May 13, 1899.
THE ESTATES GAZETTE
796
4jovi'str)j :
ITS SCIENCE AND PRACTICE.
CONDUCTED BY
CHARLES E. CURTIS, F.S.I.,
frofessor ol Forest Economy, Field Engineering, and General Estate Management at the College of Agriculture. Downton, etc., etc.
OSIERS AND WILLOWS.
I recommend my readers to read in the issue of April 15• of “ Country Life ” the paper on “Osiers and Willows.” It is, as always, beautifully illustrated, and the information it gives, though not exhaustive, is sufficient to lead to further study of an industry which is still profitable—one, in fact, of the few remaining village industries. There are few estates upon which osiers may not be cultivated, for the old idea of a riverside as the one and only site for an osier bed no longer exists among practical men. The finer willows will grow well and rapidly upon fairly good loams with a reasonable amount of moisture. The preparation of an osier bed may be costly under certain conditions, but not under all, and the re-iturn will be certain, especially in districts where the crop is locally worked.
THE BARK SALES.
׳Will some of the practical readers of this column supply me with prices of oak timber and bark secured at this season’s sales? It is in this way that real help can be rendered.
INSECT PESTS—WOOD-BOEEKS.
A correspondent, “ Elyive,” writes from Lancashire inquiring into the ravages of insects, enclosing at the same time some very interesting specimens. He writes:-—“To-day, in going over a young coppice wood of about four years’ growth, I noticed that some of the trees were very much cankered, and on looking more particularly found that this occurred only in the one particular kind, •the enclosed, which I think is the aspen, a species of poplar. Would you kindly say (1) What you think is the particular parasite which causes it ; (2) whether it is one which more particularly attacks this species ; (3) whether I am correct in the name?
“ Also enclosed in box are grub and fly taken from an old-standing dead Scotch tree (pme?) which was practically riddled with holes about a quarter of an inch in diameter. (1) Would you kindly give me the name ; (2) whether a native or imported?”
This interesting letter deserves a careful reply, and I am therefore watching the insects and grubs with a view to illustrations in a future column. I may, however, remark at once that these insects are very destructive to trees and timber, and my correspondent will be acting wisely if he cuts down and bums all the infected trees, alive or dead ; at least so far as this drastic remedy is practicable. I may also remark that the insect attacking the poplar will confine itself to this family.
I hope, as soon as my investigation is complete, to refer to this subject again. In the meantime, I thank my correspondent lor giv ing me this interesting opportunity.
DBAINAGE FOE PLANTING.
The following may interest planters in districts which are more than usually moist: — Simple drains for surface water, 1ft. 6in. wide at top, 9in. wide at bottom ; and 1ft. Sin. deep. Main drain, 3ft. 3in. deep; bottom width 1ft; batters two vertical to one horizontal. Cost, small diains, Is. 4d. per chain; main drains, 4s. per chain ; cleaning old ditch, which served as chief drain, conveying water to brook, 2s. per chain.
In the area I allude to there was a length of drains, large and small, of three miles in 10 acres.
GBOWTH OF TREES.
The following present sizes of trees which were planted 14 years ago may interest planters.
Spruce fir, 9ft. to 10ft. in height.
Larch, 18ft. to 20ft. in height.
Oak, 15ft. to 16ft. in height.
Sycamore, 20ft. in height, girth 24in.
Some of the larch measured 25ft. in height, with a girth of 24in. at the base.
Some willows measured 35ft. in height, and had a girth of 30in.
These results have been attained on a chocolate loam, with a full amount of organic matter, and a more than ordinary supply of moisture.
The yearly deposit of wood on this area is now very large.
been brought to light. Not long ago the Historic Buildings Committee of the London County Council decided to issue a register of interesting London buildings that were to be preserved if possible, and a number of experts were invited to advise as to which buildings should be recorded for preservation. Among these buildings is Tudor House, one of the last remaining of the Elizabethan houses in Bromley a structure in part of the early portion of Elizabeth s reign, and containing much beautiful work of tiic period, beides being connecté"¿ with the Scotch colony planted in Bromley by James I. This house, with the extensive grounds adjoining, has now come into the Council’s hands, and, while the Historic Buildings Committee have advised that the house shall be preserved, the Parks and Open Spaces Committee have determined that it shall be destroyed. The matter came up at the Council meeting on Tuesday, and was then adjourned for a week, without any decisive course being arrived at. Meanwhile there is some danger of ■the old house being destroyed.
