318 
garden i c ; put in execution, it ought to be 
considered, or anticipated, what it will be in 
twenty or thirty years time ; for it often 
happens, that a design which looks handsome 
when first planted, and in good proportion, 
becomes so small and ridiculous in process 
of time, that there is a necessity either to 
alter it, or destroy it entirely, and so plant 
it anew. To proportion the breadth of walks, 
the si/e of carpets, casting and levelling of 
grounds, parterres, &c. ; the disposal oi 
fountains, statues, vases, dials, and other de- 
corations of magnificence to most advan- 
tage, requires a particular address, says Mr. 
Evelyn, or to speak more emphatically, a 
prophetic eye ; and though the taste is" not 
what it was in Mr. Evelyn’s time, yet, per- 
haps, the only difference is that more skill 
is requisite. 
Landscape gardening depends much on the 
form of the ground, and therefore to shape 
that is the first object. Some situations may 
not need it, and perhaps a little alteration 
may produce a happy effect in others ; there- 
fore great alterations should not be attempted 
without manifest advantages, as either levell- 
ing, or raising ground, is a heavier business 
than is commonly supposed, both as to time 
and expence. 
Too much plane is to be guarded against ; 
and when it abounds, the eve should be re- 
lieved by clumps, or some' other agreeable 
object. Hollows are not easily filled ; and 
eminences mostly are advantageous, in the 
formation of picturesque scenes, in which 
the general principle of ornamental garden- 
ing consists. This idea has been pressed so 
far, that it is contended, a gardener should 
be a studier ol landscape paintings. But 
without an immediate view r to pictures, no 
doubt, grounds may be laid out in a way 
sufficiently picturesque. That view may be 
very agreeable in nature, which would not 
be so in a picture, and the contrary. 
Picturesque gardening is effected by a 
nuipber of means, which a true rural genius, 
and the study of examples, only can produce. 
These examples may he pictures, but the 
better instructors will be scenes in nature; 
and the proper grouping of trees, according 
to their mode of growth, shades of green, 
and appearance in autumn, will effect a great 
deal. 
To plant picturesquely, a knowledge of 
.the characteristic differences of trees and 
shrubs, is evidently a principal qualification. 
Some trees spread their branches wide, others 
grow spiral, and some conical ; some have 
a close foliage, others an open one ; and some 
form regular, others irregular heads, the 
branches and leaves of which may grow 
erect, level, or pendant. 
The mode of growth in trees, as quick or 
slow, the time of leafing, and shedding leaf, 
with the colour of the bark, are all circum- 
stances of consideration in order to produce 
striking contrasts, and happy assemblages, 
in the way of ornamental gardening. 
To range the shrubs and small trees, so 
that they mutually set off the beauties, and 
conceal the blemishes, of each other ; to aim 
at no effects which depend on a nicety for 
their success, and which the soil, the expo- 
sure, or the season of the day, may destroy ; 
to attend more to the groupes than to the 
GARDENING. 
individuals ; and to consider the whole as a 
plantation, not as a collection of plants ; are 
the best general rules which can be given 
; concerning them. 
I Jn considering the subjects of gardening, 
ground and wood hist present themselves ; 
and \vater next; which, though not abso-t 
lutely necessary to a beautiful composition, 
yet occurs so often, and is so capital a fea- 
ture, that it is always regretted when want- 
ing ; and no large place can be supposed, a 
little spot can hardly he imagined, in which 
it may not be agreeable. It accommodates 
itself to every situation, is the most interest- 
ing object in a landscape, and the happiest 
circumstance in a retired recess; captivates 
the eye at a distance, invites approach, and 
is delightful when near : it refreshes an open 
I exposure, it animates a shade, cheers the 
dreariness of a waste, and enriches the most 
crowded view. In form, in style, and in 
i extent, it may be made equal to the greatest 
; compositions, or adapted to the least : it may 
spread in a calm expanse to soothe the tran- 
quillity ot a spacefill scene; or burrs in 0- 
.along a devious course, add splendour to a 
: gay, and extravagance to a romantic situa- 
, tion. So various are the characters which 
water can assume, that there is scarcely an 
! idea in which it may not concur, or an im- 
pression which it cannot enforce, 
j On the works of art in gardening, the fol- 
lowing passage is pertinent : “ Art was ear- 
I ried to excess, when ground, wood, and wa- 
j ter, were reduced to mathematical figure, 
and similarity and order were preferred to 
freedom and variety. These mischiefs, how- 
ever, were occasioned, not by the use, but 
the perversion of art ; it excluded, instead 
j of improving upon nature, and thereby de- 
j stroyed the very end it was called in to pro- 
I mote. Architecture requires symmetry, the 
objects of nature freedom; and the proper- 
| bes of the one, cannot with justice be trans- 
| ‘erred to the other. But if by the term art 
| no more is meant than merely design, the 
| dispute is at an end; choice, ‘arrangement, 
composition, improvement, and preservation, 
are so many symptoms of art, which may 
occasionally appear in several parts of a plan- 
l tation, but ought to be displayed without re- 
j serve near the house : nothing there should 
seem neglected ; it is a scene of the most 
cultivated nature, it ought to be enriched, it 
ought to be adorned ; and design may be 
avowed in the plan, and even in (he execu- 
tion. Regularity is not excluded: a capi- 
tal structure may extend its influence be- 
yond its walls ; but this power should be ex- 
ercised only over its immediate appendages. 
