FOREIGN NOTICES. 



taste, and with the most decorative flowers which can be selected, and I would ask what satisfac- 

 tion could such an arrangement produce in a mind cultivated and refined by a high social position, 

 or how could such a garden be enjoyed? Walks contrasting with turf and flowers, conduce to a 

 harmony in the composition which the two latter of themselves never could accomplish. Where 

 artistic gardening has been carried to its utmost limits consistent with propriety and good taste, 

 and where numerous architectural and sculptural embellishments have been introduced, walks 

 are then frequently elevated above the general level. To accomplish this, stone edgings have in 

 some instances been used, and in others, where the style admits of more elaborate embellishment, 

 walls of solid masonry as edgings have been employed in order to raise the walks above the 

 level of the garden, so that the eye may look down upon the flower beds, and more perfectly 

 view the general arrangement and design. 



It has been attempted by some to lay down rules as to the direction which walks should take, 

 and also their width ; such, however, can be of little service, as local circumstances must nearly 

 in every instance determine this. It may be stated, however, as a principle, that where walks 

 take a straight direction and are level, or upon a uniform inclination, the width must bear a 

 relative proportion to the length ; for example, a walk ten feet wide may look very well if the 

 length does not exceed two hundred feet ; but supposing it to be two thousand feet, the proportion 

 would then be entirely destroyed. These, and other matters of detail, must be left to the operator. 

 E. Glexdixnixg, F.II.S., in Journal of the Horticultural Society, London. 



Kitchen Gaedex Reform in England. — In our travels in Europe nothing in relation to 

 gardening struck us more forcibly than the superiority of French, Belgium, and Dutch 

 garden vegetables over those of England, and of the greater skill and economy of conti- 

 nental kitchen gardeners. We have heretofore alluded to this matter frequently, both in this 

 journal and the Oenesee Farmer. We find that the London Horticultural Society has turned 

 its attention to this point, and now admits the display of kitchen garden produce at its 

 monthly meetings in Regent street. The Gardeners' Chronicle remarks: 



"The truth is, that for many years past — for more than a quarter of a century — the cultivation 

 of esculent vegetables has been regarded as a branch of horticulture altogether inferior to tliat 

 of flowers. No encouragement has been off"ered to the former at the great metropolitan shows ; in 

 country places esculents have been only looked for from the hands of peasants; and everytliing 

 has been sacrificed to the showy but unsubstantial decorations of my lady's drawing-room. IS'ot 

 that we would undervalue the latter in the slightest particular; on the contrary, they richly 

 deserve all the patronage they have received ; for, after all, they represent the highest possible 

 amoxmt of horticultural skill, and pre-eminently contribute to the perfection of the art of garden- 

 ing. Tliey have become, too, like our race-horses and our prize cattle, the envy and amazement 

 of 3,11 other nations, who in vain endeavor to rival us; so that it is not too much to call them 

 symbols of Anglo-Saxon skill and energy. We have therefore uniformly given them all honor, 

 and we shall never cease to do so. 



"But we feel, with others, that in our eagerness to worship the beautiful we have too much 

 forgotten the useful. Our gardens are like too many of our peasant schools ; in our anxiety to 

 disseminate learning, we forget to teach the arts which give people value as servants, or wives, 

 or husbands. A girl is taught to read and write, but not to make a pudding or get up linen ; a 

 boy is pushed on in his cyphering, but can neither groom a horse nor wait at table. In like man- 

 ner, a gardener is made proficient in getting up a 'specimen plant,' but knows nothing of a crop 

 of Onions; he can grow an Orchid at Christmas, but a Lettuce then is beyond his skill. 



"It is to put an end to this state of things that the new regulations of the Ilor icnltural Society 

 have been especially framed ; and we earnestly trust they will succeed. It has been painful to 

 see to how low a pass kitchen gardening in private gardens has sometimes come ; and how 

 unconscious people arc of their own condition. The contrast between British and foreign kitchen ,j 

 garden produce, as seen in Regent Street, has been unfavorable to us, all possible allcwnnce having vv 

 been made for climate. Let us hope that better times are coming, and that by degrees the por 



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