A GARDEN NOTE-BOOK 



Tipping is one of the best of amateur gardeners, 

 too, one cannot doubt who sees these pictures and 

 who has read of his later horticultural achieve- 

 ments at a newer place, Mounton House. 



In his own words he thus tells briefly the story 

 of the gardens of Mathern Palace: 



"If the house is essentially old, the gardens are 

 absolutely new. The sordid untidiness of a hope- 

 lessly ill-contrived and unrepaired farmstead pre- 

 vailed in 1894. There was a potato patch or two 

 amid the rubbish-heaps, and some evidence still 

 remained of a farmer's wife who had liked her few 

 flowers but had not been able to cope with the 

 difficulties of the situation. Here, again, care was 

 taken not to lessen the value of the picturesque 

 but plain old building by detailed architectural 

 effect. Terraces were laid out on the southern 

 slope, but they were walled simply and with the 

 local limestone. A good deal of pavement was 

 used, and broad grass- ways, edged with borders 

 and backed by yew hedges, were contrived. The 

 steeper slope to the west was made into a rock 

 garden leading down to old fish-ponds, where a 

 good deal of water gardening was introduced. 

 All this was taken out of a field and orchard, the 

 trees of which were retained, and a matured effect 



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