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JOUBNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AED  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
February  15,  1904. 
Hewell  Grange,  Worcestershire. 
EWELL  GKANGE  is  one  cf  the  seats  of  Lord  and 
Lady  Windsor.  It  is  situated  near  Redditch,  in 
Worcestershire,  set  amid  a  fertile  country,  and 
not  far  from  the  famous  fruit-growing  centres  at 
Evesham  and  Pershore.  The  county  of  Worcester  is 
decidedly  one  of  England’s  best  and  most  interesting. 
The  first  mansion  of  Hewell  was  built  in  1712,  but  this 
was  dismantled  so  recently  as  thirteen  years  ago,  and  part 
of  the  remaining  walls  were  left  standing,  and  are  now 
bedecked  with  stray  vegetation,  which  gives  them  the 
appearance  of  crumbling  ruins  reduced  by  sheer  age  ;  while 
the  internal  area  has  been  made  a  croquet  green.  This  old 
mansion  was  situated  in  a  less  commanding  position  than 
the  present  handsome  edifice,  with  its  fore-courts  on  north 
and  south,  and  which  commands  a  wide  horizon.  It  is  260 
feet  long  and  200  feet  wide. 
On  the  south-east  side  of  the  house,  but  at  the  distance 
of  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  yards,  there  is  a  piece  of 
ornamental  water  fringed  with  Phragmites  and  other  aquatic 
vegetation,  and  on  all  the  other  sides  of  the  mansion  save 
the  south  there  is  an  extensive  park  with  the  great  ances¬ 
tral  Oak  and  Chestnut  trees  one  pictures  as  belonging  to 
such  places.  The  lake  or  ornamental  water  lies  practically 
within  the  park. 
The  formal  or  French  garden  overspreading  the  ground 
on  the  south  side  has  been  the  subject  of  praise  by  some, 
and  of  criticism  by  others.  Naturally,  the  school  of 
designers  who  call  themselves  landscape  gardeners,  com¬ 
plain  that  the  formalism,  the  cropped-in  Lime  barriers  or 
“  hedges,”  and  the  geometrical  flower  beds  edged  with  tall 
Box,  and  the  straight  paths  intersecting  the  main  divisions 
right  and  left,  are  not  the  features  adapted  to  give  the  most 
beautiful  effects,  while  the  opposition  base  their  apprecia¬ 
tions  on  the  old-world  sentiments  that  are  attached  to 
pleached  alleys  and  the  artificial  beds  with  their  broad  lines 
of  Box.  Personally  we  like  both,  when  both  are  well  set 
out,  and  the  formal  garden  at  Hewell,  with  its  beautiful 
pillars  and  arches  of  clustered  Roses  and  beds  containing 
annuals,  may  well  remain,  particularly  as  Liliums  and  the 
nobler  hardy  plants  here  and  there  are  being  gradually 
naturalised  in  the  glades  of  the  beautifully  varied  grounds.  It 
is  remarkable  that  within  a  stone’s  throw  from  the  limits  of 
this  geometrical  garden  the  Bracken  fern  luxuriates  in  wide 
patches,  interniediatory  with  the  Rhododendrons  and 
numerous  beautiful  trees  and  shrubs. 
One  of  the  most  recent  extensive  alterations  and  addi¬ 
tions  to  the  features  of  Hewell  is  the  magnificent  series  of 
terraces  laid  out  in  grass  and  planted  on  either  side 
with  a  Yew  hedge.  It  well  deserves  the  name  of  magnifi¬ 
cent,  but  to  call  this  creation  a  terrace  is  quite  inadequate  ; 
yet  we  have  no  English  word  that  can  be  used.  It  is  a 
series  of  sloping  terraces  with  grass  steps  at  intervals,  and 
the  whole  feature  extends  from  the  lake,  across  the  French 
garden  to  a  water-tower  140  feet  higher  up.  The  entire 
length  is  2,000  feet ;  and  when  the  Yew  hedges  have  grown 
up  the  effect  of  this  fine  work  ought,  indeed,  to  be  very 
imposing. 
