1869.] THE ORNAMENTAL SIDE OP FRUIT-GROWING. 129 



grace that characterize such fruits, as they nestle together in rich masses 

 upon cushioning beds of rocking or resting leaves ? And then how rich and 

 glowing are the autumnal tints of many of the leaves of fruit trees and bushes, 

 revealing all the rich orange of the maple and chestnut, and the glowing 

 scarlet of the rarer liquidambar ! As I have already adverted to this branch 

 of the subject in the Gardeners' Chronicle, where I recommended that the 

 Grape Vine should be grown as an ornamental plant, I will not further pursue it 

 here. In fact, this paper is simply fragmentary, not exhaustive, — a mere indica- 

 tion of the mine where inexhaustible treasures lie hid, and not an attempt to 

 exhibit the treasures themselves in either their magnitude, number, or glory. 



I will therefore turn from noting our ornamental wealth, which is too often 

 literally hidden beneath the gross veil of a grovelling utility, which gives up 

 the kitchen garden to the cook and the stomach, and banishes order, cleanliness, 

 and taste as entirely from it as if the recognition of the claims of the one were 

 antagonistic to the rights of the other — which they are not, and advert to the 

 more extended use of fruit trees, specially for ornament, within what is called, by 

 way of pre-eminence, the domain of the beautiful itself. Is there any good reason 

 why an almond, a thorn, a chestnut, a beech, or an oak should be admitted within 

 the domain of floral art, and the peach, cherry, apple, medlar, quince, plum, or the 

 pear be shut out ? All the former are fruit-bearing trees as well as the latter ; 

 they differ chiefly in the fruit of the one class being comparatively worthless 

 and useless, while that of the latter is valuable and grateful to man. Is the 

 idea of utility, then, so incongruous with the enjoyment of landscape art that 

 the beauty of things must sink in proportion as their usefulness increases ? This 

 can hardly be accepted as the reason for shutting out our beautiful fruit trees 

 from pleasure-grounds. Else the oak tree would lose dignity, and be robbed of its 

 grandeur, when its acorns were given to the pigs, or husbanded as winter food 

 for pheasants. Possibly some reader may smile at this, and perhaps Loudon 

 or Price may have given better reasons for the exclusion of fruit trees from the 

 ornamental grounds. I have no time to look up authorities ; if I had, I would 

 rather use it to recommend a liberal and fearless introduction of our highly 

 ornamental fruit trees, intermixed among other flowering plants in our pleasure- 

 grounds, than in citing the highest authorities against the practice. Many of 

 these are equal to our best flowering shrubs as ornamental objects, and nearly 

 all of them would add a new and much needed charm of grace and variety to 

 our shrubberies. 



In plantations, too, such trees would prove invaluable, lighting up the gloom 

 of broad masses of sombre foliage with a spray of brightness wholly their own, as 

 do the magnificent Wild Cherries in the hill-side woods at Belvoir, and in many 

 other places; while the autumnal fruits impart the idea of a prodigality of 

 riches, or have the merit of filling the hungry birds, to the safety of our garden 

 fruits. But there is no good reason why a portion at least of the fruit should 



