December 7, 1882.1 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
521 
not altered by adding humus. Add humus to the sand and the 
crop does not change ; substitute calcic carbonate for humus and 
still there is no change ; add at the same time both humus and 
calcic carbonate and the yield is increased in weight to 475 grains. 
These facts being practically of fundamental importance I subjoin 
the following table :— 
Nature of Soil. Yield Grains. 
1. Normal manure—calcined sand. 337 
2. „ limed sand. 337 
3. „ sand and humus . 337 
4. „ sand with lime and humus ... 475 
Yille gives the name of normal manure to “a mixture of phos¬ 
phate of lime, potash, lime, and a nitrogenous material.”— 
Inquired. 
(To be continued.) 
BECKETT HOUSE, BERKS. 
Charmingly situated within a mile east of the Shrivenham 
station of the Great Western Railway is Beckett House, the 
picturesque residence of Viscount Barrington. It is a fine stone 
building in the Tudor style; was erected in 1829 from drawings 
made twenty or thirty years previously by the Hon. Thomas 
Fig. 87 .—Beckett House. 
Liddell, and stands on a slight eminence in the midst of its own 
beautiful and well-kept grounds, a grand feature in which is an 
extensive sheet of ornamental water immediately in front of the 
mansion, and extending from east to west of it, and which is 
stocked to repletion with a variety of aquatic birds, including wild 
ducks, which, Hying hither and hither in the sunshine, add not 
a little to the characteristic beauty of the place. The banks of 
this lake, for such we shall call it, are planted with such flowering 
trees and shrubs as Lilacs, Laburnums, Guelder Roses, Syringas, &c., 
and in spring their flowers fill the air with their perfume, thereby 
adding sweetness to the pleasure that a stroll through these 
beautiful grounds at any time affords the visitor. 
Adjoining the west front of the house and communicating with 
the interior of it is a handsome conservatory, 55 feet long, 25 feet 
wide, and of proportionate height, and having a tessellated tile 
floor. A house of this size takes a large quantity of plants to fill 
it. At the time of my visit (August) the centre was filled with 
two large plants of Dicksonia antarctica, surrounded with smaller 
plants of Palms, Ficus elastica, Acacias, Abutilon Boule de Neige, 
Begonia semperflorens (a very free-flowering variety), Sec., 
Dracaena Veitchii forming a background, and grouped with well- 
flowered plants of Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Begonias, Hyacinthus 
candicans, Caladiums, Eucharis amazonica, Ferns (among which 
were a few fine specimens of Adiantum cuneatum), &c., all of 
which were arranged with good taste and to the best advantage 
under the immediate supervision of Mr. W. Meads, Lord Barring¬ 
ton’s energetic head gardener. Planted out at one end of this 
house is a very large specimen of Camellia imbricata in fine con¬ 
dition, and from which ere long expanded blooms may be cut by 
the hundred. The back wall is completely covered with Ficus 
repens and Lemons, the pillars being embellished with climbing 
Roses, Plumbago capensis, Heliotrope, and Oranges, the ripe and 
ripening fruits of the latter, together with the Lemons, being very 
effective when contrasted with the numerous foliage and flowering 
plants by which they are surrounded. The front and roof are 
draped with well-flowered shoots of Trachelospermum jasminoides, 
Jasminum grandiflorum, Habrothamnus elegans, Passiflora Im- 
p^ratrice Eugenie, and Tacsonia Van Volxemii, the shoots of which 
