country villa is fairly illustrated. It is situated in the pleasant village of Bunbury, near Beeston, Cheshire, and is within view of the Peckforton hills and castle, together with that prominent conical offshoot at their end on which the ruin of Beeston Castle exists. The garden was arranged for W. B. Aspinall, Esq., in 1860, when considerable additions were also made to the house. This latter is represented at 1, and the house-yard at 2; the stables and other outbuildings being at 3, the stable-yard at 4, a manure-pit at 5, and pig-styes at 6. At 7 there is a small flower-garden, the centre of which is opposite the bay window of drawing-room, and which is put in a sunk panel, about two feet below the rest of the ground. The same centre line is prolonged through another compartment of the lawn, and is treated formally, because the ground is almost (if not entirely) on a dead level. Indeed, it was this latter reason which produced the sunk panel, for the purpose of accomplishing a little change of surface, and giving the house a better apparent elevation of site. The kitchen-garden (15) is separated from the dressed grounds by a bank of evergreens and a privet hedge, and from the stable and other yards by a low retaining wall and another privet hedge. The plants in it, as shown on plan, are fruit trees. Other details are 8. Rose beds, with a standard Rose in the centre of each. 9. Beds of mixed Heaths. 10. Rows of Irish Yews, cut to a uniform height, alternating with half standard Roses of equal heights. 11. Hybrid Rhododendrons. 12. Black-leaved Laurustinus. 13. Aucuba japonica. 14. Waterer's dwarf golden Hollies. The masses of shrubs between the house and the flowergarden are only beds of Cotoneaster microphylla, and are put there temporarily, so that, if a small conservatory should hereafter be attached to that side of the house, the walk might then be moved nearer to the sunk flower-garden, without otherwise disturbing the arrangements of the plan. The engraving next in order (fig. 227) exhibits a suburban garden near Chester. It is called "Glan Aber," and is owned by E. G. Salisbury, Esq. The place, as shown on the plan, was laid out in 1857; but both the house and the grounds have subsequently been enlarged, and portions of the latter re-arranged. The situation is so far peculiar that there is little or no view into A A the country around, and that a Wesleyan chapel, on the site indicated, stands into the land, and separates the principal entrance from the back road. The top of the engraving is as nearly as possible north, and the south lawn is two or three feet below the platform of the house, with which it is connected by a terrace bank. The front line of the masses of planting necessary as screens is broken, as will be seen, by specimen plants and vases, with semicircles of grass round them; and this gives some little relief to the line, without materially diminishing the breadth of the planting. The figures of reference may now be The flower-beds, both on the south lawn and in the recess on either side of the greenhouse, are shaded in the usual way, and will be easily recognised. The square blocks at the angles of the carriage-sweep are for dressed stones, to preserve the corners, and give a slight additional finish. A space of about half an acre is occupied by the suburban garden, fig 228, the plan of which fills the two next pages. It was made in 1855 for T. R. Hoare, Esq., of Kingston, Surrey. The house stands in the centre of a cluster of three, by the side of the Thames, and has a good view, across the water, of Hampton Court palace and park, from the western or entrance front. The existence of a few old trees upon the ground has somewhat governed the arrangement of the plan, and caused the two walks to be at unequal distances from the walls. It has also rendered it impossible to have a border on the north side of the garden, which would have been an excellent situation for flowers and climbers. But the value of these trees in excluding neighbouring houses, and in diminishing the hardness of the outlines, and the general appearance of newness, is too great to allow of their being sacrificed. With the exception of this slight difference, the walks are disposed quite regularly, and large vases are placed (11) at the points where they diverge, and pass around the flower-plot. The corners, by the stables, are left for rubbish, (32,) and for a general garden-yard, with a tool-shed (12) in it. They are surrounded with a rustic or trellis fence. Some degree of irregularity is attempted in the treatment of the lawn, as regards the placing of the shrubs and flower-beds; variety |