L 412 ] 



ACROSS THE GARDEN AT LEV ENS HALL WESTMORLAND. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR PLANTING TREES AND SHRUBS. 

 By the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, M.P. 



HAVING been engaged for many years in forming a collection of specimen trees for 

 an English park and garden, and having attended to their selection, planting, and 

 disposition, 1 think I may be able in this chapter to make some suggestions which 

 will prove useful to anyone else engaged in the same interesting task. The place 

 with which I have been concerned is situated to the north of London, on a heavy clay soil, 

 and the temperature has fallen in the case of the winter of 1895-96 as low as 2deg. below 

 zero, so that it may be taken that any trees to which I may refer can be successfully 

 cultivated in any part of England where the conditions are not materially worse. As the 

 variety of trees which can now be obtained from any leading nurseryman is so large, 

 and since their differences of form and foliage give such distinction and interest to a 

 garden, it seems a pity that more care and attention should not be paid to them by those who 

 live in the country. At present it only too often happens that while great pains are given 

 to the flowers, the trees and shrubs are looked upon as mere necessary furniture or 

 background. Little thought is given to their selection in the first instance, and still less 

 after they are once planted, with a view to correcting any faults in their growth, or to seeing, 

 by judicious pruning or removal, that the choicer and more delicate sorts are protected from 

 injury or destruction. 



PLACING THE TREES. — In planting a garden it is desirable to so place your trees 

 that they may produce a pleasing contrast, not merely in their colouring, but also in their 

 foliage and form. It is also advisable in planting a shrubbery border not to put all the big trees 



