and specimen evergreens are, as will be noted, freely introduced. 17. Small villages and village-gardens, when they fall so completely within the boundary of an estate or of a park, to be dealt with as parts of a whole, may receive a passing remark. A village is essentially a country object, and nothing should therefore be done to detract from its rural character. The dwellings in it, too, should be regarded only as cottages, and not be elevated into the aspect of villas. Great neatness and orderliness may appropriately reign in it; but the trimness, and finish, and elegance, of a gentleman's pleasure grounds are neither to be expected nor desired. Where the cottages are not numerous, they should partake of the same character throughout, which ought to be one of simplicity, and fitness for the station and wants of the inhabitants. Occasionally, three or four cottages may be clustered together, in a broken outline; and others may be in pairs, while some are quite detached. The relative position of the cottages to the road should also be as varied as possible; and if the land be at all undulated, care should be taken to adapt the site and form of a cottage or a group of them to natural swells or platforms in the ground. A village church, a parsonage, schools and school-house, a farmhouse and farmstead, and a green will complete the picture. And a clock-tower or public fountain may be added at pleasure. Just such a village, in most respects, has been remodelled and rebuilt at Daylesford, by Harman Grisewood, Esq., and I have planned the gardens, road, &c. It lies close to one of the entrance-lodges to the park, and may almost be regarded as a part of the latter. It does not comprise more than a dozen cottages, with schools, and the church and vicarage are on some rising ground at the commencement of the village. A branch public road to a neighbouring place diverges from the principal road between the vicarage and the cottages, and the home-farm is placed at a short distance along that road. An old Yew-tree occurs most fortunately in the middle of the roads, just at their junction; and it is proposed to give additional character to this point by placing a small clock-tower, or a canopied well, in the triangle between the roads. The cottage gardens are fenced from the drive by low walls, and between these walls and the road is a margin of turf, four feet wide, on either side, allowing room for the introduction, upon it, of tufts of double Furze, Ivy, evergreen Berberries, Brooms, &c., to cluster up irregularly against the wall, and mingle with the shrubs in the gardens. All the front gardens, on each side of the road, are laid out in one area, with as few walks crossing it as possible, and groups of evergreen and deciduous shrubs scattered sparingly about. These front gardens are to be kept in grass, and to be maintained in order by Mr. Grisewood, and not by the individual cottagers, who have small plots at the back, and larger allotments elsewhere. The outbuildings, pig-styes, &c., are placed in groups at the rear of the cottages, and have a back road leading to them, a plantation shutting in the whole from the park on the western side, but so arranged that, by the use of only bushes (such as Hollies, Thorns, Laurels, &c.) at intervals, beautiful glimpses of the park are obtained, between the cottages, from the village road. 18. I have yet to produce several plans which may illustrate more fully the compact combination of parts in a place. place. And these will follow quite pertinently after the preceding description of the several departments. For, however necessary it may be to have each individual section of a property well considered, the happy and convenient union of all into one significant whole is of far higher consequence. first sample of this class. Fig. 229 includes only a part of the gardens, and these are slightly altered in several unimportant respects; for Mr. Stubs is enthusiastically attached to his garden, and being an energetic and successful collector and cultivator of rare plants, is constantly making little changes, for the sake of accommodating new favourites. Park Place (the name of this property) lies under a high embankment (16) of the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction Railway; but this, so far from being a disadvantage, is a positive benefit, for it is covered from the house by large trees, and Mr. Stubs has been allowed to plant it picturesquely with broken clusters of Furze, Broom, Holly, Yew, Dogwood, Thorns, &c., which are now growing up, and convert it into a pleasing object. Besides, it screens the grounds materially from the north and north-west winds, which here sweep with great force up the valley of the Mersey; and it also excludes altogether the contiguous town of Frodsham, and the extensive tract of marshy ground to the north. The property is profusely furnished with old trees, which are principally Oak and Beech, and these, blending with and but partially revealing the bold and rocky heath-clad hills of Frodsham and Helsby, impart almost a romantic character to the spot. Land-springs are likewise both abundant and strong, and besides yielding an unfailing supply to the house, gardens, and offices, are collected into an ornamental pool, of the most deliciously transparent water, which lies to the south-west of the pleasure-grounds. Another set of springs further gives rise to a dashing stream, skirting the east side of the place, and appropriating to itself a rocky dingle, where Ferns and other shade and moisture-loving plants find their home. Around the source of a third set of springs, too, in the wood to the south-east of the pleasure-grounds, the banks are formed into an American garden, where a choice collection of Rhododendrons is being established, and where, on the margin of a little basin into which the springs flow, the noble Osmunda and similar large-leaved Ferns obtain the marshy situation and the shade they so much love. Within the grounds, the house and offices are situated at 1, the kitchen-yard at 2, some proposed plant-houses, not yet erected, father to the east, (of which 3 is the Camellia-house, 4 a Geranium-house, 5 a conservatory, 6 a Heath-house, and 7 a stove,) with two basins for fountains at 8. The flower-garden is in front of the contemplated plant-houses, and an avenue of flower-beds stretches between it and the second fountain. A border for choice flowers and for climbers extends all round the wall from the corner of the house to the kitchen-garden; and having several aspects, and being about 300 feet long, Mr. Stubs's knowledge of flowers, and devotion to their culture, enables him to keep it filled, from early spring to latest autumn, with a mixed and most delightful collection of blooming plants. All the parts to the east of the flower-garden and pleasuregrounds are fully five feet lower than the rest, which assists the general grouping. At 9, there are two vineries, with gardensheds (10) behind them, and a garden-yard (11) still further in the rear, with ample room in it for pits and frames. The stableyard is at 12, the stables and their accessories, with a clock-turret surmounting them, at 13, a small farm-yard, in which there are cow-sheds, pig-styes, a barn, poultry-houses, &c., at 14, and the kitchen-garden at 15, with a road behind it into the field. The kitchen-garden, having the ground ascending towards the south, is cut up into several terraces, not shown on the plan, and there is a rock-covered bank on the east side of the plantation between the kitchen-garden and the pleasure-grounds, which is nicely clothed with tufts of Cotoneaster, Pernettya, Violets, &c. A back road, or secondary line of approach, passes along the north side of the house, and affords convenient communication with all the yards and offices. A glance at the plan will exhibit the contiguity and connexion of all the different parts of the place, and will show that it is conspicuous for compactness and for the consecutiveness of its several departments. It is remarkable, too, for the very perfect collection of ornamental hardy shrubs, and for the great beauty and health which these are assuming, in consequence of the elaborate preparation which Mr. Stubs has made for their growth, in regard to drainage, soil, shelter, and the most untiring tendance. The grounds around Agden Hall, near Lymm, in Cheshire, the residence of T. S. Bazley, Esq., furnish the next subject of illustration. The house is an old Elizabethan structure, and stands on a most commanding elevation, the views to the northeast including a wide and varied valley, the woods of Dunham |