January  30,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  GOTTAOE  GARDENER. 
103 
Lindscipe  Gardening.* 
{( 'um-hided  from  jmf/e  53). 
Mr.  Millers  Work. 
Whilst  going  on  with  the  greater  landscape  work  already 
described,  Brown  did  not  appear  to  have  been  called  upon 
to  do  anything  to  the  gardens.  These  were  taken  in  hand 
in  1861  by  William,  second  Earl  of  Craven,  under  whom  I 
served,  and  I  had  the  honour  of  designing  and  conducting 
the  work  of  those  noble  gardens,  represented  on  these  plans 
before  you.  The  work  of  fonnation  was  continued  with 
more  or  less  spirit  by  successive  noble  lords,  but  I  might 
perhaps  be  allowed  here  to  put  on  record  that  in  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  these  gardens  I  received  great  and  kindly  encourage¬ 
ment  from  the  above-mentioned  noble  lord,  and  also  from 
Evelyn,  Countess  of  Craven.  Most  of  the  work  represented 
on  these  plans  have  been  carried  out,  and  that  which  was 
left  undone  when  I  came  away  I  have  filled  in,  which  may 
or  may  not  be  carried  out  in  the  near  or  distant  future  ;  but 
even  if  nothing  more  is  done  there  is  enough  to  require  some 
keeping.  A  very  kind,  complimentary,  and  encouraging 
incident  occurred  to  me  during  the  time  I  served  Earl 
William,  which  perhaps  you  will  allow  me  to  record  here. 
We  had  about  finished  the  erection  of  the  extensive  glass 
structures,  which  were  in  those  days  considered  an  acknow¬ 
ledged  success,  and  were  ready  to  begin  the  formation  of 
the  new  pleasure  grounds.  Besides  the  old  grounds  there 
was  much  new  to  be  added  and,  of  course,  treated.  Lord 
Craven  one  day,  on  arriving  from  town,  came  to  me  and  said 
“he  had  intended  to  have  employed  a  landscape  gardener 
to  do  (he  new  work,  but  from  what  I  have  seen  of  you  I  am 
satisfied  we  can  do  the  work  ourselves.  'You  can  do  it,  and, 
Miller,  I  make  you  my  head  gardener  over  all  my  other  places 
as  well  as  at  Combe.”  Needless  to  say,  I  returned  my  best 
and  most  grateful  thanks.  Unfortunately  for  me,  this  good 
and  trulv  noble  man  passed  away  after  serving  him  five 
years,  whilst  Ave  were  in  the  midst  of  those,  to  him  and  to 
me,  most  interesting  works  ;  but  he  lived  to  see  much  done 
and  the  fruit  houses  in  full  swing  with  immense  crops  of 
Grapes,  Peaches,  Pines,  &c.,  and  he  never  failed  to  let  me 
feel  his  appreciation  of  the  same  and  of  my  services 
generally. 
Two  years  before  I  left  Combe  I  was  asked  to  provide  a 
design  for  a  parterre  flower  gai'den,  the  ground  for  which 
I  had  prepared  years  before.  It  occurred  to  me  that  I  could 
not  obtain  much  credit  by  merely  cutting  out  sundry  shapes, 
such  as  oblongs,  squares,  angles,  ovals,  half-moons,  and  the 
like,  and  planting  them  in  heavy  masses,  or  fonning  upon 
them  something  of  the  usual  carpet-bed  designs.  Instead  of 
doing  that  I  produced  a  design  which  is  cut  out  on  the 
grass — a  copy  of  the  i)lan  is  there  before  you.  It  is  free 
and  easy,  the  planting  of  which  is  simplicity  itself, 
and  the  effect,  as  seen  from  the  windows  of  the  house,  is  one 
not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  This  plan  was  approved  of  and 
appreciated  by  the  present  Lord  and  Lady  Craven.  It  is 
there  still  for  anything  I  know  to  the  contrary.  Objection 
might  perhaps  be  made  to  the  difficulty  of  laying  down  such 
intricate  scroll  work,  but  the  difficulty  is  more  imaginary 
than  real.  The  design  is,  of  course,  in  the  first  place  wrought 
out  on  a  sheet  of  paper  on  a  drawing-board,  and  to  a  scale, 
with  all  the  dimensions  carefully  marked  thereon  ;  this  done, 
the  work  of  transformation  is  easily  effected.  To  anyone 
fond  of  this  sort  of  thing,  the  work  of  laying  out  and  forming 
beds  is  exceedingly  interesting. 