At  the  highest  point  of  vantage,  near  the  water-tower 
already  mentioned,  a  maze  has  been  planned,  and  Horn¬ 
beam  is  the  subject  chosen  for  the  hedges. 
Hewell  has  some  notable  trees,  and  one — an  Umbrella 
Pine — is  thought  to  be  the  largest  in  the  country.  At  our 
visit,  last  summer,  it  measured  16ft  high,  and  was  growing 
vigorously.  The  specimen  is  a  most  shapely  one,  of  a  true 
pyramidal  form,  and  is  well  sheltered  by  other  conifers  on 
all  sides.  There  are  some  aged  Cedars,  and  our  notes  of 
one  show  it  to  be  about  60ft.  Pinus  excelsa  in  one 
case  was  87ft  high,  with  a  girth  of  8ft  at  5ft  from  the 
ground  ;  and  7lft  in  another  case.  An  Abies  grandis  attains 
over  70ft.  Amongst  other  interesting  trees  here  may  be 
mentioned  specimens  of  Cupressus  macrocarpa,  Abies 
pungens  glauca  (young  and  doing  well) ;  a  large  Abele  or 
white  Poplar,  very  effective,  in  the  direction  of  the  lake  ; 
Pinus  pinaster,  and  also  some  fine  old  Scots  Pine  ;  Abies 
Webbiana  and  A.  pindroAv,  each  distinctive,  and  many 
smaller  subjects  which  do  not  call  for  special  note,  unless  it 
be  Fitzroya  patagonica,  which  here  attains  25ft. 
The  conservatories  and  the  fruit  and  kitchen  garden  lie 
at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  ornamental  grounds 
surrounding  the  house,  and  are  reached  by  traversing  part 
of  the  park.  One  of  the  earliest  things  that  one  may  notice 
inside  the  walls  is  the  Rose  garden  with  beds  of  various 
shapes  laid  in  grass.  Each  bed  contains  one  variety,  the 
kinds  represented  being  Liberty,  Kaiserin  Augusta  Victoria,  ' 
Clara  Watson,  Marjorie,  Gustave  Regis,  Madame  Eugene 
Verdier,  Killarney,  La  France,  and  Anna  Olivier.  Only 
one  H.P.  is  included,  and  that  is  the  pink  flowered  Duchess 
of  Edinburgh.  Never  had  we  seen  Marjorie  in  such  fine 
form  as  it  was  here  in  a  sheltered  corner  bed,  between 
Mr.  Pettigrew’s  house  and  a  wall.  Clara  Watson  and  Anna 
Olivier  were  each  particularly  beautiful,  but  the  whole 
display  was  excellent,  the  result  of  generous  and  judicious 
culture.  A  few  standards  occupy  the  central  beds. 
The  garden  is  walled-in,  and  on  the  walls  (which  have  a 
broad  coping)  are  fruit  trees,  fan-shaped  for  the  most  part, 
but  which  are  being  replaced  by  younger  stock.  Outside 
the  walls  are  the  herb  borders  and  frame  ground,  merging 
off  into  the  open  pastures  that  lie  all  around. 
Mixed  borders  of  annual  and  herbaceous  perennial 
plants  profitably  and  pleasantly  fringe  the  vegetable 
breaks,  in  which  Celery  occupied  an  unusually  large  space. 
A  furnished  appearance  is  given  to  the  garden  by  the 
shapely  bush  Apple  trees  on  either  side  of  some  of  the 
walks. 
