PARK AND CEMETERY. 
1 89 
A CHURCH IN RURAL ENGLAND,— ST. JAMES, 
EAST COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT. 
The one who travels through England is almost 
sure to return home with praises for the beautiful 
appearance of the churches he meets with on his 
journey. It is not always that the edifice itself has 
architectural merit, it is oftener the trees and 
vines which surround it that make the attraction. 
Your readers will remember the picture of the old 
church at Bonchurch which was presented in a 
former issue of Park and Cemetery. It repre- 
sented a church so closed in by trees as to be al- 
most hidden from view. The present illustration 
displays a church not as old as the one spoken of, 
but assuredly beautifully set off by the trees and 
vines which surround it. It is 
St. James Church, East Cowes, 
Isle of Wight. 
This church is not far from the 
royal residence, Osborne, and its 
corner stone was laid by Queen 
Victoria while she was yet Prin- 
cess Victoria, in 1831. There is 
also a cemetery of four acres, the 
ground for which was given by 
the Queen. East Cowes is situated 
across the Solent, almost opposite 
the port of Southampton; and it 
would well repay any traveler by 
the American line steamers when 
he lands at Southampton, to take 
a packet boat and visit it and 
other places of interest near by. 
Returning to the illustration 
of the church, it will be seen how 
prettily the ivy has enveloped the 
tower. It used to be said that ivy tended to make 
walls damp, but most every one knows better 
now. The leaves throw the water off that falls on 
them, keeping walls dryer than they would be 
otherwise. The large, dark looking deciduous tree, 
is the blood-leaved beech, abeautilul tree anywhere. 
It seems well in place in its present position; at the 
back of the church and at its side are some fine 
English elms. This tree has to be set at some dis- 
tance from a building as it grows to an immense 
size in time, rivalling the oak in height, if not in 
spread of branches. 
Both yews and cedars are favorite trees in all 
English plantings. There is one cedar to be seen 
in front of the beech, which has the appearance of 
the Lebanon. As I have said in former letters, 
there are many nice trees we could grow here which 
are seldom seen. It is not at all uncommon to hear it 
said, “the cedar of Lebanon is not hardy,” yet there 
are trees of it 70 feet high in this city. There are 
three true cedars hardy here, the Lebanon, Deodar 
and Mt. Atlas. The latter has lovely blue foliage, 
not unlike the bluest of the Abies pungens, the Col- 
orado blue spruce. I think park superintendents 
would never regret planting these lovely cedars. Pos- 
sibly the Deodar is less hardy than the others, and 
might not succeed much further north of this city. 
The Lebanon is hardy from its seedling state 
with us, never losing a leaf in the coldest winters. 
Mentioned so often in the Scriptures, and enquired 
for by so many, not to mention its lovely growth, 
it should be planted in all public places where it 
will live. Many, too, have seen them on Mt. 
Lebanon, flourishing still, almost the only thing 
standing to remind them of days in which occurred 
events that shaped the destiny of the world. 
‘■A step as fleet, an eye more bright, 
Hath Judah witness’d there; 
And o’er her scenes of lost delight 
Inhabitants more fair. 
The cedars wave on Lebanon, 
But Judah’s statelier maids are gone!” 
Yews, too, are deemed rather tender, but it is 
more a fable than a fact. Some of the nicest plants 
one could wish to see are grown by the Rochester, 
New York, folks, cold as the winters ate there. In 
very severe winters I have known the Irish variety 
to be somewhat scorched on the sunny side by the 
winter’s sun. The Irish is the one shown near the 
tower in the illustration. Its upright, pyramidal 
character well fits it for such a position. And in 
partial shade such as the church affords, the foliage 
is of a darker green than otherwise, an additional 
reason for planting it in partial shade. 
Joseph Meehan. 
