PLANTING OF FLOAVEK-BEDS. 31 



for it often resembled just such patterns as would make a 

 beautiful carpet. This style is meeting now with much 

 opposition from Mr. Robinson, editor of the " Garden" and 

 many others ; but whatever may be objectionable to those 

 whose conceptions of gardening are beyond this rectan- 

 gular system, there is no denying the pleasure that it 

 gives to the masses as was apparent by the crowds ad- 

 miring these flower-beds at Battersea Park, many persons 

 being engaged in sketching the plans and taking notes of 

 the varieties used to produce the effect. This park' of 

 Battersea contains only two hundred acres. Its natural 

 beauties are far inferior to either our Central, of New 

 York, or Prospect Park, of Brooklyn ; but its judicious 

 system of planting, which gives noveltv and freshness at 

 every turn, conveys to the visitor a lasting impression 

 of pleasure that the plain, monotonous shrubbery and 

 lawn of our New York parks can never give. The public 

 parks in Britain or Ireland are the best schools of taste in 

 floriculture the people have to model from ; and so it 

 should be with us, but with the few extremely limited at- 

 tempts that have been made at the Central Park the past 

 two years, there has been no ornamental planting of a 

 public character in the vicinity of New York. Some fine 

 examples of this kind of gardening may be seen in pri- 

 vate grounds in the vicinity of Boston, and at Forest 

 Hill Cemetery, at Roxbury, Mass., where the effects of 

 massing may be studied to advantage. The climate of 

 Boston is much less favorable for such planting than that 

 of New York, yet it is followed with gratifying success. 

 For beds, at a distance, having a background of shrub- 

 bery, large and bright-colored foliage, or showy-flowering 

 plants only should be used ; of these, an excellent effect 

 is produced by having Amaranthus sanguineus for the 

 background, a plant of crimson foliage growing 6 feet 

 in height ; next that, Salvia Gordonii, with its scarlet 

 feather-like flowers, attaining a height of four feet, fronted 



