790 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III 



when the beauties of this scene are felt with peculiar force. " The flower-garden," Neill 

 observes, " should form an ornamental appendage to the mansion, and be easily accessible 

 in all kinds of weather. There is no objection to its being seen from the windows 

 of the house : on the contrary, this is sometimes considered as desirable." Nico., as 

 we have seen (2382.), approves of having the various gardens of a place combined, and 

 placing them at no great distance from the house ; and Repton strongly recommends 

 this practice. 



6077. Abercrombie says, " While the kitchen-garden is concealed by buildings or plantations, the flower, 

 garden and pleasure-ground should stand conspicuously attached to the family residence. \\ hen the 

 horticultural establishment includes a conservatory, it is proper to have it in sight, and connected with 

 the ornamented grounds; because the style of such a building, the plants within, and the scene 

 without, under a tasteful arrangement, harmonise in character and effect. The botanic-garden, the range 

 of stoves, and all the departments, a visit to which renders a walk about the grounds pleasing and inter- 

 esting, should be at hand." 



6078. The author of the FlorisV s Manual confineo her observations to the "construction of that humble 

 flower-garden," which she calls "the common or mingled flower-garden." " This," she says, " should be 

 situated so as to form an ornamental appendage to the house, and where the plan of ground will admit, 

 placed before windows exposed to a southern or south-east aspect; and although to this position there 

 may appear the objection of the flowers turning their petals to the sun, and consequently from the win- 

 dows, this predilection in the ti-ibe of Flora for the rays of that bright luminary, v/ill produce the same 

 effect in whatever place our flowers may be situateri, when in tlie vicinity of a building, as they invariably 

 expose the front of their corols to the lights from which both the petals of flowers, and the loaves of 

 plants are believed to derive material essential to tiieir existence." She adds, "when apart from the 

 house, the mingled flower-garden may be introduced with great advantage, if situated so as to form .i 

 portion of the pleasure-ground : in this case it should not be distinct from tlie house, but so contrived 

 as to terminate one of the walks of the home shrubberie*." {Flor. Man. p. 10. 15.) 



6079. To place the flower-garden south-east or south-west of the house, and between it and the kitchen- 

 garden, is in general a desirable circumstance. In a design for a villa farm {fig.-5S9.), supposing the en- 

 trance-front of the house ya), to face the north-west, Ihen the farm-offices {b), liorse-pond (c), &c. may be 

 placed to the north-east ; the kitchen-yard {d) and livery-stable-yard {e) to the south-west : against these 

 maybe placed the exotic hot-houses, looking to the flower-garden (/), and beyond this the American 

 garden (g), and lastly, the kitchen-garden (A), and walk through the farm (/). If concealed approaches to 

 the farm and stable-offices (c, n,) and from the kitchen-garden to the kitchen {h, e, </,) be contrived, such 

 an arrangement will be found to combine both elegance and economy, and to admit of bringing the wire 

 fence {m), which separates the mown from the fed lawn, near the house, without being unsightly : a de- 

 sirable object in farm villas, as it saves mowing, and increases pasturage. 



6080. In exposure and asjyeci, the flower-garden should be laid out as much as pos- 

 sible on the same principles as the kitchen-garden (2390.), not only on account of the 

 advantages to be derived from the full influence of the sun during winter on the hot- 

 house department, but also for the better enjoyment of the open air scenes, in weather 

 favorable for walking out of doors. It should not be naturally low in surface, nor of 

 a wet retentive soil, nor rendered damp and gloomy by surrounding high trees, or lofty 

 walls or buildings. If it happen that a house be nearly surrounded by a flower-garden, 

 the variety of aspect tlience afforded will be favorable to the continuance of the bloom 

 of our flowers, far beyond what can be obtained if confined to a southern exposure. 

 South, south-east, and east, are the aspects most advantageous to the grovvfth of flowers ; 

 and, possessing these varieties of exposure, the bloom of a garden may be protracted 

 some weeks beyond the time it could be preserved under a single aspect. 



608 1 . The extent of the flower-garden depends jointly on the general scale of the re- 

 sidence, and the particular taste of the owner. If any proportion may be mentioned, 

 perhaps, a flfth part of the contents of the kitchen-garden will come near the general 

 average ; but there is no impropriety in having a large flower-garden to a small kitchen- 

 garden or mansion, where the taste of the owner leads to such a deviation from common 

 rules. As moderation, however, is generally found best in the end, we concur with 

 the author of the Florist's Manual, wlien she states, that " the compass of ground appro- 

 priated to flowers must vary according to the size of the place of which that ground 

 forms a part, and should in no case be of great extent. If the form of ground, where 



