July 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
297 
mind’s eye; but it ctimo out, that “ her husband had 
brought these from a distance, and that they did not 
thrive well in the garden.” I never could see tho pro¬ 
priety of clinching any argument with a bet' that what 
is termed chance was to determine; but, to humour 
those afflicted with this worse-than-morbid mania, I 
should not mind for once laying a silver groat to a brass 
farthing, that that man, so fond of flowers, was a kind 
husband and a good father, and an orderly, respectable 
member of society ; and if T, or rather be, should ho so 
unfortunate, that I must cash-up to square accounts, I 
next to pledge myself, in all times coming, to imitate an 
old friend, now no more, who, in all disputed points, 
was ready with his noisy asseveration, “I’ll hot—I’ll 
bet!" but who always cautiously let himself down from 
his stilts, and felt common sense shoe-leather and 
mother earth beneath him, as he finished with, “ I’ll bet 
a ha-penny worth of treacle !’’ 
The mansion is very pleasantly situated,being a plain 
unadorned building, with nothing to attract the eye 
particularly by its outside architectural aspects, though, 
from its square parallelogram outline, conjuring up the 
ideas of large and commodious rooms within. In most 
aspects the beautiful scenery around may be said to he 
self-contained, that is, not extending beyond the bounds of 
the demesnes. The exception is on the entrance or west 
side, where, after enjoying a line open undulating glade, 
rendered lively, at times, by a cricket ground near its 
centre, Hanked with fine timber, and picturesque speci¬ 
mens, such as a very singularly formed Yew, and Firs, and 
other evergreens, thinly dotted in tho foreground ; the 
eye passes over the tops of trees growing in a dell, and 
rests on the beautiful Surrey hills in the distance. 
From many parts of the demesne fine views are obtained 
of the splendid amphitheatre of beautiful scenery that 
opens up after passing the heights of Farningham on 
coming from London. That evening, the sun burst on 
this scenery from a watery cloud, and there was not a 
seemingly stranger passenger but stretched his neck 
and exclaimed, “ How beautiful! ’’ Blessings, many, rest 
on those true patriots, who, it may be with an eye to 
the main chance, yet, by their planting, contribute to 
the rich scenery of a neighbourhood. 
On the opposite, or east side of the mansion, there is 
a beautiful lawn that comes up to a stone pavement. 
Close to this front of the mansion, and over the green 
expanse of this lawn tho eye rests on fine undulating 
wooded scenery, backed by a wood of Scotch Firs. The 
most conspicuous objects on this lawn arc two fine 
Silver Firs, near its south side, very lofty, and with their 
lower branches spreading outwards along the ground, 
for from twelve to fifteen feet beyond the other branches 
of the tree. This presents a very singular and beautiful 
base for the tree like pyramid, and appears to be quite 
natural. On the north side of this lawn, communicating 
with the mansion, is situated a lean-to conservatory, 
and a little farther eastward a dairy, embowered by 
wood. At the north of these, and the house combined, 
are situated the stables and olfices, and among others 
the laundry, where there is a drying room, heated chiefly 
on the Polmaise system, which answers admirably. 
In front of tho conservatory is a group of flower-beds, 
well filled, and what struck me forcibly in that group, 
as worthy of trial and adoption, was a large bed of the 
Scarlet Shrubland Geranium, mixed with the Blue 
Ageratum, aud a rustic basket filled with a mixture of 
colours; but edged with the Euthales macrocar pa, which 
hung .and festooned in a very graceful manner all 
round it. If any do not know this plant, I may mention, 
that it resembles, in the mode and colour of flowering, 
and is only inferior to, the beautiful Oncidium Jlexuosum, 
while it requires little more attention than any herba¬ 
ceous plant that will not stand the frost of our winters. 
Cuttings put in now will yield nice flowering plants. 
either for pots or the outside of baskets, next season. 
For tbe latter purpose, it would be well worthy of a 
place in the suspended baskets of the Crystal Palace. 
The south side of tho house may be said to be the 
chief garden front; but tho lawn, here, is mostly con¬ 
cealed from that on the oast side by masses of ever¬ 
greens. There is little seen beyond this lawn, but an 
opening or two, which gives a peep of the wild Fern 
scenery of the park. Oil the east side of this lawn is 
placed tho principal flower-garden, with a rose-bower 
for its centre. This bower, instead of being fitted up 
with seats and benches, is planted with the sweet 
Verbena, Aloysio, citriodora, though the sooner seats 
were introduced, tho sooner, in my opinion, would an 
improvement be effected. The boundary on the west 
side of this lawn, a walk winds round, with nice 
groups of Rhododendrons between it and tho boundary, 
interspersed with groups of Roses, Hollyhocks, Dah¬ 
lias, &e. Tastes will differ; but in such a position I 
would vote for all herbaceous plants being excluded, as 
with such masses of Rhododendrons they seem to break 
in on the unity of expression. The front of tho south 
side of the mansion is covered, or nearly so, with a 
noble Glycine sinensis, a fine Magnolia grandijiora, 
Roses, Myrtles, &c.; and far up on the wall were 
splendid bunches of the Cloth, of (/old Rose. Mr. Fraser 
told me that he had tried it several times on its own 
roots, and did but little good with it; whilst here, and 
in other places he showed me, it throve amazingly when 
budded on a free growing stock, such as the stronger 
growing Noisettes. There can be no mistake about its 
being a lino thing when thus obtained in such perfec¬ 
tion. These Roses and Climbers, &e., have a narrow 
border assigned to them between the house and the 
walk, though, no doubt, the roots have long travelled 
away from hence; and this border was very gay, chiefly 
with herbaceous plants. I by no means set myself up 
as an arbiter in taste, though, had 1 my way, I should 
never allow such a border to attend a country mansion, 
though it might bo more proper at a cottage, or even at 
a town house. Let alone a smacking of cockneyism ,— 
earth-borders for herbaceous plants close to a house 
always conjure up ideas of wet foundations and damp 
walls, though this may be anything but the case. Sup¬ 
posing that such a border must be kept, I would prefer, 
in the circumstances, a bank of flints, roots of trees, &c., 
and covering them with IleUanthemums, Cistus, Daphne 
encorum, or the better kinds of hardy free-growing Ferns. 
There would be a great contrast between these latter 
and the fine shaven lawn, hut even that would be in 
accordance with the name of the place, and a striking 
contrast is often as pleasing as a severely studied unity 
of expression. The above remark will apply to many 
places which I have seen, and though I by no means 
assert that l am right, the ventilation of the subject can 
do no harm. 
The lawn is now pretty extensive, and there will be 
no difficulty in extending it, chiefly on the south side, 
if it should bo at all desirable, especially for the purpose 
of increasing tho lumps of American plants. All the 
hardy Azaleas and Rhododendrons grow luxuriantly, and 
there are beautiful masses of them now. It always goes 
against tho grain to move or cut down fine old shrubs; 
but the thining and removing of masses of bushes in some 
places would bo au advantage, more especially as the 
American plants do so exceedingly well. I could picture 
what a bright scene they were a few weeks ago. Some 
old Portugal Laurels were a dense mass of bloom. Plenty 
of excellent peat or heath-mould, is obtained in tbe 
immediate neighbourhood in the park. 
Two things farther here deserve especial notice. First, 
the bedding was grouping indeed. The plants were 
what might be termed dug in. The great proportion 
were already quite full; not a bit of earth to be seen, 
