302 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



[ October 19, 1871. 



for Mr. Record, wlio must have devoted considerable time ia working 

 it oat. 



^Ye nest come to tlie northern side of the mansion, which has re- 

 cently been altered and made into the most commodious carriage 

 entrance, and to make it in keeping with the other sides of the house 

 a large court has been enclosed and gravelled. An open-work balus- 

 trade, corresponding iu design with that on the south side, has been 

 erected around the northern court, which now embraces a space of 

 220 feet on the side, or upwards of an acre, entii-ely gravelled and 

 ready for any purpose that may be wanted, and Mr. Record says it is 

 not too large for special occasions when a number of cai'riages are 

 assembled here. This, like the southern front, opens upon a straight 

 avenue of trees, hut in this instance they are much closer together, 

 ■and seem not to have been used as a carriage drive as the others have 

 been ; in fact, the principal carriage drive curves round to the left 

 after leaving this court, and a new road to the railway station is being 

 aiade. 



Before leaving this part of the grounds we must glance round and 

 see how profusely the park is studded with handsome timber trees in 

 this direction, for apart from the avenue alluded to — and all avenues 

 -at Hatfield are composed of four rows of trees — there are abundance 

 of trees of all ages and sizes scattered over the park, not indiscrimi- 

 nately, but with taste and judgment, leaving large open glades here 

 and there, groups arranged to conceal objects in the cUstance which it 

 is not desirable to show, but at the same time leaving vistas iu their 

 proper places. 



The park is very large, exceeding, I believe, two thousand acres, 

 and much diversified. Some part of it is covered with Fera, in which 

 not only a bullock but a man on horseback is said to have found 

 ■concealment. Other portions possess a rich, grassy sward, while the 

 whole is so undulating as to do away with that feeling of monotony 

 which a too frequent repetition produces. The age of the trees is also 

 a remarkable feature, and as an instance of this, I may mention an 

 Oak situated but a short distance from the north entrance having a 

 gii'th of 32 feet 5 inches at 5 feet from the ground. This relic of a 

 bygone age is only a shell, but a mode has been adopted of prolong- 

 ing its existence which I do not remember having seen before. The 

 interior of the tree, which is hollow, has been filled-in with the ordinary 

 gravelly soil of the district so as to form a compact mass. .How far 

 this may be conducive to the welfare of the tree time only can tell ; 

 but so venerable an object deserves the greatest care that can be be- 

 stowed upon it. I need hai'dly add that its top showed the usual 

 symptoms of extreme age, portions being dead, and the spread of its 

 branches not at all large. Let us, however, hope its life may be 

 prolonged for many years. It would be satisfactoi-y to know how 

 many such trees exist in the land. Some years ago I myself measured 

 one in a hedgerow in Buckinghamshire upwards of 26 feet in girth, 

 and c|uite healthy. Still more recently I came across one in Stafford- 

 shire 31 feet and upwards in circumference. The most historical Oak, 

 the one under which the Princess Elizabeth was reclining when a 

 messenger came to hail her Queen of England, is no longer in exist- 

 ence, having fallen some forty years ago. Its shell is, however, pre- 

 served, tut its size is not important. 



A striking feature in this place is the inconvenient distance of the 

 kitchen garden from the house which has been long felt, so that a new 

 one is in course of formation which will be described in due time. 

 The old kitchen garden, which was called " the Vineyard," was at 

 the extreme north side of the park, upwards of a mile from the 

 mansion. A path through the park led to it, and the entrance was 

 through a sort of ornamental cottage ; the side next the park was by 

 HD means remarkable, but the other side was extremely so. The 

 cottage alluded to stood on the edge of a rather steep bank facing the 

 north, at the bottom of which was a broad piece of water, formed by 

 dammiug-up the river Lea, but its cleai' and bright appearance as well 

 as the concealment of the weir head kept up the idea that it was 

 an important river. On the other side of this river was the kitchen 

 graden, an enclosure of between four and five acres, having a sort of 

 ornamental tower at the centre of the top immediately facing the 

 •cottage. We entered and were surprised at the manner in which the 

 sloping bank from the cottage to the water was disposed of, which was 

 by Yew hedges all pointing in fan-shaped fashion to the cottage, the 

 centre opening of course being the widest, and pointing directly over 

 the water to the ornamental tower at the top of the kitchen garden. 

