JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
2G7 
SiippUmeni  to 
March  10,  1904. 
growth.  The  lawns  are  smooth  <and  green,  neatly  shorn  ; 
the  lake  is  relieved  by  a  background,  or  screen  of  shrubs  ; 
while  a  place  for  alpine  and  other  harily  plants  is  situated 
in  a  recess,  as  one  might  say,  near  by  the  ornamental  water. 
Far  in  the  opposite  direction,  back  across  the  line  we  in 
imagination  have  just  traversed,  over  in  a  corner  of  the 
park,  there  is  a  private  nursery,  and  a  visit  to  it  showed 
that  in  this  the  Westonbirt  garden  had  a  splendid  reserve. 
Here  the  new  and  rare  trees  and  shrubs  are  placed  for  a 
season  or  more,  in  order  both  to  test  and  acclimatise  them 
ere  they  finally  find  a  home  within  the  garden. 
Tlie  head  gardener,  Mi’.  A.  Chapman,  strongly  advocates 
the  formation  of  similar  private  nurseries  by  gardeners 
wherever  it  is  possible.  The  soil  first  of  all  is  drained  (if 
clayey)  and  deeply  trenched  ;  paths  are  laid  out ;  hedges 
or  fences  set ;  and  a  tool  house  is  erected.  The  nursery 
is  then  ready,  and  it  will  be  found  one  of  the  most  useful 
places  under  the  gardener’s  charge. 
The  main  features,  or,  rather,  subjects^ — and  we  can  only 
deal  in  generalities — in  the  open  grounds  around  the  house 
include  some  wonderful  Japanese  Maples  (Acer  atro- 
purpureum),  10ft  high  and  15ft  to  16ft  through.  Their 
sisters,  if  the  terms  be  allowed,  are  at  Eastnor  Castle,  and 
elsewhere,  for  in  the  days  of  the  late  Mr.  Holford  there 
were  four  gentlemen,  with  himself,  who  had  an  agreement 
to  exchange  rarities  among  themselves  for  their  mutual 
gratification.  These  gentlemen  were  Earl  Ducie,  Sir  Philip 
Egerton,  Earl  Somners  (Eastnor  Castle),  and  Lord  Delamere. 
And  it  is  interesting  to  hear  of  other  specimens  in  distant 
gardens,  for  the  records  of  a  number  of  them  are  known. 
On  the  terrace  front  of  Westonbirt  House  stands  a  gigantic 
Sycamore,  whose  tiunk  at  the  base  measures  21ft  round. 
A  diameter  of  7ft  is  not  very  common  ;  but  this  respectalrle 
size  pales  before  the  patriarchal  Spanish  Chestnut  at 
Shrubland  Park,  in  Suffolk,  whose  mean  girth  is  3Gft  I 
Westonbirt  can  also  point  to  four  handsome  Elm  trees 
which  were  brought  a  distance  of  five  miles  when  they  were 
over  60ft  in  height,  and  were  successfully  established.  The 
object  was  to  improve  the  landscape  scene  ;  and  work  of  a 
similar  nature  was  undertaken  some  years  ago  in  the  Edin¬ 
burgh  Botanic  Garden,  when  Professor  Isaac  Bayley  Balfour 
caused  a  nixmber  of  mature  Lime  and  Elm  trees  to  Ixe 
redisposed  on  rising  ground  overlooking  the  herbaceous 
plant  garden. 
Captain  Holford’s  garden  also  contains  one  of  the  earliest 
Sequoias  that  were  introduced  from  California,  the  specimen 
under  notice  being  now  74ft  high,  but  which  came  to  Weston¬ 
birt  in  a  small  pot.  More  than  this,  we  are  told  that 
Basset,  the  gardener  who  had  it  in  charge,  staged  it  at  a 
Bath  show  as  the  best  new  exotic  stove-plant,  he  having 
grown  it  in  heat !  Among  some  beautiful  Cedars  here,  there 
is  a  C.  atlantica,  planted  in  1847,  though  the  first  knowledge 
of  this  species  was  only  obtainecl  in  1844.  A  Cucumber  tree 
(Magnolia  acuminata)  makes  a  goodly  figure  at  60ft.  The 
base  of  its  trunk  is  covered  with  climbing  Roses. 
The  utility  of  certain  Apples  as  ornamental  trees  in 
private  grounds  has  frequently  been  .emphasised  in  the 
papers,  and  the  Beauty  of  Bath  Apple  is  well  worth  growing 
for  its  lovely  rosy  flowers,  even  if  it  fails  to  become  decked 
with  fruit. 
Westonbirt  is  renowned  for  giant  Tree  Pa;onies,  which 
are  placed  in  bays  formed  by  the  Rhododendrons  and  other 
shrubs  anywhere  in  the  grounds.  These  Pxeonies  are  as  tall 
as  a  man  :  that  is,  they  are  5ft  or  6ft  high,  and  their  woody 
stems  are  carefully  guarded  each  winter  against  the  nip 
ping  tendencies  of  t'rosts.  Sacking,  or  dry  straw,  or  Irracken 
The  Italian  Garden,  Westonbirt. 
