ZOOLOGICAL GAEDENS. 



189 



popular places of amusement tliat have lately come into 

 vogue. 



It will be apparent to slight consideration that the 

 proper style for a zoological garden is a medium between 

 a pleasure-ground and a flower-garden ; it may partake 

 of the characters of both in different places, or rather 

 it may be described generally as a highly ornamented 

 pleasure-ground. It hardly belongs to us to say any- 

 thing about the arrangement of the buildings for the use 

 of the animals, except that they may be easily combined 

 so as to form picturesque groups. Of course, certain 

 roads must be formed from the exterior of the garden 

 and between the several buildings, so as to facilitate 

 carriage and transit. Plantations and shrubberies 

 should mask these roads and veil other deformities. 

 Pieces of artificial water may be constructed both for 

 ornament and for the use of aquatic fowls. Walks 

 should be laid down so as to afford easy communication 

 between the various departments of the garden. Where 

 the style approaches that of a flower-garden, it should 

 be of the mixed flower-garden described in a previous 

 chapter, displaying an agreeable intermuigling of shrubs 

 and flowers. Perhaps flowering shrubs and a mixture 

 of evergreens should predominate. We are of opinion 

 that anything like excess in the culture of flowers is here 

 out of place, both as requiring an ill-advised expenditure 

 and as exciting an adventitious interest. Zoological 

 gardens have recently been made the scenes of flower- 

 shows : at first sight this may seem a grotesque and in- 

 congruous combination, but in practice the occasions 

 are pleasant enough, and if they benefit the funds of these 

 meritorious institutions, no reasonable objection can be 

 made to them. 