Last  year,  at  short  notice,  I  was  called  upon  to  prepare 
designs  for  the  laying  out  of  a  park  and  gardens  belonging 
to  a  French  chateau.  These  designs  were  exhibited  in  the 
Paris  Exposition  of  1900.  On  the  smaller  plan  the  scroll 
tracery  is  freely  introduced  on  the  parterres  around  the 
chateau,  but  in  a  far  more  extensive  and  elaborate  style 
than  that  of  Combe  Abbey.  Probably  it  may  be  considered 
that  these  designs  are  far  too  intricate  to  be  practical,  but 
it  may  be  remembered  that  the  design  in  its  entirety  need 
only  be  carried  out  as  far  as  anyone  wishing  to  have  such  a 
design  may  feel  inclined  to  go  ;  but  I  freely  acknowledge 
that  whilst  engaged  on  this  very  seductive  work  of  design 
I  had  great  difficulty  in  withholding  my  pencil  from  running 
away.  But  it  is  some  encouragement  to  know  that  this  kind 
of  design  is  finding  favour. 
*  A  lecture  delivered  by  Mr.  William  Miller,  P.R.H.S.,  land¬ 
scape  gardener  and  nurseryman,  Berkswell,  before  the  Birmingham 
and  Midland  Counties  Gardeners’ Mutual  Improvement  Association, 
November  4th,  1901. 
On  the  larger  plan  belonging  to  the  chateau  there  is  a 
river,  and  also  a  very  nice  piece  of  water.  The  river  is 
allowed  to  flow  on  in  its  natural  course,  and  the  lake  is  at 
one  end  provided  with  a  small  feed  or  inlet,  and  at  the  other 
an  outlet  which  again  falls  into  the  river  at  a  lower  level. 
Water  is  only  let  into  the  lake  when  the  water  in  the  stream 
is  clear,  thus  avoiding  the  mistake  already  alluded  to  at 
Combe,  and  most  probably  also  at  many  other  places.  To 
be  thoroughly  enjoyable,  the  waters  of  an  ornamental  piece 
of  water  should  always  be  kept  in  a  perfect  state  of  hygiene 
—in  other  words,  pure,  sweet,  and  limpid.  A  valley  with  a 
riyer  quietly  meandering  through  it,  with  some  greenery 
judiciously  planted  along  its  banks  is  a  thousand  times 
more  preferable  to  that  of  a  dirty,  neglected  pool. 
In  conclusion,  will  you  allow  me  to  thank  you  for  giving 
me  so  patient  a  hearing  whilst  I  was  wading  through,  I  am 
afraid,  my  rather  tedious  paper.  I  wish  also,  Mr.  Chairman, 
to  make  a  few  complimentary  remarks  upon  the  Birmingham 
and  Midland  Counties  Mutual  Improvenaent  Association,  the 
primary  object  of  which  I  believe  is  to  bring  together  as  many 
gardeners  as  it  is  possible  to  do  ;  to  hear  papers  read  by 
members,  and  also  I  believe  by  friends  who  may  kindly 
volunteer  to  read  or  give  an  extempore  lecture  on  some  horti¬ 
cultural  or  landscape  subject.  The  after  debate  or  critique 
on  these  lectures  is  intended  to,  and  often  does,  elicit  much 
valuable  practical  information.  These  meetings  also  tend  in 
great  masure  to  stimulate  members — more  especially  the 
younger  ones — to  search  after  more  knowledge  of  their  pro¬ 
fession. 
