October 24. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
59 
the Bay ought to he as common as a standard in this 
country as the Myrtle or Orange, hut wo are only be¬ 
ginning them. 
There is not another evergreen shrub, however, which 
will bear equal hardships with it in transplanting; and 
a thousand standards of them might easily be made this 
next winter from English shrubberies, without being 
missed, of standard Myrtles. I saw none worth speak¬ 
ing of at all round tlie place. Here I would earnestly 
press on the notice of our liberal patrons to spare a 
standard, or a specimen plant of some kind or another, 
from every corner of their establishments; and just now 
is the time. Of what use is it to cram and squeeze so 
many large plants as half the gardening world manage 
to crowd together for the winter, and every winter since 
the last war? How much better would it be to burn the 
one half of them, or give them away as useful presents 
to the Crystal Palace Company, and allow sufficient 
room for the rest to look as if some one really cared 
anything about them. Large Myrtles, in particular, 
would bo very acceptable; next to them, Acacias, or 
any Cape or Australian plant of that style and habit. 
I saw several plants marked as “ presented ” by so and 
so to the Company, and that is all my clue for urging 
my suggestion ; I have not had intercourse with a single 
individual belonging to the managing of the Crystal 
Palace, or in their pay, to this day—except a couple of 
hours with Sir Joseph Paxton himself, eighteen months 
since, and we hardly spoke of the place then; but I am 
gardener enough, and old enough,to know, that they 
would not “look a gift plant in the corolla,” seeing what 
they have already accomplished by their own means. 
But the best proof, to a gardener, of the capabilities 
of the Crystal Palace for growing plants remains to be 
told; I mean the aerial vases, or hanging baskets, of 
which there are threo hundred in a double row, one a 
little higher than the other, along both sides of the 
nave and round the transepts. The baskets are all of 
one size and shape, something similar to a flower-vase— 
wido in the mouth, and hence rapidly narrowing to the 
bottom. They may be nearly four feet across, and from 
twelve to eighteen inches deep in the centre. The 
plants in them are such as would soonest tell of confine¬ 
ment, and of too much, or too little, of anything 
necessary to their well-being ; the only thing 1 could 
see against them was, that they were too well off, and, 
as often happens with gardeners themselves, they did 
not seem to know it, nor make equitable returns for the 
indulgence; the soil was too good for them, and the 
water not being wanted for the fountains this season, 
they had more than their share of it; the natural con¬ 
sequence is over luxuriance, and not quite so many 
flowers as would come under a less sparing treatment. 
Many of the thousands who admire these hanging 
baskets think the plants in them grow just as they 
please. The case is very different, however; for they 
are ns regularly arranged and trained as pot-plants ever 
were; not one of those climbers would luxuriate so 
careless 1 like and so gracefully—feeling their way into 
space, as it were—if they could but help it. That old 
Colxr.a would as soon thrust its tendrils into the very 
jaws of the British Lion, as lean an inch from the per¬ 
pendicular, if it were not trained to do so, as you see it. 
The same may be said of all the Tropceolums, Eccre- 
mocarpus, Maurandias, Lophospernums, and the white 
and purple Ivy-leaved Geraniums, which are the chief 
of the climbers in use in the baskets. The rest aro of 
Scarlet Geraniums, Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, Petunias, 
Verbenas, Fuchsias, and the old window Begonia Evan- 
ceana. The greenhouse and stove climbers which are 
planted in the beds aro not yet forward enough for any 
remark. D. Beaton. 
NOTES AND GLEANINGS FROM ALTPIORPE 
HALL. 
This fine old place is situated about six miles north¬ 
west from Northampton, and something of a similar 
distance, but eastwards, from Weedon. The chief ap¬ 
proach has its terminations eastward and westward the 
former, or that nearest Northampton, having beautiful 
gates. Near the centre of the approach, as respects its 
length, and a short distance north from it, is situated 
the mansion. Nearer the approach, near to and west¬ 
ward from the house, arc situated the stables and offices, 
the bold pillars and massive archway of the entrance 
1 presenting a striking contrast to the rigid simplicity of 
the architecture of the mansion. The position of the 
mansion is low, perhaps the very lowest in the large 
I park, the ground all around, unless immediately on the 
i west side, swelling into heights, and waving and undu¬ 
lating in a beautiful manner. On the east side of the 
mansion, and extending northwards, are situated the 
i flower-gardens and pleasure-grounds, to which I will 
presently refer. Westward of the house, and near the 
stables, is a rather deep cutting in the approach, that 
has removed a steep hill that must have been both 
inconvenient and daugerous, and so managed that the 
fine large trees which grew in avenue-form by its sides 
! have received no injuiy, while the green, steep sides of 
! the cutting present an interesting appearance. If a 
little farther from the house, or with scenery a little more 
wild, masses of the common bracken would have pro- 
' duced a line effect on these sides. Even as it is, a sud¬ 
den contrast would be pleasing. South-west from this 
1 cutting is situated a sort of park-farm steading, or rather, 
a number of offices, and, among others, the gas-works, 
required for such a largo establishment. Farther south¬ 
west still, but on a much higher position than the man¬ 
sion, are situated the kitchen-garden and orchard of 
thirteen acres, with a beautiful commodious cottage 
ornee, as a gardener’s house, near the north-west corner, 
now tenanted so worthily by my friend, Mr. Judd. The 
houses and pits chiefly used for early forcing aro close 
to the gardener’s house. I have already indicated that 
the mansion stands almost in the centi’e of the park as 
respects its eastern and western boundaries, and a 
stranger might think it did so as respects the northern 
and southern extremities, the park extending chiefly in 
these directions, apparently fully five hundred acres in 
size; the northern side being chiefly distinguished for 
the gradual rising of the ground, and the south for its 
more abrupt and varied elevations and undulations, and 
all adorned with splendid timber, whether in the shape 
of vigorous young plantations, or those elegant groups 
of fine old specimens that throw the diversified surfaco 
of the park into beautiful light and shade. 
Among these trees and scenery I spent the greater 
part of the 20th of September, preferring their society, 
though the day was rather unfavourable as respects the 
weeping from the clouds in the morning, to the splendid 
! library, picture-gallery, and other show parts of the 
i house, that the noble proprietor liberally opens for the 
j inspection of visitors. From its low position, and the 
size of the park, no external scenery is seen from the 
mansion, with the exception of a peep at a fine cluster 
of ornamental cottages obtained from the west side— 
cottages erected for the deserving poor by the self-deny¬ 
ing generosity of the late Countess Spencer. To a cer¬ 
tain extent on the north, but more especially to the 
west, a champaign open space of green turf comes right 
up to the mansion, affording thus a fine opportunity for 
viewing and studying from the windows the rompings, 
eccentricities, and distinctive peculiarities of our various 
useful and domesticated animals. 
A walk through the beautiful park tells us at once, 
that the love of trees, as well as of animals, has been 
