228 ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 



cast wind, with the thermometer 20 degs. below the 

 freezing point. Shortly afterwards I entered a wood of 

 Scotch Pines, and was struck with the change of climate 

 a change of which the thermometer gave no adequate 

 indication, and which deeply impressed me not only with 

 the sense of increased personal comfort, but also with the 

 value of shelter to the young and delicate objects of 

 vegetable life. I thought then, and have thought since, 

 that the horticulturist who measures the probable influ- 

 ences of the weather by the thermometer alone does not 

 rise to a correct estimate of the powers he has to contend 

 with. 



Thus, while I regard with no antipathy the biting 

 frost and the searching wind, knowing that these things 

 are of vast importance in the order of nature's laws, it is 

 my purpose to advocate the use of those objects and 

 agencies which art and science have placed at our dis- 

 posal to modify and subdue those influences uncongenial 

 to the comforts of an English home. 



The real value of SHELTER can scarcely be too highly 

 estimated in many of the delicate operations of modern 

 gardening, and the idea of it when associated with warmth 

 is no less pleasing to the mind in winter. On both 

 grounds the free use of evergreens when forming new 

 gardens or plantations is strongly advocated. They are 

 invaluable for the shelter they afford and the idea of 

 warmth which they convey. But a garden or pleasure- 

 ground planted wholly with evergreens, few would be 

 bold enough to advocate ; such would be heavy in 

 summer, and monotonous in winter. Evergreens may 

 abound, but they must not superabound. To abound 

 even, they require to be judiciously varied. The free and 

 spreading forms should be mingled with the formal ; the 

 large-leaved and small-leaved kinds must be properly 

 arranged and adjusted ; the light green, the dark green, 

 the glaucous, and the variegated, must be represented in 

 varying proportions to suit the character of the mansion 



