v„,] 



SHRUBBERRIES AND FLOWER-GARDENS. 



CHAPTER VII. 



The formation of Shrubberies and Flower Gardens; and the 

 Propagation and Cidtivation of the several sorts of Shrubs 

 and Floivers. 



312. On this part of my subject it is not agreeable to my plan 

 to be very minute, except as to the several kinds of shrubs and 

 flowers, the lists of which I shall make as complete as I can : it is 

 not for the use of florists that I pretend to write ; but for the use 

 of persons v^'ho have the means of forming pretty gardens, and 

 who have a taste for making use of these means : a taste which, 

 I am sorry to say, has been declining in England for a great 

 many years. 



SHRUBBERIES. 



313. As to the form of shrubberies, or pleasure grounds, that 

 must greatly depend upon adventitious circumstances so various 

 that particular directions must be inapplicable in nine cases out 

 of ten. There are some things, however, which are general to all 

 situations, and, with respect to these, I shall offer my opinion. 

 Shrubberries should be so planted, if they be of any considerable 

 depth, as for the tallest trees to be at the back, and the lowest in 

 fiont ; if one could have one^s will, one would go, by slow degrees, 

 from a dwarf Kalmia to a Catalpa or a Horse-chesnut. Such a 

 slope, however, would require the depth of a mile ; and, therefore, 

 that is out of the question. But some attention may be paid 

 anywhere to the placing in proper relative position those trees 

 which are likely to combine well with one another in the most 

 dreary part of the year ; so as to have cheerful colours as long as 

 possilSe. For this purpose, no shrubbery should be without ever- 

 greens, such as the smaller kind of firs, tree box and laurel ; and 

 a little observation will in one autumn teach the planter what 



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