Book IV. BEAUTY AND ORDER OF GARDEN-SCENERY. 45k 



and Zoology, when published. Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology t and 

 Saraouelle's Entomologist's Useful Companion. The best Dictionary of Botany and Cul- 

 ture, say that of Miller, enlarged by Martyn. Marshall, Pontey, and Sang, on planting. 

 Wheatley, Girardin, Price, and Repton, on laying out grounds. The Transactions of the 

 London and Edinburgh Horticultural Societies. The best Gardener's Kalendar for the 

 time, say that of Abercrombie for England, and Abercrombie or Nicol, for Scotland and 

 Ireland. All new works on practical gardening, if possible, as they appear. En- 

 lish, Latin, French, and Geographical Dictionaries, and as many other works as the 

 master may be pleased to deposit in the gardener's office, or lend from the library of the 

 mansion. 



2354. These books ought to be considered as for tlie use of journeymen and ajnrrenticcs, as 

 icell as the master ,- but the latter ought to be responsible for their being kept clean and 

 perfect. Where the head gardener is of a humane and kind turn of mind, he may as- 

 semble the men and also the women, and read aloud, and expound to, or answer ques- 

 tions put by them ; or he may cause them to read aloud to and question one another, in 

 such a way as to blend entertainment with instruction. In short, he ought to consider it 

 as a part of his duty to improve their minds, as well as to render them habile in his art, 

 and by all means to ameliorate their condition and manners as much as is in his power. 

 Neill, one of the best modern writers on gardening, and obviously a humane and bene- 

 volent man, states of the late Walter Nicol, that " he observed a praiseworthy practice, 

 too much neglected by head gardeners, that of instructing his young men or assist- 

 ants, not only in botany, but in writing, arithmetic, geometry, and mensuration. He 

 used to remark, that he not only used to improve his scholars, but taught himself and 

 made his knowledge so familiar, that he could apply it in the daily business of life." 

 The same practice, as already observed (235.), is still carried on in Germany. 



Sect. III. Of the Beauty and Order of Garden-scenery. 



2355. To unite the agreeable with the useful is an object common to all the departments 

 of gardening. The kitchen-garden, the orchard, the nursery, and the forest, are all in- 

 tended as scenes of recreation and visual enjoyment, as well as of useful culture ; and 

 enjoyment is the avowed object of the flower-garden, shrubbery, and pleasure-ground. 

 Utility, however, will stand the test of examination longer and more frequently than any 

 scene merely beautiful, and hence the horticultural and planting departments of gar- 

 dening are, in fact, more the scenes of enjoyment of a family constantly residing at their 

 country-seat, than the ornamental or picturesque departments. It has been a very common 

 assertion since the modern style of gardening became prevalent, and absorbed the attention 

 of gardeners and their employers, that beauty and neatness may be dispensed with in a 

 kitchen-garden ; but this is to assign too exclusive limits to the terms beauty and neatness ; 

 and, in truth, may be considered as originating in the vulgar error of confounding 

 beauty with ornament, which latter quality is unquestionably not essential to scenes of 

 utility. Every department of gardening has objects or final results peculiar to itself ; 

 and the main beauty of each of these departments will consist in the perfection with 

 which these results are attained ; a secondary beauty will consist in the display of skill 

 in the means taken to attain them ; and a third in the conformity of these means to the 

 generally received ideas of order, propriety, and decorum, which exist in cultivated and 

 well regulated minds. It is the business of this section to offer some general observ- 

 ations, with a view to the "attainment of the beauties of order, propriety, and decorum. 

 The entire work is devoted to the former beauties. 



2356. Order, it has been well observed, is " Heaven's first law." It is, indeed, the 

 end of all law . Without it, nothing worth having is to be attained in life, even by the 

 most fertile in resources ; and with it much may be accomplished with very slender 

 means. A mind incapable of an orderly and regular disposition of its ideas or inten- 

 tions, will display a man confused and disorderly in his actions ; he will begin them 

 without a specific object in view : continue them at random, or from habit, without 

 knowing well why, till some accident or discordant result puts an end to his present 

 progress, unmans him for life, or awakens reflection. But a well ordered mind reflects, 

 arranges, and systematises ideas before attempting to realise them, weighs well the end in 

 view, considers the fitness of the means for attaining that end, and the best mode of em- 

 ploying these means. To every man who has the regulation and disposal of a number 

 of servants, this mode of orderly arrangement is essentially necessary in order to reap the 

 full effects of their labors ; and to no men is it of more importance than to master- 

 gardeners, whose cares are so various, and the success of whose operations, always con- 

 nected with, and dependent on, living beings and weather, depends so much on their 

 being performed in the fitting moment. 



2357. Propriety relates to what is fitting and suitable for particular circumstances ; it 

 is the natural result of an orderly mind, and may be said to include that part of order 

 which directs the choice and adaptation of means to ends, and of ideas and Objects to 



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