December 28, 1871. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUKB AND OOTTAUE GAEDENEK. 



511 



carried out, tut it is merely the waste water of the lake carried 

 over an artificial rockwork, constituting the dam by which the 

 lake was formed. The water falls a hffiight of between 20 and 

 30 feet, dancing from rock to rock in four stages, and the fall, 

 though by no means so lofty as others where the natural form- 

 ation of the ground is more hiUy, is still of sufficient importance 

 both in height and body of water to lift it above those toy 

 devices which are so often and so justly held up to ridicule. The 

 rockwork is partially covered with Ivy, and at its sides are 

 Portugal Laurels and Pinuses. Near this point the winding 

 walks are skirted by plantations of Laurels and Rhododendrons, 

 which serve to conceal the boundary of the pleasure grounds, if 

 boundary it can be called, for the view so merges into that of 

 the park and plantat'ous, that a boundary is nowhere apparent. 

 The Rhododendrons, chiefly varieties of the ponticum race, were 

 cut back three years ago, and have now made vigorous shoots. 

 Passing close by the lower side of the waterfall and through a 



grotto and rockery we reach the other side of the lake's head 

 The next prominent object is a Doric temple from which we 

 gain a view across the lake of the east front of the mansion. At 

 the back of the mount on which this temple summer-house is 

 situated is a winding walk, with a bank on the other side planted 

 with Scotch Firs, Weymouth Pines, Beeches, and other frees and 

 shrubs. >' ear this point is a noble specimen of Pinus Pinaster, 

 which may be estimated at 100 feet high, and at a little distance 

 off the red shoots of a clump of the Dogwood (Comus sanguinea) „ 

 lighted-up the duUer hues of the evergreens. Pausing now and 

 then to admire the old Beeches, generally branching not more- 

 than the height of a man from the ground, but throwing their 

 spreading arms over a wide diameter, eventually we come to a 

 Laurel-skirted walk leading to the pinetum. This was planted 

 about 1850, and covers several acres out of the seventy or eighty- 

 of kept pleasure ground, and of which about fifty acres arti" 

 under the scythe, or rather the mowing-machine. 



Lower Terrace Garden at Bowood. 



The pinetum is one of the most notable features of Bowood, 

 and contains a very complete collection of the finest Conifers 

 from all parts of the globe. It is true we did not notice the new 

 introductions from Japan, such as the Sciadopitys, the Retino- 

 sporas and others, but no doubt they had a place elsewhere. Of 

 the giant American Pinuses, however, there were many noble 

 specimens. Cupressus macrocarpa could not be less than 30 feet 

 high ; Wellingtonia gigantea was probably as tall, and from the 

 thickness of its stem both here and at other places it seems likely 

 to attain as great dimensions, at least in girth, as it has done in 

 the Californian groves. Of Abies Douglasii the tail spar at 

 Kew must be familiar to many of the readers of this Journal, 

 and the frees of it at Bowood outside the pinetum proper, some 

 of them from 30 to 60 feet in height, have the same erect tower- 

 ing habit. It is, indeed, a noble free, especially when so well 

 furnished with branches as the specimens here. It is found, 

 however, that when high wiuds come while the branches are 

 laden with snow, disastrous breakages sometimes occur. Arau- 

 carias are represented by specimens 25 feet high ; Pinus insignis, 

 which is tender in some places, has attained a height of from 

 40 to 50 feet ; of Picea Nordmanniana there are several hand- 



some trees, one of which is 18 feet high; and so there are of 

 Picea Pinsapo, Cupressus Lawsoniana, Picea nobilis, P. cepha- 

 lonica, Taxodium sempervfrens, of which the branches cover 

 cfrcle 30 feet in diameter ; Cedrus atlantica, remarkable for its 

 glaucous hue ; Abies orientalis, a beautiful lawn free ; Juni- 

 perus recurve-, J. communis ; the Savin (J. Sabina) ; J. pendula, 

 J. virginiana ; Abies Jl enziesii, Pinus excelsa, Pinus Pinea, Abies 

 canadensis, and many others, not to mention majestic Cedars of 

 Lebanon in various parts of the grounds. It must be added 

 that to every tree in the pinetum is placed in the ground near 

 it an fron label with the name, height, and native country of 

 the tree printed, and protected from the weather by glass — such 

 labels as were in use at Chiswick some years ago. The grass of 

 the pinetum is beautrfully kept, and even at this season, when 

 falling leaves cause many a struggle in the gardener's mind be- 

 tween considerations of economy and appearance, there was 

 nothing that could offend the eye of the most fastidious, and all 

 the walks were as clean and bright as they could have been in 

 simmier. Here we must take our leave of Bowood for the present 

 week, deferring to another the notice of the kitchen garden and 

 hothouses. 



The Royal Hokticultueaij Society's Peovinoial Show at 

 BiEMiNGHAM will open on the 25th of June and continue until 

 the 29th. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Losses of the Feench Nukseeymen dubing the 



Wae. — From statistics which have been furnished ns by theEev. 

 H. H. Dombrain, the Secretary to the French Horticnlturists' 



