June  24,  1>97. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
553 
those  days  the  delivery  of  supplies  to  the  Castle  and  Buckingham 
Palace  was  effected  by  road,  being  collected  from  the  various  centres 
three  times  a  week  by  horses  and  vans  kept  for  this  purpose.  Under 
these  adverse  conditions  the  supplies  were  often  intermittent,  the 
management  costly,  and  the  supervision  inefficient,  as  the  head  gardener 
in  those  days  lived  at  Kensington. 
Eventually  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  the  question  of 
supplanting  this  clumsy  and  antiquated  system  by  a  new,  efficient,  and 
central  supply  garden  near  Windsor  Castle.  The  issue  of  this  commission 
resulted  in  an  Act  of  Parliament  being  passed  authorising  the  leasing  or 
dismantlement  of  those  various  scattered  gardens,  and  the  construction 
of  the  present  Royal  gardens  was  sanctioned  to  commence  about  the 
year  1843. 
Site  and  Soil. 
The  site  chosen  in  the  Home  Park  is  on  the  extreme  edge  of  the 
Park,  south-east  of  the  Castle,  and  distant  from  it  about  a  mile  and  a 
quarter.  It  is  immediately  below  Frogmore  House  pleasure  grounds, 
and  bordering  on  the  village  of  Old  Windsor.  That  the  site  is  the  best 
in  many  respects  that  could  be  found  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  is  as 
near  the  Castle  as  it  could  be  judiciously  placed  on  account  of  so  much 
rough  and  heavy  work  which  must  always  be  associated  with  the 
working  of  such  an  immense  garden.  It  is  bounded  at  its  lower  end  on 
both  sides  by  a  public  road,  one  from  Old  Windsor  to  New  Windsor 
(Old  Windsor  is  said  to  have  been  a  Royal  residence  before  the  present 
town  of  Windsor  was  in  existence),  and  the  other  from  Old  Windsor  to 
Datchet,  thus  affording  all  possible  facility  for  the  heavy  carting  of  fuel, 
soil,  and  manure  without  having  to  traverse  much  of  the  private  grounds. 
But  from  a  strictly  cultural  point  of  view  the  garden  lies  too  low,  being 
only  a  few  feet  higher  than  the  Thames,  from  which  it  is  distant  about 
250  yards.  This  low  position  exposes  the  garden  to  much  dampness  and 
fogs  in  winter,  and  fruit  tree  blossom  and  early  vegetables  to  damage 
from  frost  in  spring. 
1,  Frogmore  House. 
2,  Frogmore  House  Stables. 
3,  Vinery  and  Peach  Houses. 
FIG.  108.— PLAN  OF  FROGMORE  HOUSE  GROUNDS. 
4,  Gothic  Ruins. 
5,  Foreman’s  House  (Kitchen-  Garden). 
6,  Greenhouses. 
7,  Frogmore  Cottage. 
,  8,  Foreman’s  House  (Pleasure  Grounds). 
9,  Prince  Consort’s  Mausoleum. 
10,  Duchess  •(  Kent’s  Mausoleum. 
11,  The  Tea  Rooms. 
12,  Lake. 
