610 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



564 



6158. Statues, whether of classical 'or geographical interest {figs. 564. and 565.), urns, in- 

 scriptions, busts, monuments, &c. are materials which should be introduced with caution. 



None of the others require so much taste and judg- 

 ment to manage them with propriety. The introduc- 

 tion of statues, except among works of the most 

 artificial kind, such as fine architecture, is seldom or 

 , never allowable ; for when they obtrude themselves 

 among natural beauties, they always disturb the train 

 of ideas which ought to be excited in the mind, and 

 generally counteract the character of the scenery. In 

 the same way, busts, urns, monuments, &c. in flower- 

 gardens, are most generally misplaced. The obvious 

 intention of these appendages is to recall to mind the 

 virtues, qualities, or actions of those for whom they 1 

 were erected : now this requires time, seclusion, and 

 undisturbed attention, which must either render all the flowers and other 

 decorations of the ornamental garden of no effect ; or, if they have effect, it can only be 

 to interrupt the train of ideas excited by the other. As the garden, and the productions 

 of nature, are what are intended to interest the spectator, it is plain that the others should 

 not be introduced. This reasoning, while on the one hand it shows the absurdity of such 

 a practice, on the other, directs that urns, monuments, &c. should only be placed in 

 solitary unfrequented places, where the mind is naturally led to contemplate, and where 

 the remembrance of the virtues of great men, or the worth of relations now no more, 

 afford proper subjects for contemplation. But even in places apparently solitary, or 

 secluded, these have been introduced in so affected or improper a manner, as to furnish 

 reason for the greatest caution in future. ( Tr. on Country Res. ) 



6159. A cottage, when the walk of a 

 shrubbery is of great extent, may some- 

 times be advantageously introduced in a 

 distant part of it, with an occupant, for 

 the purpose of keeping one apartment in 

 order as a place of repose. Such a cot- 

 tage {Jig. 566. ) may be designed in any 

 style, according to the taste of the owner, 

 and may serve a variety of useful pur- 

 poses. In the gardens laid out under 

 the direction of the Queen of Geo. III. 

 at Frogmore, and in the walks of what 

 are called the slopes at Windsor, are some 

 good examples of rustic seats, and orna- 

 mented shrubbery cottages. 



6 1 60. On the subject of planting both 

 flower-gardens and shrubberies we may remark, with the author of the Florist's Manual, 



that it is considered in much too unimportant a light, both by gardeners and their em- 

 ployers. The business is almost every where performed^ at random, instead of being 

 conducted with a specific object in view. To remedy this evil, gardeners should first 

 make a correct plan of the border, parterre, or plot, of whatever kind it may be, tliat is 

 to be planted ; and then having determined the mode of arrangement most proper, and 

 selected the names of plants to effect it, from the proper catalogues, the situation of 

 every plant and its name should be determined on the plan. This done, all these points 

 should be correctly transferred to the ground, and a pin or stake inserted at each, num- 

 bered in correspondence with a list of the sorts. The plants being procured, should 

 then be distributed and planted according to these stakes and numbers ; and the stakes 

 should be allowed to remain for a year or two, to make certain as to the sort to be re- 

 placed there, in the case of death or accident. If ever this branch of gardening should 

 attain a high degree of perfection in Britain, it will probably be deemed as necessary to 

 call in a professor to direct the arrangement of flowers and shrubs in parterres and shrub- 

 beries, as it is now to require his aid in arranging the ground-plan. 



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