Book I. 



LAYING OUT THE AREA. 



473 



with those destined for culinary products, and this is very suitable, or is rather a matter 

 of necessity in places on a moderate scale; but where variety and effect are taken pro- 

 perly into consideration, the ornamental or curious productions of gardening will be 

 kept separate from those whose beauty consists chiefly or entirely in their utility. In 

 this way two distinct and strongly marked characters are produced, instead of scenery of 

 a mixed, and as it were neutralised character. 



2479. The situation of the melonry is generally in the slip, and where the range of 

 hot-houses are placed on the north wall, and the ground sloping so as to shorten the 

 shadow thrown by this wall in winter when the sun is low, the melonry is with great 

 propriety placed in what may be called a bay of the slip behind the north wall (Jig. 

 427. c). This may almost always be the case when the compost-ground and melonry 

 are placed adjoining each other, as the part most liable to be shaded may be devoted to 

 the former. " The reasons," Forsyth observes, " for allotting part of the outside slip 

 next the stable for hot-beds for raising melons and cucumbers, are, first, because there 

 will be no litter to carry in within the walls to dirty the walks ; secondly, the beds will 

 not be seen from the garden, and lastly, the convenience of carrying the dung, by which 

 a great deal of time will be saved in carting and wheeling. It will be necessary, 

 especially in exposed situations, to enclose the melon-ground with either a wall or 

 paling from six to eight feet high. It was formerly a practice to enclose melon-grounds, 

 with reed-fences ; but, although they are tolerably warm, and easily removed from one 

 place to another (being made in separate panels), they are very apt to harbor vermin." 

 (TV. on Fr. Tr. p. 295.) In Dalmeny garden, Neill informs us, the melon-ground is 

 situated on the east side of the garden, the garden- wall being extended on the north of 

 it to the same height as the other walls, and flued like the rest of the walls which have a 

 south aspect. The pine-stoves and pits are placed in this melon-ground. 



2480. The mould and compost ground, as above suggested, should generally be com- 

 bined with the melonry, and will be most convenient, if placed between the pits *nd hot- 

 beds, and the garden-wall on which the range of hot-houses is placed ; and thus, when 

 the melonry is placed in the bay behind the north wall, the compost-ground occupies a 

 space that would otherwise be too much shaded for hot-beds or pits. 



Sect. XL Laying out the Area. 

 2481. The area, or space 

 enclosed by the garden- 

 u'alls (Jig. 428. a, b), is 

 usually formed into com- 

 partments, very common- 

 ly called quarters (d, d), 

 and borders, or narrow 

 slips (a), running pa- 

 rallel to the walls (b) and 

 walks (c). The mag- 

 nitude and number, 

 both of compartments 

 and borders, as well as 

 of the walks, depend 

 on the size of the gar- 

 den, and partly also on 

 the taste of the de- 

 signer. Rectangular 

 figures are almost uni- 

 versally preferred for both. Wall-borders are generally formed of the breadth of the 

 height of the accompanying wall ; they may be broader, but do not produce a good effect 

 when narrower. In a garden of an acre within the walls, the walks are never less than 

 six feet broad, the surrounding or wall border from ten to thirteen feet, and the marginal 

 borders from seven to eight feet wide. In the latter, an espalier rail is frequently 

 fixed about five feet from the edging of the wall ; in other cases, the trees are planted 

 along the middle of the border, and trained as dwarfs ; an alley or path, commonly 

 two feet wide (o), separates the borders from the compartments. In the slip may be 

 formed irregular compartments or borders (q), the gardener's house (g), and the compost 

 and melon ground (f ). The fence on the south side may be an open railing (p), 

 and on the north a wall or close holly-hedge, the whole surrounded by a plantation 

 nearer or more distant, according to circumstances. The hot-houses being placed 

 against the north wall (b), behind them are placed the sheds, and on a moderate 

 scale these may contain a working-room (h), fruit and seed-room (e), tool-houses (k), 

 and the furnaces (i). To the open space behind (/), for composts and hot-beds, 

 there should always be a carriage entrance (n), for bringing in earth, fuel, dung, &c. 



