206 
ON PLANTING SHRUBS IN BEDS. 
of beds of shrubs on the turf, would, consequently, be the wiser and more tasteful 
proceeding; and here we have an excellent position for the subjects of our paper. 
In many domains, moreover, there are parts of the pleasure-grounds, at some 
distance from the house, which may be described as retired dells, surrounded on 
several or on all sides with trees, that afford both shade and shelter, and having 
banks which slope in a varying manner into a narrow hollow along the centre. 
Or the ground may not constitute one continuous hollow, but have all kinds of 
irregular undulations. The ease with which such a spot may be made where it 
does not naturally occur, renders us more confident when we say that if judiciously 
treated, it is one of the finest portions of a pleasure-garden during summer. Its 
retirement, its coolness, and the luxuriance and beauty of the vegetation within it, 
impart to it peculiar charms. We must merely state that the ground should be 
covered with turf, and that the clumps of shrubs should be distributed, without 
order, over the banks or slopes. 
By the sides of walks, again, which surround pleasure-grounds, or proceed 
along any part of their extremities^ whether they conduct to particular prospects, 
or have openings at their sides to embrace desirable views, or are simply for shady 
retirement, or for exercise, the strip of lawn which accompanies them is widened, 
in places, for variety, and may here and there be expanded sufficiently to allow of 
two or three beds of shrubs being planted upon it. Assuming that the walks are 
outlying ones, and carried through shrubberies or woods, flowers would be out of 
place there, and single shrubs or trees would, by their frequency, become monoto- 
nous. Some masses of shrubs, therefore, occurring at various open intervals, would 
greatly enliven and beautify such walks. 
Ere we leave this part of our essay, it seems requisite to observe that beds of 
shrubs always look best when situated on an open lawn, or separated by patches 
of grass, than when in any way associated with gravel-walks. Groups of flowers 
may occasionally be shown more advantageously by contrast with the gravel -paths 
by which they are traversed ; though, in that case, the definitiveness of their 
outline is maintained by a box or other edging, and they never extend beyond this. 
In regard to shrubs, one of their most interesting features is to spread beyond the 
boundary of the bed in which they are grown, and it is neither natural nor gratifying 
to see their branches lying on gravel. On the contrary, when their shoots are 
extended on turf, they have the most characteristic and delightful aspect, and if 
they are not of that nature by which they will cover the earth in the beds, the 
grass relieves the dulness of the visible portion of soil, and also the blankness of 
deciduous shrubs in winter, far better than any sort of gravel. From every consi- 
deration, then, there should be no paths, unless they be turf ones, in connexion 
with groups of shrubs. 
Of the shape of beds in which shrubs may be grown, it is needless to advance 
much. Simple figures are, unquestionably, the most applicable, but there ought 
to be considerable variety in them. Eminent gardeners have frequently confounded 
