364 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Wherever there are numbers of timber trees that have been too thickly 

 planted — or should I not say, that were not thinned out when they 

 should have been — there, if it be possible, encourage a carpeting of grass, 

 with, say, Daffodils and Snowdrops. The boles of large trees should 

 never be hidden, for they are distinctly ornamental at all seasons of 

 the year. The familiar quotation of " Woodman spare that tree " is 

 often applicable to the formal style of garden. If a tree be ever so 

 beautiful it has to succumb to the inevitable, if it be so unfortunate as 

 to stand in the way of a formal design. This occurs frequently when 

 a new house is being erected. But why not alter the position of the 

 site somewhat and spare the tree ? Adjust the building to fit it in 

 with the surroundings, and save the tree. Before it became the fashion 

 to enclose the house on all sides with formal and kept gardens and 

 shrubs, it was the custom to let one side at least abut upon a park-like 

 open space — lesser or greater as the case might be. This method is 

 excellent, as it adds rusticity to the view, with cattle grazing in all 

 probability in the immediate foreground. Many views of country 

 houses have been taken where this arrangement prevails ; and where 

 the grounds slope away from the building an opportunity is offered 

 for most picturesque planting and grouping. 



The Formal Pruning 0} Shrubs. — I ought to draw attention to this 

 most stupid system, though it is practised more, I think, in public 

 parks and gardens than in private places. There is an old sajdng that 

 there is " a time for doing everything under the sun," meaning that 

 there is a right time and a wrong. With shrub pruning the late summer 

 and autumn appear to be considered right. Then it is that this 

 " tidying up " is proceeded with. Then it is that flowering shrubs are 

 oftentimes denuded of shoots and branches which would otherwise 

 add beauty to the coming season. Then it is that one often sees the 

 flowering currant {Ribes sanguineum) carefully pruned into the correct 

 shape ; also Forsythia suspensa and F. viridissima, to say nothing of 

 the Lilac or of Jasminum nudiflorum. Nothing is, I think, more beauti- 

 ful in March or early April than the Forsythias when treated informally. 

 If pruning be needed, do it by all means, but let it be immediately after 

 the flowering stage is over ; but in no instance should any shrub be 

 clipped over in a rigid, formal manner. 



Informal gardening is beyond any dispute more economical in 

 every way. Not only is this the case as regards the actual amount of 

 attention needed, but also in the preparation of the material for plant- 

 ing out. There should not be any hard-and-fast time for " bedding 

 out," as it is termed. The arrangement should be such that the vacant 

 spaces — either beds or borders — should not be actually bare of plants 

 at any time, bearing in mind the due provision of stock to take the 

 place of such as may be exhausted. 



I have just used the word " beds." Let me say at once that I do 

 not favour beds as compared with borders, i.e. marginal borders to 

 shrubs and the Hke. Rather let the one join insensibly on to the other. 

 Do not let geometrical design be considered as any ornament in itself ; 



