340 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 2, 1871. 



a little way up one of those valleys by which the whole of the 

 park is divided, and this one opening to the north admits a 

 fine view over the district, extending far in that direction, and 

 which holds some other parks scarcely leas important than the 

 one in which we at present are. On the three other sides of 

 the mansion the ground rises gently at first, and then more 

 rapidly; in fact, the whole park, which consists of npwards of 

 600 acres, is a continned succession of hill and dale. Our 

 legitimate endeavour must be to describe the dressed part of 

 the grounds in detail, and first of all we may observe that these 

 come properly under three divisions — the Italian garden ad- 

 joining the mansion ; the upper pleasure ground, detached 

 from the last and Ijing within a ring fence ; and the kitchen 

 garden proper, with its glazed structures, constituting the 

 useful portion, which last-named is in another part of the park. 

 "We shall commence ^ith the Italian garden. This may be called 



tke flower garden proper, and it adjoins the mansion on the opposite 

 side of the carriage entrance. There seems to be some nncertainty 

 as to the date of its formation, bnt it is said to be the work of one of 

 the few Incky Sonth Sea stockholders, who held this place in the early 

 part of the last centnry, and did mnch to embellish it in varions ways. 

 The design of the beds is simple and good in its simpUcity, the space 

 allowed for paths is ample, and the beds are of proper size, contrast- 

 ing favourably with some of the contracted beds of the present day, 

 too often not larger than a pocket-handkerchief. The principal gardea 

 is in three compartments, with vases, sun dial, and fountains appro- 

 priately placed, and the whole surrounded by broad gravel walks. An 

 ornamental balustrading serves to divide this from the park. The 

 flower garden extends the whole length of the mansion for abont 

 180 feet, and about the same in depth, but the dressed grounds 

 stretch considerably further in a westerly direction, the front wall of 

 the flower garden being carried on in a straight line some distance in 

 that direction, and then returned at right angles. There is a terrace 

 walk on the north-west side 20 feet wide, and not less than 600 feei 



lon^;, which is partly planted with choice Pinuses and other shrubs, 

 and also contains that indispensable adjunct now-a-days — a croquet 

 gionnd, with a summer-house and the other attendants of a mansion of 

 pretension. The whole at the time of our visit was in the best possible 

 order ; the flower beds were gay with their various occupants, the turf 

 was clean and trim, and the trees and shrubs were models of good 

 cultnre. One of its compartments was enclosed with a fine hedge of 

 Sweet Briar — a shrub not half so mnch employed as it ought to be. 



The nest important feature of the place is the old or upper pleasure 

 ground. This detached portion of the grounds includes upwards 

 of 25 acres, with a gameproof fence around, and occupies the 

 summit and part of the sides of one of those eminences so numerous 

 in the park. A straight walk, some 200 yards in length, leads to it 

 from the house, and it is entered by flights of steps diverging right 

 and left after the first landing, the whole presenting imposing speci- 

 mens of masonry and sculpture, and among these a temple in imitation 

 of the Acropolis of Athens. 



The two walks that diverge at these steps take an easy and agreeable 

 curve all round, but sufficiently far from the outer fence to prevent its 

 being perceived, while other walks intersect in various places, the whole 

 being in that easy natural style so truly English in all its parts. We 

 ought in the first instance to have stated that the bordering to the 

 fence on the inner side of this enclosure is mostly of hardy native 

 trees, intermixed with shrubs of similar growth, while the interior is 

 more open, having extensive glades of turf with broad masses of Rho- 

 dodendrons, choice specimens of Pinuses, and plants of a like kind, but 

 flower beds aie very properly excluded. A fine piece of water was 

 introduced here, a rustic summer-house there, while the temple men- 

 tioned looked well when viewed from the mansion and other parts. 



The laying-out of this garden is due to one whom even every school- 

 boy who reads voyages and travels holds in honour — the much-re- 



spected Lord Anson, so celebrated for his voyage round the world an^ 

 subsequent adventures. That he should devote himself to embelUsh- 

 ing his country seat is as worthy of commendation, perhaps, as some- 

 of his other exploits, and that he should najne the temple he there- 

 built " The Temple of the Winds," is not remarkable in one who ted 

 so often esperienctd their caprices. 



The same noble proprietor was in other ways a great patron of 

 gardening. Some think thai it was he who introduced the Moor Park 

 Apricot from eastern lands, and it is said the original tree lived on 

 until 1840, when it died. 



[The Moor Park Apricot is said by some to have been introduced by 

 Lord Anson and planted at Moor Park. By others its introduction is- 

 ascribed to Sir Thomas More, who in the beginning of last century is 

 also said to have planted it at Moor Park. A third account is that 

 Sir John Temple introduced it. Which of these is correct it is impos- 

 sible now to determine, but it was not till the close of the last centnry 

 that this Apricot attained a general cultivation. It was not in the 

 Brompton Park catalogue before 1784, when it is mentioned under the 

 name of " Temple Apricot." In 178S it is first called "■ Moor Park."' 

 In 1784 it was cultivated in that nursery to the extent of three rows, 

 or about 300 plants ; but in 1797 to the extent of thirty-five rows, or 

 3500 plants. The Moor Park is undoubtedly of Prench origin ; it ia 

 either a seminal variety of the Abricot Pcche — not the Abiicot Peche 

 of Duhamel, which is our White Masculine — but the Abricot Peche of 

 Bretonnerie and Roger Schabol, or is identical with it. Our own 

 opinion is that it is identical with it. It is said to have originated 

 in Piedmont as a seedling from the Alberge. It is not mentioned 

 in the " Jardinier Fran^^ais " of 1653, nor in any of the editions 

 of De Quintinye. Switzer speaks of "a very large kind of Apricock 

 that was cultivated at Woolhampton, Berkshire, as big as a Peach, 

 and it is there called the French Apricock." This was in ail proba- 



