332 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. BOOK 1, 



" that one kind of objects, beauties, or characters, always pre- 

 vails in one place ; and that when another succeeds, it is gene- 

 rally done in a gradual manner, the interval between them 

 being composed of characters or beauties irregularly blended 

 together/' This is beautifully illustrated throughout all nature, 

 whether animal, vegetable, or mineral. It may be observed," 

 as I shall afterwards shew*, in the trees of natural forests, no 

 less than in the grasses'and mosses which form a carpet upon 

 the surface ; and is intimately connected with a similar ar- 

 rangement which takes place in the soil, both with regard to 

 quality, variation of surface, and moisture. It is equally ob- 

 servable in the animal creation, from the several varieties of 

 man which inhabit different quarters of the globe, to the nu- 

 merous species of insects or reptiles, which have each their par- 

 ticular habitats in plants or trees, or particular kinds of sur- 

 faces and local climates. It has hitherto been totally neglected, 

 as most of nature's laws have been in this branch of science ; 

 while in its place is substituted, by custom and ignorance, a 

 mode of arrangement totally inconsistent with nature or good 

 taste ; I mean the vulgar mode of mixing different species to- 

 gether indiscriminately ; not only without the smallest regard 

 to connexion or difference of character, but in studied opposi- 

 tion to it. Thus, in green-houses, the common rule is, never 



* See Planting. 



