THE GROUND COLOR. 



S7 



garden may be formed with walks, borders, arid 

 flower-plots, without any intermingling of grass turf, 

 and, if well laid out, and kept in good order, it has, 

 in summer and autumn, when the ground is covered 

 with plants, a rich and varied effect ; but at other sea- 

 sons it, has a bare and stripped appearance, and, pre- 

 senting little else than the somber hue of the naked 

 ground, exhibits scarcely aught that can interest or 

 attract. On the other hand, a flower-garden formed 

 on a ground-work of grass lawn, with walks and bor- 

 ders well arranged and attended to, has at all seasons 

 a clothed effect ; and though in winter the grass has a 

 less lively tint, yet it still looks like a carpeted apart- 

 ment with some of its more showy decorations awant- 

 ing. The flower-garden without grass is, then, like a 

 house which has not only lost its carpets, but nearly 

 its whole furniture. "We do not wish unduly to depre- 

 ciate the one style of garden, and to exalt the other 

 beyond its merits. In the garden composed entirely 

 of walks, and borders, and flower-plots, a much greater 

 number and variety of plants may be grown,. and very 

 beautiful scenes may be produced by means of these, 

 together with flowering shrubs and evergreens. But 

 the grass flower-garden, from the simplicity and quiet 

 repose of its well-arranged lawns, has a much finer 

 effect at all seasons. The color of the walks, taken in 

 connection with their number and breadth, produces 

 an effect, more or less marked, on the flower-garden. 

 Dark, dingy colors, on the one hand, and bright, glar- 

 ing tints, on the other, are equally to be avoided ; those 

 of a warm shade, such as light sienna — perhaps the 

 finest of all — should be chosen, when they can be 

 had. The reddish yellow of the Kensington gravel 



