404 General Results of a Gardening Tow : — 



tention be to diminish its apparent size, or destroy breadth o>r 

 effect. Eight rule : All masses of wood in park scenery, or 

 wherever it is intended to imitate nature in planting, should 

 be composed of aggregations of groups. Ninth rule : Where 

 there are roads, fences, buildings, or watercourses, groups 

 should generally be placed near them, rather than towards the 

 middle of the park or lawn. Tenth rule : In situations of the 

 kind last mentioned, one or two trees are often admissible, as 

 forming a whole with the other objects. Eleventh rule : A 

 tree, with a shrub or a creeper planted in the same hole, will 

 form a better group than two trees planted in the same hole. 



We could add to the number of these rules ; but we think 

 we have done enough to show the difficulty of the subject, 

 and to prove how thoroughly almost every park and lawn in 

 the country is deformed by the system of dotting, as it is 

 called, at present so generally practised. We were surprised 

 at the extent to which this system has been carried at Alton 

 Towers, Trentham, Chatsworth, Heaton Park, and other 

 places, where we expected better things. 



Other faults common to the grounds of most residences, but 

 most conspicuous and offensive in those of small villas, are the 

 depth, nakedness, and spade-marks of the edges to the walks 

 and roads. Many gardeners are not aware that this is a great 

 fault, or we should not find it prevailing in places otherwise 

 respectably kept. It is a fault, because the lines so produced 

 are too harsh and conspicuous, and attract too much attention 

 in the general view. There can be no absolute depth assigned 

 for the edge of a walk, any more than there can be for its 

 breadth : relative circumstances must determine both. Never- 

 theless, we may lay it down as a rule, that a walk 6 ft. broad, 

 through a smooth lawn, should never have the edges deeper 

 than 1 in. ; a 12 ft. walk or road may have an edge 2 in. 

 deep, but not more. The edges, whether of 1 in. or 2 in., 

 should always present a surface of grass, and not of raw 

 earth, as left by the spade. Natural walks, with broken 

 edges, should be rather above the level of the adjoining sur- 

 face, in order to throw off the water. 



The fault we have just mentioned every possessor of a villa 

 may detect for himself; and we may safely appeal to his own 

 feelings, whether adhering to the depth mentioned would not 

 be a great improvement to the appearance of garden scenery. 

 Other faults in the walks and gi'ounds of villa residences we 

 shall leave for the present, and proceed next to notice some 

 in their architecture and disposition on the ground. 



Though we are not a professional architect, yet we pre- 

 tend to as thorough a knowledge of the principles of archi- 



