of the Horticultural Society. g43 



As a landscape composition, it must either be an imitation of natural 

 scenery, or a composition with a view to create a character of art ; any 

 thing between the two would be too indefinite to have much beauty. No 

 one, for a moment, can ever mistake either the water or the clumps for 

 natural forms; and, therefore, we must conclude that an artificial cha- 

 racter was intended. An artificial character may be highly beautiful 

 without being natural. The French parteiTe is an artificial character, and 

 is very perfect and very beautiful in its way. So may an artificial arbo- 

 retum, for it might be arranged as a parterre on a large scale ; and, there- 

 fore, we are bound to conclude that the artist who devised the plan of this 

 arboretum had an artificial character in view. There can be no question 

 that he was satisfied with the beauty of his composition, and it is equally 

 certain that the garden committee consider it beautiful; for in the same 

 Report which we have quoted, they state " that if the plan of the garden 

 were again to be arranged, the present would probably be adopted by all 

 who are acquainted with its details." We confess we can see neither 

 beauty nor fitness in any part of the plan of this garden, as we have before 

 stated {Encyc. of Gard., § 7507. ; Gard. Mag., vol. ii. p. 359.), and least 

 of all, in the plan of the arboretum. But, having shown that it has no 

 natural beauty, we shall employ a few words to prove that it is equally 

 deficient in artificial beauty. 



As the first effect of natural beauty is the impression of a resemblance to 

 nature, so the first effect of artificial beauty is the impression that the scene 

 could only have been produced by art. Both characters are produced by 

 art ; but in the former case art is studiously concealed ; in the latter, it is dis- 

 tinctly avowed. The grand defect of this arboretum is, that the forms, neither 

 separately nor combined, are sufficiently geometrical ; and the second 

 defect is, that from no point, nor in any manner in which it can be viewed, 

 does it form a whole. With the single exception of the two ovals {a b 

 and c d), there is not a single clump that might not be moved either back- 

 wards or forwards, or taken away altogether, without in the slightest 

 degree injuring the effect of the rest, or of the water or grass. The water 

 might have been more or less bent in its direction, and broader or nar- 

 rower at any one particular part, without the slightest derangement to the 

 grass or the clumps. The only thing like what an artist would call a 

 feature in this plan is the open glade (<? /), in the direction of the com- 

 mittee room (g). This is the single redeeming point in the whole com- 

 position, which is otherwise so tame and lumpish as to leave no striking or 

 agreeable impression. Whoever has Brewster's Encyclopcedia, and will 

 turn to the article Landscape-gardening and the plate of the grounds at 

 Duddingston House near Edinburgh, will be struck with the similarity in 

 the manner of laying out that place by a pupil of Brown between 1770 and 

 1780, and of laying out the arboretum of the Chiswick garden in J 825; and 

 they may ascertain the opinion now entertained of the beauty of the 

 grounds at Duddingston House, as well in the article alluded to as in Sir 

 Walter Scott's review of the Planter's Guide in the Qiuarterly Review for 

 October, 1827. 



The next thing is to examine how far the disposition of the clumps is 

 favourable to the purpose of examining different species or genera of trees 

 individually, in connection with other species of the same genus, or genera 

 of the same order, in the Jussieuean or Linnean system. Ready and 

 comfortable access to each individual species at all seasons when plants are 

 in flower or leaf, and such an obvious arrangement as that a botanist, 

 knowing the position of any two genera, might tell where to find a third, 

 it will we think, be allowed, are leading desiderata for this purpose. 



Accordingly, almost all the arboretums in Europe have the_ trees 

 planted along gravel walks that the botanist may examine them without 

 damping his feet by moist earth or dewy grass ; and the genera following each 



