212 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COtmiHf GENTLEMAN. JANUAur 4. 1859. 
m»d the openings, k&diiig eisewEere, were all concealed. 
AltogetEer, indeed, it seemed a wonderful acliievement. 
As I have before stated, the avenues, of which there 
were several, were all on level ground. The gardens, 
or courts, were also on the same plain, ouly that an arti¬ 
ficial mound had been made for the Chinese temple, to 
overlook the quaint clipped work of the garden. 
W e were afterwards ushered into a department where 
the ground has been made to assume a broken and ro¬ 
mantic appearance, a large pieceof water being introduced, 
with rockwork on its shores, of a truly wonderful cha¬ 
racter. This lake is formed by excavating the ground, 
and using the material so gained in making the mounds 
at the sides ; and stones of large size have been brought 
from a great distance, to make this exceedingly good 
imitation of natural rock, which forms so important a 
feature of this lake. -This water is surrounded, by a walk, 
through groves of the rarest. Pines, in which care has 
been taken to have such views open as point to important 
directions. The rugged appearance of stones of two tons 
weight and upwards, jutting out amongst groups of 
Junipers of various kinds, and now and then frowning 
over the water iii sullen gravity, certainly gives an ap¬ 
pearance to the scene that would tend to cheat one into 
the belief that the thing was real. But, in one or two 
instances, in which these huge boulders have been made 
to-assunve an artificial shape,—a circle, for instance,—the 
notfoafis at once dispelled that the mass is a natural one. 
Nevertheless, with even this defect, I consider the lake 
and Its adrompaniments the most remarkable features at 
Elvaston, all being entirely formed by hand. The well- 
introduced mounds are especially useful, .and, the whole 
being planted, perhaps too profusely, with the various 
Pines of winch this place is so rich, an excellent effect is 
produced. 
In one respect, I was somewhat disappointed at this 
place. The Pines, of which we have heard so much, 
were certainly not better specimens of their kind, than 
arc, in many cases, to be met with elsewhere. Some 
allowance must be made for the situation being nnfavour- 
able to the more delicate ones ; while some of those 
which are most esteemed, as likely to become useful 
timber trees,—as Finns insignis, P. Douglasii, Cedrus 
deodar a, Abies marinda, A. Cejohalonica, Picea nobilis, 
and others,^—were certainly not so good at Elvaston as 
occasionally met" vVitli elsewhere. But their numbers 
made up for their want of size, and the situation is cer¬ 
tainly not a favourable one. The immense quantity of 
some of the kinds is astonishing, and shows that a liberal 
spirit had been at work in procuring so many costly 
specimens ; and most of the important ones had been 
judiciously planted wide enough apart to ensure their 
having sufficient space when full grown. Large quan¬ 
tities of Scotch and Spruce Eirs were planted as nurses, or 
for shelter, and some had been removed ; hut I was told 
that a very severe winter had greatly injured many of 
the specimens, the low and inland situation of the place 
rendering it liable to severe frosts. 
I think the grounds were stated to extend over an area 
of one hundred acres, including about ten acres of water. 
As the avenues alluded to jutted out a long way beyond 
the ordinary grounds, and as the ends might not be more 
than 200 yards wide, it will be seen that a large space in 
the centre was devoted to the various intricate features I 
have called courts. The soil, though low, is not wet, 
being a pale-coloured hazel loam, resting, I believe, on 
sandy gravel ; but the flatness of the ground, and its 
slight elevation above the river Derwent,—the lake, in 
fact, being fed from tln;t river,—give it little chance of 
an effectual drainage. TEe kitchen garden and Graperies, 
too, gave tokens of water being too abundant for the 
well-being of everything there. But in a nursery, where 
M .Barron has some fine Conifers of all the more recent 
introductions, were some excellent Wellingtonias, and 
other species, which seemed quite at home, and were 
doing remarkably well: so that, I should say the soil, if 
not tEe climate, was all tEat could be desired. 
