310 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



and airy structure by the last week in September. They should 

 have copious syringings every evening, when indoors, with abundance 

 of air, day and night, until the blossoms open, when not only 

 syringing must be discontinued, but all condensation of moisture on 

 the leaf or flower be cautiously avoided. To this end all waterings 

 must be performed in the morning, and a slight fire through the 

 day, with a free circulation of air, to carry away all humidity of 

 atmosphere by the closing time in the evening, after which period 

 the fire must be only such as will just keep away frost; and it is 

 well to allow a little egress of air at the back of the house for the 

 escape of atmospheric moisture all night. A good roof covering, in 

 lieu of a fire, would, no doubt, be excellent, and tend to prevent 

 condensed steam on the blossoms. As compost, I have found the 

 following everything that can be desired, viz., ODe half-rotten turf 

 of strong and fat loam, and the other half composed of equal parts 

 half mould and good rotten manure, to which add a good sprinkling 

 of rough charcoal dust, and another of sharp and lively sand, and a 

 handful or two of fine bone waste. 



EMBELLISHMENTS OF THE GARDEN. 



O embellish a garden well, needs a discriminating and in 

 some cases a severe taste. Whatever errors may be 

 committed in the laying out, the planting, and the dis- 

 position of colours, will more readily escape the eye or 

 meet with forgiveness from the critic, than the injudicious 

 adoption of any kind of special embellishment. Tet if the leading 

 principles of gardening tastes are kept in view, the smallest plot 

 may be so ornamented as to convey an impression of luxurious 

 completeness, and present at all seasons a wealthy fulness that shall 

 prove its owner to be an artist in the work ; and the garden of 

 ample dimensions and varied features, will have its several beauties 

 enhanced and brought out by exactly similar means. We do not 

 value a picture for the extent of its canvas, but for the perfect 

 development of its story through the medium of form and colour, 

 light and shade ; and though artifices for conceabng the dimensions 

 of a piece of ground are, in most cases, illegitimate and unworthy, 

 the more that ground, whether large or small, is embellished with 

 special ornaments adapted to it and tastefully disposed, the more 

 will its extent be really enlarged, because it will offer more and more 

 to interest the eye, and occasion pleasurable emotions in the mind. 

 In this as in other things, ornament may be carried to 

 excess ; yet in the higher and architectural departments excess is 

 not so much to be feared, when we remember how lavishly the 

 gardens of ancient times were adorned with colonades, terraces, 

 statues, fountains, and other productions of the quarry and the 

 chisel ; and how that same fulness of expression was sustained in 

 the princely gardens which were the models of Italian art in land- 

 scape, and which remain to us on canvas and in books as examples 



