October 25, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



333 



by contract all the butchers of St. Louis, a city then having 

 120,000 beef-eaters, the prices being fixed once a-year. Beef 

 falling in price, the butchers thought they should throw up 

 a bad bargain, and refused taking his cattle. Mr. Straun 

 sent his men through the neighbouring district buying up 

 all the fat cattle and selling them at Cincinnati and other 

 towns, or sending them east, so that for a month the citizens 

 of St. Louis were without a roasting joint, when the butchers 

 had to " cave in," or surrender at discretion. 



This monarch of quadrupeds riding along and seeing a 

 young lady milking a cow asked for a drink, which the milk 

 Hebe gave him. He then inquired if she knew who he was, 

 to which there was a yes, when he popped the question of 

 marriage, to which another yes was given. Returning the 

 same way a few days after, he called at the farmer's house, 

 where they were at dinner, and not recognising his sweet- 

 heart among half a dozen of sisters, he requested the young 

 lady who accepted his offer to stand up, which was done, 

 and they were soon after man and wife. 



The Messrs. Funch may at present be the largest farmers 

 in that great State ; one brother owning and working 32,000, 

 and the other 17,000 acres of prairie — the former annually 

 selling in Chicago ,£12,000 worth of cattle and hogs, the pro- 

 duce of his own fields. They were among the first pioneers 

 of the State ; one of them on marrying trading a hat with 

 the clergyman performing the service, and getting back a pig 

 in exchange. In these early days the Western farmers were 

 addicted to euker and poker, as well as whiskey drinking, 

 though now very temperate, and on an occasion when one 

 of these gentlemen found his neighbour card-sharping, he 

 pulled the leg from the table and cracked the cheater's pate. 

 Greater punishment has often been inflicted in the Mis- 

 sissippi steamers on the gamblers by nailing their hands to 

 the table with the bowie knife, which is only withdrawn 

 with the false card. 



An amusing incident took place at the American Hotel, 

 Springfield (where President Lincoln practised as an attorney 

 and counsellor at law, with a monster sign-board over his 

 door). Several large farmers, in wet weather, put up at the 

 hotel, turning into the sheets with their mud boots on and 

 discolouring blankets, bed, sheets, and quilt. A short time 

 after they again called, but were refused admittance or lodg- 

 ings, when they put an advertisement in the papers through 

 the States calling on their brother farmers not to stop at the 

 American ; but a counter one was inserted by the landlord, 

 giving his reasons for turning the gentlemen out of doors, 

 and no doubt most of our readers will consider them conclu- 

 sive. Neither Messrs. Funch nor Straun were on the printed 

 list, but it comprised the names of some of the wealthiest and 

 largest farmers in the West. 



Fat salt pork and beans form the chief food of the Western 

 farmers, who might live like princes on the barn-door fowl 

 (if they would only feed them) and prairie chickens (grown) 

 and quail, as well as other game, and fish when in season. 

 Vegetables they never think of, though the prairies would 

 produce them in abundance. As to tea, it is " cisalpine," 

 uninjured by a sea voyage, being chiefly manufactured in 

 Philadelphia and Boston — one-third of that used in the 

 West being " Bogus." In one wholesale house in the western 

 metropolis, where the stock was 2700 chests, over 900 were 

 home-made. The farmers must have tea at Is. per lb. The 

 country store-keepers must have it at 9cJ. per lb., to supply 

 the farmers, and the wholesale merchant must have it at 

 6cZ. per lb., to give him a fair profit ; the Philadelphian or 

 Boston " wooden nutmeg " tea-maker getting 6d. per lb. for 

 ■drying and colouring leaves. 



A SUGGESTED CQMPBOMISE. 



A medical friend, who has combined the study of natural 

 history with that of surgery for many years, on hearing my 

 bitter complaints of the destruction of the buds of my Goose- 

 berry bushes by the birds in winter and early spring, re- 

 commended to me as a certain antidote to sow a few patches 

 of Barley and white Clover in the neighbourhood of the 

 trees. The birds, he says, must have green food at that 

 season of the year; and so long as they can procure the 

 tender blade of the Barley, and their still more favourite 

 leaf of the white Clover, they will not condescend to meddle 



with the coarser production of the Gooseberry. The trial will 

 be simple and inexpensive, and is certainly worth making. 

