September 1, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



16? 



mulching never dried, and the Aprieots, a good erop, were 

 ripening, and none had fallen. 



There is a terrace before the honBe, and flanking a portion of 

 that terrace is a Yew hedge about 6 feet high. This forms a 

 good background to a ribbon-border, the rows in which are 

 Hollyhocks, Dahlias, dwarf Roses, 1'erilla nankinensis, Scarlet 

 Geraniums, yellow Calceolaria, Lobelia speeiosa, and white- 

 edged Saxifrage, but this last is too tufty, and Arctotis reptans, 

 old ]>onald Beaton's " frosted-silver plant," would be more 

 effective. 



In the vicinity I had great pleasure in conversing with the 

 author of one of my favourite works, " The Land of Israel," 

 the Rev. Mr. Tristram. He gave me much information relative 

 to the Holy Land, and I would gladly have asked him abont its 

 Pigeons and poultry, just to gratify his brother cleric, " Wilt- 

 shire Rectos," but I remembered the Btory of the farmer to 

 whom a reverend Palestine traveller was relating the discoveries 

 in and abont Jerusalem, stopping the interesting narrative with 

 the inquiry, " Beg pardon, Sir, but how he's the Turmets out 

 there ?" 



" Up and away from Palestine," and my next remembrance 

 is of Barnard CaBtle, from whence I rambled among the herds 

 of red deer at Raby Castle ; hung admiringly over the ruinB of 

 Atherstone Abbey, and the views of the Tees from the battle- 

 ments of its bridge ; lingered at Wycliffe, the place of origin of 

 our great Reformer — great in the eyes of all Christians, for he 

 struggled for what he considered the truth ; but I rested at 

 night at the King's Head, going ever and anon to walk in the 

 gardens around, and on the ramparts of the ruins of Barnard 

 CaBtle, which are visitable from the yard of that mo6t comfort- 

 able hostelry. 



There are some flag stones near the entrance of the keep of 

 the Castle, and having ascertained that they covered the 

 entrance to the dungeons, I inquired if they were visitable, and 

 was told in the negative, and that Mr. Charles Dickens had 



I l> t=- 



HUM PHREYSlI; J_ M 



similarly inquired. This led to further talk about our great 

 novelist, and I found that the garden and ruins had been his 

 frequent resort whilst making inquiries about the " Do-the- 

 boys-hall" schools; and that my sitting-room, like his, directly 

 faced the house on the street's opposite side, which led to the 

 adoption of the well-known title, " Master Humphrey's Clook." 

 Of that house I append a sketch, and regret that I could not 

 converse with its owner, and Mr. DiokernVs correspondent, in- 



asmuch as that he died some twelve months since. The watch- 

 making business is still continued by his widow, and there is 

 an old-fashioned appearance about the shop's contents, in the 

 window being suspended, among other old-world things, a pre- 

 ponderating number of those little fat watches, looking as if 

 poached in silver. 



Last of my reminiscences must be of Whitby and its associa- 

 tions, prominent among whioh is its jet. Few wearers of the 

 ornaments of which it is the material are aware that it is only 

 a variety of coal, and, like it, is only wood reduced to charcoal 

 under a high pressure in some former volcanic conflagration. 

 Jet in some way owes its peculiar characteristics to its being 

 the coal formed from coniferous trees. I have a piece of rough 

 jet in which the annual-formed rings of the Conifer are plainly 

 marked. 



Next among my 'Whitby memories are the ruins of its Priory, 

 and its history adds to the testimony, that though the fail- 

 ings and excesses of the monks were many, yet they were 

 national benefactors; they promoted literature and the culture 

 of the soil. Even their excess in luxurious living induced 

 attention to the rearing of superior animals for the supply of 

 the refectory. Some notes relative to Whitby Priory, notes 

 gathered from DomeBday Book and the Priory's Register, 

 afford confirmatory evidence. They show that the Priory 

 lands alone were cultivated in the manor of Whitby, all the 

 rest were waste. The Priory poulterer was an officer of suffi- 

 cient position to have a horse allowed him. No gardener is 

 mentioned, but, as at the Abbey of Evesham, it was probably 

 managed by the Priory almoner. That gardens were cultivated 

 in the vicinity is testified by their tithes rendering to the 

 Priory 6s. 8d. annually. 



A ramble to the woods of Mulgrave Castle closed my sum- 

 mer's holiday. The roads through those wood3 are truly 

 delightful and very varied ; they extend for many miles, and 

 were chiefly formed by Maharajah Dhulep Singh whilst tenant 

 of the estate, but it is now again inhabited by members of the 

 family of its owner, the Marquis of Normanby. — G. 



GARDENING IN THE LONDON PARKS— No. -2. 



HYDE PARE. 



Neatness is one of the leading principles in the management 

 of dressed grounds. Gay, well-tiiled flower beds, handsome 

 shrubs, and so forth, are things to care for, and to each a 

 proper share of attention must be devoted ; but without the 

 greatest possiblo care in the maintenance of order and cleanli- 

 ness, both among the plants and their surroundings, little 

 enjoyment is likely to be derived from them, however beautiful 

 they may be. The importance of this principle appears to be 

 fully recognised by the superintendent of the flower beds in 

 Hyde Park, for one cannot fail to notice tho exquisite neatness 

 which prevails both in the flower beds there and in their sur- 

 roundings, all of which were in the best possible condition in 

 this respect at the time of my visit, August 5th. 



The outlines of the whole of the beds in Hyde Park are 

 simple in the extreme, and rightly so too, for the flower garden-, 

 if I may so call it, consists of a series of long, narrow strips 

 of turf, on which are the beds, extending from the Marble 

 Arch to Stanhope Gate by the side of Park Lane. A detailed 

 description of the whole of these beds would offer but little to 

 interest your readers, I shall therefore confine my notes to a 

 description of a few of the more striking beds, or those which, 

 by the excellent arrangement of their occupants, are worthy of 

 imitation. 



Some good circular beds had an outer row of Ssmpervivum 

 ealifornicum, inside which was a row of Golden Feather Pyreth- 

 rum, with a compact central mass of Coleus aureo-marginata, 

 TheBe beds had a neat effect, but others, having crimson Ama- 

 ranthus instead of the Coleus, were much brighter. The turf 

 on whioh are the principal beds narrows to a point at the end 

 close by the Grosvenor Gate. At its extremity was a charming 

 little heart-shaped bed, the soil of which, as in most of the 

 other beds, riseB so abruptly as to form a miniature ramp ; on 

 the face of this is a row of the neat Echeveria secunda glauca, 

 a row of Golden Pyrethrum csming next, with a centre of 

 Coleus Verschaffelti. The surface of this bed was not decidedly 

 flat, but by the skilful pinching of the Coleus it was made to 

 rise very gently to the centre. Nothing could surpass the ex- 

 quisite neatness of the bed, which was as near perfection as 

 possible. From it a series of parallelogram beds is continued 

 i for a long distance. The formality of these loDg lines is brokea 



