October t, 1891.] THP TRbPIOAL AQRlCULTURlSTJ 
accompanied by a day-ghost of wasted effort, of richea 
worse than lost. If basins, and fountains, and 
statuary are not "in Iteeping ' with the grand and 
spacious grounds of our Crystal Palace, or the beauti- 
ful and lovely gardens of Versailles, of which the 
Parisians are justly proud, then where are we to find 
a place for them ? Are these Grecian piles of archi- 
tecture, with their noble array, of Doric or Ionic, 
or Corinthian columns, to be surrounded with natural 
scenery without even one attempt to produce a ground- 
work more in accordance with the character of the 
pile ? Are terraces and a mixture of statuary and 
fountains, in coneeotion with geometric designs for 
flowers, not the very things that give a charm, a 
character, and a framework to such beautiful habita- 
tions of men?— Is " Paxton " on tlie one hand, or 
" Le Notre " on the other, to be condemned because 
tlieir works bear witness to an appreciation of much 
of the elaborate style of ornamentation, of desire for 
scope of grass, end gravel, and riches of statuary, 
and squirting fountains ? Certainly not ! Their 
genius and their work was appreciated, and will be 
in the time to come. Places are not to be laid 
out with a view to their appearance in a picture, but 
to the uses and the enjoyment of them in real life ; 
and their conformity to those purposes is that which 
constitutes their beauty. With this view walks of 
crushed stones and wliite pebbles, gravel, and ash- 
phalt, are all well in their places. And neat lawns, 
straight cut alleys, fountains, terraces, and for aught 
I know, parterres and cut hedges, are in perfect good 
taste, and infinitely more conformable to the principles 
which form the basis of our pleasure in these instances, 
than the docks, and thistles, rampant weed, and 
litter and disorder that may make a much better 
figure in a picture. Have your own taste of coiurse, 
but let it merge a little towards woodland scenery, 
and form the connecting between one and the other. 
Your house must be the centre of observation, whether 
it be constructed in the Grecian or the Gothic, or the 
Scotch barsinal, or any other stj-le of architecture. 
Your earthwork designs must be planned, and laid 
out accordingly, let there be nothing done which will 
be a laughing-stock to the true landscape gardener. 
We have grand pictorial trees, such as those you see 
in " Peradeniya Gardens," beautiful in their individu- 
ality, and beautiful for the purposes of grouping and 
contrast ; but they must all be placed in the right 
situation. The selection must be choice and suitable, 
according to the configurations and accessories of 
the place to be clothed. Where the grounds are 
limited, and shelter and privacy are an object of 
first consideration, our ideas as to fitness, proportion, 
and unity are considerably modified. We design and 
plant more in accordance with comfort than with 
the view of holding fast to a pet system. If you still 
desire being " hedged in," in this case, a living, 
thick, belt of trees of whatever sort is absolutely 
necessary ; but at the same time the forefront of the 
house being the principal outlook, I think should 
always be one of far-seeing grandeur and beauty. 
In accordance with the fashion of the times, the 
grounds in the immediate contact with the mansion 
or villa must have somewhat of a stylish aspect. You 
must have the best style of groundwork for showing 
off yoiu' fashionable and decorative flowers. You 
must have a good scope of grass, a portion of which 
must be invariably set apart for the game of croquet, 
and also a portion set apart for the bouncing tennis 
ball. In addition to all this (with a view to perfec- 
tion) you must have a great variety of dwarf deco- 
rations — suffruticose and herbaceous plants, and a 
rockery or a rootery in some quiet nook for Ferns 
and alpines ; in short, to be up to tlie times, you 
have to aim at a sort of "microcosm" of what is to 
be had in all the largest demesnes of our country and 
her colonies. 
Should this letter fall into the hands of any lady 
or gentleman, desirous of laying out their pleasure 
grounds in a small or large scale, any valuable sugges- 
tion which is found therein and is made use of, and which 
are put into practice, the witer of the letter will be 
uiuch benefited. 
llapiitalo. WILLIAM METOALFBi 
SAMPLING IMPOETED MANUKE3. 
It is no uncommon thing to hear of complaints 
being made that tha results obtained on our tea 
and coffee estates from manures imported from 
Europe differ very ooneiderably from those pro- 
phesied ot them by chemical experts. We believe 
that as the rule it is a very easy matter for a 
man trained in special knowledge as to such a 
subject to foretell with ecouraoy what the effect of 
certain chemical combinations will prove to be on 
soils the natural constituents of which, with their 
physical condition, are known to him. When, 
therefore, we hear that the progmsi!; —io quote, 
perhaps not inaptly, a term usually confined to 
medical science — of such an expert has not been 
realized, we may assume it to be only fair that tha 
cause of failure must be sought in another direction. 
There is some probability that in these days of 
competition, and of a laxness of principle attend- 
ing it, the chemical manure manufacturer may not 
in all cases carry out what he professes to do. 
He may advertise a special fertilizer to contain such 
and such ingredients, but it may not be always tha 
case that hia shipments to a far-off country may 
be always up to tbe standard he proclaims. Or 
even supposing that as regards this he acts in full 
good faith, it may yet be that the manure 
he ships has been manufactured for some con= 
siderable time, and that, should its preparation 
include some partioalarly volatile ingredient, tha 
fertilizing qualities of the manure may have under, 
gone oonsiderablo deterioration. The only way in 
which, as it seems to us, this can be in 
any degree guarded against is by the putohaser 
insisting that a competent chemist employed by 
him should select samples from the bulk after the 
manure has been put on board ship, and that on 
the report made after analysis by him of such 
samples should depend the acceptance or rejection 
o£ tha shipment, or tbe price to be paid for 
it. A case has recently been under our notice 
in which this precaution seems to have been 
neglected ; and although there is no proof that 
neglect of this precaution is to be held alone 
answerable for the disappointment which followed, 
there may be a fair presumption that it had 
something to do with it. For, as we have above 
written, an experienced chemist versed in such 
matters could hardly miscalculate the resulting 
effect to certain chemical combinations ; and if 
these had been fully provided for, and the fact 
ascertained by sampling on shipment, there could 
bo no reason why disappointment should have 
arisen. 
We do not suppose that among the ranks 
of chemical manure manufacturers the pro* 
portion of honourable or dishonourable men is 
greater or less than among other manufacturing 
agencies ; but as we know that the eeoond class 
are unfortunately to be found in no inconsider- 
able measure in every rank or walk in life, it 
would be quite as well if our planters v.ere to 
consider the necessity when ordering a shipment 
of manure to provide against dishonesty or care- 
lessness by insisting upon provision of the nature 
we have indicated being made. For if this be 
not done wa cannot be surprised if the not un. 
frequent failures that we have heard of 
should recur, and fertilizers which might be of 
most useful effect earn a bad name thereby. And 
it is the more important that such a precaution 
should be taken because disparaging comparison ia 
often made between the effect of imported manures 
and that of cattle, poonao, and other native 
fertilizers. The latter we know are always to ba 
teUed iipQH) but it does pod follow that they 
