68 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



possible to establish more correct views in re- 

 gard to the principles which should regulate 

 their formation and treatment. 



From pretty extensive observation, we have 

 come to the conclusion that one of the most 

 serious and prevalent errors in the management 

 of small gardens, is attempting too much. This 

 grows very naturally out of the desire that al- 

 most every man feels to gather round his resi- 

 dence the greatest possible variety of interest- 

 ing scenes and objects ; in other words, to make 

 the most of his limited space. In layiug out 

 a garden, the design may be good, and it may, 

 in the first place, be properly executed ; but 

 no sooner is this done than new trees or plants 

 are fancied, and probably a neighbor's garden 

 suggests some new walk or divisions, and thus 

 one alteration after another is introduced, and 

 the original plan is effaced, and the whole be- 

 comes a piece of patchwork. We have seen 

 many charming little front gardens utterly 

 ruined in this way Now, the beauty of a 

 small garden, and the pleasure it may afford, 

 lies not in a great variety of embellishments, 

 "but in simplicity and high keeping — -few walks 

 and few trees. 



Numerous walks destroy the unity and ex- 

 tent of a small piece of ground, and add very 

 materially to the cost of keeping ; and as a 

 regular gardener is seldom employed in such 

 places, the walks become neglected, and grown 

 over with grass and weeds, resembling more a 

 cattle path than anything else. The principle, 

 therefore, should be rigidly adhered to, of hav- 

 ing only such walks as are absolutely indis 

 pensable, and these to be kept in the best order. 

 A good, well-kept, walk, is not only a great 

 beauty, but a great comfort, whereas nothing 

 is so useless and ill-looking as a bad or neg- 

 lected one. In most cases a single walk, and 

 that a- foot walk, six or eight feet wide, in pro- 

 portion to the extent of the ground, will be 

 quite enough. 



The position of the entrance gate, and the 

 course of the walk, must.- be determined hj the 

 shape of the grounds, and the situation of the 

 front do r of the dwelling. If the space be- 

 tween the house and street be narrow — say 20 

 or 30 feet — and the front door be in the centre 

 of the building, the most convenient, and pro- 

 bably the best, arrangement is the common 

 one — having the gate opposite the door, and 

 the walk straight. It would he much better if 

 houses of this kind were so constructed as to 

 have the main entrance at one side, so that the 

 ground in front of the principal rooms might 

 be kept in a lawn, embellished with a few ap- 

 propriate trees. This would be a nibre agree- 

 able siffht from the windows than a gravel 



walk, and persons approaching the house would 

 not be directly in front of the windows. "When 

 the house stands back a sufficient distance, 

 even if the front door be in the centre facing 

 the street, the walk should approach it by as 

 easy curves as possible from one side, leaving 

 the ground in front unbroken. A curved 

 walk, however, is not only inconvenient, but 

 obviously inconsistent, in a very limited space. 



Box, and all other kinds of edgings, to walks 

 that run through grass plots, are not only oufc 

 of place, but add greatly to the expense of 

 planting and keeping. Such things are only 

 approprite to flower gardens, to make the out- 

 lines of walks and beds. Hedges of privet, 

 red cedar, or arbor vitae, are occasionally 

 planted along the edges of walks, but are en- 

 tirely superfluous, and have a bad effect, unless 

 to screen a wagon road to out-buildings, or to 

 separate a front garden or lawn from the 

 kitchen garden, or such object as it may be de- 

 sirable to conceal. Such hedges have also a 

 very good effect when placed immediately be- 

 hind a low, open, front lawn, when viewed from 

 the dwelling. 



Planting, in most of our small gardens, is 

 carried to such an excess as to convert them 

 into miniature forests. There must be the 

 universal row, of Horse Chesnuts, or some- 

 thing else withing the fence ; and then the in- 

 terior is dotted over closely with all manner of 

 shrubs and plants A corner is probably cut 

 up into something like a child's flower garden ; 

 small beds, filled with tall, straggling plants, 

 lying over the box edgings, covering the 

 walks, and giving to the whole a neglected 

 and confused appearance. Such management 

 displays no taste, and gives no satisfaction. 



We would discard these straight rows of 

 trees, and convert the whole surface into as 

 perfect a piece of lawn as could be made. This 

 we would embellish with a few. very few, ap- 

 propriate trees, mostly evergreens, having as 

 great variety among them as possible, both in 

 regarri to habit of growth and that of foliage. 

 The smallest plot, managed on this principle, 

 may be made beautiful. A single tree, such 

 as a Norway Spruce, a Bo^dar Cedar, a Hem- 

 lock Spruce, or any other fine evergreen, or 

 even a deciduous tree, such as a Magnolia, a 

 Tulip tree, a Linden, Horse Chestnut or Moun- 

 tain Ash, standing on a lawn, having ample 

 space on all sides to develop its fair, natural 

 habits and proportions, is always a beautiful 

 object, and cannot fail, though a common tree, 

 to attract attention and admiration ; but plant 

 three or four, or half dozen such trees where 

 one should be, or crowd up the one with un- 

 der shrubs and other objects, and you at once 



