U8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. 2, 1901. 
Peradeniya Crardens depends partly on the natural 
advantage of the site, with ita broad river and 
niouutain background, but quite aa much on the 
great skill and tii.sr,e with which it w-ia laid out and 
plariteil by Dr. Gardner aud others. The plants 
with which the beautiful scenic and gardening 
effects are produced are nearly all the same as the 
common ones that one may see in almost every 
large garden in the Island, bat by skill in grouping 
and laying out so fine an effect is produced that it 
is often dif&cult to get people to believe this. 
In an ordinary native garden the planting is not 
ornamental, because the object is to obtain as much 
monetary return from the land as is possible, and 
the ground is thickly planted up with useful trees 
and plants with no attempt at artistic grouping. 
The bulk of the trees are usually coconuts. In- 
dividually or in clumps these are very beautiful 
trees, but their effect in great plantations is 
wearisome, depressing, and inartistic. We do not 
want our school gari^eus to bo mere monotonous 
coconut groves : we want some variety, some taste 
in laying out, Eome pretty flowers, something which 
will make the garden pleasant to look at. If, as, 
in some cases, the laud is already a dense coconut 
grove, then, unless some of the trees can be cut 
down, not much can be done, for few things will 
grow in the shade of coconut palms. 
Let us now consider some general principles of 
laying out, which are applicaljle equally to any 
garden on a small scale, such as a resthouse or 
bungalow gan'en. The first great thing to remember 
in ornamental planting is the provision of open 
spaces : not merely are these pleafant in themselves, 
and useful as lungs and playgrounds, but the trees 
and shrubs, as well as the flowers, have room to 
be seen to advantage, and make much better growth, 
forming leafy masses, instead of growing up tall 
and spindly with all their leaves at the top. Put 
the larger trees and shrubs near to the sides of the 
ground. Especially put them on the sides that will 
protect the central parts from the wind in the 
monsoons, i.e., in most localities put them on the 
south-west and the north-east. But do not have 
too many trees — give them room to prow and 
spread out so to show themselves to the best 
advantage. 
Plant the tress aud shrubs in clumps or singly, 
as the case demands, not in rows or belts. Con- 
trast the ugliness of the wind belts in the tea 
estates with the beauty of the irregular patches of 
natural Jungle. The latter are also made up of 
different kinds of trees, and this is an important 
featurs in their beauty. In mixing trees, however, 
do not mix those which differ too radically in form 
and habit ; do not mix many palms among ordinary 
leafy trees of conical or spherical form ; palms 
lend themselves very well indeed to massing in 
groups of palms and cycads, with the larger in 
the middle or at the back and the smaller near 
the edge or the front, aa in the beautiful groups 
at Peradeniya. Remember, too, in mixing trees, 
the colour of their flowers, and do not put trees 
whose flowers are of inharmonious colours together. 
For instance, do not put a pink-flowered Cassia 
beside a red Flamboyant or grow a purple Bougain- 
vil]a3Ji or an Amherstia. If the trees do not flower at 
the same time of year, this is of less importance. 
Before you begin to plant, look at your ground 
from all sides and think how to use it to the best 
advantage. Draw a rough plan of it on the black- 
board, and mark out on this as you think best the 
way in which you mean to plant your ground. 
Make the most of its natural advantages. If there 
is an unpleasing view or building in any direction, 
plant so aa to conceal or diminish its ugliness, but if 
there is a pretty view do not hide it, but give it a 
good foreground, i.e., one clear of trees and shrubs 
or flower beds in the centre, so as not to interfere 
with tho view, but prettily framed with trees or 
shrubs at the sides ; bamboos make especially pretty 
frames to a good view, but there are many ways 
in which the object can be attained. If there are 
any steep banks in the ground do not, if ^ou can 
help it, plant them with trees ; they lend themselves 
well to small plants, especially if rocky. Bring up 
all the stones that interfere with the work in other 
parts of the garden, and put them in natural posi- 
tions on the bank, and plant the bank with ferns, 
mosses and flowers. When it is planted put the 
smaller stones close together in the surface earth 
between the plants, and this will keep the earth 
from being washed away by the heavy rain. Go 
out into the country round and see how beautiful 
nature makes these steep banks at the sides of the 
roads and elsewhere with ferns, mosses, and other 
little plants, provided it be shady enough. Try to 
imitate nature ; bring in pretty plants from the 
banks of the roada and put them in places as like 
those they came from as you can. The success of 
a gardener depends on his being able to give to hig 
plants the nearest possible imitation of the conditions 
under which they do well in nature. Let each child 
have ft little piece of the garden if there is room for 
it, and let him try to imitate nature, bringing in 
wild plants and trying to grow them successfully. 
If the bank in the garden is not shady enough, plant 
some trees near it. but not upon it. If it is too high 
for convenient working, make a terrace on it. Other- 
wise make pockets in it and put the plants in 
these. 
We must also, if possible, find room for some 
shrubs as well as trees. A close shrubbery makes an 
excellent screen for outhouses or for ugly surroun- 
dings outside the school ground.', and serves aa a 
good background for flower beds. Shrubs and trees 
may be mixed together ; some shrubs will do well 
in the shade of trees and may be put right among 
them, others must be put at the edges of the 
groups of trees. Do not, however, plant 
shrubs among or around all the tree clumps. Leave 
most of these aa they are. Large flowering or 
foliage plants may often be mixed among shrub- 
beries with great advmtage : caladiuma, alocasias, 
cannas, &c,, are especially suitable under this 
head. 
Ceylon gardens are famous for their pretty 
flowering creepers, and we must not forget these very 
effective plants, if w> have an old tree, or a trellis, or 
a side wall to plant them on ; but do not have many 
in a school garden, and do not cover the building 
with large loose-growing creepers. Ficus repens, 
which clings closer than ivy, is very suitable for 
the walls of the building. Eemember the colours 
of the flowers of the creepers yon plant, and do 
not have a BougainvilliBa, as it is too overpowering 
for a small garden, and to make it effective from an 
E.'-tistio point of view everything else must be sub- 
ordinated to it, even ^the dresses of the people 
frequenting the garden- 
The garden must have some flower beds. Flower 
beds should not be put without a background in the 
middle of the lawn or open space— flowers want a 
dark background to show up their bright colours, so 
we must put them against a mass of trees or shrubs 
or against a wall with creepers on it, or near the 
house, or against the dark shadow of a mass of trees 
at a little distance. If you put them near the 
school house wall, be careful that the drip from the 
eaves is taken away by guttering ; otherwise, they 
will not thrive. 
In laying out flower beds, do not put the plants 
in stiff rows but in groups and clumps, and fill up 
the ground as much as possible ; nature does not leave 
patches of bare earth Ijetween her plants, and if 
such are left the best part of the soil is washed 
away and the plants are injured by mud splashed 
upon them. Let the plants grow as they will till 
they fill up the spaces, aud keep away weeds, and 
trim the plants carefully to keep them in their 
places when they have filled those places. Use aa 
many different kinds of flowers as you can, and bring 
