The kitchen-garden is a mile from the mansion, having been formed for a dwelling-house, which was taken down some years ago. It is well managed, as are the numerous forcing-houses, pits, and frames, and the adjoining tree nurseries. We saw here a great many plants raised from seeds of Mahonia Aquifolium, varying in foliage in an incredible manner, and some of them decidedly Mahonia repens; a proof, as it appears to us, of the correctness of Messrs. Torrey and Gray, in the Flora of North America, of making this alleged species only a variety; and the same circumstance accounts for Mr. Rivers having found the distinct seedling which he describes in our vol. for 1839, p. 235. It may be alleged that some seeds of M. repens had found their way among those of M. Aquifolium, or that the flowers of the latter had been accidentally fecundated by those of the former, but we are assured that neither of these circumstances took place. In the remains of the old pleasure-ground which connected this garden with the former mansion, are some remarkably large larches, silver firs, and cedars, and an avenue of the largest lime trees which we remember to have seen. Those at Syon are probably as high or higher, but at Bayfordbury one tree occupies the space of at least a dozen of these, either at Syon or at Wollaton. Several cedar trees have been felled or blown down at different times, and the boards being used for flooring, they still give out a resinous odour. The branches make a delightful drawing-room fuel, where the fireplaces are adapted for burning logs, as they are at Bayfordbury. When cedar wood is burnt in an entrance hall or staircase, its fragrance is diffused over the whole house. In every case the fragrance is most felt when the atmosphere is in a moist state, because then the radiation of the particles is checked by the vapour of the water in the atmosphere.
