SECT. XT. OF RURAL GARDENING. 129 



elegant, and generally pleasing, the practice is surely 

 not a wise one. In ornamental gardening, on a small 

 scale, great care should be taken in the choice of 

 what is really pretty, that nothing dull or rambling 

 be introduced. 



In the most sheltered place, near the house, there 

 should be an inclomre of a compact nature, as sup- 

 pose of yew, dwarf, elm, or hornbeam, (rather the 

 former) open only to the South, as a necessary apart- 

 ment to place things in from the greenhouse, or 

 occasionally the hothouse, tender annuals, or any 

 hardy curious potted plants, for a summer residence* 

 Spruce Jifs answer very well for a screen, being kept 

 dipt a little after Midsummer. For this purpose, or 

 for hedges to separate, or divide, any spot of ground, 

 the hop hornbeam is better than the common sort, 

 which holds its dead leaves on all the winter, and 

 makes a litter at spring. This business might also 

 be easily effected by planting only elder cuttings at 

 a foot asunder, which would grow up quickly, being 

 kept moist for a time. 



The walks should always be wide, some (in gene* 

 ral) serpentine, and contrived as much as possible 

 upon a level, as walking up and down hills can 

 hardly be called pleasure. That they may be ex- 

 pensive, they should skirt the grounds, and seldom 

 go across them. In small pleasure grounds the edges 

 of the walks should be regularly planted with flowers, 

 and long ones occasionally so, or with the most dwarf 

 shrubs ; and neat sheltered compartments oi flowers j 

 (every now and then to be met with) have a very 

 pretty effect. If the walks are extended to distant 

 plantations of forest-trees, every opportunity should 

 be taken, to introduce something of the herbaceous 

 flowery kind, which will prove the more pleasing, as 

 found in unexpected situations. The outer walk of 

 pleasure-grounds and plantations, should every now 



