LAYING-OUT OF THE KOTANIO-GARDEN. 241 



lessened by the color of the earth, and those ranks 

 and files of painted tallies bearing the names, in win- 

 ter more conspicuous than the plants themselves. ~\Yhen 

 these collections are arranged in lines, with alleys of 

 bare earth between them, the result is extreme bald- 

 ness; and the plants seldom thrive, as the bare and 

 generally weedless soil, reflecting the glare of summer 

 light and heat upon them, affords a home as unlike 

 the natural habitats of most as j^ossible. "When the 

 lines are waved, with grass alleys intervening, the gen- 

 eral effect is ameliorated, and in winter the ground 

 has partially the semblance of a lawn. When the 

 natural system of arrangement is adopted, the plants 

 may be made to fall into groups ; but few of the ex- 

 amples of this kind of planting, which have come 

 under our observation, are materially better tlian the 

 < others. They are usually planted in clumps in grass, 

 but the figures are seldom good ; the intervening spaces 

 of grass are too narrow ; and the plants too small to 

 produce any of that lawn-like effect which we suppose 

 is aimed at. We should deem it more advisable to 

 arrange such collections in the form of parterres, com- 

 posed of beds suited for the various tribes and genera, 

 and intersected with graveled walks — a method which 

 would economize the ground occupied, and facilitate 

 inspection. 



JVote. — It is little creditable to American taste and 

 enterprise, that although two botanic gardens have 

 been, many years ago, liberally endowed — in the city 

 of New York, and at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and 

 possibly in other cities of the United States — they 

 died out for want of care, and a failure to excite a 

 sufficient interest in those who should have been 

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