DRESS GROUND. 63 



is not too high. The effect of flower-beds so 

 constructed may be seen in the garden of 

 Lambeth Palace. 



Where the character and decoration of the 

 mansion will warrant it, these borders might 

 be made highly ornamental, and might, I 

 conceive, be cast in iron at a moderate ex- 

 pense. The effect, even in the simple style, 

 will be improved by the introduction of 

 vases, flower-stands, and orange trees, or 

 other shrubs, in handsome tubs : the flower- 

 stands should not be of rustic character, but 

 of regular form and exact finishing. Wood 

 or iron is preferable to stone, as less exposed 

 to injury from the roller. 



In what may be termed a free disposition 

 of flower-beds, the first care should be to 

 avoid the spottiness which must result from 

 putting a bed wherever room can be found 

 for it : on the contrary, the beds should be 

 treated upon the same plan of composition 

 that arranged the shrubs they are to accom- 

 pany. The glades of lawn that have been 

 created by the foregoing operation must not 

 be destroyed by scattered beds of flowers 

 crossing them in all directions ; though oc- 

 casionally a bed will be introduced to break 



