General Principles 103 



aimed at or cultivated. It is an instinct which twines itself 

 with our being, and makes its own existence known and felt. 

 All that tends to excite or develop it may, however, be relig- 

 iously fostered, for it is as beneficial as it is pleasurable, 

 softening and humanizing the heart, and refining the entire 

 nature. And even in the newest places, where not a solitary 

 vestige of human feelings or interests is found, every plant, to 

 the lover of a garden, may soon acquire a little history of its 

 own, and be the source of endless amusement, by personal 

 trimming and training, and watering, and protecting; while a 

 sentiment can easily be attached to particular spots, by dedi- 

 cating them to the various affections, virtues, or purposes 

 which adorn or illustrate human life. However unfortunate 

 a disposition to allow plants to become overcrowded and spoil 

 one another may be, one always augurs well of the heart, at 

 least, of the individual who shows a peculiar sensitiveness 

 about the removal or destruction of anything he has once 

 cherished, and with which are swept away sensations and 

 pleasures never to be recalled. 



23. Combination of Elements. — Having thus gone over 

 the numerous prihciples which those who would lay out a 

 garden will have to take into account, I have now to indicate 

 the manner in which they can all be harmonized and com- 

 bined so as to compose a beautiful and consistent whole. 

 It may appear to some that many of the points discussed are 

 incapable of being conjointly carried out, — that such a thing 

 as variety are incompatible with unity and simphcity, and 

 that, in observing some of these principles, others must be 

 violated. That such is not the case I shall proceed to demon- 

 strate. 



Let it not be supposed, then, that any stress is intended to 

 be laid on one principle to the depreciation of the rest, or that 

 the marked elaboration of either is advocated. The perfec- 



