1134 



STATISTICS OF GARDENING. 



Part IV, 



7713. The more general use of dessert Jruit ciTfinng the middling classes, is another requi- 

 site wanting for the improvement of horticulture in Scotland and Ireland. If fruit, phy- 

 siologically considered, is less wholesome after dinner than before it (which is question- 

 able), it is at least more so than where drinking is substituted in its place. To prolong 

 the period of eating, and the conversation of female society, are not only objects which 

 afford immediate satisfaction ; but, by moderating the use of stimulating liquors, tend to 

 ensure future health. But, even in England, where a dessert is universal among the in- 

 dependent class, there is a great want of nicety of taste : fruit is valued by many only as 

 a symptom of the presence of wine : others contentedly use pears and plums that would 

 be rejected at the most common Frencli dejeune ; and many rest satisfied with melons 

 and grapes, who, at almost no additional expense, might have pine-apples. Wherever 

 the litter of four horses is at command, pine-apples may be grown in Baldwin's manner 

 (2649. and 2698. &c.) with very little trouble to the gardener, and, indeed, at much less 

 trouble than trying to have very early cucumbers or melons. But why speak of pines, when 

 not one ftimily in a hundred are properly supplied with mushrooms* which ought to be on 

 the table in some form, every day in the year. On a small scale, the grand secret h, to 

 employ a gardener who knows his business ; and to direct his attention less to raising or- 

 dinary productions at extraordinary seasons, than to raising first-rate crops of everything 

 in due season. On a larger scale, all ordinary and extraordinarj- things should be at- 

 tempted that art and wealth can accomplish. 



7714. A taste for fine fioivers and rare exotics must be preceded by some knowledge of 

 plants, or a taste for scientific botany, and the history, geography, and uses of plants. 

 These branches of knowledge may be considered as gaining ground. A good deal also 

 depends on the fashion of using flowers as chamber ornaments, and on having green-houses 

 attached to dwellings ; both are most agreeable and rational luxuries ; and it is much to 

 be desired that a taste for them was more general, especially in provincial towns, and in 

 the cities of Scotland and Ireland. 



7715. The taste far playiting has attained a greater height, during the last twenty years, 

 than any other department of gardening ; the beneficial consequences of which are already 

 powerfully felt in Scotland, and the exposed parts of England. An essential requisite 

 in this department is attention to the future management, tliinning, and pruning of 

 plantations. 



7716. The taste for landscape-gardening has been nearly dormant in England, during 

 the last thirty years ; in Scotland it has been more active, but not of the purest kind ; 

 little has been done in Ireland generally, though there are some patriots there, who have 

 been active in improvement. A taste for deer-parks is not common in Scotland ; and rare 

 in Ireland. A park in Scotland is a grass field ; and what in that country corresponds 

 with the park of a mansion in England is a number of green enclosures lying contiguous 

 to each other, and surrounded by strips or rows of trees. In Ireland a mansion and park 

 is a naked house, in a naked grass field, surrounded by a stone wall. There are excep- 

 tions in both countries ; and many lawns or sheep-parks in Scotland of considerable 

 beauty. Besides, a union of pasturable wooded enclosures, as a park, may be very well 

 defended on the principle of utility ; but there can be no defence of the naked parks of 

 Ireland. 



7717. The taste for public gat-dens, as promenades and botanic gardens, seems on the 

 . increase ; but unfortunately these are seldom founded on a sufficiently secure basis. The 

 funds of the recently established botanic gardens have been generally raised by the sub- 

 scriptions of a certain number of individuals, to whom, and to certain annual subscribers, 

 the garden is alone accessible. Perhaps it would be better, if, as in the case of public 

 promenades, the funds were raised by the whole town or community, and the garden 

 thrown open to all, like that of Paris. Public umbrageous promenades, either equestrian 

 or pedestrian, are very desirable additions to all congregations of houses. 



7718. Choice of a gardener. Very much of the comforts and pleasures which a private 

 gentleman derives from his garden, and garden-scenery, depends on the qualifications of 

 the gardener which he employs to manage them. It was formerly the practice, in books 

 of gardening, to give directions to gentlemen how to choose a gardener. These might 

 have been of use when the qualities desired differed little from those sought for in a com- 

 mon laborer; such as sufficient strength and health, and good morals, disposition, temper, 

 &c. But every master can judge of these and other similar points ; and for any gentle- 

 man who has not a knowledge of gardening to go further, would be more dangerous than 

 useful. We are clearly of opinion, that in almost every case the best mode is to apply to 

 a respectable nurseryman ; to describe to him the sort of garden and garden-scenery to be 

 managed, and the sort of productions desired, and to rely on his recommending a fit per- 

 son for accomplishing the intended objects. If this person should not turn out so well 

 as was expected, the nurseryman will be in some degree responsible for his conduct, and 

 will feel doubly anxious to replace him by a more competent person. 



