November 2, 1876. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



387 



Kew, where he introduced the Chinese ornaments. In 1771 

 he was invested with the Swedish order of the Polar Star. He 

 became a Fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies. In 

 1775 he was appointed to conduct the erection of Somerset 

 House, being Arohiteot to the King, Surveyor General to the 

 Board of Works, and Treasurer of the Royal Academy. In 

 1758 his style of design, &c , was severely attacked in two 

 satires termed "An Heroio Epistle," and "An Heroic Post- 

 script to Sir W. Chambers." In that Heroic Epistle is ob- 

 served that " he teaches us that a perfect garden must contain 

 within itself all the amusements of a great city ; that urbs in 

 rure, not rus in urbe, is the thing which an improver of true 

 taste ought to aim at." 



" To Richmond come, for see, uututor'd Brown 

 Destroys those wonders which were oace thy own. 

 J^o, from his Melon ground the peasant slave 

 Has rudely rush'd and levell'd Merlin's cave : 

 Knock'd down the waxea wizard, seiz'd his wand, 

 Transform'd to lawn what late was fairy land." 



The volume whioh entitles him to our notice is entitled 

 " Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Perspective Views of the 



Fig. 59.— Sir William Chamber?. 



Gardens and Buildings at Kew in Surrey, the Seat of H.R.H. 

 the Princess Dowager of Wales. 1763." In the introductory 

 description of the plates is mentioned that Mr. Kent designed 

 some of the ceilings and chimneypieces. Sir William remarks 

 that "the situation of the gardens is not advantageous, as it 

 is low and commands no prospects. Originally the ground 

 was a dead flat, the soil in general barren and without either 

 wood or water. What was once a desert is now an Eden. 

 The judgment with which art has been employed to supply 

 the defects of nature and to cover its deformities hath very 

 justly gained universal admiration. The orangery or green- 

 house design is mine, and was built under my inspection in 

 the year 1761. The physic or exotic garden was begun in 

 1760. For the cultivation of the plants I have built several 

 stoves." The thirty-ninth plate is of the aviary and flower 

 garden. 



Sir W. Chambers died March 7th, 1796, at his house in 

 Norton Street, London, and was buried in Poet's Corner, West- 

 minster Abbey. 



ASPECTS OP NATURE.— OCTOBER. 

 Octobee is the last month of the year when Nature is decked 

 in gay attire, and then it is not the gorgeous hue of flowers 

 that enliven the landscape, but the rich and manifold tints of 

 daily changing foliage, whioh contrast so charmingly with the 

 Eombre hue of the Pines and other evergreen trees. Rich red, 

 deep golden brown, and russet green, the leaves still hang on 

 the trees or tremble downwards to the earth, where they lie in 



copse and forest in deep layers, covering the numerous wildlings 

 that have rendered the earth gay and beautiful with their 

 spring and summer blossoms. But it is not alone the leaves 

 which light up the sober autumn landscape ; the rich ripe 

 berries of hedgerows and trees are now fully displayed through 

 the hourly thinning foliage. Conspicuous among them all is 

 the Mountain ABh, which often grows in the clefts on the sides 

 of old quarries, or in fissures on the hill side, hanging over 

 precipices, and appearing far up the mountain. With berries 

 almost as brilliant as thoBe of the Mountain Ash the wild 

 Guelder Rose is found by the margin of streams and in moist 

 situations, where its scarlet and orange fruit is conspicuous 

 in rich wax-like clusters, and contraats beautifully with the 

 purple-blaok berries of the Privet; indeed, at this season the 

 hedgerows are as gay, or even gayer, in many places than in 

 summer. In favoured spots the graceful Berberry puts forth 

 itB pendant rosy berries, and on every side may also be seen 

 the rich scarlet clusters of the Honeysuokle and Deadly Night- 

 shade, whilo the fruit of the Bryony changes gradually from 

 bright green to scarlet, and then to black. 



In many of our southern counties where Oak trees abound 

 the gathering-in of the acorn harvest is now in full vigour, 

 and merry parties of women and children sally forth in the 

 early morn with bags and baskets to gather up a store of winter 

 food for their pigs. A moderately high wind after a frost will 

 cause the coveted acorns to patter down thick and fast upon 

 the fallen leaves. The Beech tree also drops its triple-sided 

 nuts, the kernels of which are eagerly sought by the rapacious 

 wood pigeon. The beautiful, smooth, glossy fruit of the Horse 

 Chestnut, untouched by any other animal, is found palatable 

 by the herds of deer that roam over our ever- verdant parks ; 

 and the numerous birds that made the air vocal with melody 

 in spring now find a continued feast on Hawthorn bush and 

 Briar. The berries of the Thorn are but little more brilliant 

 than its deep rich red leaves, and these in many places are 

 almost hidden by the trailing Brambles, which still keep a 

 store of slowly ripening fruit, and make long garlands of ex- 

 quisitely diversified foliage over bank and fence, often disput- 

 ing the mastery with the rampant growth of the wild Clematis 

 or Traveller's Joy, which is now covered with its downy silky 

 tufts of seeds. Less conspicuous, indeed, from their position, 

 but none the less gorgeous, the lanes and hedgerows vie in 

 beauty of colour with the forest trees, whose 



" Viigin leaves, of purest vivid green, 

 Which charm'd ere yet they trembled on the trees, 

 Now cheer the Bober landscape in decay. 

 The Lime first fading, and the golden Birch 

 With bark of silver hue ; the moss-grown Oak, 

 Tenacious of its leaves of russet brown ; 

 Th'ensanguin'd Dogwood, and a thousand tints 

 Which Flora, dresB'd in all her pride of bloom 

 Could scarcely equal, decorate the groves." 



But although the beauty of the foliage attracts our attention 

 before anything else at this season of the year, we still have 

 many flowers, but they are small and scarcely to be compared 

 with the fulness and abundance of summer. Foremost among 

 the wild flowers is the Meadow Saffron, or Colchicum autumnale, 

 whioh decks our fields in the eastern countieB when almost the 

 last lingerer of the floral year has departed. Pale her blossoms 

 may be, and unprotected by foliage, but still the very delicacy 

 of this lovely flower, " the orphan of the year," has something 

 in it which reminds us of spring, the flowery joys of which 

 are so lately past that they still linger fondly in our memory, 

 and which a few short months Bhall bring back to us again 

 ever fresh and new. In winter the seeds lie buried deep in 

 the earth, to burst forth into life and beauty during spring and 

 summer. The seeds of the Meadow Saffron form no exception 

 to the rule ; they, too, are buried during winter, but they lie 

 in their bed even when other plants are springing into light 

 and life. It is then that the seed of the Saffron is lifted on a 

 fruitstalk up to the air and sunshine, which ripen and perfect 

 it ; and when in the bright and balmy days of June the hay 

 harvest is ready for gathering, the capsules of the seed vessel 

 crack and the seed is dispersed. Thus in the case of the Col- 

 chicum the prevailing rule of Nature is ohanged : the plant 

 blossoms in autumn, and produces its leaves and fruit in the 

 following spring. 



Barren as the meadows and lanes appear to a casual observer, 

 we have still maDy flowers in seoluded sheltered spots. Not 

 only does the hardy Cranesbill bloom, but the white Clover is 

 found growing spontaneously in many places whioh would 

 otherwise be bare. Some Bay that the white Clover represents 

 the national emb! em of Ireland, the three-kaved Shamrock; 