\\ orks of sculpture are not, like buildings, 
objects familiar in scenes of cultivated na- 
ture; but vases, statues, and termini, are 
usual appendages to a considerable edifice : 
as such, they may attend the mansion, and 
trespass a little upon the garden, provided 
they are not carried so far into it as to lose 
their connection with the structure.” 
The cultivation of a garden.— The first ob- 
ject with a view to produce should be, to 
keep the ground in such a state as will enable 
it to produce good crops. Good vegetables 
cannot be had without good manure. Yet 
raw unwrought dung is not good for a gar- 
den. The most economical plan therefore, 
that can be pursued, is for the first year to 
make good hot-beds of your dung, and 
spread it out upon the quarters, and dig it 
in in autumn and winter. You by this means 
have a double producer, and the dung is the 
better. 
Dung, however, used in great quantities, 
and lying in lumps, breeds worms, grubs, 
and other insects, and causes plants to gnyv 
too rampant and rank-flavoured. Carrots it 
cankers, and it disagrees with many things. 
On these accounts some persons have been 
induced to dress their gardens only with rich 
iresh earth ; which, if they do not overcrop, 
will do very well, being accompanied with 
good tillage ; which alone is of much use, 
and is essential to due cultivation. The 
method just recommended, of letting dung 
lie in the state of a hotbed for a time, is 
good, as it abates the rankness of it. 
If the ground is in proper heart, every 
spot may be contrived to be constantly and 
successfully cropped. The common gard- 
eners about London, who give high rents for 
their land, contrive (manuring well) a suc- 
cession of crops, one under another, very 
dexterously ; and this sort of conduct should 
be imitated by private persons. Tims a 
little spot, in skilful and industrious hands, 
will be much more productive than a much 
greater under contrary management: but 
when hard worked, the oil will not do with- 
out a good deal ot manure. 
In the occupation of ground, the change 
of crops will be proper, as each sort of plant 
draws a somewhat different nourishment : so 
that altera lull crop of one thing, one of 
another kind may often be immediately 
sown ; but it should be contrived that a wide 
crop may follow a dose one, and contrari- 
wise. 
Close crops, as onions, leeks, carrots, &c. 
are conveniently and neatly cultivated in 
beds of from four to five feet width, with 
alleys oi from a foot to eighteen inches be- 
tween them. 
The seasons proper for furnishing the 
ground with every particular vegetable, 
should be w'ell attended to, that each may be 
obtained as early as its nature will permit ; 
and oi the seeds and plants w e use, care must 
be taken to procure the beh of the kind, 
lest after all the trouble of cultivation, dis- 
appointment as to quality should ensue. 
heeds and plants should be adapted as 
much as possible to the soil and situation 
which best suits them ; for in the same gar- 
den some difference will be found, not only 
as to sun and shelter, but the earth ; as some 
will be richer, some poorer, some deeper, 
some shallower, and some, perhaps, heavier, 
some lighter, in due attention to which, ad- 
vantage is to be reaped. 
i he thinning of seedling crops should be 
done in time, before the young plants have 
drawn one another up too much. All plants 
grow stronger, and ripen better, when the 
air circulates freely round them, and the suu 
is not prevented from an immediate influ- 
ence ; an attention to which should be paid 
from the first appearance of plants breaking 
ground. 6 
In the piicking and planting out of crops, 
be sure to do it as early as may be ; let 
every thing be regular, (not sparing to’ use 
the line) allowing always room enough for 
this work ; and being thus treated, vege- 
tables will come forwarder, larger, and of a 
superior flavour. These advantages are seen 
Q 
