December 6, 1S64. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



445 









WEEKLY CALENDAR. 















Day 

 of 



Day 



of 



DECEMBER 6—12, 1864. 



Average Temperature 



Rain In 



Sun 



Sun 



Moon 



Moon 



Moon's 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



Dav of 



11 'nth 



Week. 





near London. 



37 years. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Tear. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days, 



m. h. 



m. h. 











6 



Tu 



Annual Meadow Grass flowers. 



47.7 



36.1 



41.4 



19 



53 af 7 



50af3 



15 ; morn. 



3 



8 32 



341 





■w 



winter commences. 



48.1 



36.0 



42.1 



18 



54 7 



50 3 



40 31 



8 



S 6 



342 



8 



Th 



Common Chickweed flowers. 



43.8 



34.0 



33.9 



IS 



55 7 



49 3 



7 1 



48 1 



9 



7 40 



343 





F 



Skylarks congregate. 



46.5 



35.7 



41.1 



15 



56 7 



49 3 



36 1 



5 3 



10 



7 13 



344 



10 



S 



Polyanthus flowers. 



46.7 



33.3 



40.0 



24 



5S 7 



49 3 



11 2 



19 4 



11 



6 45 



345 





Sou 



3 SrxDAY in Advent. 



45.5 



32.4 



39.0 



16 



59 7 



49 3 



51 2 



33 5 



12 



6 18 



346 



~~ 



M 



Wallflower in bloom. 



45.6 



33.7 



39.6 



16 



8 



49 3 



39 3 



40 6 



13 



5 50 



347 



From observations taken near London during the last thirty-seven years, the average day temnerature of the week is 48.3° 



and its night 



1.02 inch. 



tJS.o . lhe greatest heat was 6<s° 



on the 12th, 1S41 ; and the lowest cold, 16 c , on the 9th, 1351. The greatest fall of rain was 



OENAMENTAL teees and shrubs. 



jTHOUGH many valuable in- 

 troductions of ornamental 

 trees and shrubs have been 

 made during the past twenty 

 years, our parks and pleasure 

 grounds remain in much the 

 same condition as regards 

 the general features produced 

 by ornamental trees as before 

 the introduction of those no- 

 velties. Whether we examine pub- 

 lic or private parks and pleasure 

 grounds, the sameness of the materials employed renders 

 the landscape monotonous, and leaves nothing for the eye 

 to fix on. Taking the majority of our parks from the 

 enclosure of ten up to that of a thousand acres in extent, 

 in them we find nothing of interest in the way of trees, 

 except those peculiar to the soil, and which may have 

 sprung up from self-sown seeds, or been part of the origi- 

 nal forest, so far as there is any indication of their being 

 there for the purpose of embellishment. There are 

 thousands upon thousands of acres of parks of various 

 sizes, the trees of which are in an ornamental point of 

 view utterly valueless, remaining year after year without 

 answering any purpose, producing an inharmonious, 

 uninteresting landscape of a monotonous aspect, most 

 wretched as a picture, and commonplace as to the trees 

 employed. In many places the whole of the sylvan shade 

 and glade is furnished by very few species ; some cannot 

 boast of more than a dozen, others of not more than two 

 or three, and most of these species are indigenous to the 

 locality. 



This state of things may at first thought appear de- 

 sirable, for it is desirable where many acres of land are 

 occupied with trees, that they should pay. In a com- 

 mercial point of view, such trees as those above referred 

 to, are no less deceptive than when considered as orna- 

 ments, for they, like hedgerow timber, are unremu- 

 nerarive, and so are all trees standing singly, or wide 

 apart in groups. I found that in a wood of large di- 

 mensions fifty Oak trees, calculated to be between two 

 and three hundred years old, occupied less ground with 

 the spread of the branches than ten of the same age 

 planted singly in a park, and though the latter were 

 much larger in circumference of stem, they had such 

 short stems that each did not contain one-half the amount 

 of the measurable timber of those in the wood. If this 

 be a fair example of the paying qualities of park timber, 

 the question of profit is at once disposed of, and the orna- 

 mental value of the trees being equally small, we are left 

 in the dark as to what prompts their toleration. It is 

 undoubtedly wise to plant, or retain if planted, a number 

 of trees of the kinds common or indigenous to the locality, 

 in order to afford shelter to the more tender, and to show 

 the character of the district ; but to retain an undue pro- 

 portion of such to the exclusion of species which are 

 Ho. 193.— Vol. VII.. Net Series. 



more desirable, because calculated to do away with the 

 monotony, and equally valuable as timber, would lead to 

 the conclusion that they are kept at a dead loss to the 

 owner through the deterioration of the timber from 

 natural decay. Irrespective of their not paying, they are 

 ineffective from being badly placed and resembling a 

 jungle. It may seem undesirable to plant to produce 

 that sublimity which some see in rotten trees, and I can 

 only say, an object naturally beautiful is doubly so when 

 it is also useful. 



Viewing the subject with a like eye in relation to 

 our gardens, the same remarks hold good, though there 

 is the difference that no one expects trees and shrubs in. 

 gardens to pay, but to yield an amount of gratification 

 corresponding to the sum expended. There is a great 

 deal of sameness in the trees and shrubs employed, and 

 a great consequent loss of pleasure, and the interest is 

 all but annihilated. This is a most deplorable state of 

 things. 



The choice of forest trees for the embellishment of 

 gardens is another prevalent error, as for size they bear 

 no proportion to the situations in which they are placed. 

 Suiting the size of trees to the extent of the grounds in 

 which they are to be placed, though of great importance 

 is very generally disregarded. Trees of some kind are 

 indispensable in all gardens, for whilst they give beauty, 

 they also afford an agreeable shade during the hot days 

 of summer ; but planted, as they often are, in small gar- 

 dens, they must either be curtailed by frequent cuttings 

 or mutilations, or be left to usurp the whole of the 

 contracted space to the exclusion of species better 

 suited, as regards size, to the extent of the ground. 

 These large trees in a few years, supposing them to have 

 been planted small, attain such a size as to smother 

 everything else, rendering it altogether impossible to 

 have variety, for very few shrubs or plants will grow 

 under them, and to have either green turf or healthy 

 flowers, the two grand objects for which gardens are 

 desired, is impossible. 



Then, taste in the distribution of the trees and shrubs 

 in gardens is very much sinned against. It is common 

 to find evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs planted 

 on lawns singly, or in groups, with flower-beds between 

 them. The single trees bear no relation to the groups, 

 and the beds are not connected with them, and the 

 consequence is, they do not combine so as to form 

 either a regular or symmetrical whole. It certainly is 

 highly pleasing and picturesque to see trees, shrubs, and 

 flowers all struggling together for the mastery in a na- 

 tural state ; but this sort of beauty is unsuitable for 

 garden scenery. The object of collecting trees, shrubs, 

 and flowers in gardens, is to produce them in a higher 

 degree of perfection, and to show them off to greater ad- 

 vantage than can be done in a state of nature. What- 

 ever in the planting, cultivation, or management of a 

 garden interferes with these two objects, the perfection 

 of the plant, and its display to the greatest advantage, is 

 wrong. 



No. 845.— Vol. XXXII Old Semes. 



