OEATEL-WALKS.] 



PEACTICE OF HOETICULTUEE. [the sheubbebt. 



may take any shape ; but if it is large, its 

 boundaries ought not to be continuously 

 visible. 



SOIL. 



The soil of a flower garden is one of the 

 principal things to be attended to, as it should 

 be varied in such a manner as to meet the re- 

 quirements of the species of plants designed 

 to be grown in it. For example, earth 

 varying from boggy peat to pure sand, is re- 

 quired for American plants. The best sort is 

 alluvial, or that kind of boggy earth which 

 has been washed away and incorporated with 

 white sand. Peat, cut from its natural bed, 

 and only partially decomposed, is valueless, if 

 not really prejudicial to plants. "In col- 

 lecting soil from the surface of a moor," 

 observes a practical writer on this subject, " it 

 is proper to take no more than the upper 

 turf or sod, with the peat adhering to it, 

 and only from the driest parts of the ground, 

 where, besides the common heath, fescue- 

 grasses occur. When this cannot be pro- 

 cured, a good substitute is found in vegetable 

 mould ; that is, decayed leaves, swept from 

 lawns or woods, and allowed to lie in heaps 

 for a year or two. For the general purposes 

 of the flower garden, a light loamy soil is 

 advantageous ; and where the natural covering 

 is thin, or requires making up, recourse 

 should be had to the surface-earth of old 

 pastures, which, especially when incumbent 

 on trap-rocks, is found to be excellent. It 

 is expedient to have a large mass of this 

 material in the compost yard. The turf, and 

 the surface soil adhering to it, should be 

 laid up in a rough state, in which way it is 

 continually ameliorating by the decomposition 

 of the vegetable matters, and the action of the 

 air." 



GRAVEL-WALKS. 



The principal walks of a garden should 

 never be made narrower than to admit of, at 

 least, three persons walking abreast upon 

 them. It is a very common practice to see 

 gravel-walks so contracted as scarcely to admit 

 of two persons walking arm-in-arm upon them. 

 We would therefore recommend that, even in 

 small gardens, a considerable breadth of walk 

 Bliould be given, not only for the sake of conve- 

 982 



nience and pleasure, but on account of the much 

 better efiect such an arrangement has upon 

 those who contemplate the garden. As a great 

 deal of the neatness of walks depends upon 

 the material of which they consist, gravel from 

 an inland pit is preferable to any other. In 

 the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, this is, in 

 some parts, to be obtained of very good quality; 

 but the gravels of Blackheath and Kensington, 

 in the vicinity of London, have been much 

 celebrated for the beauty of their colours, and 

 have been transported to various parts of the 

 kingdom for the purpose of being applied to 

 the walks of gardens. Where the walks are 

 covered with gravel, hoeing and raking, from 

 time to time, is necessary in summer, to 

 destroy the weeds with which they are apt to 

 be disfigured. After this, or even after they 

 have only been swept, they should be rolled 

 down with a hand-roller, and this repeated as 

 often as the surface is ruffled. Nothing has a 

 greater tendency to heighten the beauty of 

 garden-walks than the operation of frequent 

 rolling. 



THE SHRUBBERY. 



The beauty of a garden greatly depends on 

 the choice which is made of its trees and 

 shrubs, and the mode in which they are 

 artificially disposed. Of the many excellent 

 species of these with which Britain is now 

 enriched, it would be impossible for us to 

 speak, in the space to which we are limited. In 

 this department of horticulture, we can there- 

 fore only mention a few ; but these few will be 

 introduced on the authority of one of the best 

 practical gardeners of the present day. We 

 will, as far as possible, avoid the Latin names. 

 — Besides the Common and the Portugal 

 Laurels, there are other evergreens which merit 

 especial notice, as suitable to be disposed in 

 large masses. Among these we may notice the 

 American Arbor Vitae, and the Chinese Arbor 

 Vitae, which last is well adapted for small 

 compartments. The difierent varieties of 

 Ehamnus Alaternus, and the species of Phil- 

 lyra and Junipers, have long enjoyed favour 

 in the eyes of the admirers of evergreens. 

 "The Sweet Bay," says Mr. Mackintosh, "in 

 favourite situations, rises into a handsome 

 shrub or low tree, and may convey to the stu- 

 dent of the classics, the idea of the Delphic 