 — T. S. 



LATIMERS. 



This delightful residence of the Right Hon, Lord Chesham 

 is beautifully situated on a commanding eminence two miles 

 from Chesham, three from Amersham, and six from Rick- 

 mansworth, the latter being the nearest place by which at 

 present access can be had by train. By the latter we took 

 our route, and after passing some finely undulated scenery, 

 and the pretty village of Cheneys, and its church with its 

 elevated spire, more than a mile distant from Latimers, we 

 ere long crossed a rustic bridge, attended by a noisy water- 

 fall of the Colne, and, after climbing a steep hill, arrived at 

 the commodious and picturesque cottage of our friend Mr. 

 Donaldson. The more proper entrance, we presume, would 

 have been by the farm at the southern side of the lake, from 

 which a nice approach, after passing over a bridge with a 

 fine view of a deep cascade, winds up to the mansion, the 

 building being as a matter of necessity amid the swells and 

 undulations of this part of the Chiltern Hills. Just opposite 

 the roadway from Mr. Donaldson's premises is a splendid 

 Elm, with a seat placed round its bottom, on which those 

 tired with the ascent may "rest," and thus far "be thank- 

 ful," the Elm dividing upwards into five large stems, and 

 its main circumference at some 4 feet from the ground being 

 fully lSJ- feet. From this position the approach soon forks, 

 one part going westward to the stables and onwards, passing 

 the north side of the kitchen garden, and the other going 

 south-west to the offices and mansion. 



The mansion is a noble Elizabethan building, with the 

 carriage entrance on the east side, the flower garden on the 

 west, and a terrace garden of gravel and grass on the south 

 front. Westward of the mansion, and on both sides of the 

 river, the park scenery is continued ; and north of the flower 

 garden the principal part of the pleasure grounds are 

 situated, containing many nice specimens of the best young 

 Conifers, Hollies, Tews, &c. 



Having satisfied ourselves with the beauty of the east 

 front, and the picturesque outline of shrubs and trees by 

 which the gravel was surrounded, we entered on the south 

 terrace, and the beautiful prospect far more than counter- 

 balanced the trouble of climbing up and descending the 

 undulating hills. We will just for the present leave details, 

 and take you with us, whilst we stand together on the gravel 

 in front of the terrace wall (see section of ground from 

 memory). There, right before you is the beautiful turf with 

 its slopes and levels, and the pasture ground down to the 

 lake almost as fresh and green; the lake itself clear as a 

 mirror, and only needing the dash and the spray of the 

 cascade to be seen to enhance its beauty ; the fine trees 

 here fringing its farther bank ; the bold sweep of the sheep 

 walk beyond, which could only be more beautiful if more 

 extended, bounded by plantations farther to the south, and 

 forming the sky outline. To the westward the vale, with 

 its undulating banks on each side of the river, opens up 

 broader and wider, and the trees are grouped, and the plan- 

 tations fringed and curved with rare picturesque effect. 

 Eastward, after the eye has wandered over diversified 

 scenery, it seems to linger on the top of the spire of Che- 

 neys church, the church itself, as well as the village, being 

 concealed by the surrounding woods, and the whole forming 

 a panorama of the beautiful not soon to be forgotten. 



Amid all this beauty there was just a trifle that seemed 

 to jar on the unity of the scene, and we feel glad we 

 noticed it, because the explanation was so satisfactory and 

 honourable to all the parties concerned. Just opposite the 

 mansion the boundary of the farther woods (10) stands out 

 almost in a straight line, contrasting unfavourably with the 

 bold massive scenery to the eas tward, and the picturesque 

 outlines to the west. This led to our being informed of what 

 otherwise we should never have guessed — that the wood with 

 the straight line, as well as the land up to Cheneys on that 

 side of the river, belonged to the Duke of Bedford; and 

 that though the Duke had let the land to Lord Chesham, 

 and given him full powers to do with the trees as he liked, 

 there might be a little delicacy in meddling even with the 

 young woods. One thing is certain, that the removal of a 



