131 



OBSERVATIONS 



ON THE 



Q 1 Hi WHIB (ft ^ IB IE) 



PRETIOUS to forming a flower garden, the ground should 

 be made mellow and rich, by being well pulverized, ma- 

 nured, and prepared in every respect as if intended for a 

 kitchen garden. A flower garden should be protected from 

 cold cutting winds by close fences, or plantations of shrubs, 

 forming a close and compact hedge, which should be neatly 

 trimmed every year. Generally speaking, a flower gar- 

 den should not be on a large scale, the beds or borders 

 should in no part of them be broader than the cultivator 

 can reach, without treading on them : the shape and num- 

 ber of the beds must be determined by the size of the 

 ground, and the taste of the person laying out the garden. 



Much of the beauty of a pleasure garden depends on the 

 manner in which it is laid out ; a great variety of figures 

 may be indulged in for the flower beds. Some choose oval 

 or circular forms, others squares, triangles, hearts, diamonds, 

 <fec., intersected with winding grass paths and gravel walks. 

 In the design of an ornamental garden, nature should be 

 imitated as nearly as practicable, not only in the formation 

 and regulation of the flower beds, but in the adaptation of 

 each species to its peculiar element, soil, and situation, 

 taking into consideration, that the inmates of a garden con- 

 stituting as they do a mingled groupe, collected from all 

 the different climates and soils of the vegetable creation, 

 require each their njost essential aliment, to promote a 

 luxuriant growth. 



