October IT. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
35 
complete and favourable a change, as to receive their 
Graces’ most marked approbation of bis industry and 
judgment. 
He remained there till September, 1841, when, to his 
great, but agreeable surprise, he was again transplanted 
to Trentham. This was an animating, and most suitable 
promotion, for Mr. Fleming was in the prime of life, 
anxious for the distinction his energies and practical 
genius urged him to acquire; and he had now placed 
under his management what is one of the most perfect 
practical gardens in Europe. 
We have now arrived at the most critical point of Mr. 
Fleming’s position as a professional man; a position 
requiring the greatest nicety of observation, and the 
most indefatigable exertions, combined with genius, to 
sustain, when we consider the serious and established 
disadvantages he had to contend against. The late Mr. 
Loudon gives a very unfavourable opinion of Trentham, 
founding his reasons on the deteriorating influence of 
the atmosphere, the very low situation, and the cold, 
wet, and heavy nature of the soil. 
Mr. Loudon was well qualified to be an authority, but 
if it were possible for him to see Trentham now, his 
fears would be turned into pleasure, and his complaints 
into tones of admiration. 
Mr. Fleming himself was often on the verge of despair, 
but hope sustained him amid all his trials. As an instance 
of what we consider the chief evil he had to overcome, 
he relates, that shortly after bis arrival at Trentham, 
some men were employed digging on a sloping piece of 
ground in the kitchen-garden. About half-an-hour after 
they were gone to dinner, Mr. Fleming, by accident, 
came to the place, and one can scarcely imagine his 
surprise and chagrin, on finding the trench completely 
full of water, although the weather for the previous 
week bad been free from rain. To banish this serious 
enemy, he immediately commenced a series of drains, 
about six feet deep, under the principal walks of the 
gardens, and draining at a lesser depth the secondary or 
working paths, by which means the stagnant water 
found an outfall into the river Trent. To increase the 
beneficial effect of drainage, in every successive trench¬ 
ing the subsoil was turned up to the depth of five or 
six inches, and the ground abundantly dressed with turf- 
mould, burnt clay, the ashes of charred refuse, vegetable 
matter, and manure. By systematically following up 
this plan for some seasons, he long since obtained an 
active soil, ranging in depth from three to four-and-a- 
half feet, instead of but one, as was originally the case. 
He can now depend on a good average crop, gene¬ 
rally speaking, although it has been remarked, that 
Asparagus once grown there was more fit for flower- 
sticks than the table! 
The year previous to Mr. Fleming’s appointment, Mr. 
(now Sir Charles) Barry, had designed certain improve¬ 
ments in the Hall. These were now completed, and Sir 
Charles had drawn out a most beautiful and approved 
plan for a flower-garden, in the Italian-terraced style, to 
be laid down iu the front of the Hall. This garden 
was commenced shortly before Mr. Fleming’s arrival. 
It is not our intention to enter into a description of this 
now celebrated specimen of Italian floral architecture; 
the carrying out of many details of the original design 
was much assisted by Mr. Fleming’s knowledge of the 
desired plants, judgment, and taste. 
The introduction of classical vases and statuary into 
these gardens is of more importance than a cursory 
glance would indicate. It is not every style of landscape¬ 
gardening that such objects contribute to beautify and 
refine; but the long, broad walks, the turf-covered and 
sloping terraces, the surrounding woodland scenery, and 
the now clear, transparent, and island dotted lake, re¬ 
quired such artistic embellishments. - 
While contributing to the progress of the flower- 
garden, Mr. Fleming’s attention was drawn to the 
adoption of several improvements in the horticultural 
department. Among others, a beneficial system of 
pruning Peach, Apricot, and Nectarine-trees, and the 
bringing into notice the great advantage of the old 
trellis-work, in the training of hardy fruit-trees, which 
are simply these ;—They should always, economically 
speaking, be erected over most of the principal walks, 
which are thus, iu summer, refreshingly shaded, and 
form delightful promenades; the fruit is always exposed 
to a free circulation of air, as well as sufficient sun; and 
while the health of the plant is thus preserved, a fine 
and imposing appearance is given to the whole character 
of the place. We believe, since Mr. Fleming’s adoption 
of this plan, that it is now extensively approved of, 
and used in many gentlemen’s gardens. 
He also tried an experiment in the Vineries, intro¬ 
ducing bottom-heat on a different principle from that 
previously known, and by this means succeeded in pro¬ 
ducing fine clusters of Grapes ( Blade Hamburgh ) in 
February, in approbation of which, the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society awarded him a prize two successive 
years. This undertaking and its issue caused a great 
sensation among professional men at the time—1845; 
but one house being sufficient for the purpose to which 
his views were directed, he has not extended this method 
of early forcing. 
As a Pine-grower, Mr. Fleming has been eminently 
successful; it being a subject that has received his 
greatest attention, and on which he has directed his best 
energies. Although he made a considerable reduction 
in the number of his Pine-pits, he was able to work out 
in every detail an important idea he had conceived; 
which combined, with the improved general culture of 
the plant, a most economical, simple, and yet conclusive 
system of artificial heating ; and, by carefully aiming at, 
as far as circumstances would admit, a clear and precise 
knowledge of the West India temperature, he thereby 
so regulated that of his pits as to obtain, and is still 
doing so, some of the most weighty and beautiful fruit 
ever grown in England.* 
Mr. Fleming’s first essay in Architecture was a design 
for a Gothic cottage, intended for himself, and where he ' 
* One, a Ripley Queen Pine, exhibited at the Royal Horticultural | 
Society, October, 1849, weighed 7lbs. 10z.; but a weightier one was i 
grown the same year; also a Providence Pine, weighing 14lbs.—See I 
Mr. Fleming on “ Cultivation of the Pine Apple.” 
