456 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



the house was formerly the prevailing taste. In many cases, Neill observes, " this has been 

 found inconvenient, and it can seldom happen that the garden- walls may not be effectually 

 concealed by means of shrubs and low growing trees, so as not to be seen, at least from 

 the windows of the public rooms, and the garden yet be situated much nearer to the 

 house. It is scarcely necessai7," he adds, " to observe that an access for carts and wheel- 

 barrows, without touching the principal approach, is indispensable." (^Ed. Encyc. art. 

 Hort.) 



2385. With respect to the natural situation of a garden, Nicol and Forsyth agree in pre- 

 ferring a gentle declivity towards the south, a little inclining to the east, to receive the 

 benefit of the morning sun. " If it be situated in a bottom, the wind will have the less 

 effect upon it ; but then damps and fogs will be very prejudicial to the fruit and other 

 crops ; and if situated too high, although it will in a great measure be free from damps 

 and fogs, it will be exposed to the fuiy of the winds, to the great hurt of the trees, by 

 breaking their branches, and blowing down their blossoms and fruit. " {Tr. on Fruit 

 Trees, p. 286.) 



2386. The situation should not he so elevated as to he exposed to boisterous and cutting 

 uinds ; nor should a very low situation be chosen, if circumstances afford any choice. 

 It should be situate conveniently for access from the house. (^Abercromhie'' s Practical 

 Gardener, p. 1,2.) 



2387. Acoid lov situations and bottoms of valleys, say Switzcr, Darwin, Bradley, 

 and Lawrence, " because there is often a sourness in the earth that cannot be eradicated, 

 and in this uncertain climate of ours, such heavy fogs and mists that hang so long on the 

 fruit and leaves in low situations, that not only vegetation is retarded, but also tlie fruit." 

 {Pract. Fruit Gard. 2d edit. p. 19.) " Tlie greater warmth of low situations," Dr.. 

 Darwin observes, " and their being generally better sheltered from the cold north-east 

 winds, and the boisterous south-west winds, are agreeable circumstances ; as the north- 

 east winds in this climate are the freezing winds ; and the south-west winds being more 

 violent, are liable much to injure standard fruit-trees in summer by dashing their branches 

 against each other, and thence bruising or beating off the fruit ; but in low situations the 

 fogs in vernal evenings, by moistening the young shoots of trees, and their early flowers, 

 render them much more liable to the injuries of the frosty nights, which succeed them, 

 which they escape in higher situations." {Phytologia, sect, xv, 3. 6.) Professor Brad- 

 ley " gives a decisive fact in regard to this subject. A friend of his had two gardens, 

 one not many feet below the other, but so different, that the low garden often appeared 

 flooded with the evening mists, when none appeared in the upper one ; and in a letter to 

 Bradley he complains that his lower garden is much injured by the vernal frost, and not 

 his upper one. A similar fact is mentioned by Lawrence, who observes, that he has 

 often seen the leaves and tender shoots of tall ash-trees in blasting mists to be frozen, and 

 as it were singed, in all the lower parts and middle of the tree ; while the upper part, 

 which was above the mist, has been uninjured." (Darwin s Phi/tologia, sect. xv. 3. 6.) 



2388. Main entrance to the garden. Whatever be the situation of a kitchen-garden, 

 whether in reference to the mansion or the variations of the surface, it is an important 

 object to have the main entrance on the south side, and next to that, on the east or west. 

 The object of this is to pi-oduce a favorable first impression on the spectator, by his viewing 

 the highest and best wall (that on the north side) in front ; and which is of still greater 

 consequence, all the hot-houses, pits, and frames in that direction. Nothing can be more 

 unsightly than the view of the high north wall of a garden, with its back sheds and 

 chimney-pots from behind ; or even getting the first coup d'ooil of the hot-houses from a 

 point nearly in a parallel line with their front. The effect of many excellent gardens 

 is lost or marred for want of attention to this point, or from peculiarity of situation. 

 Even the new garden of the London Horticultural Society, when finished according to 

 their engraved plan, will be obnoxious to it : the Chelsea garden is liable to the objec- 

 tion, and those of Oxford and Liverpool particularly so. 



2389. Pird's-eye view of the garden. When the grounds of a residence ai'e much varied, 

 the general view of the kitchen-garden will unavoidably be looked down on or up to from 

 some of the walks or drives, or from open glades in the lawn or park. Some arrange- 

 ment will therefore be requisite to place the garden, or so to dispose of plantations that 

 only favorable views can be obtained of its area. To get a bird's-eye view of it from the 

 north, or from a point in a line with the north wall, will have as bad an effect as the view 

 of its north elevation, in which all its " baser parts" are I'endered conspicuous. 



Sect. II. Exposure and Aspect. 



2390. Exposure is the next consideration, and in cold and variable climates is of so 

 much consequence for the maturation of fruits, that the site of the garden must be guided 

 by it, more than by locality to the mansion. 



2391. The exposure should be towards the south, accoi'ding to Nicol, and" the aspect at 

 some point between south-east and south-west, the ground sloping to these points in 



