14. THE MANSE GARDEN. 



unable to secure its decay : it is literally ever green. 

 The root, holding a perpetual lease of the soil, is pos- 

 sessed of a reproductive vitality, and while the old 

 stem is failing through length of years, a numerous 

 offspring arise, which shelter in their bosoms the 

 aged parent, allowing no marks either of the infirmity 

 or the change of generations. The expense is no- 

 thing ; four shillings' worth (the price of a hundred 

 good plants) is enough for an acre. The hollies 

 should be placed, say twelve feet asunder, and so ar- 

 ranged that one farther remote may divide the space 

 betwixt the nearer two. 



A strip so furnished, though not more than thirty 

 or forty feet wide, will afford more beauty and shelter 

 than one of three times the breadth reared in the 

 common way; and it will also have this incompa- 

 rable advantage, that no length of time will pro- 

 duce the nakedness of a wretched row of poles; it 

 will continually increase your privacy and shade, 

 providing for the comforts of your old age, by sub- 

 stituting for the bleakness of December the gayeties 

 of June, and give you the happiness of leaving the 

 world better than you found it. Neither is it. all 

 the while a petty low shrubbery that you rejoice in. 

 Amidst the shining hollies may stand the flowering 

 lime, with its accompaniment of bees the mountain 

 ash, bending under its vermilion clusters the shady 

 plane, with its chattering magpies the early-budding 

 poplar, giving notice of the spring the walnut, of 

 sweet-scented leaves, and whatever else may please 

 your fancy, all rising to the majestic; whilst all 

 within and beneath is closely covered, and always 

 green, and full of birds fighting in song. It is not 



