SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 107 



pleasure, sucli as trees, shrubs, or turf, then trees of low and slow growth 

 may be employed instead of the larger ones, such as the arbutus, the myrtle- 

 leaved box, &c. Within this outer boundary of trees, the ground may be 

 sprinkled with evergreen and deciduous low trees and shrubs, in the manner 

 indicated in the plan ; none of these shrubs being planted in large masses, 

 so as to require large breadths of dug soil ; but in small groups, and nothing 

 done to the soil round them, except preventing the grass from growing on a 

 space about 1 ft. in diameter round the stem of each tree or shrub. This 

 will prevent the grass from injuring the plants while young ; and, what is of 

 great practical importance, prevent the risk of injury to the tree or shrub, 

 from the scythe of the mower. In a few years, when the shrubs have 

 acquired strength, the grass may be allowed to spread as near to their stems 

 as the closeness and shade produced by their branches will admit. It will be 

 observed, that, though we recommend keeping a naked space roimd each 

 jjlant for several years, till it has acquired sufficient strength, we by no means 

 recommend digging this space, except in the case of standard roses, for the 

 more tender kinds of which digging is necessary for the sake of applying 

 manure. 



1G2. Laying down in grass. — After all the trees and shrubs are planted, 

 the whole garden may be laid down in grass ; the surface having been pre- 

 viously consolidated and raked quite smooth. If the trees and shrubs have 

 been planted properly each plant will stand on a small hillock, which, for 

 the lowest-growing shrubs, should not be less than (3 in. high, and 2 ft. broad 

 at the base ; and, for the larger shrubs and trees, not less than 1 ft. high, and 

 4 ft. wide at the base. On these hillocks no grass seeds should be sown; and 

 this, besides being better for the trees, by preventing their roots from being 

 exhausted by the grass, will save much trouble in their after management, by 

 rendering all clipping unnecessary. When trees and shrubs are thickly 

 scattered over a lawn, only the glades of grass can be mown with the scythe, 

 while that in the crowded parts is obliged to be clipped, either by a person 

 using hedge-shears and kneeling while he performs the operation, or by 

 using grass-shears and standing. Either of these operations is very hard and 

 disagreeable work ; and they are rendered quite unnecessary by the hillock 

 manner of planting, and by not sowing the hillocks with grass. This hillock 

 manner of planting will not, probably, be approved of by many practical 

 gardeners, and especially jobbing gardeners, who have been accustomed to 

 finish their planting by rendering the surface round the plants quite level. 

 Our readers, however, may rely on its being by far the best mode for the 

 plants ; since both nature and experience teach us that nothing is more 

 injurious to vegetation than having the collar, or base, of the stem, which 

 ought to be above ground, jilaced under it, and covered with soil to the depth of 

 2 or 3 inches. Independently altogether of the use of these hillocks (which, 

 in form, ought to be broad and flattened, and have concave sides uniting im- 

 perceptibly with the level surface all round), their effect in giving height and 

 consequence to the plants on them, and the variety which is produced in the 

 play of lines on the surface of the turf, ought to be an additional recommen- 

 dation. The expense of this mode of planting can be no greater than that of 

 the ordinary mode, except that, in some cases, stakes may be required to tie the 

 plant to, for two or three years ; which, in the ordinary mode of sinking the 

 stem in the soil, may be dispensed with. We shall not obtrude on the reader 



