August 2L. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
309 1 
reason against them, it is only a misfortune, and un¬ 
fortunate, because there is not a man alive who knows 
what might be made of annuals, if a whole generation 
was engaged in their cultivation and in improving their 
breeds. They are the poor man’s plants, and the plants 
for those with very little room. I could grow and bloom 
fifty kinds of them myself, every year of my life, although 
I have not room for a tithe of the plants that are pressed 
on me every month of the summer; for I never allow 
aunuals to “ take up an inch of room,” if you can un¬ 
derstand how that can be, or if vou forget how I used 
to do it. 
I never yet saw a flower border of mixed plants, in 
August or September, on which you could not sow as 
many annuals, without hurting a single plant, as would 
cover a border four times the size, if they were all 
transplanted out to try; then, supposing you have no 
better place, the sooner you sow your annuals the 
better, as they must be transplanted in October, like so 
many Lettuces ; and if you sow too late, you must trans¬ 
plant in the same degree, and he too late to do any good 
with them ; but when they can remain undisturbed, it 
will be time enough to sow them by the beginning of 
September, as in all likelihood those who intend doing ■ 
so have most of the sorts already self-sown where they I 
bloomed this season. It is siugular, but quite true, that, ; 
with all our skill, we cannot rear such healthy plants 
as those which come from self-sown seeds; therefore, 
people ought to be more cautious how they clean and 
stir flower-borders in the autumn. I would now allow 
a scratch where I expected a seed to rise, from this day j 
to Michaelmas; if w'eeds come there, pull them as gently 
as you would a gray hair out of a w r ig, and no more j 
hoeing and raking till you see what crop of seedlings 
you are likely to have this year, or rather for next year; 
then, towards the end of the season, when the borders 
must be “ cleared,” take a spade, and lift as many as 
you want, with a thin slice of the top soil, and carry 
each turn to a place which is already cleared and free 
from plants, and lay them down like so many pieces of 
turf, giving them a little patting, here and there, to 
settle them properly. After that fill in between the 
edges of the pieces with clean soil, and give a gentle 
watering, to settle the whole in such a manner that a 
stranger to the place could not perceive on the morrow 
but that they had come up in that very place. 
The very same process might be gone through with 
seeds which are sown by hand. So you see there is 
really no difficulty at all; and I am persuaded that 
half the deaths by frost and bad winters are moro 
the result of inattention to small matters, than to the 
delicate nature of the plants themselves. It often 
happens that lots of annual seedlings only begin to 
appear above ground in January ancl February; these 
are the safest in the long run, hut who knows that 
they would over come up, and if they did not, and you 
had to rely on such a chance, you would lose a whole 
season; therefore, looking at the thing from every side, 
I see nothing for it more safe than to sow purposely, 
just as you would for a bed of Onions ; and next week 
I shall name all the best for the purpose. 
D. Beaton. 
Dr. Joseph Hooker, son of Sir W. Hooker, the 
Director of the Botanical Gardens at Kew, has been 
appointed by Government to the charge of the Herba¬ 
rium, Library, and strictly botanical part of that 
establishment. Such an officer has been greatly needed 
since the extensive additions made to the collection by 
Mr. Bentham. His appointment is simultaneous with a 
grant of T3000 towards the erection of a new Museum 
in those delightful gardens.— Gentleman s Magazine. 
GLEANINGS FROM LUTON HOO. 
i 
In answer to several enquiries, I may state, that this 
beautiful place, the residence of -Leigh, Esq., is 
about fourteen miles from Watford, on the North 
Western, about an equal distance from Hatfield, and | 
eleven miles from Hitchen, on the Great Northern, and 
two miles from Luton. An omnibus goes from Watford 
to Luton, passing through St. Alban’s, twice a day, 
meeting the 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. trains from London, and 
passes the lodge gates, which are some ten minutes walk 
from the gardens and mansion. The omnibus from Hat¬ 
field meets the 5 p.m. train from London, and passes 
within a short distance of another lodge; but, unless 
in a long summer’s day, it would be too late to see 
the place. There is no regular conveyance from Hitchen 
to Luton. In coming from the north, Leighton would 
be the best station to stop at. About 10 a.m., and j 
1 p.m., there is a branch train to Dunstable, and from 
thence an omnibus to Luton. I have previously j 
mentioned that Stockwood Park, now so celebrated for 
the Golden Hamburgh Grape, is less than a mile from j 
Luton. 
The princely mansion of Luton Hoo was commenced, j 
I believe, under the auspices of the first Lord Bute, the 
preceptor, the first Secretary of State, and then the Prime ! 
Minister of George the Third. The eastern wing of the 
mansion was completed by the late Marquis some j 
fifteen years ago. A few years afterwards, the centre of 
the building and the eastern wing were completely 
gutted by a calamitous Ore. Before this event, besides the 
regular massiveness of the huge architectural pile, the 
mansion was distinguished for two things—a very large 
collection of books, containing many rare literary works, 
and a large assortment of paintings by old masters, 
collected chiefly by the premier Earl, all of which 
escaped destruction. After the estate had been held for . 
a short time by - Ward, Esq , it came into the 
: possession of the present owner, who has reconstructed 
I what was little better than a shell of bare walls, and 
has furnished and decorated the rooms in a style uniting 
1 a combination of comfort, magnificence, and refined 
J taste. The same liberal expenditure, as was some 
, time ago indicated, is at once observable in the great 
improvements effected in the pleasure grounds and 
; gardens. 
The mansion stands upon an elevated plateau, giving 
it a commanding appearance from whatever entrance 
in the park it is approached. Besides the entrances on 
J the St, Alban’s and Luton, and the Hatfield and Luton 
roads, there is a third on the latter road, at the termina¬ 
tion of Park Street, Luton; and by that entrance I 
should advise connoiseurs in park scenery either to 
enter or leave. Although I have little moi-e reliable 
authority than gardening gossip to depend upon, there ; 
are traces in the park itself that Mr. Brown, the great 
landscape gardener of the times, had been employed by 
Lord Bute to lay out the place. With a mixture of 
satire and truth, Mr. Price stated something to the 
effect, that Mr. Brown always left his characteristic traits 
behind him, in a piece of water, circular or oval groups 
of trees, and a narrow belt bounding the demesne. Time 
and alterations have mellowed these traces, though a 
person looking for them might think he could find them, 
and most likely they were considerably modified from 
the first, by the advice of Peter Collinson, to whoso 
energy and patronage v T e are chiefly indebted for the 
introduction of trees and shrubs, during the middle 
part of the eighteeenth century. It could hardly be other¬ 
wise but that a friendly feeling would exist between 
Brown and Collinson, and there is good reason for be¬ 
lieving that the latter was on intimate terms with Lord 
Bute. I have several times been told of a characteristic j 
