310 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



known on the Continent as the English style, for the more 

 distant portion. 



In the Crystal Palace gardens the Italian style has not been 

 servilely copied, bat rather adapted and appropriated. It has 

 been taken in fact as the basis of a portion of the gardens, 

 and modified to suit the English climate and English taste. 



In these gardens we have the terraces and the architectural 

 display, the long walks, the carefully cut beds, and the orna- 

 mental fountains ; but the undulations of greensward, that 

 bespeak the English soil, give a character to the borrowed 

 elements which they do not have elsewhere. 



The violent juxtaposition of these two styles of gardening, 

 — the Italian and the natural, — it may readily be conceived, 

 would produce a harsh and disagreeable effect. To avoid 

 the collision, Sir Joseph Paxton introduced, in the immediate 

 vicinity of the terraces and the broad central walk, a mixed 

 or transitional style, combining the formalities of the one 

 school with the freedom and natural grace of the other ; and 

 the former character is gradually diminished, until, at the 

 north side of the grounds, it entirely disappears, and English 

 landscape gardening appears in all its beauty. 



The Crystal Palace and its grounds occupy 200 acres, and 

 it is of importance to note that, in the formation of the gar- 

 dens, the same uniformity of parts is adhered to, as in the 

 building itself; that is to say, the width of the walks, the 

 width and length of the terraces, the breadth of the steps, are 

 all multiples and sub-multiples of the one primary number of 

 eight. By this symmetrical arrangement, perfect harmony 

 prevails, unconsciously to the looker on in the Palace and in 

 the grounds. 



The length of the upper terrace is 1576 feet : and its width 

 48 feet ; the terrace wall is of Bath stone, built with project- 

 ing bays or alcoves, the pedestals supporting marble statues 

 or vases filled with flowers. 



The width of the central flight of steps is 96 feet, and this 

 is also the width of the grand central walk, running from the 

 central nave of the palace entirely across the grounds. 



The lower terrace is 1656 feet long between the wings of 



