SECT. xr. OF RURAL GARDENING* 13.S 



or some other agreeable object. Hollows are not 

 easily filled, and eminences mostly are advantageous 

 in the formation of picturesque scenes, in which the 

 general principle of ornamental gardening consists. 

 This idea has been pressed so far, that it is contended, 

 a gardener should be astudier of landscape paintings. 

 But without an immediate view to pictures, no doubt, 

 grounds may be laid out in a way sufficiently pic- 

 turesque. That view may be very agreeable in Na- 

 ture, which would not be so in a picture, and vice 

 versa. 



Picturesque gardening is effected by a variety of 

 means, which a true rural genius, and the study of 

 examples, only can produce. These examples may 

 be pictures, but the better instructors will be scenes 

 in Nature ; and the proper grouping of trees, ac- 

 cording to their mode of growth, shades of green, 

 and appearance in autumn, will effect a great deal. 



To plant picturesquely, a knowledge of \hs charac- 

 teristic differences of trees and shrubs is evidently a 

 principal qualification. Some trees spread their 

 branches wide, others grow spiral, and some conical ; 

 some have a close foliage, others an open one, and 

 some form regular, others irregular heads, the 

 branches and leaves of which may grow erect, level, 

 or pendent. 



The mode of growth in trees, as quick or slow, the 

 time of leafing,' and shedding leaf, with the colour of 

 the bark, are all circumstances of consideration in 

 order to produce striking contrasts, and happy aflem- 

 blages, in the way of ornamental gardening. 



" To range the shrubs and small trees, so that 

 they mutually set off the beauties, and conceal the 

 blemishes, of each other ; to aim at no effects which 

 depend on a nicety for their success, and which the 

 soil, the exposure, or the season of the day, may de- 

 stroy; to attend more to the groupes than to the 



