560 DAWN OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



is cheerfulness, and therefore in a garden in this situation 

 the disposition and assemblage should be such as may still 

 further carry on that sentiment." Here follows an eulogium 

 on Kent, succeeding which are the author's opinions of 

 water, planting, and buildings in association with 

 ground of this character. The river should be of a serpen- 

 tine form sometimes losing itself in the appearance of 

 a thicket and sometimes in that of a lake, but for the 

 most part keeping its own pleasant meander. " The plant- 

 ing in such a place should consist of trees of the most 

 beautiful forms and colours, both of home and of exotic 

 kinds. They should be planted in the loose and open 

 manner, so that the beauty of each particular tree, and the 

 beauty of the ground they cover may be seen, or if the 

 particular roughness of a hill forces the gardener to plant 

 them in thickets, he should if possible make the colours 

 run into and lose themselves in each other like the colours 

 of the rainbow. As this is the situation in which the 

 beauty of single trees may be best seen, so it is here chiefly 

 that the connoisseur in the science of trees should exert his 

 knowledge and taste." 



Nothing could be finer than this passage, and I would 

 commend it seriously to the consideration and adoption of 

 those who have the responsibility of choosing trees for 

 ornamental planting. Over and over again (in some 

 instances even as recently as this year 1890) have I looked 

 upon plantations for ornament with disgust rather than 

 pleasure, owing to the ill-chosen and ill-assorted individuals 

 of which they are made up. It is green, universal green 

 even the various shades of that colour not being made the 

 most of while the gold and silver tints, the brown, the 

 purple and other shades are almost or altogether ignored. 

 It is surprising how little known or used are some of our 

 most beautiful shrubs and trees. Am I going too far in 

 saying that the landscape gardener has only half learnt his 

 profession who lacks the knowledge of the habits, forms, 

 and tints of the modern as well as the old-fashioned hardy 



