702 



PICTURESQUE STYLE OF FLOWER-GARDENS. 



attempted. The panoramic rockwork at 

 Hoole House, near Chester, the residence 

 of Lady Broughton, is of a description 

 different from either, the object being 

 to show alpine scenery of great magnifi- 

 cence, as it were by model. The design 

 was taken from a model of the mountains 

 of Savoy, with the valley of Chamouni 

 and the "Mer de Glace," forming the 

 highest pinnacles of it. The latter is con- 

 structed of grey limestone, quartz, and 

 spar ; and the spaces, which in ordinary 

 rockwork are filled with plants, are in 

 this case filled with broken fragments of 

 white marble, to look like snow, and the 

 spar is intended to represent the glacier. 

 It would be impossible for us to give 

 anything like a correct delineation of this 

 superb rockwork, even had we had it in 

 our power to take drawings of it. At the 

 time we saw it, (now seven years ago,) 

 Lady Broughton was averse to have draw- 

 ings made of it ; and being quite unpre- 

 pared to see such a complete rockery and 

 garden, had time permitted and leave 

 been given, it would have been a task 

 beyond our powers to have done anything 

 like justice to it. 



The late Mr Loudon was, however, 

 more fortunate ; for, having obtained a 

 reluctant permission, he, with the aid of a 

 land-surveyor and "the water-colour 

 drawings by Mr Pickering of Chester," 

 has contrived to give, as far as the original 

 is capable of being given without the aid 

 of colours, a faithful representation of 

 this rockery in the fourteenth volume 

 of the "Gardeners' Magazine," pp. 360, 

 361. To give some idea of the magnitude 

 of this model of alpine scenery — for we 

 can call it by no other name — we may 

 state that the highest part is thirty-four 

 feet above the level of the lawn. The 

 lower parts are planted with a very good 

 selection of alpine plants. Lady Brough- 

 ton's is a villa garden, and the rockery 

 forms not only shelter, but seclusion also 

 — a matter of no small importance where 

 the grounds are so situated as to be over- 

 looked by one's neighbours, because it 

 forms a permanent screen, alike effective 

 in winter as in summer, which plantations, 

 unless of considerable breadth, do not. 



A rockery, if judiciously disposed, is a 

 very fitting arrangement for a town gar- 

 den, as it presents a greater apparent extent 

 of space, in consequence of its abruptly 



undulated surface admitting of the walks 

 being carried along within a few feet or 

 yards of each other, and yet being com- 

 pletely hid. We once saw a garden of this 

 description, formed by the owner, who, 

 being a man of taste, laid out a small 

 piece of ground so as to produce, perhaps, 

 the fullest amount of enjoyment both in 

 water, rocks, and plants, that could be 

 done on the same extent of surface. 

 He also produced a highly creditable 

 landscape, gave himself extent of walks, 

 chiefly open to the day, but partly sub- 

 terraneous, to admit of the walks crossing 

 each other without a stranger being at all 

 aware of the fact, and hence increasing 

 the illusion that the place was of far greater 

 extent than it really was, as you proceed 

 on from one object to another, without 

 being aware that you have gone over part 

 of the same line before, only a few feet 

 above or below where you stood. 



The piece of the ground overspread 

 with this rockwork only occupied ninety 

 feet in length, by seventy-five in breadth, 

 and in the centre of this space was a lake in 

 miniature, one hundred and twenty feet 

 in circumference, and two to three feet in 

 depth, of a very irregular and natural 

 form. Even in this small space, when 

 the bridge is introduced to connect the 

 walks which pass over a part of it, and 

 that no material part of the landscape 

 may be omitted, a rocky island rose con- 

 siderably above the water, in peaks, clefts, 

 and projecting points, to throw their 

 shadows in the water. The margins were, 

 as we have stated, very irregular — in 

 some parts rising abruptly, at others 

 receding and rising gradually, while at 

 others sloping pebbly banks, or gravelly 

 shores, united these with the surface of 

 the water. There was even the dark cave, 

 rocky ravine, and what appeared to have 

 been, at some period long ago, the track 

 of a mountain cataract, indicated by the 

 bare shelving rocks and confused masses 

 of smaller stones, left by the imaginary 

 dashing of the water. 



The winding walks were amazingly well 

 contrived, some being merely footpaths 

 leading to heights, from whence the whole 

 was seen in one view, but the principal 

 ones avoiding these points. 



To effect this rockery, about one hun- 

 dred and thirty tons of stones, presenting 

 the most fantastic forms, as they had 



