630 Ornamental 'Gardening. 



only as seen from, the house, but also from different points 

 of the garden. The parterre or flower-garden proper varies 

 according to circumstances and resources, from a symmetrical 

 arrangement of a dozen or twenty beds, to the most complex 

 and elaborate designs ; and it may consist, in part, at least, 

 of a combination of beds and walks, or, what is more effective 

 where the space between the beds is sufficient, an open design 

 on the lawn. Fig, 264 is the plan of a flower-garden of the 

 middle of the seventeenth century ; but such elaborate plans 

 are rarely carried out now, and, of course, are only suitable for 

 a very large establishment, where the resources for stocking 

 the flower-garden are almost unlimited. Some very simple 

 arrangement of geometrical figures, or sections of figures, is 

 that in general use at the present time, and these can be 

 altered and modified to suit any outline. 



While on this subject we may say a few words on the 

 arrangement of colours, as on that alone depends the success of 

 the system of massing flowering and foliage plants. Though 

 not of so much importance in the mixed border, it should be 

 one of the first considerations. 



It is necessary to bear in mind that there are only three 

 simple or primary colours, from which all the others are de- 

 rived, namely, red, yellow, and blue ; and that their complete 

 fusion in certain determined proportions produces a sensation 

 of white to the eye. These colours combined in pairs give 

 birth to the composite colours. Orange, to wit, is the result 

 of the union of red and yellow, green comes from the blending 

 of yellow and blue, and violet is a combination of blue and red. 

 The tint of these mixed colours varies according to the rela- 

 tive proportion, of the two elements which enter into its 

 composition ; and as there is no limit to the variations of the 

 proportions themselves, the result is an infinite number of 

 intermediate shades between the two composing colours. A 

 complementary colour is that which when added to a combina- 

 tion of colours, or a simple colour, will reconstitute the triad of 

 elementary colours. Thus, green composed of blue and yellow 

 is the complementary of red; violet proceeding from red 

 and blue is the complementary of yellow ; orange composed 

 of red and yellow is the complementary of blue ; and recipro- 

 cally, blue, yellow, and red are complementary to orange, 

 violet, -and green. The fusion of a colour witli its comple- 

 mentary would naturally produce white. Black is merely the 

 absence, or total extinction of the three element arv colours. 



