‘‘ What are Indian Crocuses 
like?” We can best reply by publishing one of the most 
beautiful of the Pleiones, which has been described asa gem 
amongst gems. The pseudobulbs are distinct from any other 
species, being flask-shaped with a peculiar overlapping neck. 
The flowers are large and solitary ; sepals and petals narrow, 
deep rose colour ; lip very large, waved at the margins, white 
variegated with yellow and rich purple. It flowers profusely 
during the depth of winter. Native of the Himalayas. The 
majority of the species grow at elevations of from 6000 to 
8000 feet in the forests of Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhotan, and 
when in flower are said to present a most gorgeous aspect, 
causing the woods to appear all ablaze. They are mostly 
grown in pots, but succeed equally well upon blocks; in the 
latter way they require more sphagnum about them than most 
Fig. 16.—Pleione lagenaria. 
plants grown in asimilar manner. When grown in pots, which 
is undoubtedly the best method, they should have ample drain- 
age. The soil should be fibrous peat, sphagnum moss, and rich 
leaf mould in equal parts, adding a small portion of silver sand ; 
put the curious little pseudobulbs should not be elevated above 
the rim of the pot, as in the usual method of potting Orchids. 
During the growing season moderate heat and an abundance 
of moisture are necessary to the development of large strong- 
flowering pseudobulbs ; after these are formed they may be 
removed to a cool house and kept tolerably dry until the flower 
buds begin to show themselves at the base of the old bulbs, 
when additional heat may be applied with advantage, 
MARGAM PARK.—No. 1. 
THE SEAT OF C. R. M. TALBOT, ESQ,, M.P. 
ONE of the most charming seats in South Wales, and which 
deserves to be more widely known than it is, is Margam Park, 
the chief residence of C. R. M. Talbot, Esq., the senior member 
for Glamorganshire and Lord Lieutenant of the county, and 
one of the most extensive landed proprietors in the United 
Kingdom, 
The place itself is old, though the present princely and 
elegant mansion is modern ; and the grounds, while retaining 
many of those features which age alone can impart, have at 
the same time much of the grace and beauty of youth. It 
would be impossible in a short sketch like the present to do 
more than touch upon a few of the many features of interest 
about the place. Unlike nearly all other Welsh parishes the 
name of Margam is involved in obscurity. It is probably a 
corruption of Morgan. In very ancient times it went by the 
name of Pendar—i.e., an eminence covered with Oak trees, 
and to this day the Oak-clad wood within the grounds is a 
familiar object to travellers by the Great Western Railway 
passing along this route. In the olden time Margam was a 
place of considerable importance, possessing as it did a noble 
monastery, and lying on the great Roman road which connected 
Carleon with Carmarthen. 
At the dissolution of the lesser monasteries in the reign of 
Henry VIII. Margam became the property of Sir Rice Mansel 
by purchase, and it was after this for two hundred years the 
home of the Mansel family, which removed here from Penrice 
in about the year 1545. On the death of the last Earl Mansel! 
in 1750 the property came into the possession of Thomas 
Mansel Talbot, Esq., who afterwards left Margam and lived 
chiefly at Penrice. The present owner having, however, rebuilt 
Margam on a new site about forty years ago, it has since been 
his principal seat. 
Margam Park is situated a few miles to the eastward of the 
pleasant town of Neath, and is about equidistant from the 
Port Talbot and Pyle stations on the Great Western Railway, 
The drive from Port Talbot with its copper-smelting chimneys. 
and vapours, and its yellow sand ridges bordering the Bristol 
Channel at this place, affords but little promise of the grand 
old demesne in its neighbourhood. Soon, however, the road 
bends inland, and conducts to a small cluster of houses con- 
taining a handsome school house and a small curious-looking 
octagonal-shaped chapel built by the present Mr. Talbot for 
the accommodation of the residents about the place. At this 
point the visitor enters the main approach, which conducts by 
a slightly ascending gradient through an old Oak plantation 
to the gardens, pleasure grounds, and mansion. This Oak 
plantation is a noteworthy feature of the Park, its extent being 
about 800 acres, while from the altitude to which it is carried 
it is made to form a background of great beauty and richness 
to the other attractions of the place. 
After a drive of about a mile from the gateway we reach the 
gardens, over which we are conducted by the genial and highly 
efficient head gardener, Mr. Muir. The special features of the 
gardens we reserve for another paper; suffice it to say that 
after examining them with great interest we are conducted 
through the orangery adjoining, and the vast and elegant 
Doric building, specially constructed about ninety years since 
by the present proprietor’s father for the accommodation of 
the Orange trees in winter, with three graceful fountains in 
front, the whole forming a feature of much interest and beauty. 
We find in the thick clusters of shrubbery which surround 
the cleanly-kept lawn here many plants of rare excellence. 
Wellingtonias from 50 to 60 feet high, well furnished from 
top to bottom; large Sweet Bays, nearly the same size, and 
almost as much in diameter; the common Portugal Laurel 
grows to the height of 40 feet ; Taxodium sempervirens, 50 feet > 
Ailantus glandulosa, from 40 to 50 feet; indeed, we never re- 
member having seen better specimens of trees and shrubs of 
all kinds than are to be found here. We measured one large 
tree of Platanus orientalis, 70 feet high and 76 yards in cir- 
cumference, furnished to the ground with branches, and in 
perfect health. Hydrangeas grow from 8 to 9 feet high, and 
some of the plants are no less than 18 feet in diameter, and 
produce from two to three hundred trusses of bloom in the 
season. A Camellia (Double Red) growing outside is 18 feet 
high and 20 yards in circumference, and produces hundreds of 
flowers yearly. 
The spaces between the shrubs afford extensive outlooks 
through the pleasure grounds. The eye is soon attracted, how- 
ever, by portions of old ecclesiastical ruins in beautiful preser- 
vation, There are portions remaining and carefully preserved 
of the old abbey of Margam, which dates from about the 
twelfth century. Parts of the walls, containing beautiful 
specimens of the old windows and pillars, and portions of 
Gothic arches are scattered over a considerable extent of 
ground, showing the large space the abbey must have covered 
in the days of old when the monks inhabited it. Nearly the 
entire shell of the chapter house still stands, forming one of 
the most elegant remains in England. It is nearly circular in 
