637 
April 22, 1899. THK GARDENING WORLD. 
water and liquid manure during the season, and pick 
off all faded flowers and young seed pods to 
encourage a more continued display. 
Gladiolus The Bride in Pots.— C. H .: Make up 
a compost of good, fibrous loam, leaf soil and sand, 
with a small quantity of well rotted cow manure. 
Pot rather firmly, with the corms just a little under 
the surface. Stand the pots on the shelves of a 
greenhouse near the glass. Never allow them to 
become dry, but guard against overwatering at all 
times. When the plants are growing freely, weak 
liquid manure may be employed about twice a week. 
Let the plants have plenty of light and air at all 
times. 
NOSTEL PRIORY, WAKEFIELD. 
The Grounds. 
Not only in Yorkshire but through the North and 
Midlands of England, Nostel Priory, an estate of 
and running to a quarter 6f a mile in straight, 
parallel lines. Their position seems to have been 
studied both for scenic effect and also to attract the 
vision away to the distant meadows, for by the use 
of sunk fences an unbroken view of a mile or two 
has been secured. 
Situated on the highest ground to the south side 
of the park, is the parish church and burial ground. 
The church is 400 years old, and contains relics of 
the demolished Priories which were founded in 
Saxon times and flourished somewhere near the pre¬ 
sent site of Nostel Priory. There is also a fine lot 
of wood-carving within the church, and stained 
windows beautifully executed, one of which bears 
the figure of an olden time Northumbrian king 
named St. Oswald! and it was from this personage 
that the first Lord St. Oswald adopted the title. 
Well, so much for our survey towards Mecca ! Let 
us now 1 ’winder west. 
All the western territory is wooded, and the mile 
or two of footpaths, laid in red-ash or turf, afford one 
much delight by the variety of scene which in their 
meanderings they expose. At one part we enjoy what 
The Plant Houses. 
Many of these are what we commonly term old- 
fashioned, which also means that in them plants are 
difficult to cultivate. The other houses are all 
substantial and up-to-date, Taking the “ pits " first, 
which are really span-roofed houses sunk in the 
ground, we find one devoted to Cattleyas, and 
certainly their appearance spoke well for the atten¬ 
tion paid to them. The stages are dressed with fine, 
red, pebbly refuse, and into this the roots of the 
Cattleyas penetrate. Pellionia pulchella grows 
freely on the stages beneath the Cattleyas, and adds 
an effect to the house. 
We noted a few of the better flowered plants, and 
these were Cattleya Trianaei and C. labiata of 
which there are some large old specimens, C. labiata 
percivaliana, C. gigas, C. Skinnerii, C. Mossiae, C. 
gloriosa, C. Schroderae and C: bowringiana. C. 
ftalkeriana and C. aurea were hanging in pot and 
basket respectively. 
Miss Winn, sister to Lord St. Oswald, takes a 
large interest in the Cattleyas, or in fact for any¬ 
thing of note in the plant domain. 
Phalaenopsis House at Nostel Priory. 
Lord St. Oswald, is familiar. It is situated six miles 
south-east from Wakefield, a city popularised by 
Goldsmith’s story of the "Vicar of Wakefield.” 
The present mansion was built about 160 years ago 
by the renowned architect, Payne, the estate having 
been in the Winn family’s possession for nigh 200 
years. The design is from plans secured in Italy by 
the second Sir Rowland Winn. The family’s coat 
of arms can be observed high up towards the middle 
of the house. A terrace below has served in times 
past as a great platform from which huge political 
audiences were addressed. From the east front a 
view is obtained of which a better need not be 
desired. 
Between the house and the horizon lies a scene, 
placid, peaceful, and serene, yet withal varied in its 
length and breadth of undulating park, tastefully 
adorned by grand old Dutch Elms and other noble 
trees, among which the shaggy-haired, long-horned 
"Kyloes” or Highland cattle and the numerous 
herd of fallow deer wander ; and the deer even sport 
upon the lawns in front of the house. In the same 
scene there is also a continual change overhead by 
the eccentric flights of the hundreds of rooks which 
colonise the trees. Speaking of the Elms—said to 
be 150 years old—a special feature of the park is a 
double row of these placed about 150 yards apart, 
is a veritable jungle scene; tall trees of evergreen 
and deciduous types rise above a dense undergrowth 
of common Rhododendrons, Briers, Snowberry 
bushes, and different kinds of Laurels ; while 
bracken and grasses carpet the ground and complete 
the picture. Anon, we are at the edge of a lake 
which stretches over forty acres of surface, and on 
whose expanse scores of white swans, coots, wild 
ducks, and other water fowls find their home. A 
stone bridge, bearing the turnpike road between 
Wakefield and Doncaster, spans the lake almost at 
its middle, and from this bridge one gets perhaps 
the finest view obtainable, for before us is water- 
scene, woodland, and meadow ; still life, and 
animated embodiment. 
Our photograph represents a sweet, wee corner 
which would pass for a scene from "Alice in Wonder¬ 
land.” The standard Roses, climbing Ampelopsis, 
Clematis and Ivy, give a graceful lightness of aspect; 
and the flower beds lend a brilliance during summer 
which contrasts with the foliage of the trees, made 
dark by the smoke from many pit and factory chim¬ 
neys in the busy districts all around. But now for 
the gardens, where even with all the circumambient 
detractors. Mr. Eastor is successful in the culture of 
ffiardy and indpor fruits, vegetables, and plants under 
glass or in borders. 
Below the stage on one side of the house, clinkers 
have been put to a useful purpose by beiDg cemented 
to form a rough but ornamental coping, on which a 
very graceful and hardy Maidenhair Fern (probably 
Adiantum veitcbianuro, dwarf form) had been 
successfully established in various parts of the 
crevices. We should oftener like to see spaces below 
stages, or odd corners banked up and draped in some 
such manner as this. In this same house Ficus 
repens has tessellated the end wall of the house; 
while to a rafter a fresh and vigorous quantity of 
Smilax lightly depends. 
But now we change the scene to the Fern pit, which 
at the time our notes were taken was at the stage 
when a fernery is far more lovely than it ever seems 
during the year again. 
To see the tall Fern stalks bearing tender creamy- 
pink pinnae quivering suspendedly and with such 
grace, flashes thoughts to the " inward eye ” of rain¬ 
bow drops dispersed by zephyrs and then arrested 
and sustained by some invisible entity. Adiantum 
gracillimum affords such a picture—at least it should 
do if your imagination is equal to mine 1! A. 
formosum and the pretty A. roseum with fronds of 
the colour indicated in the name; A. Bausei, A 
cornubiense, A. Pacottii, and A. Williamsii were 
singularly handsome. In dull and muggy weather 