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An interesting paper on “Old Peterborough Customs and their Survival,” was lately read by Mr. Charles Dack, before the Peterborough Natural History and Archaeological Sooiety. The following is one of the picturesque customs referred to by Mr. Dack :—St. Catherine's Day (November 25), called Queen Katten’s, was at one period observed by women and girls dressed in white, with distaffs in their hands׳, one woman being more elaborately dressed than the others, and decorated with a gilt paper crown. A man also accompanied the party, he being supposed to represent the King. Yerses were sung, one being : —-
Here comes Queen Katern, as fair as any on ecu,
In a coach and six horses a-coming to be seen.
And a-spinning we will go.
There were several verses, and the chorus repeated at the end of each verse was : —
Some say she’s alive, some say she’s dead,
But now she does appear with a crown upon her head,
A money box was carried for contributions. The children of the old Workhouse were allowed as a great treat to take part in this festival.
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Another custom, which has passed away with the Ballot Act, was the destruction of the hustings and polling booths at elections. This was a right claimed by the inhabitants, and although many attempts were made to stop it, the feeling was so strong that it was found to be useless to interfere. The hustings and polling booth were erected in front of the Guildhall, and as four o’clock approached the Marketplace got more and more crowded, and the nearer the time the more dense was the mass of people, the rougher element being particularly conspicuous. As the hands of the clock neared the hour, there was a silence which was oppressive. Those in the booth had been carefully getting out until no one was left inside, but the necessary clerks and officers and late voters. At the sound of the first stroke of four a sudden, rasping, crashing, wrenching noise of tearing wood was heard ; those left in the hustings made their exit as best they could, books׳ and papers were thrown to other responsible people, and within two minutes not a vestige of the (hustings remained. Men, women and boys might, however, be seen carrying portions of the demolished booth away. It was a sight intensity amusing, exciting and appreciated. The windows in the Market-place were filled with spectators, eagerly looking on and encouraging those in whom they took an interest to go in and win. Very few fights took place as the gainer of the wood was generally satisfied with one piece.
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Apropos of the recent death of the Duke of Beaufort, our readers may feel interested in the following brief references to his Grace’s magnificent country seats :—Badminton House, near Chippenham, is described as one of the finest mansions in England, and was erected by the first Duke of Beaufort soon after his accession to that title, in the year 1682. The principal front, which is in the Palladian style of architecture, is of considerable extent. Internally, the mansion is distinguished by the splendour of its decorations, the various rooms being spacious and elegantly ornamented. Troy House, another seat of the Duke of Beaufort’s is about a mile from Monmouth. Of the ancient mansion, only an old gateway, with a pointed arch, is left standing ; the present edifice is of more recent date, having been built by the celebrated Inigo Jones. The ducal seat at Bristol is known as Stoke House, and is finely situated on a natural terrace, in the centre of an extensive park, and commands a most interesting view of the Yale of Bristol. In Llan-gattock Park, Brecknockshire, the Duke possessed an elegant shooting box.
NOTICE,
The ESTATES GAZETTE should be delivered the first tiring on Saturday morning. If difficulty occurs in obtaining copies from local newsagents, order direct from the office, No. 6, St. Bride-street, Eleet-street, London, or any of Messrs. W. H. SMITH and SONS’ Bookstalls.
was originally a collegiate church of the White Friars with seven canons’ stalls ; and the mill of the old White Friary, temp. Edward I., still stands on the bank of the river beneath the ruins of the castle. Altogether the old town of Ruthin is a place of much interest.
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Mr. T Swindells, of Monton Green, Eceles, in protesting against the proposal to remove the ancient Seven Stars Inn, at Shudehill, mentions that when the Collegiate Church (now the Cathedral) was built by Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor and patron as well as׳ parson of the church, at the close of the fourteenth century, the workmen were paid at the rate of a penny a day, and got their refreshments at the old inn. The old house has witnessed extraordinary changes in its surroundings. The time was when Withingreave Hall, with its outhouses, orchard, garden, and fields, occupied a large portion of what is now Withy Grove and Shudehill. The old hall was let in 1708 to James Hilton for a rental of £22 a year, and sold by auction in 1763. Another fine old residence was Bradshaw Hall, where took place the Shudehill Fight.
