38G 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 2G, 1861. 
of the grounds. The only failing object were some Peach trees, 
■which Mr. Fish says have done so two or three times when they 
appeared to be in excellent health; but most likely he will be 
giving us his experience on this matter some of these days. 
Everything else seemed perfect, and I cannot take leave of the 
kitchen garden without according it the praise of being one of 
the neatest I ever saw. Its levelness, position, and contiguity 
to other things tending to increase its importance, but, above 
all, its good keeping. 
I omitted in the-general description of the flower garden at 
Putteridge Bury to notice the walks; yet these always form 
important features in all places, and are certainly of more 
consequence for general effect than any flower-beds, however 
good the latter may be. I may say those at Putteridge Bury 
were composed of a white chalky gravel, the colour being of a 
light stone colour, and the walks as smooth and firm apparently 
as anything need be, and contrasted well with the smooth, weli- 
kept turf. A broad walk of this kind led from the mansion in 
an easy-curved direction through the pleasure-ground in a south¬ 
westerly direction to the farm, the buildings of which form a 
capacious square, divided into suitable cattle-yards by strong 
iron fencing. 
This farmyard deserves to be more minutely described than 
I have space for. Suffice it to say, that it was as commo¬ 
dious a one as ever I saw, without containing any of those 
fanciful appendages which give novelty rather than utility to 
such a place, and their cost precludes their general adoption. 
Here there was nothing but what might be copied in any farm¬ 
yard. No steam engine, but plenty of horse machinery for such 
purposes, as it could be well applied to ; cattle-feeding sheds well 
filled up, and several pig-houses with their occupants of all sizes, 
and in good and becoming condition—and it was easy to see 
that Mr, Hipgrave, the bailiff, took great pride in these things, 
while a good dairy was equally the ambition of his worthy 
spouse;, and a peep into the adjoining fields disclosed some 
excellent crops of Turnips, stubble fields with scavee a weed, trim 
hedges and gates ; while at home the stacks had been finished 
off with that care which denoted the good management of all 
concerned. And not the least effective of these things was the 
white or light-coloured painting of the walls and timber- workof all 
the buildings both on the farm and at the mansion. This clean 
appearance gave a sort of fairy aspect to the scene, contrasting so 
well with the floral beauty and healthy foliage by which all was 
surrounded. The ironwork of the farmyard only was of a dark 
colour as more becoming the position it was placed in. 
It may naturally be asked. Where there was much to admire 
was there nothing to find fault with ? And as I have ventured 
giving a straightforward opinion on most that I saw (which has 
been an almost continuous approval), it is only fair also to 
mention anything of an opposite kind that presented itself. 
Somehow, the task of publicly finding fault is far from being an 
agreeable one when the party we differ with happens to be one 
of our most valued friends ; but opinions always have differed, 
and possibly I may be in the wrong. Nevertheless, I cannot but 
think a geometric design, by which some of the beautiful white 
gravel they have for walks could be introduced into the plot 
now appropriated as an Italian garden, would be a great im¬ 
provement. I am certainly no advocate for the minute intricacy 
which some of our great masters in the decorative art try to 
impress on us as being beautiful; but as our flower-beds, as 
now constituted, are very often eight or nine months in an 
almost barren condition, something that would present a cheer¬ 
ing aspect during that long period ought to be considered as 
well; and the intermixture of white walks, green turf, and even 
the naked flower-beds, when the others present agreeable 
diversified lines, create an interest which plain-looking beds 
alone fail to do in winter, however well the latter may be 
adapted for floral display at the fitting time. It is, therefore, 
not without some diffidence that I venture to give this as 
my opinion on the Italian garden at Putteridge. The size, 
the site, its depression, and other features, fit it exactly for 
something in which winter display ought to be considered as 
well as the more gay season, and if once acted upon, I have no 
doubt but the details will be well carried out; for I am not 
acquainted with any garden where the minutiae of flower¬ 
gardening is so well understood and carried out as at Putteridge 
Bury, and there are few places possessing greater variety of 
plants for display ; for Mr. Fish is alike an enthusiast in old as 
well as an admirer of new things, and after testing their merits 
he turns them to account in some of the thousand-and-one 
ways which only an enthusiast of long experience knows. To 
those who have seen the gardens when at their best I need 