 A broad walk through the latter gave an uninterrupted view to the 

 object alluded to, whUe all the side openings, after pointing to the 

 water, also had their course to some important centre iu the garden or 

 beyond it, while the age and good keeping of this singular feature 

 carried the beholder back to a period when gardening as a profession 

 must have been little known compared with what it is now ; and yet 

 how perseveringly and consistently have these fine features been at- 

 tended to by the many generations of proprietors of Hatfield ! Why it 

 should be called the Vineyard is not so easy to understand, unless, as 

 is not at all unlikely, Vines for wine-making were cultivated in the 

 Mtchen garden. 



Returning to the neighbourhood of the mansion, and pursuing a 

 Bouth-west course, we emerge in the pinetum proper, and guided by 

 Mr. Record, we find ourselves in a large sheltered spot, where some of 

 the most valuable Conifers introduced to this country some fifty years 

 ago have been planted, and many have attained the proportions of our 

 native trees. Picea Pinsapo waa especially fine, as ia also P, cepha- 



lonica, while Cryptomeria japonica, Taxodium aempervirens, and 

 sundi-y Pines, were well represented, Pinus excelsa being especially 

 good. Neither were Araucarias wanting in size, while rising speci- 

 mens of the more recently-introduced Conifers bid fair to equal others 

 of like kinds elsewhere. 



Diverging from this we come upon the conservatory, a new building, 

 not lofty, but well adapted for the purpose it is intended for. This 

 structure is 200 feet long by 24 feet wide, span-roofed, and with an 

 ornamental pathway of good width up the middle, the roof being well 

 clothed with creepers, and the sides with such permanent plants as 

 Camellias and Orange trees, and amongst others I noticed one of the 

 best Luculias I had seen for many a day. Fuchsias and other plants 

 standing between gave a good display for the time being. In another 

 part of the grounds I noticed abundance of plants being prepared for 

 the autumn and winter decoration of the house. It ought also to be 

 mentioned that connected with one end of this conservatory, but at 

 right angles to it, so as not to compete with it in point of interest, was 

 a plant stove, also well stocked with the plants mostly wanted at the 

 time the family are here. Only those who are in the habit of supply- 

 ing a family of rank with plants for the various purposes of table and 

 room decoration, know how much this part of a gardener's duty has 

 increased during the last few years, and how much with it the demand 

 for cut flowers. 



As the kitchen garden recently fonned is in the direction of the 

 conservatory, we ought to describe it here, but as the gi-aperies and 

 forcing houses intervene between the old kitchen garden and it, my 

 remarks upon them should naturally precede any I have to make upon 

 the other. They were not at the old garden as might be supposed, 

 but were in a sort of yard to the north-west of the mansion, adjoining 

 some farm buildings and other offices. They consisted of some 

 vineries that had done good service iu their time, of pits, and of 

 smaller houses for forcing pot Vines, Cucumbers, and Strawberries. I 

 believe that in years gone by there have been obtained from these pits 

 and houses good Grapes from pot Vines. Those I saw this year were 

 excellent. But as a new kitchen garden has been determined on, and 

 as ranges of horticultural stmctures on a much larger scale are in 

 course of formation, these houses and pits are to be done away with. 

 At the time of my visit, however, they were fully employed, or rather 

 the plants standing about showed that they had been so ; and apart 

 from the long array of Vines in pots, and the thousands of Strawberry 

 plants to be taken in, plants for the decoration of the conservatory 

 were being prepared by the hundred, Chinese Primulas, Cinerarias, 

 Poinsettias, and what I was very pleased to see as an pld and deserving 

 favourite, a large batch of Calla ajthiopica, a plant which far exceeds 

 the bulk of the Caladiums in beauty of form. Cyclamens, Cupheas, 

 Libonias, and other winter-flowering plants, were also being prepared. 

 All of these were in the best possible condition, showing that Mr. 



-Ul 



EITCHEN GAEDEN. 



Plan of Houses. 



A, A, &c. Seven Grape houses forming a range of lean-to houses 270 feet 

 long by the respective widths of 18, 16, and 14 feet. The centre house is 

 the highest, and forms a conspicuous object from the central walk 

 tbrough the kitchen garden. 



B, B, Two span-roofed forcing houses each 100 feet long by 14 feel wide. 

 These may be used for Pines, Melons, &c. 



0, c, Six span-roofed houses, each 100 feet long by 16 feet wide ; the two 

 outer ones being for Peach houses, the use of the others not yet de- 

 termined upon, but they will be employed for growing plants for the 

 present. 



D, D, Cold pits each 100 feet long, and their number may} perhaps, be 

 increassd, and possibly some of them wiU be heated. 



I 



