PLANTING AND AEEANGEMENT OP TREES AXD SnEUBS. 



each other, so thcat each one may be witnessed and examined separately, without suf- 

 fering any detraction from its entire exposure. They must also be so blended, asso- 

 ciated, and intermingled, that a distant view may present the appearance of an 

 agreeable and diversified mass of verdure. These two objects apparently so remote, 

 may nevertheless be concurrently accomplished. In shrubberies or parterres, whether 

 large or small, a due regard to the known character or habits of the plants selectedi, 

 will enable the gardener (if sufiiciently intelligent) to place them at such distances as 

 will allow room for their full and complete extension, without becoming entangled 

 with other plants. Again : If the plot of ground be small, or the diminutive size of 

 the plants oppose this arrangement at first, they may be so planted as to admit of 

 any subsequent thinning to the required extent, ■without in the least detracting from 

 the general appearance of the group. Judgment and taste will overcome obstacles, 

 and sooner or later there \nW appear a harmonious development. 



The shrubbery thus planted with exotic trees, would in itself be an arhoretum ; and 

 if that charming variety be consulted which can alone please the eye, none of the 

 objections against those departments would in such a case apply. Species and genera 

 would certainly be separated and scattered about, and their associations lost ; but 

 then, pleasure gardens are not botanical nurseries ; and we are of an opinion, that 

 few, if any, proprietors would follow out any such idea, at the expense of everything 

 that renders them picturesque and attractive. If information be desired, that can 

 be readily obtained from books ; and the . attempt to illustrate it, or to facilitate its 

 acquirement by the disposing of plants according to any other system than that 

 dictated by taste, sense, and nature, is neither more nor less than an outrage on all 

 the principles of beauty, and a thorough perversion of the science of landscape 

 gardening. 



In planting trees and shrubs, no method is so well calculated to display the perfec- 

 tion of their character, as that of singly placing them in conspicuous situations in the 

 center of small parterres, or on lawns. It is, however, rather unfortunate, that this 

 system must be limited to certain portions of the pleasure ground ; for if carried to 

 too great an extent, its effect would not be pleasing. For this purpose, then, we are 

 to select the most rare, beautiful, and symmetrical kinds. We have thus the advan- 

 tage of examining the plants on every side. Being perfectly isolated, air and light 

 are freely admitted to all their surface, and from the operation of these agents, they 

 alone can attain that graceful symmetry of form which all plants should exhibit in 

 such situations. 



We have thus given our opinion of the different modes of planting and arranging 

 ornamental hardy shrubs and trees. The subject admits of a much greater scope of 

 language and development of detail than is here presented to the reader, yet enough 

 is said to give a right direction to the thoughts of the inexperienced, and to lead 

 them, as we think, properly, in the laying out of their pleasure grounds. In very 

 extensive domains, there is no doubt that arboretums may in some degree be rendered 

 ornamental, but the extension of the system is by no means to be desired, for it is 

 not only defective in principle, but in practice these defects are glaringly manifest, 



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