make no apology for the length this description has been drawn 
into ; to all others I would say, Go and see for yourselves. For 
my own part, I cannot but regard my visit to Putteridge Bury 
as one of the best professional treats I ever had, rendered still 
more so by Mr. Fish’s kindness in pointing out everything of 
interest for a stranger to know. Of their appearance at the 
time I saw them—a wet day towards the end of September—the 
preceding pages will testify. Suffice it to say, that my own 
opinion was backed by that of other much better judges than 
myself, that the flower garden at Putteridge was the best managed 
we had ever seen. It is needless to say more.—J. Robson. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
A special Meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society was 
held on the 19th inst. at the New Hall, Kensington Gore, when 
the Chair was occupied by the Lord Bishop of Winchester, Yice* 
President of the Society. Among the numerous body of 
Fellows present, we observed the Earl of Erne, Lord John 
Manners, Judge Des Barres, Sir Peter Van Notten Pole, Bart., 
Sir J. P. Boileau, Mr. S. Gurney, M.P., Lieut.-General Fox, 
&e. Among the Fellows elected were the Right Hon. the Earl 
of Aylesford, the Earl of Gifford, the Hon. W. F. Byng, Lady 
Murray of Edinburgh, Lady Hume^ Campbell, and about one 
hundred and thirty others. After the ordinary Meeting had 
been concluded, a special general Meeting was held to receive 
the report of the Council, which stated that the probable cost 
of completing the substantial works in the Gardens would be 
£70,000 instead of £50,000, as stated in a previous report. 
The Council had received already nearly £40,000 on debentures, 
and they recommended the Society to give them express powers 
for raising an additional £10,000. Without that sum the 
Council would be unable to complete the Gardens on the plans 
which they considered advisable, and which had received the 
sanction of His Royal Highness the President of the Society. 
On the motion of Mr. C. Wentworth Dilke, seconded by Mr. 
H. T. Hope, the report was adopted, and power was given to 
raise the additional £10,000 as required. A vote of thanks to 
the Right Rev. Chairman was proposed by Lord John Manners ; 
and, in returning thanks, his Lordship said that he considered 
it a high honour to be called upon to fulfil the duties of 
any office connected with a Society which had already been 
productive of so much good, and which gave promise of future 
usefulness. He had now been for a long period connected 
with the'Society, and he had not considered it inconsistent with 
his position to devote a portion of his time to the promotion of 
its objects ; as he believed that its usefulness extended not 
only to the gardens of the higher classes, but that even the 
productions of the humbler were equally influenced by it. 
A plant collector is now about to be engaged by the Society 
to proceed on an expedition to South Brazil, whence many 
novelties may be expected, and in which the Fellows will par¬ 
ticipate by means of the distributions which periodically take 
place. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Garden near Ipswich (B. IV .).—We know the soil of your garden very 
well; it lies to the south of the Gibbin river, which ends in the Orwell 
and is just outside the chalk formation in that direction. Lime will do you 
no Rood. The way to improve your estate is to have all the land, every 
inch of it, well trenched and thoroughly drained, no matter if the bottom be 
mere flints and yellow clay—as parts of it, possibly, are. It must be trenched, 
leaving all below the first 18 inches in the bottom where the subsoil seems 
very bad, not otherwise. But in trenching an old garden to renew its 
vigour the soil must not he thrown in layers as in common trenching, but be 
thoroughly mixed. In October or November a good layer of chalk, which 
is close to your elbow, will do you more good than the same thickness of 
dung out of Ipswich. Let the chalk stand over the winter exposed to the 
air and frost, and when it and the soil are perfectly dry in March dig it 
in, and mix it well in the digging ; then your artificial manures must be 
applied, only from May to September. But chalk, soot, and abundance of 
liquid manure should keep you out of the lottery of mixed compounds 
altogether. A friend of ours is going to put up a Ividdean furnace on the 
banks of the Clyde, about half-way between Glasgow and Greenock, but 
that is too far off for you, and we know not of another going on just now. 
But a nightcap on a dressing-table and a hat put over it would be quite 
sufficient for fifty bricklayers in Ipswich to get at the idea-the cap repre¬ 
senting the fireplace; the hat, air-chamber all round it. A barrow upside 
down for fireplace, and a boat turned over it, is another form of the idea. 
There are several fields on both sides of the water from Harwich to Stow- 
market that have never produced I.ucern profitably: therefore, you had 
better consult Borne of the natives, and let alone the Spergulas till you have 
