370 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 21. 
request and answer made and granted something in this 
way. Peter wrote to his Lordship— 
“ If a hare should chance to stray, 
Ticket its feet and send it this way.” 
To which his Lordship replied— 
“ A hare I have found, and ticketted its feet 
To Peter Collinson of Gracechurch Street.” 
Between the house and the kitchen-garden, behind the 
stables, is a wood, now interspersed with walks grown 
j over, and many of which have been renewed, and beautiful 
j and shady they are. In this wood there are traces of au 
old botanical arrangement—great quantities of spring- j 
flowers by the sides of the walks; very flue specimens | 
of several kinds of timber, chiefly Cedars of Lebanon, 
proving that something towards a hundred years ago j 
this wood consisted of a beautiful flower-garden and 
shrubbery;—such a place as Collinson would like to 
retreat to, and compare and contrast with his own snug 
little villa, at Mill Hill, near Hendon. 
I have seldom glanced at some rare specimens of trees 
especially associated with Collinson, such as at Wanstead, 1 
Ham House, the Bishop’s Palace at Fulham, his own | 
residence at Mill Hill, where, some years ago, shrubs 
and trees looked upon as commemorative were carefully 
preserved by the proprietors of the educational establish- | 
ment, who were then the possessors, or even at the j 
little flowers and majestic timber in the wood at Luton j 
Hoo, without thinking of the softening and civilising 
influence exercised by the quaker linen-draper, not only j 
in his own, but in all future times; and feeling thoroughly ' 
convinced of what he himself said, “ that his plants and 
garden furnished him with a great source of happiness,” 
and “ that every living thing called forth his affections.” 
The piece of water is formed by damming back the 
waters of the Lea, which rises a little above Luton, and 
which lends such beauty to the grounds at Brockett 
Hall, and the vineyard at Hatfield House. Like all 
such waters, it has become weedy and sedgy by neglect, j 
and, from its size, the cleansing of it will be a serious 
matter. Experience seems to show that such material 
is, from its stringency, of but little use, even as a dressing 
for grass land, when used by itself, but becomes a 
valuable fertiliser when mellowed by a mixture of lime, 
or even of fresh manure that would cause it to ferment. 
In most of this district there is no great difficulty in 
getting abundance of chalk, which merely requires fuel 
to convert it into lime. Expensive as the cleanings out 
of such pieces of water may be, if the material can be 
rendered ultimately profitable, the expense will not be 
| all loss.' 
I am not sufficiently informed as to the time of com¬ 
mencing the mansion and forming this fine piece of 
water, but would imagine that if the house were to be 
built now, it would be placed some hundreds of yards 
farther to the south, as then the water would be seen 
from the ground-level as well as the first-floor windows. 
At present, standing in front of the mansion, you glance 
over the valley, and rest the eye on the woodland and 
upland scenery beyond, the views within and beyond 
the park being very undulated and diversified. Mr. 
Fraser once stated, that if it were desirable to bring a 
view of the water within sight of a spectator at the base 
of the building, nothing would be required but taking 
off the brow of the intercepting plateau; and, considering 
j the celerity and skill with which great quantities of earLh 
were moved, to give graceful and easy undulations to 
the extensive lawn, the lowering of such an intercepting 
plateau would be no great matter if ever it should be 
deemed desirable. 
With the exception of thus improving the lawn, 
especially to the westward of the mansion, there is little 
difference in the front view of the house from what it 
presented in the time of the late Marquis, standing now, 
as it did then, in solitary grandeur, with its broad, un¬ 
broken carpet of green turf to the south and the west. 
The west lawn terminates in a sloping valley, and here, 
at present, is the boundary of the pleasure-ground. 
The ground rises on the opposite bank, now forming 
part of the park, until crossing the road that comes 
from the new mill aud lodge on the Hatfield and Luton 
road, you enter the wilderness wood of the late botanic 
garden ; the elegant stables being placed at the north 
side of it, and the kitchen-gardens on the east aud 
north. 
Along the bottom and the sloping banks of this valley, 
not sufficiently high, however, to bring the view of them 
within sight of the ground-floor of the mansion, have 
been placed the American pleasure-grounds and flower- > 
gardens. A few trees have been removed, which, at 
various turns, present fine peeps of the sheet of 
water. Were it desirable, there is no end to the beauty 
and interest that might be centered in this valley, by 
winding, shady walks, grottoes, rooteries, ferneries, &c., 
extending even to the verge of the water. Mr. Fraser 
has commenced a collection of hardy Ferns, aud no one 
knows better how to manage them. In a woodland 
corner of the lawn, a nice effect has been produced by 
planting large quantities of the common Fern, and 
before they come fully into leaf the ground is carpeted 
with a profusion of Crocus aud other bulbs, Primroses, 
Polyanthuses, &c. The great attraction for me, however, 
has been the valley walk, containing fine groups of the 
best American and other shrubs, a splendid collection 
of Roses, and a large flower-garden on the grouping 
system. 
It is in this valley that the American plants are 
doing so well in a marly clay, with but little pretensions 
to the name of loam, as was mentioned some time ago. 
The White Chinese Azalea has proved itself, even 
during the last winter, hardier than a Laurestinus. 
Many of the newer and better kinds of Rhododendrons 
that had their points much injured are breaking freely 
from the wood lower down. The flower-garden is placed 
to the south of the American grounds, along the sloping 
bank of the lawn, terminating in the bottom of the 
valley. The walk that bounds it from the lawn on the 
east side, and the garden itself, will be unseen from 
the mansion, unless from the higher windows. The 
object, no doubt, has been to prevent such a thing as 
a group of flowers, or small shrubs, from coming in 
contact, or comparison, with the massive grandeur of 
the mansion. A group of evergreens, on the east side 
of the flower-garden, would not only accomplish this 
more effectually, by concealing the flowers on that side 
before the gardens were entered, but would lend an 
additional charm to the bright colours of the beds, 
splendid as they are just now, by applying a nice back 
ground when the garden was looked upon from the walk 
in the valley, or from the rising ground in the park 
beyond. With the exception of some smaller parts, 
such as a group of thistle-form figures proceeding 
from a common centre, and the corresponding parts of 
which were filled with one similar colour, the most of 
the beds of the large, regular group are long rather than 
wide in their dimensions, and these were all filled, each J 
with two contrasting colours. A wide belt, consisting I 
of two rows generally for an edging, with a contrasting 
colour for the centre part of the bed. Great taste has 
been shown, not only in thus planting of each bed, 
but in arranging the neighbouring beds so as to be 
contrasts and diversified shades to each other. From 
the beds being large, and somewhat long in shape, it 
struck me that a much more striking effect was produced 
than if each of the beds had been of one colour. For 
this, and a flower-garden in front of the houses, a great 
quantity of plants are used; and to free the pits aud 
houses early in spring, Mr. Fraser turns out his plants 
