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CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



IN the laying out of a garden, the soil and situation 

 must be considered as much as the nature of the 

 ground will admit. Let no lady, however, despair 

 of being able to raise fine flowers upon any soil, 

 providing the sun is not too much excluded, for the 

 rays of the sun are the vital principle of existence 

 to all vegetation. The too powerful rays can be 

 warded off by the arts of invention, but we have 

 yet no substitute for that glorious orb. Unless its 

 warm and forcing influence is allowed to extend 

 over the surface of the garden, all flowers wither, 

 languish, and die. Sun and air are the lungs and 

 heart of flowers. A lady will be rewarded for her 

 trouble in making her parterre in the country ; but 

 in large towns, under the influence of coal smoke, 

 shade, and gloom, her lot will be constant disap- 

 pointment. She can only hope to keep a few con- 

 sumptive geraniums languishing through the sum- 

 mer months, to die in October, and show the deso- 

 lating view of rows of pots contaning blackened 

 and dusty stems. 



Many soils which are harsh or arid, are suscep- 

 tible of improvement by a little pains. Thus, a 

 stiff clay, by digging well and leaving it to become 

 pulverized by the action of the frost, and then mix- 

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