The  plant  houses  occupy  the  centre,  and  are  about 
eighteen  in  number.  In  every  department  the  most  excel¬ 
lent  results  are  attained,  and  indoor  fruit  crops,  which  we 
must  surely  concede  afford  the  strictest  test  of  a  gardener’s 
practical  knowledge  and  application,  were  particularly 
satisfactory.  But  a  son  of  the  late  Mr.  Andrew  Pettigrew, 
of  Cardiff  Castle,  could  not  help  having  experience  in  this 
direction.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  houses  to  be 
built  over  standing  crops,  and  an  example  is  seen  at 
Hewell,  where  Mr.  Duncan  Tucker,  of  Tottenham,  erected 
a  structure  over  a  large  Negro  Largo  Fig  tree.  The  tree  is 
now  in  a  good  bearing  condition.  The  Black  Hamburgh 
Vines  were  carrying  eleven  or  twelve  bunches  apiece,  each 
averaging  2lbs  weight,  while  black  and  white  Muscats  and 
Lady  Hutt  are  each  favourites. 
The  Cotton-Plant  (Gossypium  herbaceum)  is  seldom 
grown  for  decoration  in  private  gardens,  but  here  was 'a 
stately  row  on  the  central  shelf  of  one  of  the  stages,  the 
latter,  by-the-bye,  being  of  a  sage-green  colour — a  neutral 
and  harmonious  shade.  Miss  Jekyll  has  advocated  the 
employment  of  this  colour,  and  this  was  the  first  occasion 
in  which  we  had  seen  the  suggestion  put  into  effect. 
Calanthes  are  successfully  cultivated  together  with 
Eucharises  and  other  warm-house  subjects.  A  novelty 
appeared  in  the  frame-p^round  in  the  shape  of  Nemesia 
strumosa  grown  in  shallow  pans  and  boxes,  to  be  used  a 
week  or  two  later  on  the  forecourts  of  the  mansion.  Culti¬ 
vated  in  this  special  manner,  the  plants  gave  abundance  of 
flowers,  and  the  colours  of  these  were  intensely  rich. 
Another  feature  of  fresh  interest  was  the  culture  of  selected 
bulbs  of  the  Tiger  Lily  in  large  pottery-ware  basins,  the 
ultimate  handsome  effect  of  the  long-stemmed  plants 
crowned  with  their  flowers  being  easily  imagined.  These, 
too.  were  for  placing  on  the  forecourts  during  the  period 
when  the  family  were  at  Hewell  in  the  autumn. 
And  another  humble  plant  with  which  special  care  is  taken 
is  Alonsoa  Warscewiczi ;  not  that  it  is  grown  in  pots  or  boxes, 
but  from  a  sowing  in  the  first  week  of  March,  the  seedlings 
are  pricked  out  into  boxes  and  planted  in  well  prepared 
borders  early  in  June,  at  a  distance  of  9in  to  12in  apart. 
The  plants  fill  out  nicely,  and  at  a  first,  distant  glance, 
appear  like  Salvia  splendens.  They  are  very  graceful,  attain¬ 
ing  a  height  of  2ft,  with  showy  orange-crimson  flowers. 
The  Belladonna  Lih",  which  was  referred  to  on  page  117  of 
the  Journal,  is  grown  out  of  doors  by  a  wall  here,  in  the 
same  way  as  at  Kew. 
We  have  wandered  from  the  houses,  but  it  is  interesting' 
to  note  that  Pines  are  still  maintained,  as  they  are  indeed, 
in  most  of  the  large  and  notable  gardens  of  Great  Britain. 
Melons,  too,  are  very  beautifid  ;  here  you  have  an  even 
crop  of  beautiful  fruits,  on  healthy,  shapely  plants. 
Strawberries  iir  frames  are  encouraged  to  yield  their  fruit 
just  prior  to  the  ripening  of  the  outdoor  crop,  but  they  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  be  “forced.” 
Those  who  delight  in  “  true  blue  ”  H3Mrangeas  may  be 
gratified  to  know  that  by  adding  a  few  crystals  of  sulphate 
of  iron  to  the  soil,  Mr.  Pettigrew  succeeded  in  causing  the 
blue  development  in  the  trusses  of  plants  here,  but  the 