But one of the most usual plants of other gardens 
Was said not io prosper here — the common Box, 
and for that reason it was so little planted. Other 
plants were likewise absent, and, the neighbourhood 
being in a great measure destitute of large and useful 
timber trees, the conclusion naturally arrived at upon 
these matters is, that it is more favourable to the procluc- 
tion of Derby cheese and long-woollcd sheep, than to 
English Oak. How far Indian and Mexican Pines may 
suit the soil, remains yet to be proved; as some, that 
thrive well for a dozen or twenty years, are at length 
caught in one of our “ winters extraordinary,” or die 
from some unaccountable cause, which a worthy friend of 
mine calls constitutional debility. Be this as it may, a 
visit to Elvaston will amply repay those whose ideas of 
beauty are moulded into artificial forms, or who, on the 
other hand, like to look upon those varied figures, which, 
as trees, look so different to most of our indigenous ones ; 
and the beholder cannot be otherwise than impressed 
with admiration at (lie assiduity displayed in following 
out an object once started: for an imitation of a crown, 
a bird, a fleur-de-lis, or other object was not effected in 
a year or two, but in perseveringly following out for 
many long year's the project once determined upon. That 
the result attained is worth the cost is a question not so 
easily answered, and some go as far as to call it a waste 
of human industry. With this I cannot entirely agree, 
although I, for one, would not like to repeat all the 
quaint objects which form so remarkable a feature at 
Elvaston Castle. J. F.obson. 
THE WILLOW. 
Tetjxy, we live in a 'beautiful world, clothed w ith noble and 
lovely objects ; and grateful we ought to be that every part of the 
habitable globe produces some useful plant, or plants, that are 
serviceable to man. Even the wet, low marsh limy be turned to 
an useful purpose, for it will produce the flexible Willow ; and, 
in hot countries, tile food-giving Bice plant. Yet these useful 
articles will not thrive without labour and culture ; for the fiat 
went forth, that man should eat bread by the sweat of liis brow, 
—without culture, Thorns, Briers, and Thistles, spring np, and 
clioke the more needful objects for man’s tree. Some of these 
reflections passed through my mind on crossing over some ill- 
managccl Osier grounds, in Staffordshire. They were ill-managed 
in two or three ways. In the first place, they wore not kept clear 
from weeds; in the next, the ground was planted with a mixture 
of bad kinds of Willows ; and, lastly, they were allowed to grow 
too long without cutting. 
Now, as land is becoming every year more scarce in this 
country, even wet, marshy ground should be made useful; 1 
mean, of course, where it cannot bo drained to grow corn, or 
grass, and there are many large and small plots so situated. I 
am certain, if such plots were properly managed and planted 
with the best kinds of Willows, they would yield a large profit 
on the outlay. 
I propose, therefore, in this paper, to give instructions how to 
prepare the ground, how to plant it, and how to manage it after¬ 
wards, concluding with a list of the most approved kinds, suitable 
for various purposes. I consider this an important subject, for 
labourers are numerous; and such spots of ground are not only 
unsightly, but actually unwholesome, giving forth exhalations,— 
pestilential and fruitful causes of distressing diseases. 
Preparing the Ground.— Supposing, then, a landowner, or 
farmer, has a tract of marshy ground on his estate, or farm, be 
it more or less ; and supposing him willing to follow my advice, 
and convert it into a profit-yielding affair ; he would, in the first 
place, level the hillocks, if auy, into the holes, making the whole 
plot of an uniform level: if there were any Briers, or other scrubby 
shrubs, they would be cleared away root and branch. When 
that is done, the piece of ground should be set out in long beds, 
eight or nine feet wide ; then trenches dug out between every bed, 
eighteen inches deep and fifteen inches wide, sloping the sides, so 
that each trench would be a foot wide at the bottom. Level this 
soil taken out of the trenches over the beds, which will add to 
