XXXVlil INTRODUCTION. 



ing plants may be set under the branches of 

 shrubs and trees, as they thus fill up spaces 

 that would otherwise appear naked in the 

 spring, and their decaying state is veiled over 

 in the later season by the foliage of the boughs. 

 The same arrangement should be made in 

 small gardens, by covering the ground under 

 Rose bushes and other shrubs which blossom 

 in the summer, with the earliest flowers of 

 the year, such as Snowdrops and Crocuses, 

 &c., which are rather benefited than injured 

 by the partial shelter ; and the space of ground 

 which they would otherwise require in the 

 parterre may be allotted to those plants that 

 will not flourish in such situations. 



The error most frequently committed in 

 planting the parterre, is the inattention shown 

 to the succession of the flowering of plants ; 

 but without a perfect knowledge and due re- 

 gard to this material part of the art of gar- 

 dening, the parterre will frequently become 

 destitute of flowers at different seasons of 

 the year ; whereas the desirable object of 

 continuing an uninterrupted succession of 

 gaiety in the flower-garden, may be attained 



