MANAGEXfENT OF SMALL GARDENS. 



f ints m \\n llanjigtmcnt at Small §mh\\s. 



^^E of the finest features in the country towns of America, is that 

 ahuost ei^ery dwelling has its garden — small in many cases it 

 may be, but still a garden, and capable of yielding many of the 

 comforts and pleasures of gardening. The most active improvers 

 of our day, the men who are really doing most for the diffusion 

 of a taste for gardening, are the residents of country towns and 

 villages, with their acre, half acre, and even quarter acre lots, 

 king this view of the subject, we naturally regard the manage- 

 mt of small gardens with much interest; and therefore propose, 

 now and hereafter, to offer a few hints, in order if possible to establish 

 more correct views in regard to the principles which should regulate their formation 

 and treatment. 



From pretty extensive observation, we have come to the conclusion that one of the 

 most serious and prevalent errors in the management of small gardens, is attempting 

 too muck. This grows ver}' naturally out of the desire that almost every man feels to 

 gather around his residence the greatest possible variety of interesting scenes and 

 objects ; in other words, to make the most of his limited space. In laying out a gar- 

 den, the design may be good, and it may, in the first place, be properly executed ; but 

 no sooner is this done than new trees or plants are fancied, and probably a neighbor's 

 garden suggests some new walks or divisions — and thus one little alteration after 

 another is introduced, until the original plan is eft'aced, and the whole becomes a piece 

 of patchwork. We have seen many charming little front gardens utterly ruined in 

 this way. Now, the beauty of a small garden, and the pleasure it may aftbrd, lies 

 not in a great variety of embellishments, but in simjolicity and high keeping — few 

 wvalks and few trees. 



Numerous walks destroy the unity and extent of a small piece of ground, and add 

 very materially to the cost of keeping; and as a regular gardener is seldom employed 

 in such places, the walks become neglected, and grown over with grass and weeds, 

 resembling more a cattle path than any thing else. The principle, therefore, should 

 be rigidly adhered to, of having only such walks as are absolutely indispensable, and 

 these to be kept in the best order. A good, well-kept walk, is not only a great beauty 

 but a great comfort, whereas nothing is so useless and ill-looking as a bad or neglected 

 one. In most cases a single walk, and that a foot walk, six or eight feet wide in pro- 

 portion to the extent of the ground, will be quite enough. 



The position of the entrance gate and the course of the walk must be determined 

 by the shape of the grounds and the situation of the front door of the dwelling. If 

 the space between the house and street be narrow — say twenty or thirty feet — and 

 the front door be in the center of the building, the most convenient, and probably the 

 arrangement is the common one — having the gate opposite the door, and the 



November 1, 1853. 



No. XI. 



