CHAPTER V 

 Practical Considerations 



A BASIS of sound principles being now laid, it will be 

 necessary to advance a step further and consider those 

 objects worthy of attainment which are most likely to come 

 within the scope of the majority of places. I shall thus 

 descend by gradual stages into matters more and more prac- 

 tical, until at last minor details and operations fill up the 

 scale of instruction. In a field so wide, however, it will of 

 course be incompatible with the Kmits of a book like the 

 present to touch upon any but the most important heads, or 

 to do so otherwise than very Hghtly. 



I. Economy is, perhaps, one of the first objects to be con- 

 sulted in laying out a garden, that the means of the owner 

 may be made to effect as much as possible, and that his 

 subsequent expenditure may be conformable to his circum- 

 stances. And here I must lay down as a broad principle that 

 economy has no necessary connection with the prime cost of a 

 place. The garden on which least has been expended may 

 be the most costly in the end. "A thing well done is twice 

 done " says the old adage, with remarkable truth and clear- 

 ness. 



A prime requisite towards securing economy is to study 

 well beforehand what is likely to be wanted or desired and 

 form a fixed and definite plan of procedure. Many persons 

 begin building a house and laying out a garden on the spur 

 of some sudden impulse, and without at all duly considering 

 or digesting their actual requirements or the best method 

 of accomplishing them. Hence, when they have got half 



