PLANTING WITH A VIEW TO PKODUCE EFFECT. 



581 



itself. In the former, trees disposed in 

 formal lines exhibit as strongly art or 

 - design in the contriver, as regular archi- 

 tectural edifices ; while, in either of the 

 two latter, they should be disposed in all 

 the variety of groups, masses, thickets, 

 and single trees, in such a manner as to 

 rival the most beautiful scenery of general 

 nature, producing a portion of landscape 

 which will, as it were, unite the com- 

 forts and conveniences of civilised life 

 with the superior charm of refined ar- 

 rangement and natural beauty of expres- 

 sion. 



In the geometrical style, trees or shrubs 

 of symmetrical form should be planted in 

 lines, whether straight or curved, at equal 

 distances, not only from each other, but 

 also from those lines that determine the 

 walks, borders, &c. The flowering plants 

 should be grouped according to their kind, 

 form, and colour, each figure in the par- 

 terre being filled with the same plant, 

 unless when these parterres are large, 

 when portions of them may be so filled ; 

 or in the case of longitudinal ones of 

 considerable size, when three colours may 

 be used in parallel lines, regard being paid, 

 however, to the harmony both of colour 

 and form. It should, however, be borne 

 in mind, that decided colours should be 

 chiefly employed, and that the plants to 

 be used in producing them are limited to 

 few species. In such gardens, variety of 

 plants is to be disregarded ; a few well- 

 chosen kinds are all that is required. It 

 is that effect which the harmony or the 

 contrast of colour and form is capable of 

 producing that is here sought to be at- 

 tained, and that can never be effected by 

 employing a great number of genera and 

 species. The primary colours are three 

 only — red, blue, and yellow ; and with 

 these repeated over and over, having the 

 natural colours green in the grass, or 

 white or brown in the gravel used for the 

 walks or ground-work of the design, all 

 small flower-gardens may be completely 

 formed. In the case of larger designs, 

 secondary tints, &c. may be introduced ; 

 but these must be so arranged as to har- 

 monise or contrast with the primary 

 colours next to them. 



The same rule holds good in the dis- 

 posal of flowers in the gardenesque style, 

 and it is only in the picturesque, or the 

 sub-varieties of the gardenesque style, that 



the indiscriminate mixture of colour and 

 form can be tolerated. 



The arrangement of plants, trees, and 

 shrubs in the gardenesque style, as well as 

 in the refined picturesque, is governed by 

 very different laws from those which 

 apply to the symmetrical or geometrical. 

 In the former, it is our aim to produce not 

 only what is called natural beauty, but 

 even higher and more striking beauty^ of 

 expression than we even see in nature ; 

 to create variety and pleasing intricacy 

 by various modes of arrangement ; in- 

 deed, to give the highest possible degree 

 of elegance and polish to the scene, by 

 introducing rare and exotic species, pro- 

 ducing in themselves a character widely 

 different from that which could be pro- 

 duced by any possible arrangement of our 

 own indigenous vegetation. 



" As uniformity," says Downing, an 

 American author on landscape gardening, 

 " and grandeur of single effects, were the 

 aim of the old style of arrangement, so 

 variety and harmony of the whole are the 

 results for which we labour in the modern 

 landscape. And as the avenue or the 

 straight line is the leading form in the 

 geometrical arrangement, so the group is 

 equally the key-note of the modern style. 

 The smallest place, having only three 

 trees, may have them pleasantly con- 

 nected in a group ; and the largest and 

 finest park is only composed of a succes- 

 sion of groups, becoming masses, thickets, 

 woods, &c. If a demesne," or garden, " with 

 the most beautiful surface and views, 

 has been for some time stiffly and awk- 

 wardly planted, it is exceedingly difficult 

 to give it a natural and agreeable air; 

 while some tame level, with scarcely a 

 glimpse of distance, has been rendered 

 lovely by its charming groups of trees. 

 How necessary, therefore, is it in the very 

 outset, that the novice, before he begins 

 to plant, should know how to arrange 

 a tasteful Group. Nothing, at first 

 thought, would appear easier than to ar- 

 range a few trees or shrubs in the form 

 of a natural and beautiful group ; and 

 nothing is easier to the practised hand. 

 Yet experience has taught us that the 

 generality of persons, in commencing their 

 first essays in ornamental planting, almost 

 invariably crowd their trees into a close 

 regular Clump, which has a most formal 

 and unsightly appearance, as different as 



