252 ORKAMEKTAL GAKDEiq-IKG. 



ing home grounds, and particularly small ones. This is 

 because it is found, that in such places good selections 

 are certain of giving satisfaction, if they receive any- 

 thing like fair treatment. Elsewhere I have called atten- 

 tion to the special merits of this class, and I here quote 

 Mr. Thomas Meehan, of the " Gardener's Monthly," re- 

 garding the same point : 



'' Shrubs are not nearly enough employed in planting 

 small places. By a judicious selection, a place may be 

 had in a blooming state all the year ; and they besides 

 give it a greater interest by their variety, than is obtained 

 by the too frequent error of filling np with two or three 

 forest trees of gigantic growth. Plant thickly at first, 

 to give a place a finished appearance, and thin out as 

 they grow okler. The average planter would have half 

 a dozen plants scattered a dozen yards apart, because 

 sometime in the future they would perhaps touch each 

 other. We pass continually these weak conclusions, the 

 little clumps near gate-ways will look like clumps some 

 day; but why not have them now ? It is as easy to have 

 the perfect body as the ugly skeletons lying around. 

 Masses of shrubs have a fine effect in a small place. The 

 centers of such masses should be filled with evergreen 

 shrubs, to prevent a too naked appearance in the winter." 



Let it not be thought that belts or clumps of shrubs 

 must make small grounds close and hot in summer for 

 want of breeze. This might be, if these were wholly 

 made up of tall shrubs planted thickly, but by having 

 the margins varying in width, and then planting the 

 narrowest parts with kinds, that in an age can not ex- 

 ceed a hight of a few feet, and the wide parts with 

 large growers, this need not happen. More than that, 

 by having enough tall kinds here and there, to break 

 the force of the wind, diverting it in different directions 

 through the garden, a place may be all the more agreeable. 



An arranojement of shrubs in a town corner lot of 



