285 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 16, 1859. 
highest compositions in this country. I never yet saw 
anything in shading to equal the effect of—say, two feet 
; of Tom Thumb in bloom, against three feet of Mrs. 
Vernon rising to a pyramidal form. You may try it in a 
six feet-wide circle. One Mrs. Vernon in the very centre, 
and four Mrs. Vernons round it, and eighteen inches 
from : he centre ; then a row or two rows of your largest 
| Tom Thumbs, according to size—but have them tall, as 
Mrs. Vernon is the tallest of all bedding Geraniums, and 
have a row of Flower of the Fay in small young plants 
round the outside. Then of an evening, when the sun is 
; down enough to throw the light across your shoulders, j 
look on that bed in full bloom, and if you ever saw a 
better, just let us know. That bed, in that light, or in 
j the forenoon, is just as telling at three hundred yards off I 
as when you are within ten feet of it. 
I do not much like flat beds anywhere. You cannot 
shade so effectively when all the flowers are on the same 
level; therefore, unless the bed is planted with one kind 
I of plant, I prefer a rise in the centre of it. Even when I j 
had to plant large beds with one kind of plant through- j 
out, I used the oldest and the largest plants for the | 
centre. This is not one of those fancies where one man’s 
opinion is just as good as that of any other person. There 
is a principle in it, from which the more we depart the 
farther we are from the mark ; we are all striving to hit 
the bull’s eye. I>. Beaton. 
WORSLEY' HALL. 
I paid a hurried visit to this beautiful residence of the Earl of 
Ellesmere on the 25th of June; a general description of which, 
by our friend Mr. Appleby, will be found at pp. 245 and 260, 
Yol. XIX., and a plan and description of half the new flower 
garden, which will be found at p. 400, Yol. XXI. Possessing, as 
our friend does, the rare*faculty of combining in his descriptions 
of places in one picture the more striking features with a delineation 
of those minute practical details that render such descriptions 
not only interesting but instructive, it would be vain to go over 
similar ground ; but yet, though I can offer nothing like a feast, 
I thought I might present a few scattered crumbs worthy of being 
collected in our cottage bread-basket. 
The mansion is placed on such an elevated platform, that, 
though backed and winged by masses of wood, it stands out 
clearly and distinctly for fully the half of its height. The village 
of Worsley, in the immediate neighbourhood, tells its own tale of 
large-hearted benevolence. Prom all the upper windows on the 
south side of the mansion views will be obtained of bustling 
activity, even of numbers of coke-ovens, the smoke from which 
will not be the most agreeable. The commanding position of the 
mansion conjured up at once reminiscences of the olden time, 
when the feudal chieftain of a castle exercised despotic sway in 
its neighbourhood. In these days its prominence, in connection 
with its nearness to the comfortable-looking village, and the 
views of hard-working activity, tell us that the proprietors would 
rather exercise a legitimate influence upon their humbler neigh¬ 
bours through their sympathies and affect'ons. It is made the 
boast of some mansions that they stand alone in their solitary 
grandeur, in the middle of their immense parks, with not another 
habitation within the extended home-park demesne. Rather 
would we boast of those mansions that, from their position and 
vicinity, exercise a beneficial influence on the surrounding neigh¬ 
bourhood. The eye is ever alive to the perceptions of beauty and 
order. Such gratification makes no one the poorer. I can 
recollect how the benevolent Loudon had to write and petition 
before the ugly dead walls on the Bayswater, and Knightsbridge, 
and Kensington roads were removed and open palisading put in 
them place. Were Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens made 
worse or poorer when thousands of travellers on the highway 
could have a look at their beauties ? Our nobility and gentry 
are now rightly proving that their mansions and grounds are 
capable of exercising a beneficial elevating influence upon their 
humbler neighbours instead of fostering envy or discontent. 
After meeting Mr. Davidson at the kitchen garden we walked 
through the wood described by Mr. Appleby, so well furnished 
with Laurels and Rhododendrons as undergrowth, and reached 
the mansion with its flower gardens, terraces, and green slopes. 
The green grass and bedding plants are almost the sole attractions 
on these terraces. On looking at them from the park before 
reaching the kitchen garden, it struck me that the slopes pre¬ 
sented a rather bare appearance. This idea was not dissipated 
altogether when looking down upon them and the flower garden 
at the bottom, even though the long ribbon borders enlivened it 
considerably. Our readers will form an idea for themselves by 
looking at the following simple diagrams, which, without making 
any pretensions to accuracy, will yet give a better idea of the 
place than mere description :—- 
’ Fic. I. 
2 1 
\_I \ 
Fio. II. 
6 \ 
\ 
Fig. III. 
Fig. I. Platform, from memory, ou which the mansion and 
first terrace are placed, with sunk panel flower gardens, on east 
and west side as marked, 1 and 2. 
Fig. II. Something like the position of terraces and flower 
garden on south side of mansion. 
1. Part of platform for mansion and upper-terrace. Ground 
plan for south side shown in Fig. III. 
2. Terrace or conservative wall, covered with suitable plants, 
with a balustrade above the upper-ground level, which it is pro¬ 
posed to remove, as it now obstructs the view of the flower 
garden, No. 7, from the lower living-rooms. 
3. Terrace of grass and gravel walk, with ribbon borders on 
east and west sides. 
4. Steep sloping bank of turf. 
5. Terrace of turf, with wide straight gravel walk in its centre. 
The further side next to bank (6) is covered with fine specimens of 
Irish Yews, about forty feet apart. On the east and west sides, 
bounded by the gravel walk on one side and the bank (4) on the 
other, are ribbon borders on the turf, about 200 feet in length. 
These terraces, until reaching the straight walk on (5) partake of 
the ground plan as shown in Fig. III. This bold out-juttiug of 
the centre famishes fine sites for these ribbon borders on the 
east and west sides. 
6. Sloping grass bank, running straight from end to end, and 
thus contrasting with the terraces above. 
7. Flower garden, the two ends of which are the same, divided 
in the centre by a gravel walk about eighty feet wide. Plan of 
one side of this garden given at p. 400, Yol. XXI., to which I 
beg to refer. Opposite the centre of this gravel walk, and also 
in the centre of the out-jutting part, as Bhown in Fig. III., and 
down the steep sloping bank (4) are wide grass steps. Similar 
steps are also placed in the centre of each wing of this slope. 
8. Small slopes and walks between flower garden and lake. 
9. Part of lake, with rich park scenery beyond. Ground of 
park rather level, and thus presenting a strong contrast with the 
mansion, fronted by its terraces and slopes. 
Now for a few random crumbs. The first that suggested itself 
was the thorough effectiveness of Mr. Davidson’s mode of plant¬ 
ing his borders and beds. Almost all the beds were full enough 
on the 24th of June ; and these beds would never be disturbed, 
unless in rare instances, either for flowers or cuttings, until the 
frost mastered them. Many who pretend to group their beds, 
get them filled pretty well by September and October. The 
