18 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



quenting them would produce the most sahitary influence 

 upon the' minds of the people. In a country like this, where 

 the tradesmen are almost the only wealthy inhabitants, they 

 are necessarily the chief patrons of the arts. The taste that^ 

 prevails among the members of this class of the community, 

 is, therefore, a matter of greater importance than in other 

 countries, where the nobility are the chief patrons of the 

 arts. Nothing could be devised that would serve so effectu- 

 ally to diffuse throughout the population of our towns and 

 cities a love for the beauties of nature, as an extensive pre- 

 serve, to which they might resort whenever good weather and 

 an hour of leisure would permit ; and the observations made 

 in this place would naturally inspire them with a pure and 

 unsophisticated taste for the finer works of art. 



Let us now attend to the very reasonable inquiry, as to 

 how this place is to be supported. "Would it not be a contin- 

 ual tax upon the public ? Not at all, if it were made what 

 it is designed to be — a forest, and not a garden. We must 

 consider that it is not to admit of the cultivation of exotics, 

 which require so much labor of weeding and training in our 

 gardens. It is not to be used for a pleasure ground, but as a 

 place of study and recreation for man, and an asylum for the 

 inferior animals. The walks are to be of such a description 

 as to require but a small portion of labor to keep them in 

 proper condition. They are neither to be covered with 

 gravel, nor kept clear of grass. Nothing is to be rooted out 

 from them, except those plants of a shrubby or thorny nature, 

 which would interfere with our progress. As a superintend- 

 ent of the grounds, it would be necessary to employ some 

 person, who must in one way or another be compensated. A 

 laboring man of good sense and taste would perform all the 

 necessary duties, for the privilege of occupying a small cot- 

 tage that should be attached to the place, and of pasturing 

 his cattle and flocks. As perquisites, he might be allowed to 

 use the pickings of the forest, which would require every 

 season to be divested of superfluous wood, and of certain 

 trees that might stand in a bad position. 



In certain favorable situations I would place tablets for in- 



