FLOWER-GARDENS AND THEIR ORNAMENTS. 
137 
owners of small gardens to adorn tlieni with this their most lovely feature, that 
the present design has been attempted. That there are few gardens of the above 
denomination which can boast of any allotment worthy of the name of a flower- 
garden, it will be wholly unnecessary to declare to any of our observant readers, 
the vast majority of small estates being laid out without either unity or beauty of 
design, as regards the allocation of their respective departments ; and while flower- 
gardens are in many instances denied even a place, where there is a piece of ground 
devoted to this purpose, the beds, borders, or structures, as well as the individual 
plants, are assembled together in the most heterogeneous manner, and the greatest 
possible incongruity and disorder prevail. We are induced thus to remark, not in 
the language of ridicule, but to urge the advantage and indeed the necessity of en- 
trusting the primary arrangement and disposition of small estates to more compe- 
tent individuals, as persons of refined and correct taste experience great difficulty 
in modifying or rectifying the absurd and inconvenient arrangement of the ignorant 
or capricious projector. 
In an estate of two, three, or more acres, what could be a more delightful feature 
than a flower-garden, arranged according to the present design? The introduction 
of fountains, of chaste and unique structure, and ornamented with every variety of 
rock or shell, into the central compartments, with jets of water issuing from every 
crevice, and propelled with diverse and ever- varying degrees of force, would form 
most delightful and refreshing spectacles, during the summer months ; while the 
basins which surround them would be most eligible situations for growing aquatic 
plants. The proposed vases at either end of the central walk, and which might be 
selected of most elegant and graceful form, would relieve the otherwise dull unifor- 
mity of a series of circular plots, and also greatly contribute to enliven the garden 
during the winter season ; indeed, they might be removed in the summer, and their 
places supplied with a fine specimen or specimens of greenhouse or other plants ; 
and the rock- work which is proposed to be placed around their bases, would both 
tend to heighten the interest of the whole, and afford an opportunity of introduc- 
ing a description of plants which would otherwise be excluded. Approaching the 
exterior, the four pedestals for the support of statues might present to the eye some 
of the choicest productions of art ; and the admission of these may not only be 
tolerated, but will add much to the general beauty, particularly if the flower- 
garden be contiguous to, or within sight of, the dwelling-house. There will thus 
be obtained, within the small compass before named, an harmonious and delightful 
assemblage of the most exquisite creations of art, and the yet more numerous, 
varied, and beautiful members of nature's charming and attractive tribes. As we 
intend furnishing our readers, in future numbers, with other and equally interesting 
designs, we reserve any remarks that might be offered on the methods of grouping 
and arranging the flowers in the various plots, and conclude these observations 
with again recommending the appended plan to any persons who may be 
desirous of forming new flower-gardens, or who may have occasion to alter or 
remodel those already in their possession ; and whose attention we would direct to 
VOL. V. NO. LIV. T 
