ARRANGING HARDY ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 
83 
employed, will enable the gardener to place them precisely at such distances as will 
allow them room for their full and complete extension, without becoming entangled 
with other plants. Or, if the smallness of the plot, or the diminutive size of the 
plants, preclude this arrangement in the first instance, without derogating from the 
appearance of the group they can be planted so as to admit of any subsequent 
thinning, to the required extent. 
Shrubberies thus planted with exotic trees only, would be in themselves 
arboretums ; and if that charming variety which can alone please the eye be 
consulted and effectuated, none of the objections we have before urged against those 
departments would apply in this case. It is true that species, and even genera, 
would thus be separated and scattered promiscuously throughout the group, so 
that it would be almost impossible to trace their associations. Pleasure gardens 
are not, however, nurseries for botanists ; at least, we imagine, few proprietors 
of them would entertain and follow out such an idea, at the expense of everything 
that would render them attractive and picturesque. Such information can almost 
as readily be obtained from books ; and the attempt to illustrate it, or facilitate 
its acquirement, by planting or disposing any kinds of plants according to any 
other system than that which taste, sense, and nature dictate, is a gross outrage 
on all the acknowledged principles of beauty, and a complete perversion of the 
science of landscape gardening, from its original and evident intention. 
Of all modes of planting trees and shrubs, none is so well calculated to display 
the perfection of their character, as that of placing them singly in conspicuous 
situations, on lawns, or in the centre of small parterres. Unfortunately, it is only 
certain portions of the pleasure ground which will admit of this system being 
practised ; nor would it, indeed, be pleasing if carried to too great an extent. 
The most symmetrical, beautiful, and rare kinds should therefore be chosen 
for this purpose. The advantages of this method are not confined to the oppor- 
tunity it affords of examining the plants on all sides. Being perfectly isolated, air 
and light are freely admitted to all parts of their surface, and from the unmitigated 
operation of these, can they alone attain that admirable symmetry of form which all 
plants in such situations are known to exhibit. 
Our opinion on the different methods of arranging ornamental ligneous plants 
with the best effect, has thus been unhesitatingly declared. That arboretums in 
which the plants are disposed systematically, may be rendered in some degree 
ornamental in very extensive domains, we are prepared to admit. We cannot, 
however, desire the extension of this system. It is defective in principle ; and 
these defects are most strikingly manifested in practice. All, therefore, who would 
seek to embellish and adorn their pleasure garden ; to heighten instead of disparage 
its natural beauties ; and to steer with such precision between the rules of nature 
and art, as to avoid the blemishes of either, and rise superior to both ; must plant 
their trees in such a manner as to present, individually and collectively, the greatest 
diversity, and yet the most delightful harmony. 
