SUPPLEMENT  TO  THE  "JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE" 
MARCH  15,  19110. 
Jutcntmors :  ^TItg  Ssat  of  the  8aH  of  JlossbGry. 
N  the  records  of  contemporary  horticulture  there  are 
certain  numbers  of  estates  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  which  are  recogtiised  as  conspicuous  examples 
of  general  excellence.  Their  celebrity  does  not  hinge 
on  one  particular  feature,  as  their  owners  and  managers 
do  not  seek  for  popularity  with  one  section,  preferring 
to  shine  in  the  broadest  domain  of  the  real  world  of 
horticulture.  Neither  do  they  take  up  the  cultivation  of 
Chrysanthemums,  or  Roses,  or  Apples,  or  Potatoes,  and,  con- 
centrating  the  whole  of  the  available  forces  on  one  of  these. 
can  find  no  evidence  of  modernity  in  the  magnificent  trees  that  abound, 
and  which  in  the  splendid  growth  they  have  made  speak  volumes  in 
praise  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  skilfulness  of  the  attention 
that  has  besn  bestowed  upon  them.  They  have  in  attaining  a  rapid 
maturity  added  age  and  dignity  to  the  estate  of  Mentmore  until  it  has 
come  to  be  recognised  as  a  home  of  arboriculture  and  of  horticulture 
in  its  broadest  sense. 
From  the  Railway. 
Holding  as  it  does  amongst  horticulturists  such  an  enviable 
reputation,  it  seems  scarcely  necessary  to  state  that  the  demesne  lies  to 
Photo  by  Theo  Piggolt, 
^il|.  57.— MENTMORE  :  THE  MAIN  DRIVE. 
Leighton  liuiz'i  d. 
produce  specimens  of  unparalleled  excellence  they  might  easily  were 
they  so  minded.  Instead  of  this  all  these  piodubts  are  grown,  and 
more,  with  such  striking  success  that  every  enp  necemes  so  to  speak 
a  specialty,  and  the  gardener  a  specialist  an  ^11  departments  of 
gardening.  Such  estates  are  becoming  fewer  anf^  fewer  in  numbers 
as  the  result  of  circumstar'ces  that  would  be  KadilJ[  explainable  in  the 
proper  place,  which  is  not  the  pages  of  the  Jounial  o/iHorticultiire. 
Hence  it  is  that  those  now  remaining  aspllustritive  of  the  many 
existing,  shall  we  say  a  generation  ago,  desive  m^re  than  ordinary 
notice,  and  as  Mentmore  must  be  included  amongst  them,  it  is  now 
proposed  to  give  it,  by  the  aid  of  the  cameraand  letiprpress,  attention 
commensurate  with  its  importance.  Mentnpre  oou^  not,  as  all  the 
world  knows,  be  brought  within  the  categoryiof  old  elates,  as  it  owes, 
in  the  main,  its  origin  and  growth  to  thelpast  half  century.  That 
.there  existed  a  manor  and  grounds  of  Mentnpre  prior  ip  the  date  given 
must  be  admitted,  but  we  are  now  regardig  it  fronla  purely  borti- 
cultural  point  of  view,  and  as  such  it  must  b|  designate<\  new.  But  one 
I  he  left  of  the  town  of  Leighton  Buzz  ird,  and  slightly  over  two  miles 
from  Cheddington  station,  on  the  London  and  North-Weeteru  Railway. 
It  is  probably  a  fact,  however,  that  hundreds  of  persons  interested  in 
gardening,  and  thousands  of  the  general  public,  are  not  aware  that  an 
admirable  view  of  the  range  of  fiuit  houses  at  the  top  of  the  vegetable 
garden  can  be  had  from  the  train  as  it  passes  Cheddinjjton  station  cn 
its  northward  journey.  Many  times  has  this  garden  been  remarked 
upon  by  travellers  who  have  speculated  as  to  the  ownership  of  the 
!  estate.  The  distance  from  London  is  about  thirty-eight  miles,  and 
I  readers  of  these  notes  who  have  not  yet  enjoyed  the  peep  may  do  so  on 
the  next  occasion  that  they  make  a  pilgrimage  on  the  railway  specified. 
'  Prom  a  purely  horticultural  aspect  there  is  little  to  interest  the 
j  traveller  on  either  side  of  the  line,  so  that  it  may  at  once  be  assumed 
that  we  have  detrained  at  Cheddington  Junction,  and  are  rapidly 
advancing  towards  the  entrance  to  Mentmore.  W'e  have,  however, 
a  considerable  drive  ere  the  splendid  gardens,  the  diversified  pleasure 
grounds,  and  the  mansion  are  reached. 
