On Modern Improvemen ts of Horticulture'^ 2G9 



tion in nature should be the objects of imitation of the gar- 

 dener's, as they had long been that of the painter's art, with 

 this exception, that in the immediate vicinity of the mansion 

 as much of the old style should be retained as will harmonize 

 with the necessary artificial fa9ade of the architecture; but 

 soon as departed from these creations of art, let then appear 

 the varied flow of nature's devious garb. 



The art of painting had, in the best schools, proceeded on 

 such principles, and the formation of real scenery was improved 

 from what was so prominent in the fictitious. Some painters, 

 even Claude Lorraine himself, have occasionally erred, from 

 what may be called exuberance of design, in producing extreme 

 effect, by introducing lights which never can be seen by day 

 or night, at dawn or twilight ; by trees which never existed, 

 and by forms* which had only an imaginary existence. Land- 

 scape gardeners, too, in the transition from the tame to the 

 more natural style, have run into error, by imitating admirable 

 incidents frequently seen in nature's works, forgetting that their 

 value springs entirely from their having happened by chance, 

 but, as works of art, lose all their interest, and become insigni- 

 ficant.. 



We are now arrived on the confines of our own times, of 

 which we will take a general view, and which will sufficiently 

 show the accumulated assemblage of horticultural objects, pro- 

 ductions, and knowledge ; and which will also give, what was 

 proposed, a comparative surveyof the extent of our improve- 

 ments. 



And first, as. to the highest department. Botany. Before the 

 sexual system of Linnseus was fairly established, (though it 

 spread far and wide by the literaiy labours of Hudson, Lee, 

 Curtis, and several other able contemporary writers, both in 

 England and on the continent,) defects were found in it, and 

 not only as to the terms of distinction, but also to its bringing 

 together, in the classification, plants which appeared, from their 



* In Martin's painting of the Paphian Bower, though a fine composi- 

 tion, the roots of the tree, on the left of the foreg;round, are too much 

 out of the ground. The accidental, exposure of roots on the bank of a 

 stream, or high-road, and their buttress-like departure from the trunk, 

 are legitimate objects for the pencil ; but their ramifications pourtrayed 

 on the surface of the ground, is as ridiculous as unnatural. 



OCT.— DEC 1827. T 



