99 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 17, 1857. 
manages a couple of flower-beds in sucli a manner that 
even Lady Middleton could hardly make them more 
beautiful is not only worthy of all honour, but gives the 
best evidence that with increased resources she would 
manage twenty nearly equally well. I have put in the 
word nearly advisedly, because the smaller the garden, 
other things being equal, the brighter and more telling 
should it be ; and it is easier to make it so than when 
various gardens have to be attended to. Look on a 
couple of beds a tangled mass of flowers and weeds, 
and where and what would be the condition of twenty 
beds? Superior quality and beauty, be the sphere of 
their action small or large, will ever command appro¬ 
bation ; and without these mere extent will only be an 
extensive annoyance. 
4th. “ What do you consider are the peculiar features 
of this famed place?” I have already indicated them ; 
but to please you will recapitulate and say that these 
; are, that as a whole no branch of gardening is neglected, 
| though some are brought more prominently into notice 
than others ; the fine position of the mansion, which has 
given a tone to the varied systems of ornamental gar¬ 
dening employed; the refraining from planting whatever, 
and however beautiful in itself, would have interfered 
with the unique style adopted ; the happy blending of 
the architectural and artistic with a highly refined gar- 
denesque, and these at times suddenly contrasted with 
a picturesque so wild as to possess a dash of the romantic; 
the not astonishing you so much with one or two blazes 
of well-contrasted colouring, such as you might see in 
smaller places, as in keeping you delighted and interested 
by extent, variety of scene, sudden contrasts, and diversity 
of styles and varied combinations in the different gar¬ 
dens, and each complete in itself; the fitness and suita¬ 
bility generally apparent, as witness the fountains in the 
bosom of the valley, the very position precluding all 
inquiry as to whence the water; the-But I must shut 
the ink box with chronicliug one more important feature, 
namely, that the greater part, if not the whole of the 
splendid mansion as it now stands has been built, and 
the whole of these extensive gardens formed, since Sir 
William Middleton and his lady have come into pos¬ 
session of the property; and farther, that with the cha¬ 
racteristic generosity that enjoys its happiness none the 
less because others share it with them, they cheerfully 
give up the Fridays to all respectable visitors who have 
previously applied for and received a card of admission. 
R. Fish. 
Erratum.— Page 82, first column, second paragraph, seventh line, 
I “with lime” should be “in time.” 
BEDROOM DECORATION. 
“ Oh, give him taste ! It is the link 
1 Which binds us to the skies— 
A bridge of rainbows thrown across 
The gulf of tears and sighs ; 
Or like a widow’s little one— 
An angel in a child— 
That leads him to his mother’s chair, 
And shows him how she smiled.” 
In your columns we have been favoured with some in¬ 
teresting descriptions of gardens; but the writers seldom 
penetrate into the house, much less to the first floor thereof. 
To show you that the admission of vegetable life into bed- 
| rooms is more in vogue than formerly, I will give you a 
rough sketch of such an apartment which I was privileged 
to enter, and have permission to describe. The occupier of 
this apartment recognises the principle that— 
“ Whatever cheerful and serene 
Supports the mind, supports the body too.” 
On entering the door on the right hand is a chest of 
drawers ; over this a glass bookcase containing the cream of 
i the library; on that is a model of a man-of-war, made many 
I years back by French prisoners at Portsmouth. The hull 
and masts were fashioned from the hones supplied these 
men at their dinners; the ropes were made of their hair; 
and the case, which resembles parqueterie, from the straws 
of their cells stained. At the side is a statuette in 
wood, and preserved animal organisations in spirits. The 
whole is surmounted by various pictures printed in colours. 
From the cornice over all droops the royal standard; then 
on the same side of the room come the bed and some archi¬ 
tectural lithographs. 
At the end of the room is the window with balcony, from 
which spring clusters of blossoms of intermingled Calyste- 
gia pubescens and Tropceolums. These run up either side 
of the window on lattice-work. From an ornamental terra 
cotta jardiniette rise plants of Lysimachia nnmmellaria , 
covering a wirework screen with their golden blossoms. 
Fronting the window are the toilette-table, glass, &c. In the 
first break on the left hand side of the room is the waslihand- 
tand ; over this engravings and pictures in oil colours. On 
either side trophies from Brazil, specimens of natural 
weaving, and, above all, an outstretched scarlet flamingo 
and peacock’s feathers. The middle projection contains a 
gas stove with flue entering the chimney; above this the 
mantelpiece. At each end is a case of Ferns and Mosses 
arranged amid rockwork, coloured scenery at the back im¬ 
parting an additional charm. Most of the specimens were 
transplanted from the “ poor man’s garden.” 
“ For in the poor man’s garden grow 
Far more than herbs and flowers: 
Kind thoughts, contentment, peace of mind, 
And joy for weary hours.” 
Over one of these cases we find the lines— 
“ The green and graceful fern, 
How beautiful it is ! 
There’s not a leaf in all the land 
So beautiful I wis. 
“ Have ye e’er watch’d that ball unfolding, 
With each stem and leaf wrapp’d small, 
Coil’d up within each other, 
Like a round and hairy ball ? 
“ Have ye watch’d that ball unfolding, 
Each closely nestling curl. 
And its fair and feathery leaflets 
Their spreading forms unfurl ? ' 
“ Oh, then most gracefully they wave 
In the hedges like a sea, 
And dear as they are beautiful 
Are those fern leaves to me.” 
Over the other case— 
“ The tiny moss, whose silken verdure clothes 
The time-worn rock, and whose bright capsules rise. 
Like fairy urns, on stalks of golden sheen, 
Demand our admiration and our praise 
As much as cedars kissing the blue sky, 
Or Krubul’s giant flower. God made them all, 
And what He deigns to make should ne’er be deem’d 
Unworthy of our study and our love.” 
Between the cases is a duplex statue in plaster, and amid 
the centre ornaments a bouquet of choice flowers. 
Over the mantelpiece are views of the localities in which 
the Ferns were collected—Llangollen Yale, Tenby, &c. 
Above up to the ceiling are photographic and lithographic 
portraits, surmounted by the Art Union head of Christ. 
In the next break we find pictures printed in colours, and 
a heating fine in connection with a system of hot-water 
apparatus. Lastly, next the door is situate a clock, more 
pictures, thermometer, hygrometers, barometer, and a table 
with Wardian case, containing Ferns and Mosses, many of ! 
them exotic. 
I put it to your readers whether this style of decoration 
is not more desirable than that of the old regime . “ Of all 
modes of enlivening the aspect of an apartment there is, 
perhaps, none more pleasing than the sight of plants and 
flowers suitably arranged and distributed. The enjoyment 
and instruction they afford are within the reach of all; the ' 
poor may partake as well as the rich. Great means and ap- | 
pliances are not needed. To the thoughtful mind the con- ! 
templation of the phenomena of vegetation is a constant j 
source of interest.” Especially is this so to the Christian. 
Whatever he finds 
“ Of beautiful or grand 
In nature, from the broad, majestic oak 
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun, 
Prompts with remembrance of a pveseut God.” 
— E. A. Copland, Bellefield . 
