PLANTING. 43 



admitted, that in some situations such plantations are essential 

 to particular effects, and that parts may be made to produce the 

 pleasing effects of a vista, and increase the variety of outline. 

 Many errors have been committed by persons conceiving the true 

 art of Landscape Gardening to consist in curved walks and similarly- 

 formed plantations, v^^hich, at a short distance, blend into such regular 

 and formal shapes as to appear as if they were clipped ; but let 

 it not be conceived for a moment that such forms can have any claim 

 to the picturesque. The Painter and the Landscape Gardener, in 

 their productions, have the same motive — to gratify the eye of taste ; 

 the forms produced by clumps and belts should therefore be re- 

 jected, as they afford little or no variety in their outline, and produce 

 a formal and confined effect, at variance from nature. Shenstone 

 fully supports the position, where he says, " I think the Landscape 

 Painter is the Gardener's best designer." Plate 6 exhibits the mode 

 of planting or clearing out, so as to produce the sinuosities and 

 irregularities of nature. 



In forming plantations near the house, either to hide the offices 

 or for ornamental groups, there should always be dispersed among 

 them a great portion of evergreen shrubs, to preserve a lively and 

 interesting appearance as well in winter as in summer. 



There are numerous evergreen and deciduous flowering shrubs, 

 as well as ornamental herbaceous plants, that appear to great ad- 

 vantage when planted in small clusters ; in the disposal of which, it 



g2 



