632 OF THE PRESERVATION, &C. BOOK II, 



absent from the residence for some time, and being in the 

 habit of comparing, he will be better able to judge of the 

 alterations occasioned by the progress of vegetation; for as 

 these are always slow and almost imperceptible, daily spec- 

 tators are gradually deceived, and are thence scarcely sensible 

 of beauties, deformities, or changes, which will forcibly affect a 

 stranger. 



3. The next duty of the Pleasure Gardener is to provide for 

 the effects of decay, accident, age, and other circumstances. He 

 must propagate rare plants, flowers, and shrubs, preserve im- 

 plements, and attend to the reparation of hothouses, seats, and 

 such other buildings as may be within his province. To enable 

 him to accomplish all these purposes upon an extensive scale, 

 he must have a foreman for the hothouses, one for the parterres 

 and flower-garden, and one for the general operations of the 

 pleasure-ground. In regard to the culture of flowers or 

 exotics, he will derive information from comparing the ope- 

 rations and success of other gardeners ; but he cannot readily, 

 in regard to picturesque decoration, as nothing is more 

 opposite to nature or the picturesque, than the common 

 mode of managing scenery. To send him to wild nature 

 would confound him, by discomposing long-received notions, 

 to give place to others widely different; or if he derived 

 only a certain degree of improvement, he would be more 



