Fublic Garden for a Corporate Toiion. 13 



Art. IV. Design for a Public Garden, made for an English Corpo- 

 rate Totvn ; with a List of the Trees and Shrubs to be planted in it, 

 and their Prices. By the Conductor. 



The plan which we are about to describe may be very fitly con- 

 sidered as an illustration, as far as it goes, of the article Vol. XL, 

 p. 644. In it we have attempted to show how much may be 

 made of a piece of ground not much exceeding three acres, and 

 very unfavourably circumstanced, at the least expense. We were 

 employed to give the design by a committee of management, and 

 our instructions were, simply, to make the most of the ground at 

 the least expense. The following remarks are what we delivered 

 to the committee on the 24th of October last ; and the plan has 

 since, in great part, been carried into execution. 



The piece of ground to be laid out being of limited extent, 

 and having a distant prospect only on one side, viz. that next 

 the river, the object, in contriving the plan, has been to create 

 interest within the area. This has been attempted by increasing 

 the inequalities in the surface ; by producing the greatest length 

 of walk which the space admits of; by varying the views along 

 that walk ; by concealing the boundary everywhere except on the 

 river side and at the principal entrance; and, above all, by plant- 

 ing the most extensive collection of trees and shrubs which, it is 

 believed, has been hitherto planted in any public garden, not 

 avowedly botanical. 



The plan {Jig. 1.) which occupies p. 14. and p, 15., is explained 

 at the bottom of those pages. There is one walk, viz. that to the 

 right on entering from the terrace, which makes the complete 

 circuit of the garden; and another, to the left, which goes, by a 

 more direct course, partly through a tunnel, to the proposed 

 esplanade. This tunnel, which is about 60 ft. in length, it is pro- 

 posed, may be either made winding, and lighted by circular 

 funnels of about 1 ft. in diameter, and at about "10 ft. apart, 

 terminating in iron gratings ; or it may be made straight, in which 

 case, it will be sufficiently light without any funnels. The object 

 of making the tunnel in a winding direction is, to prevent persons 

 who may be passing through it from ascertaining its extent at a 

 single glance, and thus perceiving the narrowness of the garden ; 

 but this result, even if the tunnel is made straight, may be in a great 

 degree prevented by the winding of the walk, and planted banks 

 at each end of the tunnel ; by which means the boundary of the 

 garden will not be seen from whichever end the spectator enters. 

 The great object, in a limited space, is to vary the interior ; from 

 every point of view to conceal the bounds ; and, by a great length 

 of walk, no part of which is ever seen at one time but the part 

 walked on, to increase the apparent extent in the highest degree. 

 Where these walks approach the boundary, the trees and shrubs 



