58G 



LAYING OUT FLOWER-GARDENS. 



den alone. In planting what has in 

 general been denominated arboretums, 

 too much stress has been laid on the 

 term, which properly means a collection 

 of trees and shrubs, without any reference 

 whatever beyond the number of species 

 and varieties of trees it contains, and 

 hence a piece of ground was set apart 

 into which they were congregated together 

 — thus often destroying the amenity of 

 the whole place, forming a patch in the 

 landscape having no connection or har- 

 mony with the surrounding parts. In 

 places of less extent the specimens are 

 crowded together, so that before half of 

 them can develop their natural charac- 

 ters, either the other half have to be cut 

 away, or the whole allowed to grow up 

 together, to their universal destruction. 

 An arboretum upon a limited scale can 

 never be ornamental or useful. Upon a 

 grand scale it should be judiciously ex- 

 tended over the whole park, grouping 

 each natural family by themselves, and 

 multiplying the individuals so that each 

 group would not only occupy the situa- 

 tion best adapted to its growth, so far as 

 soil, &c. is concerned, but also the one 

 where it, when completely developed, 

 would fill its proper place in the general 

 features which the situation is capable of 

 producing. There would be no incon- 

 gruity in planting every exotic oak, hardy 

 enough to stand our climate, in close 

 connection with groves of those indigen- 

 ous to our own land ; and the same may 

 be said of the beech, elm, ash, and indeed 

 every other genus after its kind. From 

 this it will be readily understood that we 

 prefer planting in groups or masses to 

 merely sticking in solitary specimens. 

 These masses should be thinned out as the 

 trees begin to interfere with each other, 

 leaving them at last sufficiently apart 

 that each may have room to show its 

 own natural form and character. 



This we consider to be an arboretum 

 of the highest character, as between the 

 larger groups can be placed those families 

 of shrubs which best accord with the 

 larger trees around, forming the natural 

 undergrowth so necessary in pictorial 

 planting. The next mode of arrange- 

 ment calculated for large places and ex- 

 tensive collections would, in our opinion, 

 be, to group or arrange the natural orders 

 of trees and shrubs along the margins of 



already existing plantations, and by the 

 sides of drives, so that the collection 

 would blend with the woods already 

 formed, and at the same time be seen to 

 advantage while riding or driving through 

 them. If these be judiciously placed, 

 and at sufficient distance from the drives, 

 so as at no future time to interfere with 

 them, the surrounding trees can be readily 

 cut away to afford space for their fullest 

 development ; and indeed, in cold and 

 exposed situations, this may be advisable, 

 on account of the shelter and protection 

 thus afforded while the trees are young. 

 A third mode of arrangement, where 

 space is more limited, would be to form 

 the arboretum in conjunction with the 

 boundary line of plantation which in 

 general encircles a park or domain ; and 

 a fourth, to carry it in a graceful, circuit- 

 ous manner through the park, as so well 

 exemplified in the grounds at Bicton, 

 near Sidmouth, where Lady Rolle has 

 created one of the most extensive and 

 perfect, if not the most so, of any arbore- 

 tum existing as yet in Britain. Through 

 this extensive assemblage of trees and 

 shrubs a spacious grass drive passes, 

 from which every tree and shrub can be 

 distinctly seen ; and here strict atten- 

 tion has also been paid to scientific 

 arrangement. In this arboretum there 

 are no dug borders crowded with coarse 

 and commonplace annuals and flowering 

 plants, which so much disfigure the 

 grounds in the gardens at Kensington ; 

 nor is the eye offended with labels of an 

 unnecessary size, and of a colour of all 

 others the least in association with sur- 

 rounding objects. The whole rises from 

 a ground surface of well-kept lawn ; and 

 the wire-fence, which protects the trees 

 from the ravages of cattle and hares, is 

 so constructed and so arranged as to be 

 scarcely visible — securing protection with- 

 out the appearance of a boundary line. 

 A fifth method is to dedicate a space on 

 each side of the approach to the man- 

 sion of a mile or two in length, and to 

 group the trees and shrubs forming the 

 collection in such a manner that no im- 

 portant objects or views may be shut out, 

 as so well shown in the park at Preston 

 Hall, where the liberality of the proprie- 

 tor, W. B. Callander, Esq., with the assis- 

 tance of his intelligent factor, Mr Gorrie, 

 one of our highest authorities in arbori- 



