4 



BOOK OF THE GARDEN. 



Dr Neill remarks, in his " Horticultural 

 Tour," " Everything in these gardens has 

 its counterpart. If there be a pond, or 

 walk, or statue, or a group of evergreens, 

 on one side, the same may with confi- 

 dence be predicted on the other side of 

 the garden ; so that the often-quoted 

 couplet of Pope, ' Grove nods at grove/ 

 can nowhere be better exemplified." 



Such a style is, perhaps, better than 

 any other adapted to the country — for 

 there are no inequalities of surface upon 

 which to exemplify an English garden ; 

 and to attempt producing undulation 

 artificially would cause the overflow- 

 ing of the lower parts with water in order 

 to procure the material for elevation. 

 We have frequently, however, seen at- 

 tempts to effect this by the erection of 

 immense brick domes, and covering them 

 over with mould. 



The French style may be said to have 

 arisen about the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century, during the luxurious 

 reign of Louis XIV. In this reign the 

 arts in France flourished, and that of 

 gardening received a fresh impulse by 

 his munificence and the talent of Le 

 Notre, the most celebrated gardener of 

 his time in Europe. Le Notre's style 

 rapidly spread in all improving countries. 

 It was, as will be seen hereafter, adopted 

 very extensively in Britain ; and, strange 

 to say, continued in great repute in this 

 country fully half a century after the 

 introduction of the English or natural 

 style had been fully established. 



The celebrated gardens of Versailles 

 constituted Le Notre's grandest effort, 

 and are said by Bradley to be the sum of 

 everything that has been done in garden- 

 ing ; while Agricola, a German author, 

 says of them, that "the sight of Ver- 

 sailles gave him a foretaste of Paradise." 

 Against these high encomiums, how- 

 ever, might be quoted condemnations as 

 strong— though these latter must be taken 

 with some modification, inasmuch as 

 those who pronounced them were advo- 

 cates for the natural style, then just 

 coming into vogue. Thus Lord Karnes 

 says of these gardens, that they would 

 "tempt one to believe that nature was 

 below the notice of a great monarch, and 

 therefore monsters must be created for 

 him, as being more astonishing produc- 

 tions;" and Hirschfeld looks upon them 



only as models of a particular class or 

 character of garden. Gray the poet, and 

 Mr Loudon, consider them imposing 

 when filled with company ; and Lord 

 Byron says, that " such symmetry is not 

 fit for solitude." 



Whoever has visited Versailles must 

 be well aware that there is seldom soli- 

 tude there ; and also that no other style 

 of garden would have been so well fitted 

 to the ends in view. 



The English style was introduced into 

 France in 1762, and embraced with a 

 warmth more characteristic of the mania 

 of imitation than of the genius of in- 

 vention. Prior to the Revolution, many 

 gardens were altered to the English style, 

 chiefly by Blaikie, a native of East Lo- 

 thian, long settled in France, and the 

 Chevalier Jansen, an Englishman. Since 

 that time many of the fine old French 

 gardens have been demolished, and what 

 is called the English style adopted; which, 

 according to the ideas of most French- 

 men, as Blaikie observes, consists in 

 abundance of crooked walks, an opinion 

 in which too many Englishmen appear 

 to concur. 



The garden artists of France have been 

 few in number : the most eminent were 

 Girardin, Morel, and Delille. Nor does 

 either landscape gardening or garden 

 architecture appear to be much culti- 

 vated there, even at the present time. 



The erection of the first hothouses in 

 France occurred towards the end of the 

 reign of Louis XIV., by M. Fagon, in 

 the Jardin des Plantes; and the example 

 was soon after imitated by M. Senior, 

 both for himself at St Germains-en-Laye, 

 and also for Louis XV. at Trianon. 

 These buildings were described by Com- 

 bles, in the " Ecole Potagere," about the 

 year 1730. Since then, considerable im- 

 provement has taken place in hothouse 

 building in that country; but certainly 

 these erections are still far behind the 

 English, both as regards elegance of 

 design and correctness of principle in the 

 details. Throughout Germany, and the 

 whole of the north of Europe, the Italian 

 and French styles prevailed until the 

 partial introduction of the English or 

 natural manner in 1750, when the Gar- 

 ten der Schwobber was laid out near Pyr- 

 mont in Westphalia. 



The first magnificent attempt at hot- 



