TEBRUARY. 81 



THE GARDENS OF THE SOUTH. 



BY ANDREW GRAY, SAVANNAH, GA. 



A few papers on the gardens of the Sonth would doubtless 

 be read by some* of the readers of your Magazine with inter- 

 est, if I could do the subject sufficient justice, but I am afraid 

 that what I can write will be so meagre in its nature as to 

 provoke a smile from those who " go ahead " with the times. 

 Nevertheless such as a " practical " can produce, from time to 

 time, shall be at your disposal. 



The gardens of the south, like the gardens of the north or 

 any other country, differ in outline and extent : and perhaps 

 I cannot do better than give you a kind of memoranda of 

 this place, (the country residence of J. Stoddard, Esq.,) it 

 being about as extensive as, and in natural and artistic ele- 

 gance as well as in geometrical proportions equal to, any I 

 have seen. The lot enclosed contains about thirteen acres, and 

 is divided into lawn, orchard, flower, and vegetable garden. 

 The lawn and pleasure ground, as is generally the case, occu- 

 py most of the lot ; but diff"er from a desirable feature in lay- 

 ing out grounds viz., in being separated from the house by 

 the flower garden and shrubbery : but a feature which in this 

 latitude, about 32*^, is almost indispensable, from the fact that 

 no proper lawn grass has yet been found to stand in this soil 

 and climate ; a light sandy earth, and the heavens like brass 

 overhead, sometimes five and six weeks without rain, until 

 the sand in the day time becomes so dry and hot as to be dis- 

 agreeable to walk on. It therefore becomes apparent that the 

 grasses suitable for lawns will not stand in such a soil and cli- 

 mate. There are, however, several sorts of coarse native 

 grasses which grow here, and except in a very severe season 

 keep green throughout ; but the one most adopted for lawns 

 in this section is the Burmuda grass ; it never rises above the • 

 surface over eight or ten inches. It has long creeping roots 

 and sends up stems at every joint, and by planting the roots 

 in the ground, it is not many years before it becomes com- 

 pletely matted ; and in spring and early summer, if kept mown, 



VOL. XXI. NO. II. 11 



