624 Ornamental Gardening. 
month or two in summer, but for the remainder of the year 
they make the house gloomy and damp, choke the gutters 
with dead leaves, and give the whole place an uncomfortable 
appearance. If the garden is not large enough to have large 
trees at a distance from the house, dispense with them altogether, 
or be content with one or two, or at worst enjoy your neigh- 
bours’. Thereare scores of ornamental evergreen and deciduous 
shrubs to select from, and creepers against a wall do not keep 
a house so damp as overhanging trees. 
The selection of the trees and shrubs would depend upon a 
variety of circumstances, such as soil and subsoil, or subjacent 
rock, elevation above the sea, distance from the sea, and, in the 
case of tender species the latitude, and more especially whether 
near the eastern or western side of the island. As it is not 
commonly the case to build a residence on an estate quite 
destitute of arborescent vegetation, some idea of what would 
fluurish might be gathered from the condition of the species 
already in existence. On elevated ground exposed to bleak 
winds, it will be found necessary to plant, thickly at first, and 
in larger groups, with perhaps such trees as Populus nigra or 
Pinus Austriaca, for shelter. These trees are both valuable for 
this purpose, and the Poplar will grow and flourish in the 
stiffest clayey soil, where scarcely anything else would live. 
In fact, nearly all the species of Populus will do well in a poor 
suil, and bear exposure to the bleakest winds with impunity. 
Amongst our large forest trees the Oak and Beech are perhaps 
the most susceptible of the influence of the direct sea-breeze. 
The Elm will succeed well in a gravelly soil, especially in the 
vicinity of water. The Lime, Horse Chestnut, Sweet Chestnut, 
Plane, many Conifers, etc., will sueceed in almost any ordinary 
soil, But for further particulars we must refer our readers tu 
the review of arborescent and frutescent vegetation, pp. 599 to 
(09, and to the respective genera in the descriptive part of 
this work. Lists of species suitable for the sea-side and town 
planting will be found at the end of this volume. The plantations 
of trees and shrubs will vary in size according to the extent 
of the grounds, and may be composed of one species, or several 
different species, according to fancy. In forming a composite 
group the main object should be effective contrast of foliage, 
with an intermixture of flowering trees. Some deciduous species 
form wu pleasing contrast between themselves; and the introduc- 
tion of here and there a dark-leaved Conifer, or Purple Beech, 
