It Covers About
Eighty-Two Acres, Two Thirds Of Which Are Green Meadows, Wheat Fields,
&C., The Remainder, Plantations, Gardens And Lawn.
The cottage itself is a
plain, unpretending structure, made more roomy by the recent addition of a
dining room, &c., in rear.
On emerging from the leafy avenue, the visitor
notices two parterres of wild flowers - kalmias, trilliums, etc., -
transplanted from the neighboring wood, with the rank, moist soil of the
Gomin marsh to derive nourishment from, they appear to thrive. In rear of
these parterres a granite rockery, festooned with ferns, wild
violets, &c., raises its green gritty, rugged outline. This pretty
European embellishment we would much like to see more generally introduced
in our Canadian landscape; it is strikingly picturesque. The next object
which catches the eye is the conservatory in which are displayed the most
extensive collection of exotics in Sillery. In the centre of some fifty
large camellia shrubs there is a magnificent specimen of the fimbriata
variety - white leaves with a fringed border; it stands twelve feet high
with corresponding breadth. When it is loaded with blossoms in the winter
the spectacle is exquisitely beautiful. In the rear of the conservatory
are a vinery, a peach and apricot house; like the conservatory, all span-
roofed and divided off in several compartments, heated by steam-pipes and
furnaces, with stop-cocks to retard or accelerate vegetation at will. On
the 31st May, when we visited the establishment, we found the black
Hamburg grapes the size of cherries; the peaches and apricots
correspondingly advanced; the cherries under glass quite over. One of the
latest improvements is a second flower garden to the west of the house, in
the English landscape style. In rear of this garden to the north, there
existed formerly a cedar swamp, which deep subsoil draining with tiles has
converted into a grass meadow of great beauty; a belt of pine, spruce,
tamarack, and some deciduous trees, thinned towards the south-west, let in
a glimpse of the St. Lawrence and the high-wooded Point Levi shores,
shutting out the view of the St. Lewis road, and completely overshadowing
the porter's lodge; out-houses, stables, root-house, paddocks and barns
are all on a correspondingly extensive scale. We have here another
instance of the love of country life which our successful Canadian
merchant likes to indulge in; and we can fancy, judging from our own case,
with what zest Mr. Burstall the portly laird of Kirk Ella, after a
toilsome day in his St. Peter street counting-house, hurried home to revel
in the rustic beauty which surrounds his dwelling." Such was Kirk Ella in
1865.
Mr. Burstall having withdrawn from business, removed to England and died
there a few years back. Kirk Ella has now become the property of Charles
Ernest Levey, Esq., only son of the late Charles E. Levey, Esq., formerly
of Cataracoui. The dwelling having been destroyed by fire in 1879, the new
owner decided on erecting a handsome roomy mansion on the same site.
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