.869.] THE ORNAMENTAL SIDE OF FKUIT-GBOWING. 127 



wood well at pruning time, my object being to get fruit of good quality in 

 preference to a quantity of an inferior character. 



Dalmeny Park. Wsi. Melville. 



THE ORNAMENTAL SIDE OF FRUIT-GROWING. 



fT is somewhat singular that such a sharp line should have been drawn 

 between objects of utility and things of beauty. But so it is, or rather has 

 been, for I think we are improving in this respect. Still, there seems a 

 ^ singular, I had almost said a perverse, tendency in many minds to limit 

 their pleasures by making their plants serve only the one primary purpose for 

 which they are grown. In this respect we are not straitened in nor by nature, 

 but we are straitened in ourselves, and cut down by about one-half the rich 

 revenues of gladness that nature, in her goodness, sheds down at our feet. 



It seems full time that the distinctions that have been so sharply drawn in 

 Horticulture between objects of utility and ornament should be utterly and 

 finally abolished. For in truth, there is no such distinction. No one thing that 

 we grow is destitute of lines or form of beauty, and the mere fact that it is also 

 useful ought not to hide these from our eyes, but rather render them more 

 apparent. In this sense, beauty clothed with utility is adorned the most. For 

 beauty and grace are never so irresistibly charming as when discharging duty, or 

 engaged in useful service. Thus ought our estimate to be formed when judging 

 of plants that add to their beauty the higher adornment — if I may so express 

 it — of utility, the capacity of service, the ability to add to our enjoyments and 

 nurture our lives. 



The general recognition of this higher law would prove a clear gain to the 

 pleasures of gardening. It would tend to break down that sharp barrier that has 

 been interposed, without reason to sanction it, between the ornamental and utili- 

 tarian departments. It is necessary, however, to be clearly understood upon this 

 point. I do not advocate any uniting of the two departments, so as to make 

 them both alike, no invasion of the kitchen into the flower garden, nor any 

 great inroads of the flower garden into the kitchen department. A few lines of 

 floral beauty may be run along the main walks, but this is all that ought to be 

 admitted ; and even this is not needful to render a kitchen garden both inter- 

 esting and beautiful. On the other hand, fruit trees might approach within sight 

 of the flower garden with positive advantage, and their presence might be 

 welcomed in pleasure-grounds and ornamental woods as being amongst the most 

 beautiful objects for such positions. 



The kitchen garden may, however, be made highly ornamental without a 

 flower, specially so called, at all. Order, cleanliness, and health can be had in 

 ■every garden, and these are most important elements of beauty. In fact, a well- 

 ordered garden opens up endless sources of delight. A place for every crop, and 

 every crop in its place ; bushes and trees arranged for effect in rows, and support- 



