Deceicbfr 27, 1677. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



403 



being " all flowers." The varieties are necessarily limited, 

 and the following include the very best in cultivation : — Al- 

 phonee Lavalee, orange, scarltt, and yellow; Chevalier A. de 

 Reali, white, yellow, and orange ; Dr. Leon Vignee, white and 

 orange; Comte de Gomer, rose and orange; Isabella Van 

 Hontte, yellow deepening to orange; M. Charles Wambecke, 

 orange, rose, and yellow ; M. Arthur de Warelles, salmcn, red, 

 and orange; Comte de Quincy, bright yellow deepening to 

 orange ; Comte Papadopoli, rose and orange ; and Baron de 

 Constante Rebecqne, bright nankeen orange. All the varieties 

 named were raised in the establishment of Van Houtte. For 

 conservatory decoration during the early Bpring months no 

 plants can produce a more imposing effect than the hardy 

 Azaleas above named. — Nomad. 



[The accompanying engraving is a faithful representation of 

 the improved claBS of flowers which have been produced by 

 cultivation from the original species of A. mollis. — Eds ] 



HOLME LACY.— No. 1. 



THE SEAT OF SIR HENRY SCUDAMORE STANHOPE, BART. 

 Heeefobdshike is famed for the pastoral beauty of its 

 scenery, its verdant hills and fertile valleys, the extent of its 



home but to benefit the district. How real and important- 

 are the benefits which have been conferred will be readily 

 admitted when it is stated that the first Lord Scudamore is. 

 by many supposed to have been the first or chief introducer 

 of the Hereford cattle, and was the firBt also to cultivate the 

 Bedstreak Apple and to establish the repute of its famcu* 

 cider. 



Before adverting more particularly to the grourds and 

 gardens it may be well to glanoe at the history of this ancient 

 place and family. So old are they that both of tbem are 

 intimately connected with the Norman Conquest. Holme is 

 evidently a modern rendering of the Saxon name Hamme^ 

 which signifies a house, farm, or village ; or of Homme, a 

 place surrounded with water. Tbe additional name of Lacy 

 was derived from Walter de Lacy, a valiant Norman, who- 

 acquired such great possessions soon after the Conquest that 

 his son Roger in the reign of William Rufus had sixty-five 

 lordfhips in the county of Hereford, chief of which was this- 

 one of Hamme, now Holme Lacy. 



The family of Scudamore is similarly of great antiquity. It 

 was one of those who followed William the Conqueror into 

 England, as is evident from the roll of Battle Abbey, which 

 contains the name of " Seint Scudamore." Tl is family first- 



Fig. 93. — Holme lacy— South fbont. 



fruit orchards, the fine proportions of its timber trees, and the 

 celebrated herd of cattle which bears its name. These pre- 

 dominating oounty features may be seen from one standpoint, 

 the terraoe walk of Holme Lacy, which surrounds on three 

 sides the ancestral home of an ancient family. On the north 

 is a sheltering belt of fine timber; on the east a rich and ex- 

 tensive tract of pasture land and meadows sufficiently wooded 

 both to render it picturesque and to afford shade for the white- 

 faced herds which drink at England's most beautiful river, 

 the " graceful winding Wye," which meanders in bright curves 

 through this pleasant valley; in the distance a raDge of bold 

 Oak and Pine-clad hills — a noble boundary to a charmiDgview. 

 On the south is a park of rare beauty, thickly studded with 

 magnificent trees, having an undergrowth of luxuriant Bracken, 

 amongst which the fallow deer gambol ; and on the west is an 

 orchard — a real old Herefordshire orchard, also the garden. 

 Thus tbe prominent features of an attractive county are em- 

 braced in the demesne of one of the oldeEt of county families, 

 whose ancestors have done so much not only to beautify their 



I settled in Wiltshire at Upton and Norton, thence cal'ed Upton 



I and Norton Scudamore. Walter de Scudamore was lord eff 



I the manor of the former place, and the latter was granted to 



Godfrey de Scudamore by Robert de Ewyas for his homage 



and service of finding ore white horse every year for the 



sentinel of the Castle of Ewyas. The deed conveying this 



I grant is still extant, and the signature of the first witness to 



I it of Patrick, who was created Earl of Shrewsbury by the 



: Empress Maud, and died in 1167, proves its great antiquity. 



i Eventually the two families of Ewyas and Scudemore became 



[ united by marriage, and amongst the issue we find Sir John 



I Scudamore of Ewyas and Holme Lacy. This place has there- 



! fore been the residence of the family from a very remote- 



' period. 



Passing some eminent representatives of tbe family and their 

 ! worthy deeds, we pause to note that Sir James Scudamore (whose 

 ! father was a great bene f nctor to the Bodleian Library) was an 

 | esteemed friend of Sir Thomas Bodley. He was knighted for 

 i his valour at the siege of Cadiz ; and it is recorded that "no- 



