246 THE FLOWER-GARDEN. [chap. viii. 
with a few flowering trees and shrubs, so 
arranged, that though their flowers, if pro¬ 
duced, would augment the beauty of the 
scene, the want of them may not destroy it, 
if they should fail. Flower-gardens are of 
two kinds, — those that are called natural, 
and which are planted without any regard to 
regularity, and those that are called geome¬ 
trical, and which consist of beds forming 
some definite figure. 
The natural, or English style, as it is 
called abroad, however beautiful it may be 
in pleasure-grounds, is very ill adapted to a 
flower-garden, which is essentially artificial. 
The principal beauty of a flower-garden 
consists, indeed, in the elegance with which 
it has been arranged, and the neatness with 
which it is kept; or, in other words, in the 
evidence it affords of the art that has been 
employed in forming it. This being the 
case, it is quite clear that an artificial mode 
of arrangement is more suitable to it than 
any other, as it is best adapted for keeping 
up the harmony of the whole. In all cases, 
therefore, where the garden is large enough 
to show a formal figure to advantage, the 
