334 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ May 11, 1871. 



way, I wonder the London market florists have not found it 

 out aa a pot plant. Nice little plant3 lifted and placed in 

 48-pot3 about the middle of February, and Eet in a cold frame 

 for a week or so, burst into charming masses of blue, close and 

 compact, and I venture to predict would sell by thousands. — 

 William WiSDEEiXE, Southampton. 



OAKWOOD HOUSE, MAIDSTONE— MAEECHAL 



NIEL ROSE. 



TsEKE are few places exhibiting more picturesque beauty 

 and greater fertility than the vale of the Medway in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of the town of Maidstone. The Medway, 

 it is true, is deprived of some of its natural beauty by the 

 necessities of navigation, a lock here and there interrupting 

 that meandering course which the poet and romance writer 

 like to dwell upon, but these drawbacks are not many, and 

 their presence is more than compensated for by the fact of 

 their existence having secured an excellent path along the side 

 of the river as far as it is navigable, whieh for small craft it is 

 up to Tunbridge. Its course in the neighbourhood of the 

 latter town, and for some distance below, is through a flat 

 rather than an undulating country, and it is not till it ap- 

 proaches the pleasant village of Wateringb'ury that its banks 

 assume that irregular ascending tendency which, where aided 

 by the great fertility of the soil and the diversity of cultivation, 

 produces a rich landscape. The acreage under Hops and fruit 

 in many parishes exceeds that of corn. Peeping out here and 

 there over the tops of trees may be seen the spires of churches, 

 and often nestling around them a picturesque village of dwell- 

 ings of the seventeenth as well as those of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury, while surrounding all are freqaently found umbrageous 

 fruit trees which at the proper season yield basketful after 

 basketful of their tempting treasures — not here tempting to be 

 sure, for the abundance is such that but few charges are made 

 at the magistrates' office for fruit-stealing, and in these cases 

 the offenders are mostly vagrants. The sylvan beauty is no- 

 where marred by the smoke of manufactories, or at all events 

 but little harm is done in that way. In such a district, as may 

 be expected, land is dear, eligible sites for villas commanding 

 high prices. The eye of the traveller is now and then attracted 

 by the appearance of a mansion whose importance and sur- 

 roundings imply that it has been the residence of some of the 

 nobility or gentry of a bygone age and is still occupied as such, 

 while others, equally important and well-situated, have but a 

 modern history ; such an one is the mansion which I will 

 now proceed to notice. 



Oakwood House, the residence ol L. D. Wigan, Esq., a newly- 

 erected and commodious mansion, is situated less than a mile 

 from Maidstone, and about half that distance from the river 

 Medway, which at this point flows from south to north. The 

 residence being on the left bank has its principal front to the 

 east, the dressed grounds, which are very extensive, being 

 mostly in that direction. The mansion is one of those enriched 

 modern erections, constructed of red brick and Bath stone, in 

 which internal comfort and outward display are happily united. 

 As a residence it is beautiful, while the site is all that could be 

 desired, llai highly cultivated district on the opposite bank of 

 the Medway, including the fruit-famed districts of the two Far- 

 leighs (East and West), Tovil, Loose, and the heights beyond, 

 are all seen, while no more of the town of Maidstone is visible 

 than is sufScient to show that a town is there ; and beyond that, 

 over the undulating park and grounds of the Earl of Eomney, 

 is seen in the distance the chalk cUfi of that ridge of hills com- 

 monly called the backbone of Kent. 



Eeturning to my starling point, I may remark that Oakwood 

 House and all its surroundings are of modern date, the trees 

 which give it a name alone excepted. Its situation is suffi- 

 ciently elevated without being bleak, and, being well backed by 

 trees, it has a snug appearance. The garden front, as already 

 stated, faces the east, or rather south-east, the carriage entrance 

 being to the north, while a spacious front, equalling the south- 

 ern one in length and importance, faces the west or south-west, 

 terminating with that indispensable appendage to a mansion of 

 importance, a billiard-room. A rather imposing verandah or 

 corridor, partly glazed, runs along the principal garden front, 

 while a conservatory and exotic fernery are united to it at the 

 south-east corner. A broad walk, with a corresponding ample 

 width of turf, forms a terrace on which the house stands, while 

 sloping banks unite it with the ground below, to which steps 

 give access at suitable places, the descent at the principal front | 



being, perhaps, as much as 12 or 15 feet. A series of flower 

 beds, forming what is usually called the Florentine chain, run 

 along the belt of turf on the upper terrace, while below, beds of 

 greater dimensions are in the course of formation, the whole 

 of the alterations contemplated there not being yet completed ; 

 indeed, much of the space now being laid out in pleasure 

 ground was a few years ago a quarry, and advantage is being 

 taken of the inequalities thus formed to give that undulating 

 character so much admired by those who assume to be judges. 