There  is  in  these  bookcases  an  excellent  library  belong¬ 
ing  to  the  association,  which  I  understand  are  lent  out  to 
members,  and  as  to  reading,  if  members  desire  more  reading 
than  is  to  be  found  in  their  own  library,  they  will  no  doubt 
be  able  to  find  it  elsewhere  in  Birmingham.  There  is  an  old 
and  I  believe  a  generally  acknowledged  maxim,  which  has  a 
bearing  on  almost  everything,  whether  in  love,  literature, 
or  in  commerce,  which  has  success  for  its  aim — namely, 
“  That  where  there  is  a  will,  there  is  a  way.”  In  my  lecture 
this  evening  you  would  notice  that,  in  conclusion  thereof,  I 
made  mention  of  several  men  who  in  the  various  branches 
of  horticulture  and  of  landscape  gardening,  have  made  their 
names  famous  in  history  for  all  times.  For  the  impetus  they 
have  given  to  the  profession  generally,  we  are  now  enjoying 
the  broader  benefits  ;  and  as  with  poets,  sculptors,  painters, 
&c.,  of  the  early  schools,  so  with  us,  we  are  doing  our  best 
to  either  copy,  imitate,  or  amend  the  work  of  those  great 
landscape  masters  who  have  passed  away,  and  whose  shades 
may  now  be  sitting  on  the  top  of  the  great  Horticultural 
Tree,  smoking  their  calumet  of  peace,  not  hunting  wild 
beasts,  like  the  North-American  Bed  Indians,  but  amusing 
themselves,  for  anything  we  know  to  the  contrary,  by  carry¬ 
ing  out  magnificent  horticultural  and  landscape  conceptions 
in  those  heavenly  regions,  where  the  sun  never  sets  and 
where  the  “  bee  ”  banquets  on  through  a  whole  year  of 
flowers.  ,  TVT  .L  X  u 
These  grand  successes  seem  by  the  laAV  of  Nature  to  be 
reserved  for  the  favoured  few,  not  only  in  gardening,  but 
also  in  every  branch  of  any  other  profession.  Therefore  we 
must  steadily  keep  on,  for  none  of  us  know  what  good  fortune 
may  yet  be  in  store  for  us,  to  wake  up  some  morning  and 
find  ourselves  famous. 
’  Tis  not  in  mortals  to  command  success, 
But  we’ll  do  more,  Scmiuonius,  we’ll  deserve  it. 
And  although  we  mav  not  all  be  able  to  climb  quite  to  the 
top  of  the  tree,  but  by  plodding  and  industrious  perseverance, 
we  will  do  our  best  to  deserve  a  comfortable  nest  amongst 
the  higher  branches  thereof.  To  know  how  to  wait  is  the 
great  secret  of  success,  and  I  believe  it  is  also  said  that  the 
best  way  to  success  is  never  to  lose  an  opportunity. 
W.  Miller,  Berkswell,  near  Coventry,  Nov.  4,  1901. 
The  Flora  of  Hampstead. 
Mr.  James  E.  Whiting  has  reprinted  in  separate  form  his 
nterestine  “Notes  on  the  Flora  of  Hampstead,”  which  appeared 
n  the  “  Hampstead  Annual.”  Although  the  list  of  flowering  plants 
—resulting  principally  from  the  draining  of  the  Heath  and  various 
)ther  reasons — has  been  considerably  diminished  during  the  last 
’ew  years,  Hampstead  is,  as  Mr.  Whiting  says,  probably  richer  in 
ilant  life  than  any  other  district  so  near  London.  The  Notes 
lertainly  show  this,  and  readers  will  be  surprised  at  the  number 
Df  wild  flowers  still  to  be  met  witb  there.  We  are  glad  to  note 
ffiat  Mr.  Whiting  thinks  it  hardly  likely,  protected  as  the  Heath 
Qow  is,  that  its  flora  will  be  further  reduced  in  the  future. 
