THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 30 
414 
had been done the day previously, lipping full with 
gravel, no security had been taken against injuring the 
grass edgings, except the acquired dexterity of the work¬ 
man, and yet they were not at all injured. To say they 
had not been touched, would not bo true; for places 
hero and there had been scorched, to the width of 
the one-eighth part of an inch, but nothing to inter¬ 
fere with the line of the walk. We learned that 
the cost of such a machine was about thirteen pounds, 
or guineas; but with it, a quarter-of-an-acre of gravel, 
or pitching, might be cleaned in a day, for an expense of 
six shillings. In large places, I have known as much 
spent in cleaning courts, and weeding walks, as would 
pay for the machine in a twelve month. Our amateur 
friends should try the method on a small scale at first. 
As Mr. Fleming has taken no patent, machines of all 
sorts and sizes may be made by any one. He is, how¬ 
ever, so anxious that others should benefit by his 
system, that I have no doubt he would forward an 
order to an approved maker, or return the address, if the 
application was in either case accompanied with a j 
stamped envelope. This, I should consider, the most I 
prudent mode, as a littlo difference in the making may J 
make a great difference in the working. I am very 
partial to clean, solid walks; but I have sadly grudged 
the labour they have occasioned me this autumn, the 
little weeds would so shew themselves. I traversed 
large lengths of gravel at Trentham, last week, clear, j 
beautiful, firm, that required keen-looking to find a green ; 
spot, and these had had nothing done to them since they , 
were dressed by the machine in April. I say nothing j 
now of the gardening at Trentham. The style of that is 
well known; but, striking as the results were, they were 
not more so than the seen simplicity and economy with 
which they were produced. Lovers of good walking 
may now judge for themselves. R. Fish. 
JOTTINGS BY THE WAY. 
(Continued from page 380.) 
Eaton Hall, near Chester, the Seat of the Mar¬ 
quis of Westminster. —At this place there are con¬ 
siderable works in the gardening way going on. New 
terrace-gardens of considerable extent are for, "* ,g, 
under the celebrated Mr. Nesfield, whose peculiar style 
of flower-beds on the terraces will be displayed to a 
great extent. They are certainly very pretty, but use¬ 
less, as we think, for what flower-beds ought to be—a 
display of flowers. The scrolls run out to a great 
length, and are, in many places, not six inches wide!! 
nay, eyen less than that. This struck us as rather bor¬ 
dering upon the ridiculous. The beds, being so lorg 
and narrow, are not fit for herbaceous plants, nv ;V ar 
are they fit for what are popularly termed bedding-out 
plants. We pity the gardener who has to keep them 
supplied with plants and in order; the labour must 
bo immense. There is here a largo new conservatory; 
but, large as it is, it is not of that noble extent that such 
a place demands. The Hall, when finished, will pro¬ 
bably be one of the most splendid in Europe. A 
princely fortune is being spent upon it, but the Marquis 
can afford it. The kitchen-gardens are well and ably 
managed by Mr. Collinsou, the kind-hearted and excel¬ 
lent gardener there. In the vineries, peach-houses, and 
pineries, there were abundance of excellent fruit; and ex¬ 
amples of their excellency have been frequently exhibited 
at the Metropolitan Show. In the plant-houses, we 
I observed a rising collection of our favourite plant, the' 
j Orchids, aud various tribes of stove plants in excellent 
j health. These gardens are well worthy of a visit. 
While in the neighbourhood of Chester, we had the 
I pleasure of visiting the extensive Nurseries of the Messrs. 
| Dickson. Mr. Francis Dickson, himself, was obliging 
enough to walk round with us, and showed us all the ! 
remarkable objects the nurseries contained, and they 
are not a few. We shall briefly notice those that we 
think will bo interesting to our readers. The splendid 
grass, named Oynerium argenteum, is now a noble spe¬ 
cimen, nearly ten feet high, and six feet through. The 
leaves are an inch broad, six feet long, and are of a rich j 
silvery hue. Unfortunately, Messrs. Dickson have not | 
been able as yet to increase it. Near to it was a speci¬ 
men of what Mr. D. called the Panama grass. This 
is of quite a different character to tho preceding. 
We understood it to be the famous grass that grows 
on the plains in that country, and rises so high that a 
man on horsoback cannot be seen in plunging through it. 
The specimen in question was eight feet high, aud six feet 
through, aud was producing several spikes of bloom for 
tho first time, which would probably produco perfect 
seeds before tho summer was over. Whether these two 
grasses will, when increased, be of any use, excepting 
as ornamental objects, remains to be proved. That rare 
plant, the Menziesia empetriformis was thriving well in 
a bog-bed, enclosed by hedges, and was beautifully in 
flower. Also the Bryanthus erectus, a plant something 
similar to tho pretty Rhododendron chamcecistus , had 
become quite a neat little bush. In the same nook was 
a species of a new Spircca, not yet flowered, with very 
elegant foliage ; also a new Gaultheria from Mexico, of 
a beautiful habit, which will rival, if not surpass, the 
best of its class. It is quite hardy, though from that 
warm country. The foliage has a considerable resem¬ 
blance to our common myrtle. Close to these small 
rarities we observed a very fine specimen of Taxodium 
sempervirens, 15 ft. high, with a stout stem that measured 
near the ground almost a foot in circumference. It is 
the finest specimen of the kind we know. Near it stands 
a beautiful specimen of the Oupressus macrocarpa, full 
10 ft. high, and thickly clothed with branches. Neither 
of these handsome specimens have suffered from tho 
severity of six winters; that being the timo that has 
elapsed since they were planted. In another part of 
the nursery we were shewn a weeping Taxodium 
distichum ; a very distinct variety. Every twig, even 
to the highest shoot, drooped over. It was eight feet 
high, aud certainly a curious, handsome variety. To 
shew the effects of root-pruning, we saw a bushy Arbutus 
procera, eight feet high, well furnished with branches. 
This tree, in tho course of some alterations in the 
arrangement of the nursery in that part, was removed 
about two or three years ago, and tho consequence was, 
it bloomed freely the second year, and boro a crop of 
ripe fruit, and when we saw it, in August last, it was 
again covered with fruit, which was rapidly changing 
colour, and is, no doubt, by this time quite ripe. As 
our good friend, Mr. Errington, is a great advocate for 
root-pruning, in order to induce fruitfulness, and resides 
not far from Chester, we would advise him to call at 
this nursery, and see this exemplification of the success 
of the principle. We were pointed out a handsome 
large specimen of Rhododendron dnnamomeum, which we 
were assured stood the severity of that ever-to-be-remem- 
bered winter of 1837-8, in which winter, as is well 
known, most of the so-considered hardy evergreens were 
destroyed down to the root. In this nursery there is 
a considerable number of that singular freak of nature, 
Weeping Larches, drooping in all manner of fantastic 
ways. They appear to be increased only by approach¬ 
grafting. A long row of fine, tall standards had been 
grafted in the spring, but had, with one exception, all 
failed. The Messrs. Dickson possess a large collection of 
that too-much-neglected tribe of plants popularly termed 
herbaceous, especially Phloxes. We noted, as being 
very fine, and not above 18 inches high, P. Kellerman, 
rose; P. Plantii, blue; P. campanulata alba, P. Alexina, 
P. Madame Courcet, peach ; P. Eliza, rosy-purple. 
