34) Remarks on ornamental Planting. 



forms and sizes which they will ultimately attain. The selec-^ 

 tion, also, very often betrays little forethought or reflection; and, 

 consequently, the kinds planted are seldom in keeping with their 

 distribution. 



When trees and shrubs are disposed as appendages to houses, 

 simply for ornament, they may include an endless, yet pleasing, 

 variety; more so, indeed, than if their appropriation were for 

 screens, or shelter, or for picturesque effect. In either or in 

 every case, a more extensive and judicious choice might be made 

 than that which we usually see, and much improvement might 

 be effected in their distribution. 



It is not my intention now to show what might be accom- 

 plished, in a given space, by the employment of a great number 

 of species, having already done so in another article ; but I only 

 now mean to draw the attention of your readers to this subject, 

 and append a few cursory observations. In these assemblages 

 of trees and shrubs, an obvious error is the prevalence of one or 

 two kinds only : this ought never to be, unless it were intended 

 to produce such an aggregation for some specific object, and 

 that object were so self-apparent, that no confusion might arise 

 in the mind of any person accustomed to recognise order and 

 taste, prevailing in such performances. To such a person, it 

 will also be obviously conspicuous that, in the allocation of kinds 

 in these shrubberies, little interest has been taken, or knowledge 

 displayed, as to the form which the plants will assume at an ad- 

 vanced period of their growth. In the arrangement of such 

 plantations, a paramount consideration should be, the form, as 

 well as the size, that the plants will ultimately present; and 

 care should be taken to place them at distances sufficient to 

 permit them at a future day to display their several characters ; 

 at which time, also, they should group together in an interesting 

 and artist-like manner, which alone can be accomplished by a 

 well-matured plan of previous arrangement. When such a sys- 

 tem of planting is pursued, the shrubbery, in its earlier years, 

 will present a rather meagre appearance ; and, to overcome this 

 defect, it will be necessary to fill up the intermediate spaces with 

 plants which will at once give greater density and shelter. The 

 best shrub I know for this purpose is the common laurel; and 

 the next best, the common kinds of rhododendron, which can 

 now be purchased at a very reasonable rate by the hundred. 

 Both the laurel and the rhododendron are easily transplanted, 

 and they are not liable to be eaten by hares and rabbits, if after- 

 wards removed to a wilder situation, where they may serve for 

 ©rnament, or as a shelter for game. 



When trees are introduced into such plantations, they will, 

 of course, generally be kept in the background ; although some- 

 times, for particular reasons, they will take a more prominent 



