454 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 6, 1864. 



sions of one which was nearly 

 a foot in circumference. 



The Strawberries, I was told, 

 had done remarkably well, 

 Oscar having succeeded about 

 the best. The plants were 

 cleared of all runners and use- 

 less or dead leaves; but the 

 system of mercilessly cutting 

 off all the leaves was repu- 

 diated here. 



The south and west walls 

 on the outside of the kitchen 

 garden were covered with 

 choice Pears, and I particu- 

 larly noticed such sorts as St. 

 Germains, Winter Crasanne, 

 Belmont, Brown Beurre, Marie 

 Louise, Beurre Ranee, Ne Plus 

 Meuris, Beurre Diel, Beurre 

 d'Aremberg, and many others, 

 all growing, it I may be allowed 

 to use the expression, under 

 the burden of heavy crops of 

 fruit. 



i.- Leaving the kitchen garden 

 and fruit departnientwe turned 

 to the left, and passed along a 

 narrow walk screened from the 

 sun's rays by lofty forest trees, 

 with dwarf Laurels planted un- 

 derneath, and from this walk 

 we obtain pleasing views of the 

 surrounding scenery. Down 

 in the valley below the graz- 

 ing cattle formed a pleasing 

 feature in the landscape whilst 

 wandering on the rich pasture 

 land by the side of the river 

 Dane, %vhich meanders through 

 the rich pastures of Cheshire, 

 so noted for large cheeses. To 

 the right may be seen in the 

 distance a high hill called the 

 " Cloud," which forms the ex- 

 tremity of a vast assemblage 

 of rocky ridges spread over 

 the northern portions of Staf- 

 ford and Derby ; it runs from 

 north to south, and terminates 

 in full view of the town of Con- 

 gleton in a fine dome-shaped 

 mountain, more than 1100 feet 

 above the level of the sea. 



A little to the right we come 

 to an old-fashioned conserva- 

 tory kept gay with some flow- 

 ering plants. Some standard 

 Fuchsias, 8 feet high andnearly 

 as much through, looked well ; 

 also the fine old Orange trees, 

 9 or 10 feet high, which have 

 occupied the same place for 

 forty-five years. In front of 

 this conservatory is a small 

 flower garden, extremely cheer- 

 ful and gay, and in which the 

 plants were anything but the 

 miserable objects some writers 

 would make us believe bed- 

 ding plants generally are this 

 season. I only took down the 

 way in which one of these beds 

 was planted, and that was the 

 centrebed, aboutlOfeet square. 

 The outer edge was Cloth of 

 Gold Geranium, next to this 

 were several rows of Rose 

 Queen Geranium, with the 

 centre Stella Nosegay; and I 



Scale 24 feet to the inch. 



FLOWER GARDEN AT SOMERFORD PARK. 



1st Bed. Centre row Perilla nanki- 

 nensis. 

 2nd. Calceolaria Aurea flori- 



bunda. 

 3rd. Tropceolum elegans. 

 4th. Lobelia speciosa. 

 5th. Cerastium tomentosnm ; 

 an edging all round. 

 2nd Bed. Geranium Bijou, edged 

 with Purple King Ver- 

 bena. 

 3rd Bed. Cloth of Gold Geranium. 

 4th Bed. Centre Perilla aud Centau- 

 rea argentea, edged with 

 Tropfflolum Eclipse. 

 5th Bed. Geranium Golden Chain. 

 6th Bed. Lobelia speciosa. 

 7th Bed. Geranium Stella Nosegay. 

 8lh Bed. Verbena Firefly, edged 



with Cerastium. 

 Oth Bed, Calceolaria Aurea flori- 

 bunda, edged with Pe- 

 rilla. 



10th Bed. Geranium Rose Queen, 

 edged with Lobelia Pas- 

 toniana. 



11th Bed. Geranium Trentham Rose, 

 edged with Miss Night- 

 ingale. 



12th Bed. Verbena Bonny Dundee, 

 edged with Lobelia Pas- 

 toniana. 



13th Bed. Geranium Carmine Nose- 

 gay, edged with Helio- 

 trope Miss Nightingale. 



14th Bed. Geranium Stella Nosegay, 

 edged with Lady Ply- 

 mouth. 



15th;Bed. Geranium Punch, egd. with 

 Mangles' Variegated. 



16th Bed. Gazania splendens, with 

 Humea elegans In centre. 



17th Bed. Geranium Alma, edged 

 with Verbena Arioato. 



ISth Bed. Mignonette, Humea ele- 

 gans in centre. 



have seen nothing in my ram- 

 bles this season to equal Stella 

 for beauty. This garden is kept 

 gay in the spring, on the Clive- 

 den system of spring flower 

 gardening, with such things a& 

 Tulips, Wallflowers, Anemo- 

 nes, Forget-me-not, Lasthenia 

 californica, Limnanthes Dou- 

 glasii, &c. 



From this lovely spot we 

 wend our way along the plea- 

 sure ground by the north-east 

 side of the mansion to the 

 front, and here an unrivalled 

 blaze of floral beauty at once 

 bursts upon the view. In 

 front of the mansion is a 

 broad terrace-walk, and in 

 front of that a sunk-panelled 

 flower garden. This is but 

 the second year of its being 

 planted, it having only re- 

 cently been laid out by Mr. 

 Silcock, and its ornamental 

 appendages are not yet com- 

 pleted. It looked extremely 

 well. All the beds were full 

 to overflowing, and when the 

 sun's rays fell upon them the 

 effect was charming. 



Through the kindness of Mr. 

 Silcock, I here give a plan of 

 one half of the flower garden, 

 the other half exactly corre- 

 sponds with the one engraved. 

 Our young Mends will do well 

 to draw it out on paper, and 

 paint the beds the colour of 

 the flowers. Down the centre 

 is a broad gravel walk 18 feet 

 wide. It occurred to me that 

 the walk would be better away, 

 and if water could be supplied, 

 an ornamental fountain in the 

 centre would add greatly to the 

 effect. With regard to the 

 planting of the beds, and the 

 arrangement of the colours, 

 there was a preponderance of 

 Perilla nankinensis, Purple 

 King Verbena, and Lobelia 

 speciosa ; but Mr. Silcock told 

 me that many of the beds 

 were destroyed by the late 

 spring frosts causing vacan- 

 cies, and there not being a 

 sufficient supply of the same 

 kinds of plants, the original 

 design could not be adhered 

 to. 



In close proximity to the 

 flower garden were some fine 

 old Oaks, "kings of the wood," 

 having evidently maintained 

 their position for many years 

 past. One I noticed of tre- 

 mendous girth, three of us 

 joined hands together and were 

 unable to span round it within 

 about three feet. 



It would be a want of cour- 

 tesy were I to close these notes 

 without acknowledging Mr. 

 Silcock's exceeding kindness, 

 the profit I received, as well 

 as the gratification, I felt on 

 finding every part of this do- 

 main in such excellent keeping. 

 — Qttintin Read, Biddulph. 



