358 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



priate to the scene than hundreds of statues I have seen in gardens, 

 for the grass rises to receive it and to display it. The borders are 

 appropriated to bedding plants in the ribbon style, and in the rear 

 of the ribbon on each side Mr. Crute keeps bis specimen chrysan- 

 themums, as shown in the section A within the wall, right and left. 

 I abstain from enumerating the bedding plants employed in the 

 decoration of this garden, because I wish to be as brief as possible, 

 and to direct attention to the scheme, which is original, ingenious, 

 elegant, and appropriate to a space so limited ; whereas the bedding 

 plants admit of endless variety, and will probably difter every year 

 so long as Mr. Crute sliall enjoy this little paradise, and that it may 

 le long is the prayer of his faithful friend, 



SniELEr HiBBEED. 



rSEFUL SHRUBBEEIES. 



AM not about to begin a case of grievance, in order 

 to declaim against it ; or conjure up a windmill, in 

 order to enjoy an imaginary fight. I shall not say, as 

 is the custom with your horticultural writers— a 

 priggish lot, though I say it who am of them — that the 

 shrubberies are all filled with rubbish, and this essay is to put that 

 matter to rights. No ; I shall be content to say that, as good fruits 

 are everywhere appreciated, and as beauty is a desideratum of the 

 garden, the shrubberies might all be constituted of useful fruit trees, 

 instead of lilacs, snowberries, laurels, and the rest of the ordinary 

 stuff which I grant is not to be despised, yet makes no direct return 

 of a commercial kind. Let us just consider the case, and suppose 

 a shrubbery to be, in fact, an orchard. It would be necessary, in 

 order to preserve the ornamental feature proper to a shrubbery, to 

 avoid the formal system in which an orchard proper is planted, and 

 select trees best adapted for beauty of eftect. Old standard apple- 

 trees in good condition are equal in beauty to oaks any day, and there 

 are some varieties of pear, plum, and cherry that make remarkably 

 handsome trees of large size. Thus, then, we shall have no trouble 

 in selecting materials for breaking the sky line, and afibrding some 

 kind of majesty to the shrubberj'. Nevertheless, fyramid and hush 

 forms are those most needed to produce the thick and various 

 plantation that aftbrds so much delight during a walk through a 

 shrubbery. A most important member, therefore, of this useful 

 shrubbery is the filbert, which never becomes a great tree, which is 

 usually picturesque, and, while in leaf, a very bold and handsome 

 tree. It is not generally known that the purple-leaved nut, which is 

 catalogued as one of the choicest garden trees, is also a really 

 profitable variety to grow, for the nuts are produced in plenty, and 

 are of excellent quality. The apple, plum, cherry, mulberry, quince, 

 and pear may all be employed in the form of bushes and pyramids ; 

 and in respect of beauty the pear will undoubtedly take the lead, 

 for leafage that almost equals the camellia, for flowers that rival 

 the may or the snowdrift, for fruit that is always elegant, and some- 



