GENERAL REMARKS. 



15 



leaved of garden productions ; they give no trouble, and speedily 

 form a beautiful screen against any offensive object. No flower 

 garden should exist without abundance of monthly roses. 



It has often been a disputed point whether flower gardens 

 should be intersected with gravel walks or with grass plots. 

 This must be left entirely to the taste and means of the party 

 forming a garden. Lawn is as wet and melancholy in the winter 

 months, as it is beautiful and desirable in summer ; and it requires 

 great care and attention in mowing and rolling, and trimming 

 round the border. Gravel walks have this advantage : the first 

 trouble is the last. They will only require an old woman's or a 

 child's assistance in keeping them free from weeds ; and a lady 

 has not the same fears of taking cold, or getting wet in her feet, 

 during the rains of autumn and spring. 



Many females are unequal to the fatigue of bending down to 

 flowers, and particularly object to the stooping posture. In this 

 case, ingenuity alone is required to raise the flowers to a conve- 

 nient height ; and, by so doing, to increase the beauty and pic- 

 turesque appearance of the garden. Old barrels cut in half, tubs, 

 pails, &c, neatly painted outside, or adorned with rural orna- 

 ments, and raised upon feet neatly carved, or mounds of earth, 

 stand in lieu of richer materials, such as vases, parapet walls, and 

 other expensive devices, which ornament the gardens of the 

 wealthy. I have seen these humble materials shaped into forms 

 as pleading to the eye, and even more consonant to our damp 

 climate, than marble vases. They never look green from time, 

 and are renewed at a very trifling expense. A few pounds of 

 nails, and the unbarked thinnings from fir plantations, are the 

 sole requisites towards forming' any device which a tasteful fancy 

 can dictate ; and a little green paint adds beauty and durability 

 when the bark falls from the wood it protects. I have seen fir 

 balls nailed on to these forms in tasteful patterns; and creepers 



