64 THE VJLLA GAKDENKR. 



should always be planted on grass ; because, as the fruit drops the moment it 

 is ripe, it can be picked up clean for use, which it cannot if it falls on dug 

 ground or gravel. The two succeeding trees may be a laburnum and a scarlet 

 thorn; or, if the occupier prefers fruit trees, they may be two pears, say a 

 glout morceau, and a Marie Louise, or a beurre de Capiaumont; or they may 

 be two plums, or cherries : or, if he prefers evergreen trees, they may be two 

 variegated hollies. We recommend the variegated holly, because it is one of 

 the most cheerful of evergreens, and is in no danger of growing out of bounds, 

 so as to require pruning. Next to it, for the climate of London, the cedar of 

 Goa may be planted ; but, as the cedar of Goa is somewhat tender, perhaps 

 a preferable plant for a smoky situation would be the Quercus i'lex, of which 

 the willow-leaved and beech-leaved varieties may be selected ; or, for colder 

 climates, the common red cedar. We have here shown only one line of trees 

 down the centre of the lawn, because they will there have abundance of 

 room : they will not require pruning for many years, and their leaves will 

 drop on the grass, and not litter the walks. When low-growing trees are 

 planted near the walks, their branches hang over them ; and every year 

 those which inconvenience persons passing along the walks require to be cut 

 off, or tied up, and this would occasion expense in keeping, which it is one of 

 the desiderata in this mode of laying out and planting to avoid as much as 

 possible. For this reason no tree or shrub is dii'ected to be jilaiited against 

 the house, because that would be to incur the expense of training and 

 pruning. The trees should be procured of 6 ft. or 8 ft. in height, so that their 

 tops may be, when planted, out of the reach of injury from children ; and 

 the grass may either be sown, or turf may be procured and laid down. The 

 latter produces the more immediate effect, though it is by much the more 

 expensive, and, in the end, the turf is inferior, from its usually containing a 

 mixture of unsuitable grasses and broad-leaved plants. The grass seeds will 

 produce a close verdant surface in abovit three months, and, in a year, a 

 much finer lawn than turf brought from common pasture, or meadow, or an 

 old grass field. The flagstones or slates should be laid on brick piers, built 

 on a solid foundation ; so that their surface may be at all times level and 

 even at the joints, for walking on. The surface of paved walks, like that of 

 all others, as far as it is practicable, should be rather higher than the adjoin- 

 ing surfaces: otherwise, in heavy rains, they become receptacles for water, 

 which, being often muddy, disfigures the stones, the pavement, or the gravel : 

 but on this subject we shall enter more at length, when treating of walks, in 

 a future page. If the shrub planted in the centre of the front garden be one 

 of the more rare kinds, the natural loam, which we have supposed to be the 

 soil in both gardens, may require to be mixed with a little sand, peat earth, 

 or vegetable mould, to lighten and enrich it. The kinds of grass-seeds proper 

 for sowing the lawn, and the mode of procedure, &c., will be given in a 

 future page. 



96. The ea^pense of carrying into execution this manner of laying out and 

 planting a suburban garden will depend chiefly on the price of flagstone or 

 paving slate. In London, this, taking a quantity of the material together, 

 would be from 'id. to 6d. a foot ; so that every foot in length, of a walk 3 ft. 

 broad, would cost from Is. to is. 6iL, independently of the expense of building 

 the piers by which the flagstones are to be supported. The whole expense of 

 making these walks will be about three times that of walks laid with gravel : 



