THEIR GENERAL ARRANGEMENT, &c. 



621 



Twenty acres of flower-garden here 

 would have given an opportunity of 

 showing what English flower-gardening 

 is, as completely as has been already 

 shown in the case of the culture of bota- 

 nical plants. These gardens, according 

 to the description given of them by Sir 

 William Chambers, their designer, were 

 more complete in this respect three quar- 

 ters of a century ago than they are at 

 present, — for he tells us the flower-garden 

 consisted of " a parterre divided by walks 

 into a great number of beds, in which all 

 kinds of beautiful flowers are to be seen 

 during the greater part of the year, and 

 in the centre is a basin of water stocked 

 with gold-fish." Now we have the flower- 

 beds too few in number, and, for the pro- 

 per display of such plants as are adapted 

 for them, of too large a size. Taking this 

 design as it stands, with the sculptural 

 additions, and with the alterations sug- 

 gested above, we think it a fair specimen 

 of this style, and suitable for surround- 

 ing a large conservatory, or architectural 

 range of conservatories. 



In regard to situation, these gardens 

 have no natural advantages, — the ground 

 is almost a dead level, extending over 

 above 120 acres ; it is therefore the more 

 important that artistic objects be brought 

 in, to give the mind something more to 

 dwell upon than merely level lawns and 

 full-grown trees. In a climate like Bri- 

 tain, where the cypress thrives so indif- 

 ferently, and where orange-trees do not 

 abound in sufficient numbers to occupy 

 the spots marked with the lines of dark 

 dots, we would prefer vases, set upon 

 proper bases, to Irish yews, or any 

 other fastigiate - growing trees what- 

 ever. 



These parterres were planted last year 

 in the grouping manner, the three pri- 

 mary colours forming the majority of the 

 masses. The plants employed were Cal- 

 ceolaria amplexicaule — colour, a clear ca- 

 nary yellow ; Frogmore scarlet geranium 

 — bright scarlet; ivy-leaved geranium — 

 pink-coloured variety; Campanula carpa- 

 tica — grey when considered in toto, but with 

 bright - blue flowers ; Argeratum mexi- 

 canum — clear lavender colour; Lobelia 

 erinus, var. compacta — dingy blue when 

 seen in masses, on account of its greyish 

 foliage. The lobelia beds are fringed with 

 Sanvitalia procumbens— black and yel- 



low — and verbenas of the most brilliant 

 colours. 



Plate XXIII. shows the ground-plan 

 of conservatory, fig. 511, and projected 

 flower-garden attached. The conservatory 

 is surrounded by a broad terrace-walk of 

 polished pavement, except at the end 

 where it joins the mansion. The conser- 

 vatory communicates with an existing 

 range of four plant-houses, with a border 

 for flowers in front. A walk of polished 

 pavement surrounds the parterre flower- 

 garden, beyond which, in the long- 

 borders, are cultivated flower-garden 

 plants, disposed of in the mixed manner ; 

 and in front of the shrubbery are intro- 

 duced dahlias, holyhocks, tree and pole 

 roses, and similar tall-growing flowering- 

 plants, while the front borders are dedi- 

 cated to plants of a much less height. 

 The parterres are planted in the grouping 

 manner ; the walks between the borders 

 are laid with Bangor slate, 2 inches in 

 thickness, and polished on the upper sur- 

 face. The edging is of the same material, 

 only half an inch thick, and scolloped on 

 the upper edge. As it was desirable, for 

 private reasons, that the walks here should 

 be dry, and fit for walking on at all sea- 

 sons, we have introduced pavement and 

 slate, as being the materials best calcu- 

 lated to secure this desirable object. An- 

 other design was originally given, and 

 referred to, p. 379, in which the small 

 circles were omitted, as we presumed 

 there would be a difficulty in border- 

 ing them with slate. That difficulty has, 

 however, been overcome by the ingenuity 

 of Mr Edward Beck, of Isleworth, who, 

 by the aid of machinery, cuts slate edging 

 into small pieces, and fixes them together, 

 so that the circles of 18 inches in dia- 

 meter can readily be margined round. 

 The manner of doing so will be noticed 

 hereafter. There is no doubt but walks 

 and edgings so formed cost considerably 

 more, in the first instance, than gravel- 

 walks and box edgings ; but when once 

 done, they require neither repair nor 

 keeping for years afterwards, — so that, in 

 the end, they are very much cheaper than 

 any other form that can be adopted ; and 

 added to which, they are, from their pro- 

 perty of scarcely absorbing wet, always 

 in a fit state for use, care being taken, in 

 their formation, that sufficient drainage 

 be placed under them, and provision made, 



