THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 7 



has a bed of it in his chrysanthemum house now ; the plants secured for 

 this ring were had from Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, and Co., of Exeter. 

 Now, supposing a selection of bedders are wanted there will be no diffi- 

 culty in finding them, and the writer would if pressed for time be content 

 to sow one of those charming new dark candytiifU which Messrs. Carter 

 have introduced lately, or the crimson candytuft sent out three years ago 

 by Messrs. Henderson, and follow the candytuft with verbenas put out 

 in full bloom, or Cramoisle roses turned out of pots, or Imperial Crimson 

 Nosegay geraniums, or Goleus Yerschaffelti with Golden Chain geranium in 

 Vandyke compartments. Eut the idea is to make the circle grand with foliage 

 plants only, such as Lonicera reticulata aurea for a broad ring, and with 

 Gnaplialiimi lanatum for a silver ring inside next the rhododendrons. 

 This would be at its best in autumn, when the Lonicera acquires a deep 

 fiery crimson hue. But these are speculations, and we are never to forget 

 the distinction between what has been done and what may be done : the 

 Past teaches, the Future only appeals to the imagination. 



It was said just now that in this affair there was a principle involved. 

 That principle can be explained in a word. The magic ring is the most 

 decisive feature which the plan and size of the garden admits of. Half 

 a dozen beds there, however beautifully kept, would have no grandeur 

 about them, but this fine sweej), simple and severe as the true circle always 

 is, gives a satisfaction to the eye, and proves at once that its possessor has 

 a horror of trifling. In every garden there should be at least one disfmct 

 feature, as bold and as simple and as elegant as possible, and when that 

 principle is viewed aright it will be the deathblow of the little intricacies 

 that make some gardens like the dress of a harlequin with too many 

 colours, and all out of place. Nothing like bold expressive forms ; the 

 eye loves to roam with freedom in reading out an idea, and if there be 

 any one method of appropriating the ground immediately under the 

 drawing-room better than another, it is without question the plan of a 

 great circle raised above the level, and filled with plants worthy of such a 

 position. If the reader will call to mind what he has seen of well-planned 

 gardens, great and small, it will be seen that all the separate and inde- 

 pendent objects of interest are made subservient to some one leading idea. 

 It is so at "Versailles, at Shrubland, Hampton Court, Kew, Sydenham, 

 and Kensington. When we recall the scenes at Sydenham we think first 

 of the terrace and next of the temples. In our remembrances of Kew that 

 little geometric plot in front of the palm-house sparkles in the scene like 

 a central Pleiad ; it is the point you are aiming at, as you walk on admiring 

 and questioning, and when you arrive at it you feel that you have 

 accomplished something, and the feeling is akin to that of the traveller 

 who at last pitches his tent at the foot of the chief of the Pyramids. So 

 my magic ring is like Moses' serpent, which swallowed up the magicians' 

 serpents — it swallows up all the other curves that lead to it and from it, and 

 the glitter of its edging of silver-edged ivy interlacing among the dark 

 blocks that support the soil is a satisfactory object from any point of 

 view. Make such a circle, raise it eighteen inches, plant it all round 

 with Irish ivy, and what a grand effect it will have if kept gay and bright 

 with suitable occupants ! The true circle is the source of all the lines of 

 beauty, and it affords a proper opportunity for a vast breadth of one colour, 

 and that gives a dignified air to the garden, and by the simplest rule of 

 art fills the mind with an agreeable subject for contemplation ; such, at 

 least, is the suggestion of the Magic Ring. Shielex HtsBEED. 



