NOVEMBER. 
245 
batch with Esehscholtzia, Collinsia bicolor, Candytuft, Nemophila, Limnanthes 
Douglasii, and Saponaria; then in other beds and borders I shall have Pansies 
of various colours, Polyanthus, double Primroses, variegated Arabis, Stachys 
lanata, Saxifraga granulata, and Phlox verna. Surety it will be admitted that 
with such a variety of material it is as possible to make one’s garden look as 
cheerful in the spring as at any period of the year. 
The very late frosts which we had last spring should serve as a warning 
against bedding-out tender plants early; even here, in the sunny south, some 
of my neighbours were compelled to take up the plants which they had just 
bedded out, so much were they injured by the frost, whilst I had no necessity to 
turn out a plant till after my return from the great International Horticultural 
Exhibition last May. To see spring flower gardening in all its beauty and per¬ 
fection, go to Cliveden in May. There the visitor will find a very paradise of 
spring flowers, the various colours skilfully blended by the master hand of 
Mr. Fleming, the chief pioneer in spring flower gardening ; there, after passing 
along umbrageous walks and through woods, you suddenly come out upon the 
grand terrace, obtain a view of magnificent scenery and the Thames in the 
distance ; whilst in the foreground of the picture is the famous flower garden, a 
mass of soft but varied colouring, produced by the use of hardy plants. 
As a last word, I would say to all who may wish to prepare for a rich display 
in spring : Now is the time. 
A. D. 
RIBSTON HALL, YORKSHIRE. 
The Seat of Joseph Dent, Esq. 
This beautiful place is situated on the banks of the river Nidd, and is 
distant about three miles from Knaresborough, and four from Wetherby. There 
are two approaches—one from the village of Ribston on the Knaresborough 
and Wetherby road, which passes over the Nidd, the other from Walshford on 
the Wetherby and Boroughbridge road ; they both unite within a few hundred 
yards of the north side of the mansion. The park, of which the surface is 
flat, is extensive, and contains some very fine specimens of trees, such as Oaks, 
Elms, Ash, Walnuts, Crabs, Thorns, &c. Near a pond close to the kitchen 
garden there is a very fine specimen of the Oriental Plane. The girth of the 
trunk at 3 feet from the ground is 15 feet 5 inches, and the diameter of the 
space covered by the branches is 100 feet; these dimensions will give some 
idea of its size. There is also a fine specimen of the common Pear (Pyrus 
communis), in the park. It is 50 feet high, and the trunk is 7 feet 8 inches 
in circumference. It has this season a heavy crop of its small acrid fruit. 
In the park, about 300 yards from the Plane tree, once stood the original 
Ribston Pippin tree. This was raised from pips, sent home from Rouen in 
1709 by Sir Harry Goodrich, Bart. The trunk of the original tree was blown 
down and removed many years ago ; but a portion of it may now be seen out¬ 
side the gardener’s house, where it is taken great care of by Mr. Jones, the 
gardener. A sucker from the original tree now occupies the place of the latter. 
It does not grow well; indeed, owing to some of the branches dying off annually, 
it is now much less in size than when I first saw it some seventeen years ago. 
The branches have died off very much since the frost of December, 1860. It 
throws up suckers freely, so that should the present tree be lost, one of them 
would soon make a nice tree with attention. 
The kitchen garden is not far from the site of the original Ribston Apple 
tree. It is of good size, and every inch of the ground is made the most of. 
