EMBELLISHMENTS. 429 



kept well-mown or cut for the walks, and the edges pared ; 

 the other, to surround the beds with edgings of verdure, as 

 box, etc., or some niore durable material, as tiles, or cut 

 stone, the walks between being covered with gravel. The 

 turf is certainly the most agreeable for walking upon in 

 the heat of summer, and the dry part of the day ; while 

 the gravelled flower-garden affords a dry footing at nearly 

 all hours and seasons. 



The irregular flower-garden is surrounded by an irregu- 

 lar belt of trees and ornamental shrubs of the choicest 

 species, and the beds are varied in outline, as well as 

 irregularly disposed, sometimes grouping together, some- 

 times standing singly, but exhibiting no uniformity of 

 arrangement. An idea of its general appearance may be 

 gathered from the accompanying sketch (Fig. 76), which 

 may be varied at pleasure. In it the irregular boundary 

 of shrubs is shown at a, the flower-beds h, and the walks e. 



This kind of flower-garden would be a suitable accom- 

 paniment to the house and grounds of an enthusiastic 

 lover of the picturesque, whose residence is in the Rural 

 Gothic style, and whose grounds are also eminently varied 

 and picturesque. Or it might form a pretty termination 

 to a distant walk in the pleasure-grounds, where it would 

 be more necessary that the flower-garden should be in 

 keeping with the surrounding plantations and scenery than 

 with the house. 



Where the flower-garden is a spot set apart, of any 

 regular outline, not of large size, and especially where it is 

 attached directly to the house, we think the effect is most 

 satisfactory when the beds or walks are laid out in sym- 

 metrical forms. Our reasons for this are these : the 

 flower-garden, unlike distant portions of the pleasure- 



