794 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



I'art III. 



sunk ; seldom more than an inch ; otherwise they have a bad effect, and look rather like furrows than 

 alleys. They may be edged with box, with daises, with violets, gentianella, or thrift, according to fancy. 

 But the edging, whatever it be, should be kept low, thin, and neat. It should seldom be allowed to rise 

 two inches high, or spread two inches wide. A linear box-edging always pleases, if kept quite close and 

 connected." {Kal. 458.) 



6096. The author of the Florisfs Manual, though she confines her directions to one style, has much 

 more correct ideas on the subject than our practical authors. " It is more difficult," she saj's, " than may 

 at first appear, to plan, even upon a small scale, such a piece of ground, nor, perhaps, would any but an 

 experienced scientific eye be aware of the difficulties to be encountered in the disposal of a few shaped bor- 

 ders interspersed with turf ; the nicety consists in arranging the difi^erent parts so as to form a connected 

 glow of color, to effect which it will be necessary to place the borders in such a manner that when viewed 

 from the windows of the house, or from the principal entrance into the garden, one boi-der shall not inter, 

 cept the beauties of another, nor in avoiding that error, produce one still greater, that of vacancies be- 

 twixt the borders forming small avenues, by which the whole is separated into broken parts, and the ge- 

 neral efFect lost. Another point to be attended to, is the just proportion of green turf, which, without 

 nice observation, will be too mucli or too little for the color with which it is blended ; and, lastly, the 

 breadth of the flower-borders should not be greater than what will jilace the roots within reach of the 

 gardener's arm without the necessity of treading upon the soil, the mark of footsteps being a deformity 

 wherever it appears amongst flowers." {Flor. Man. 13.) 



6097. The materials which form the surface of flower-gardens {figs. 543, 544.) are gravel (a), turf {b), and 

 dug borders (c), patches (rf), or compartments"(£'), and water (/) ; but a variety of other objects and mate- 

 rials may be introduced as receptacles for plants, or on the surfaces of walks; as grotesque roots, rocks, 

 flints, spar, shells, scoriae in conglomerated lumps, 545 



sand and gravel of different colors ; besides works of ._. 



art introduced as decorations, or tonsile perform- 



ances, when the old French style {fig. 545.) is j^^>J^^_£'J'^^^ 



6098. Rock-works. The author of the Florist's p^^^E^^^^^l 

 Manual observes, on this subject, that " frag- ^m=s'='= = =V^^s 

 ments of stone may be made use of, planted Fiigs^ ^ "-=-=■" 

 with such roots as flourish among rocks, and to =^^=g_i = - — 

 which it might not be difficult to give a natural aji- p ^ — ' J=M 

 pearance, so far as by bringing forward to the view M #==^^^=^^^^ 

 the utility of these stones in the culture of the vege- '^^^ -^^^^^^a 

 tables growing thereon. The present fashion of in- M ==== ^ -T^^p^ 

 troducing into flower-gardens this kind of rock-work ^ == ^rf^ cj--^^ 

 requires the hand of taste to assimilate it to our flower- M=^^^ ^S^^^ 

 borders, the massive fabric of the rock being liable ij | =^^= i 

 to render the lighter assemblage of the borders di. M ^ "g . -T" 

 minutive and meagre: on this point, caution only M=^^^gM 

 can be given, the execution must be left to the ele- 

 gant eye of taste, which, tlius warned, will quickly 

 perceive such deformity. I must venture to disap- 

 prove the extended manner in which this vegetable 

 rock-work is sometimes introduced, not having been : ^ .f=^ "^ 

 able to reconcile my eye, even in gardens planned 

 and cultivated with evei-y advantage which elegant ll' ^r=- £ ^^^ 

 ingenuity can give them, to the unnatural appear- m f . 

 ance of artificial crags of rock and other stones in- 

 terspersed with delicate plants, to the culture of fi 

 which the fertile and sheltered border is evidently ^ l^s ^ ~ 

 necessary, being decided that nothing of the kind m ^^5=. ^ 

 should be admitted into the simi)le parterre that is 

 not manifestly of use to the growtli of some of the i| £r^L^^.. j=-^=— 

 species therein exhibited. In pleasure-grounds or ^^^=5 "^s"^ ^■"^'l 

 flower-gardens on an extensive scale, where we meet ^ ^ rfl 

 with fountains and statuary, the greater kinds of ve- s^^^r^ I g = 

 getable rock-work might probably be well intro- if ^^^^^"^^S 

 duced; but to such a magnificent displav of art I feel =^^^=g ? 

 my taste and knowledge whofiy incompe'tent." {Flor. jss = =f 

 Man. 15.) "Where neither expense nor trouble," ^ = 

 the same author adds, " oppose their prohibitory IS r- — tF=4 i ^==.»=^ \ 

 barrier, many of the vegetable tribe may be cultivated to greater perfection, if we appropriate different gar- 

 dens to the growth of different species, as, although it is essential to the completion of our garden to intro- 

 duce, on account of their scent and beauty, some of tlie more hardy species of the flowers termed annuals, 

 in that situation room cannot be afionSed them sufiicient to their production in that full luxuriancy which 

 they will exhibit when not c.>-owded and oversiiadowed by herbaceous vegetables ; and hence becomes de- 

 sirable that which maybe called the annual flower-garden, into which no other kind of flower is admitted 

 besides that fugacious order, and under which is contained so great a variety of beauty and elegance, as one 

 well calculated to form a garden, vying in brilliancy with the finest collection of hardy perennials. Also, 

 tne plants comprised under the bulbous division of vegetables, although equally essential to the perfection 

 ot the mingled flower-garden, lose much of their peculiar beauty when not cultivated by themselves, and 

 wiU well repay the trouble of an assiduous care to give to each .species the soil and aspect best suited to its 

 nature. Iwo kinds of garden may be formed from the extensive and beautiful variety of bulbous-rooted 

 flowers ; the first, wherein they should be planted in distinct compartments, each kind having a border ap- 

 propriated to Itself, thus forming, in the Eastern taste, not only the 'garden of hyacinths,' but a garden of 

 each species of bulb Avhich is capable of being brought to perfection without the fostering shelter of a con- 

 servatory. The second bulbo.us garden might be formed from a collection of the almost infinite variety of 

 this lovely tribe, the intermixture of which might produce the most beautiful eflfect, and a succession of 

 bloom to continue throughout the early months of summer. A similar extension of pleasure might be 

 derived from a similar division of all kinds of flowers, and here the taste for borders planted with distinct 

 tribes may be properly exercised, and, as most of the kinds of bulbs best suited to this disposition have 

 hnished their bloom before the usual time at which annuals disclose their beauties, the annual and the 

 bulbous gardens might be so united, that, at the period when the bloom of the latter has disappeared, the 

 opening buds of the former might supply its place, and continue the gaiety of the borders." 



6099. The green-house or conservatory is generalli/ placed in the flower-garden, provided 

 these structures are not appended to the liouse. In laying out the area, a fit situation 

 must be allotted for this department of floriculture, and the principles of guidance laid 

 down in treating of the situation of the culinary hot-houses (2475.) require here also to 

 be applied. Some recommended the distribution of the botanic hot-houses throughout 



