and of Rural Improvement generally >, during 1842. 653 



enjoyment. If it were not considered desirable to cover the 

 exterior walls with plants, they might be rendered architectural 

 by pilasters, buttresses, or other means, so as to combine with 

 the architecture of the mansion; or, under particular circum- 

 stances, we see no reason why the walls of such a house should 

 not be erected with rough timber like log houses or with rock- 

 work, and covered exteriorly with creepers or ivy. An excellent 

 article on the construction of pits will be found in p. 457. ; and 

 another by the same author, on connecting a greenhouse with a 

 library, in p. 396. 



Landscape- Gardening. — The advantage of employing circles 

 of different diameters, disposed in groups, as beds for flowers or 

 for low shrubs, is beginning to be understood ; and will at no 

 distant time, we trust, banish from our lawns and flower-gardens 

 those beds of incongruous shapes, put down at random in such 

 a manner that they never can combine so as to form a whole, 

 either among themselves or with surrounding objects. It is 

 not that fanciful shapes cannot be so disposed as to form one 

 connected figure, but that it is difficult for any one to do this 

 who is not an artist ; difficult for a gardener to cover such beds 

 properly with flowers ; and difficult to retain the shapes, unless 

 they are edged with lines of concealed stone or brick. In general 

 it may be observed that all flower-beds that are to be scattered 

 over a lawn, and seen from a walk on the same level, should be of 

 simple shapes, such as circles or ovals, the effect being produced 

 by what may be called horizontal perspective ; and all scattered 

 beds which are to be seen from a walk considerably above their 

 level, or to be seen on the side of a slope considerably above the 

 level of the walk, should be of composite forms, calculated to fit 

 into one another, so as to group and combine vertically as well as 

 horizontally. It must not be forgotten, however, that these are 

 only general rules, which in their application require to be va- 

 ried according to circumstances ; and further, that cases are 

 continually occurring which form exceptions. Neither must 

 these remarks be considered as applying to borders, or continu- 

 ous beds along the margins of walks, which admit, to a certain 

 extent, of the flowing lines and convolutions of the Elizabethan 

 style and the arabesque. 



Almost the only papers on Landscape -Gardening in the present 

 Volume are translations from the principal professional landscape- 

 gardener that Germany has produced, the Chevalier Sckell of 

 Munich ; but in the notices of our tours there are numerous 

 remarks on the subject, which, we trust, will be found useful for 

 the young gardener. 



Arboriculture, more especially in the ornamental department, 

 is making some progress, as appears by the greatly increased 

 number of species and varieties of trees and shrubs now culti- 