 Some precipitous clifis will remain only partially clothed with 

 foliage, while other eminences will be crowned in that way, 

 dells and other inequalities being treated in like manner. The 

 space at command is ample for all purposes, and includes a 

 large, perfectly level area at the base of the terrace slope, and 

 what shrubs and trees had been planted were succeeding well, 

 the large Oaks at the back and western side of the mansion 

 aft'ording sufficient shelter to the whole. 



The kitchen garden is to the west of the mansion, a walk 

 leading from one to the other through what will be masses 

 of shrubbery. Some Ehododendrons were thriving well in the 

 ordinary soil of the place, assisted only with a little leaf mould 

 obtained from the adjoining wood. Mr. Piggott, the able gar- 

 dener, is of opinion that leaf mould is much deteriorated by 

 confinement and heating when it is formed in the usual way. 

 Sjme extensive orchards, of many years' standing, adjoin the 

 ground in this direction. The Plum and Cherry trees were 

 masses of blocm, and the Apple trees equally promising, 

 though not fully out at the time of my visit. 



In the conservatory adjoining the mansion attention is first 

 arrested by two noble specimens of Indian Azaleas of great 

 size, standing like sentinels at the doorway ; further in was a 

 specimen Acacia grandis, 1"2 feet or more high, and about half 

 that in diameter, a mass of bloom. Several Coleuses had also 

 been brought forward in a warm place, and graced the conser- 

 vatory ; amongst them the variety named Her Majesty was by 

 no means the least ornamental. A vigorous-growing Begonia, 

 named, I believe, B. ricinifolia, was also in full flower, while 

 some well-flowered Salvias formed the background, with speci- 

 mens of a useful Pelargonium for forcing called Crimson King. 

 It is one of the greenhouse kinds. The most meritorious pro- 

 ductions in the house were some excellent plants of Eoses in 

 bloom, not with tiny imitations ol bloom, but large heads ; the 

 varieties being mostly well-known Hybrid Perpetuals, as Victor 

 Verdier, Senateur Yaisse, Alexandrine Bachmetefi, and Madame 

 Victor V^erdier, while the Teas were represented by Madame 

 Faleot, Gloire de Dijon, and a respectable plant of Marechal 

 Niel, having several blooms upon it. But the principal attrac- 

 tion of the house at the time of my visit was a fine plant of 

 this variety in full bloom occupying, the rafters of a part of the 

 roof, and it was well worth a considerable journey to see. I 

 believe the house was only erected two years ago. This Mii^chal 

 Niel Eose was budded in 18CS on a Briar stock, and planted 

 out in a border at the back wall scarcely more than a foot wide, 

 but of considerable depth. How the plant flowered last year 

 I forgot to inquire, but it sent up seven branches or shoots, 

 which were all trained in different directions, the longest 

 shoot being 1.5 feet long, and the shortest 11 feet. Every shoot 

 was laid in to its tip. 'The united growth of the seven shoots 

 was 85 feet, and at the time of my visit, the third week in 

 April, there were seventy-eight full-blown Eoses upon these 

 shoots, and 148 in various stages of the bud. The expanded 

 flowers were as large and full as could possibly be desired, and 

 being all pendant, had the best possible effect, showing that 

 such a position is the best this Eose could have ; for in point of 

 colour, form, size, and fulness of centre, I have never seen any 

 specimen at the Eose shows nearly so good as those at Oakwood. 

 I believe the only use made of the knife in its management 

 has been to cut off the flowers, and this year there promises to 

 be an abundance. Mr. Piggott, however, thinks it will not 

 figure as a pot plant, the weakness of the flower-stems always 

 leading to their hanging head downwards, as is the case with 

 many other Tea Eoses, including some of the most popular 

 kinds ; but when Marechal Niel is grown as a climber this 

 tendency becomes a recommendation, and in the case now 

 described it would be impossible to suggest an improvement. 

 The long shoots were studded at regular intervals with clusters 

 of buds, having generally one full-blown Eose of the richest 

 gold colour, while the foliage was also all that could be wished 

 for. 



As the fine situation and fertile soil favour the growth 

 of most plants, in a few years Oakwood House will be one of 

 the prettiest residences in the neighbourhood ; for although 



