THEIR GENERAL ARRANGEMENT, &c. 



613 



minor character. The herbaceous plants 

 are chiefly hardy, yet they require some 

 degree of shelter from the north winds, and 

 protection from the mischief of hares and 

 rabbits. Any light wire-fence or trellis- 

 ing answers for protection, and likewise 

 for the support of climbing plants. On 

 the outer side of the guard, a second fence 

 or screen would be useful, and highly 

 ornamental, if composed of evergreen 

 shrubs, and planted alternately with rho- 

 dodendrons, cypress, and magnolias, &c." 



The flower-garden in front of the house 

 at Trentham was laid out from designs of 

 Charles Barry, Esq., who greatly altered 

 and improved the mansion. It is in the 

 Italian-terraced style ; but the situation, 

 from being so low, has not been favour- 

 able for carrying out this principle. We 

 have seen this garden, and consider it an 

 excellent specimen of a style which we 

 greatly admire, not only in design, but 

 also in the high state of keeping so con- 

 spicuously shown in every department 

 under Mr Fleming's management. The 

 following very judicious critique upon it 

 is by an anonymous correspondent of 

 " The Gardeners' Chronicle and as it is 

 in accordance with our own ideas, we give 

 it in full : — 



"The planting and grouping of the 

 various masses are managed with the 

 utmost skill. Each group contrasted 

 admirably with its neighbour, not only in 

 colour, but in proportion of growth, — a 

 point of quite as much importance as 

 colour in a garden of this kind. Nothing 

 can tend so much to destroy what may 

 be termed unity of expression in a geo- 

 metrical garden, as the misapplication of 

 plants, causing them to present to the eye 

 the whole thing out of balance. It creates 

 an unsatisfactory feeling, and robs us of 

 that pleasing sensation which proportion, 

 either in architectural or geometrical gar- 

 dens, always produces. One of the chief 

 ornaments of a garden of this kind is 

 sculpture, which enriches by its classic 

 contrast the entire scene ; indeed, no gar- 

 den in this style, of any pretensions what- 

 ever, is worthy of the name without the 

 aid of this kindred art. Mere bald or 

 empty geometrical figures in winter re- 

 quire something to warm them up, some- 

 thing on which the mind can repose with 

 satisfaction. At Trentham these sculpture 

 ornaments are not wanting. Some of them 



are figures of pure white Italian marble, 

 bearing the impress of no mean chisel ; 

 and the good taste which so abundantly 

 predominates at this fine establishment 

 has distributed them with the very best 

 effect." When the flowering season is 

 past, the beds are not left naked and bare ; 

 " the flowers are supplanted by dwarf ever- 

 greens, native heaths, <fec, which keep up 

 during winter both character and interest, 

 and contrast admirably with the figures, 

 vases, therms, and other ornamental 

 statuary. The fountains in the flower- 

 garden, as may readily be supposed, are 

 of a simple kind. The plain jets d'eau 

 will always supersede spinning-wheels, 

 globes, convolvuluses, &c, and are also 

 always in better taste. There are few 

 things so badly managed in this country 

 as fountains. This does not consist so 

 much in their application as in the con- 

 trivances which are brought into play to 

 effect the work, which are anything but 

 chaste, natural, and appropriate." 



Orange trees, in highly ornamental 

 boxes or vases, are used to embellish the 

 finest Italian gardens ; but as these, from 

 the coldness of our climate, are excluded 

 from our gardens, excepting for a few 

 months in summer, and even this only in 

 the most favoured situations, the Portu- 

 gal laurel is used here as a substitute. 

 These are arranged in lines along the 

 margins of the principal walks ; and from 

 being selected with tall straight stems, a 

 character easily given them by their being- 

 grown in closely-planted shrubberies and 

 carefully pruned up, their heads are shaped 

 into globular forms, and being closely 

 pruned, not clipped, can scarcely be recog- 

 nised at a little distance from the orange. 

 The laurel has also an advantage over the 

 orange * for, being hardy, they give a re- 

 freshing air to the garden during winter. 

 The boxes in which they are grown may 

 be without bottoms, to allow the roots to 

 extend into the natural soil below, which, 

 by giving them greater vigour, will, at 

 the same time, keep them in a healthy 

 and green state. 



This splendid garden extends over a 

 space of between five and six acres. It 

 is laid out in the parallel style, of which 

 figs. 817 and 818 are examples, (but not 

 of any part of the garden in question,) 

 the general surface of the beds at Trent- 

 ham being from 3 to 4 feet below the 



