120 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



TOPIARY WORK. 



Under this head, we find, in the March number 

 of the Horticulturist, an elaborately illustrated 

 article by J. Jay Smith, who has recently retired 

 from the editorial chair of the Horticulturist. 



Mr. Smith seems to have discovered an occupa- 

 tion for those " who have been great," and have 

 retired to private life, the prosecution of which will 

 cause this usually dull part of earthly existence to 

 " slip somewhat insensibly away." " The training 

 of vines, shrubs, and even trees," he says, " is one 

 of those artifices which will continue to give 

 pleasure by carrying out a preconceived idea, 

 and realizing it by degrees." Now, this sounds 

 very well, and without further an'iplification, we 

 should inftr the author of such a sentiment to be 

 tnx enthusiastic horticulturist, skilled in the mys- 

 teries of pruning, training, shortening, tying out, 

 and all the other artful ijr.nctices of modern gar- 

 dening. But let us read further: 



"It has been tlie fesliion to rail at artificial 

 scenes : Pope set the fasliion, and tlie withngs fol- 

 .owed their leader; but it is by no means ascertained 

 that the human mind, the average intellect, is not 

 capable of deriving pleasure from the surprises 

 wLich art may introduce. I have myself derived 

 more satisfaction in youtli from a huge box-bush 

 hollowed out by time and art, where concealment 

 and quiet could be enjoyed behind a leafy screen, 

 than from mountain scenery, or any scenery but a 

 waterfall. You may assemble all the new ever- 

 greens as well as the old in a given space ; they 

 may all be growing beautifully according to nature's 

 laws, and delighting your educated taste. Show 

 these to a regular inbred citizen, or to a child, and 

 as respects their education to the subject, their 

 minds difter but little, each being a blank sheet in 

 which no correct lines have been drawn, and they 

 will make little impression. The expression may 

 be 'Ah!' or 'Yes.' Suddenly introduce the same 

 parties to a nook in which are some healthy bushes 

 growing in the shape of an animal, a cross, a 

 crown, or any correctly outlined object, and the 

 exclamation is at once altered: 'Oh dear! how 

 very curious! See that dog! how natural I' Your 

 visitor forgets the sublime Cedar of Lebanon, and 

 carries in his memory only the odd, combined, 

 however, with the element which is never to be 

 lost sight of, that human ingenuity, and time, and 



expense of some kind, have b«en lavished for your , 

 enjoyment." ' 



Is it poss-ible to find in the whole circle of hor- 

 ticultural literati ure, another esamp]e of so many 

 erroneous ideas expressed in so few lines I 



Has Mr. Smith no conception of artificial 

 scenery, from which the " human mind, the aver- 

 age intellect, is capable of deriving pleasure," 

 except from such stiff, unnatural and grotesque 

 objects as living trees and buslxes cut into the forms- 

 of '• an animal, a cross, a crown," etc.? 



" See that dog! how natural!" H&w unnatural 

 — ^how absurd — how positively ludicrous is every 

 such figure! would be the exclamation of every 

 intelligent man, woman or child. 



"We venture the opinion that a novice- would 

 express quite as much surprise (if that is an emo- 

 tion which for itself it is desirable to foster,) on 

 his first introduction into a well-formed and well- 

 kept garden, where he should see closely shaven, 

 smooth lawns, neat, hard giavel walks, beautiful, 

 finely-formed trees and shrubs, flower-beds planted 

 with an artist's discrimination in the arrangement, 

 combination and contrast of colors, as he would at 

 the sight of a box fighting-cock or an evergreen 

 monkey. If the "average intellect" of the readers 

 of the Horticulturist is to be entertained by this 

 kind of garden ornaments, we congratulate it in 

 having so enthusiastic a champion. 



"We have no doubt the youthful Smith "derived 

 satisfaction " from " concealment and quiet behind 

 a leafy screen," but are also inclined to believe h© 

 has spent a greater proportion of his time in the 

 shade than he here intimates. 



The engravings vrhich illuminate this article are 

 of various forms, but what they are intended to 

 represent we are unable in all cases to determine, 

 as the writer does not inform us fully on this point ; 

 of course it is supposed that he possesses this infor- 

 mation himself, and perhaps will make it known on 

 application. 



Fig. 2 is a cross on the top of a pillar, with a 

 narrow base sloping outward to a broad, rounded 

 top. Figures 3 and 4 are in the form of quarter sec- 

 tions of a hollow globe, for shaded seats, and are 

 the only useful or graceful objects represented. 

 Figure 7 is a clumsy -looking urn, and figure 9 is a 

 bird, with a top-knot and a long, sweeping tail, 

 standing on one leg on the top of a round-headed 

 club. Figure 10 represents an arbor at Elvaston 

 Castle, England, cut out of a Yew tree, and the 

 whole surmounted by two Peacocks, one on the top 

 of the other. 