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Among the incidents in the history of the town with which the old inn was more or less associated was the siege of Manchester under Lord Strange, afterward Lord Derby. In the course of some alterations at the Seven Stars some years ago a quantity of regimental plate of the Cromwellian period was discovered. Another story connected with the building, ׳,hat Guy Fawkes was for some time secreted there, is in all probability a fiction. In the earlier part of the present century it was frequented by Old Weatherley and Elijah Ridings, both of whom had bookstalls near, and by many of the wits of the town, while Gregson wrote of it as follows :—“ But country folks most chiefly go to fill James Hudson’s long room, Seven Stars, Shudehill.” Another writer suggests that a fund be organised to save this ancient landmark.
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Hyde Park House, the residence of the late Sir H. Naylor-Leyland, is, says the “Daily Chronicle,” one of the finest houses in London, full of the choicest old furniture, selected with the utmost taste and knowledge, and with a magnificent picture gallery. It was built Dy Sir Herbert’s grandfather some sixty years ago. One of the most- remarkable of its treasures is a triptych of the miracle of the Loaves and Fishes by Memling, which the builder of the house bought out of the Grande Chartreuse. A Rembrandt, a Raphael, Lancret, Paul Potter, Ya.n-dvck, and Tintoretto’s “Last Day” help the list of the very greatest names represented in the fine picture gallery. Nor are the art collections confined to pictures. The house contains some beautiful examples of Beauvais tapestry, Grinling Gibbons carvings, Venetian glass, jewelled rock crystals, Cellini work, and all manner of objects which it is a delight—-and often a good investment—to collect.
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Some little alarm has been created by the appearance in the market of a great portion of the Killarney landscape. The prospect of its being captured, as land oil the Giant’s Causeway was, by a company intending to bleed the tourist, is real enough to make all who know the Irish Lakes feel anxious. That the estate may become the property of a single individual with small respect for the scenery, desiring it for his own exclusive pleasure, is far less probable. But in either case a■ closing of footpaths׳ freely used by the public would seriously injure the district. The best known portions of the estate for sale consist of the Mansion House, demesne lands and deer forests of Muck-ross, containing 13,337 acres, the Middle Lake of Killarney, a moiety of the Devil’s Punchbowl, a moiety of Mangerton Mountain, ¡wo-thirds of the Purple Mountain, the whole of Tore and Tornies mountains, Dinish and Bric-keen Islands, Muekross Abbey, Tore Waterfall, O’Sullivan’s Cascade, the Colleen Bawn Rocks, Lord Brandon’s Cottage, etc.
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The very last remaining fragment of Old Marylebone Gardens, once the resort oi splendour and fashion, is threatened with destruction. This is a flourishing tree, not altogether devoid of stateliness and ornament, the soil in which it grows being required for the foundations of some flats. The Gardens are now occupied by Devonshire-street, and surrounding thoroughfares, and were celebrated before Ranelagh, Vaux-hall, or Cremome were heard of. Pepys used to visit the pleasaunce, and two centuries age the Duke of Buckingham often gambled for large sums ait the Casino which flourished in its midst, and occasionally played at ).!owls in the alleys. Every year at the end of the season his Grace presided at a dinner give l to the principal frequenters of the place, and invariably ended with the toast, “ May as many of us rogues as remain unhanged by next spring meet here again.” And the company sang “And so say all of us.”
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A strangely anomalous state of affairs in connection with the means and methods of administration by the London County Council has just
Jtotes hg iij£ Mag,
The Prince of Wales has accepted an invitation to visit the forthcoming Royal Agricultural Show at Maidstone on Tuesday, June 20.
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May Place, Orayford, Kent, once the home of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, the famous admiral, who won for England the commanding rook of Gibraltar, is in the hands of Messrs. Dano and Lucas, of Bexley, and No. 123, Cannon-street, E.C., for letting. It is a fine old structure largely of Jacobean times, and is delightfully situated in a park of 76 acres.
