116 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 23, 1858. 
standing alone in its solitary grandeur, was a circle of 
earth, some fifty to sixty feet in diameter, filled to over¬ 
flowing with the Scarlet Geranium, the centre being con¬ 
siderably elevated, yet not so much so but that from the 
higher terrace you could let your eye sweep over the 
whole, and take in the surroundings of the terrace and 
the park beyond. That such a large bed, standing alone 
and of one colour, was very striking and unique, there 
can be no question. That the planting and cultivation 
had been managed in first-rate style, there can be as little 
doubt. Those of our readers who had an opportunity of 
seeing the scarlet Pelargoniums, in vases, at the Crystal 
Palace, not this year, but in August and September, 1.857, 
and could think of one of these vases, swelled out by the 
stroke of the magician’s wand into one some fifty feet in 
diameter, would then form something like a correct idea 
of the massive, uniform beauty of this solitary gigantic 
bed. As to the propriety of thus placing it, tastes will 
differ. I candidly own, that on such a ticklish subject I 
have hardly come to the conclusion of forming an opinion. 
These terraces, supported by green slopes, too steep to 
be easily mown, and quite deep enough for the height of 
the mansion, extend far enough to the south, beyond the 
end of the building, to permit of a very nice Italian 
garden, or panel garden, being sunk there,—some three 
feet below the level of the gravel on the upper terrace. 
At the farther corner of the mansion is situated a neat, 
small conservatory, communicating with the mansion. 
JN’ ear the end of this conservatory, and on much the same 
level as the terrace on the other side of the sunk garden, 
was a long parallelogram bed, filled with Hollyhocks. 
Dahlias, &c. On the principle of unity of expression, I 
should like to grass down that bed, and supply the place 
with specimens of Cypress, &c., as on the other side. 
The chief part of the sunk garden is an oblong parallelo¬ 
gram, divided lengthwise into two by a walk down the 
centre ; and, as far as I recollect, there was a fountain in 
the centre. Each side is then laid out, by a series of 
circles down the middle, and a narrow border all round, 
—the border being chiefly filled with a mixture of her¬ 
baceous and bedding plants, and some of the circles with 
good-sized Rhododendrons, and others with masses of 
bedding plants. The very intelligent young man who 
nas the charge of this department, and whose name I 
regret to have forgotten, drew our attention to the fact, 
that these circles of Rhododendrons did not harmonise 
with the other parts of the garden. There can be no 
question of the correctness of his opinion, if, as I believe, 
much of the interest and beauty of such a sunk garden, 
consist in the whole of that garden being taken in at a 
glance from any part of the elevated terrace round it. 
Even if such a garden were to be filled with a variety of 
evergreens in whiter, and bulbs and other early flowers 
round the edges for spring, it would be desirable that 
even these evergreens should be so low that the eye 
could easily embrace the whole. In summer, when floral 
ornament is the chief thing, all else should be made 
subordinate to this idea; and hence these circular masses 
of tall Rhododendrons break in upon the very object the 
designer must have contemplated. The sparing introduc¬ 
tion of upright, architectural-like shrubs,—as Cypresses 
and Junipers,—not in such main clumps,but as separate 
and distinct features, would be quite a different affair. 
As it was, though the garden \\ as 11011 managed, there 
seemed to be a want of unity. This idea was farther con¬ 
firmed, by the contrast exhibited between this main 
parallelogram part of the garden and a large semicrcle, 
opposite its centre, scooped out. as it were, to the same 
depth from the main terrace side. This semicircle was 
laid out, as far as I recollect, in six regular, equal-sized 
beds, narrow at the centre, and wide at the circumference, 
which were densely filled with bedding plants, contrasting 
in their colours, and which for masses of bloom were second 
to none we had seen this season. If it were desirable to 
make this pretty garden thoroughly symmetrical and uni¬ 
form, it coidd be done, by sweeping out a similar semicircle 
on the other side, where now is the bed of Hollyhocks 
and Dahlias; and, of course, carrying the walk and 
grass margins farther into the brow of the knoll. The 
two wings, or semicircles, might then be planted in one 
style, and the main, or central part, in another. 
We found the whole of this artistic place in the highest 
keeping, reflecting credit on all concerned. Without the 
ability to criticise, I may be pardoned for expressing the 
feeling, that there seemed to be an unpleasant abruptness 
in looking at once from the steep, close-shaven slopes of 
the terraces to the undressed beauty of the park. That 
would be greatly toned down by an intermediate group¬ 
ing of shrubs and evergreens, in the way of pleasure- 
ground ; and, for anything I know, this may be also 
resolved upon. 
Mr. Hood, whom we had seen at the kitchen garden, but 
who had been called away on business, met us on leaving 
the flower garden ; and in walking back to the kitchen 
garden, he showed us some specimens of fine timber in the 
park,— such as Turkey Oaks, nearly 100 feet in height; 
Lucombe Oaks, of great size; Evergreen Oaks, from 
eighty-five to ninety feet in height,—one with a diameter 
of head of sixty-six feet, and stem sixteen feet in circum¬ 
ference at three feet from the ground; another, the 
diameter of the branches seventy feet, and circumference 
of stem twenty-six feet at three feet from the ground. Hot 
the least interesting, however, in the way of fine speci¬ 
mens, were— a fine old Yew, in the churchyard, near the 
flower garden, about thirty-six feet in circumference near 
the ground, and at six feet or so from the ground dividing 
into eighteen large limbs, each like a tree, the diameter 
of the head of the branches being between fifty and sixty 
feet: and at no great distance, in an open position, two of 
the finest Cork trees I ever saw, the height of one being, 
I presume, nearly sixty feet, and the other fully fifty 
feet; circumference of stem of one about sixteen feet, 
and the other about twelve feet. 
The kitchen garden is unfavourably situated on the two 
slopes of a dell, w ith a small stream running down its 
centre ; but fruit and vegetables seemed, nevertheless, to 
be perfectly at home, and in first-rate condition. On a 
part of one of these slopes were clustered some very use¬ 
ful pits, covered with glass ; and one of these was filled 
with large, strong, healthy. Pine plants. This pit was 
heated chiefly by a tank beneath, close covered, as we 
understood, by slate. In such circumstances, provided 
the tank is secure, and the slate carefully bedded, I enter¬ 
tained the opinion, that the heat from such a tank would 
be pretty well as dry as from an iron pipe. With all these 
conditions, however, secured as much as possible, Mr. 
Hood assured us, that he could not keep this pit dry 
enough in winter; and that the more heat he gave, the 
more moisture did he get in his atmosphere; and that this 
moisture became so excessive, that he could not depend on 
starting his fruit as he wished. He had, therefore, a 
pipe for top heat, placed all round, and even then had 
doubts if that would thoroughly effect the desired remedy. 
This, to us, was quite an exceptional case. Have any of 
our readers met with a similar instance ? I have known 
several such cases, when the tank coverings were loose, 
but none befoi’e, when securely fastened. The plants 
looked as if they would throw heavy fruits. Fine fruit 
were Then swelling. It was only in winter the difficidty 
was experienced. 
Farther down the slope a platform terrace was formed, 
on which was placed a neat, commodious gardener’s house, 
and the chief range of forcing-houses, with a small templed 
conservatory in their centre, supplied with Oranges 
and Camellias, so dazzlingly dark green in them foliage, 
that the leaves might almost have supplied as good a 
looking-glass to Narcissus as the pool of water at which 
he fell in love with himself. These houses were mostly 
supplied with pits in the centre, and walks round them, 
and were furnished with heavy crops. In the one end, 
