THE 







June, 1858. 



NDLESS as are the varieties of colours and 

 tints in the vegetable kingdom, the artist finds 

 little difficulty in grouping them efficiently 

 for the production of a diversity of effects, 

 though the practised gardener may occasionally, 

 and the amateur frequently, fail to turn to the 

 best account the several distinct colours, and 

 their intermediates, which he may have at com- 

 mand. At this season of the year, a clear idea 

 of the relations of colours to each other, and 

 the effect upon the eye of the several arrange- 

 ments of which they are capable, is of more 

 importance than at any other season ; for in 

 bedding and planting groups in bordei's, the 

 arrangements determined on, whether good or bad, must, as a rule, remain 

 to the end of the season, and it is important that every one interested in 

 the culture and display of flowers, should possess a definite knowledge of the 

 laws of harmony. However individual tastes may differ, certain rules are 

 universally applicable, and the observance of such rides, so far from limiting 

 the exercise of inventive ingenuity, serve rather to direct it ; for taste is as 

 subject to law as science is, and may, indeed, be reduced to the form of 

 a science, when its fundamental principles are properly understood. 



Every ray of white light consists of red, yellow, and blue, in fixed 

 proportions, and when passed through a spectrum, the colours which 

 compose white light are separated, and we see them blend one into the 

 other as they pass through the intermediate shades by which they are 

 connected together. Midway between the primaries of the spectrum, the 

 secondaries appear in their purest forms of orange, green, and purple ; a 

 third series infinitely various in tone, filling the spaces between the 

 primaries and secondaries. When we speak of complementary colours, we 

 imply those which are added to other colours in order to make white light ; 

 for instance, what is the complementary of red? To make white fight, 

 we want the remaining rays of the spectrum, namely, blue and 

 NO VI. — vol. i. n 



