ON PLANTING SHRUBS IN BEDS. 
205 
hood of mansions should rise in height, as they reach a greater distance from the 
edifice, till they blend with the taller trees of the remote pleasure -grounds or park. 
And in affirming this as a general principle, we do not mean that it is fitted for 
eflPectuation in all places, or that it shall be too scrupulously carried out. Tliere are 
mansions so closety environed by trees, that a flower-garden, or groups of small 
shrubs, in their vicinage, would be ridiculous, and must be dispensed with. The 
majority, however, have at least one front on which the system can be practised ; 
and there we would plant out masses of shrubs so as to come in between the 
flower-gardens and the larger shrubberies or trees. 
That we have no intention of making such a graduated slope from the house in 
any degree formal, will have been gathered from our former articles on an allied 
subject. Nothing could be more detestable than a monotonous bank, in which the 
plants simply rose one above another, as they receded to the extreme boundary. 
And we need scarcely say that we do not advocate such an aspect, further than relates 
to the mere outline. The great art in making such slopes is to preserve their 
desired character, and, at the same time, to render the surface of the plants com- 
posing them thoroughly broken and irregular. This can be done by intermingling 
masses of shrubs with individual specimens, and putting in, occasionally, rather 
larger plants than appears really necessary. The object of the whole method will 
be readily seen. By having the plants so arranged as to rise gradually higher and 
higher till the greatest altitude is attained, there will be no violence of change, no 
incongruity, but a seeming naturalness, and a facility for the eye to travel over all 
the objects within a wide range of vision. 
Another place in which plots of shrubs might be appropriately planted, is in the 
front of those minor buildings which are mostly to be met with in gardens of 
moderate size. Detached conservatories, ranges, or groups of them, temples, 
summer-houses, and other like erections, are frequently so far isolated as to need the 
ground facing them to be laid out in a peculiar and accordant manner. They are, at 
times, thrown forward in the pleasure-grounds in such a way that they do not require 
more than an open space of lawn in the front. In additional instances (especially 
with reference to conservatories) they are so completely separated and shut in that 
nothing but a decided flower-garden will suit their character. More commonly, 
however, they exist in a state intermediate between the two just mentioned, and 
are partially secluded, while they are to some extent exposed. The spot connected 
with them has, therefore, to be treated diff*erently from either of the above methods. 
A flower-garden would rarely be in character, because it would tend to destroy the 
unity of the pleasure-grounds, and supply a highly-dressed feature in a rather 
anomalous position. And the subordinate buildings in a garden are seldom of 
sufficient importance to warrant their being treated as the mansion itself. An 
unvaried glade of turf, again, w^ould be disagreeable, since the structure would 
then stand unconnected with the garden, and have an air of unfitness and super- 
fluity. The adoption of a medium course, by inserting a greater or less number 