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An old document lately found in a dilapidated cottage at Bersham, near Wrexham, contains a list of the provisions provided by the Sir Wat-kin W. Wynn of the day for the great feast which he gave in Wynnstay Park, on April 19, 1770. It runs as follows :—Thirty oxen (one of which was roasted whole), 50 pigs, 50 calves, 80 wethers, 18 lambs, 70 porkers, 51 guinea-fowl, 37 turkeys, eight capons, 25 pea fowl, 360 fowls, 300 chickens76 ,׳ ducks, 48 rabbits, 15 snipe, one leveret, five stags, 421 salmon, 30 brace of tench, 40 brace of carp, 36 pike, 60 dozen of trout, 108 flounders, 109 lobsters, 96 crabs, ten! quarts shrimps, 200 crawfish, 60 barrels pickled oysters, 20 quarts oyster sauce, 166 hams and 110 ox tongues.
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There were besides: 125 plum puddings, 108 apple pies, 104 pork pies, thirty beef pies, thirty-four rice puddings, seven venison pies, sixty raisin pies, eighty tartan, thirty mince pies, twenty-four cakes, sixty Savoy cakes, !thirty sweetmeats, forty-four seed-cream, 18,000 eggs, 150 gallons milk, 160 quarts cream, thirty bushels potatoes, 6,000 bundles asparagus, eighty bottles French beans, thirty dishes green peas, twelve cucumbers, £36 worth of salt butter, jellies, blancmange, and numerous pies. To wash down this appalling quantity of solids there were provided ninety-six hogsheads of ale, 120 dozen bottles of ale, and a large quantity of brandy, whisky, and sherry. Three coaches were hired to convey the cooks from London who had been engaged to superintend the cook ing, and each coach brought a full cargo ; and 15,000 persons partook of the feast.
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It appears that at West Ham, East Ham, Cab ford, Plumstead, West Norwood and Shooter’s-hill-lane, the London County Council find it impossible to meet the growing demand for small plots of land for garden culture. Approximately, in the Metropolitan area, 81 acres of land are let to 649 small cultivators, and last year the rentals amounted to over £350, or 10s. 7d. per pfot of 20 perches. Hitherto the Council has been unable to proceed under the Allotments Act, and the Small Holdings Act of 1892 makes no provision for the letting of less than one acre of ground. This has necessitated an inconvenient system of sub-letting. However, before the House of Lords rose for the Easter recess, Earl Carrington introduced a Bill to give the London County Council power to purchase land within or without the county for the purpose of allotments׳. This Bill was drafted by the Parliamentary Committee of the London County Council, and may therefore be expected to provide against the difficulties under which the Council at present labours.
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The interesting and picturesque old structure known as Queen Elizabeth’s hunting lodge, Chingford, has fallen into somewhat ill-repair, and we are therefore glad to see that the Corporation of London at their last meeting resolved to spend £500 on the restoration of the structure. For the last three or four years the large upper room of the lodge known as the banqueting room has been utilised by the Essex Field Club as a local museum for the purpose of illustrating the natural history and archaeology of the Epping Forest parishes. The Corporation have, in voting this amount, considered it a matter of urgent necessity that the work should be taken in hand at once, not only with the object of extending the museum, but strengthening the structural condition of the lodge and improving its external appearance.
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Ruthin Castle, the seat of Mr. Cornwallis-West^ with whom the Prince of Wales has been spending a few days, is a large mansion built in 1826 on the site of the once famous strong-held, of which only a few ruins now remain. Ruthin ■was anciently called Castell Coch vng Ngwernfor, “the red castle in the great marsh.” This stronghold is mentioned as being given in 1282 by Edward I. to Reginald de Grey, the first Lord Grey de Ruthin, though the town and stronghold probably date from times long prior to that. Ruthin was attacked and burnt in 1400 by Owen Glendower, was given by Henry YTII. to his son, ' the Duke	of Richmond, and by Eliza-
beth to the Earl of Warwick ; and suffered capture and dismantling of its castle in 1646. The beautiful old parish church of St. eter’s