224 PROGRESS AND STYLE OF ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 
clouds, and tints of the sky, are all as his fancy or taste suggests. 
And neither is the painter confined to the real character of the trees, 
and shrubs, and herbs which he introduces into his picture ; a burdock, 
or other monstrous weed on his foreground, answers his purpose as well 
as the finest plant in cultivation. Such worthless plants in a painting 
give no offence to the beholder in any way; and, moreover, the rudest, 
wildest scene may be preferred for the canvas, but which is seldom or 
never required to be, nor indeed ever should be formed by the gardener, 
because the most trifling mark of art about such a work robs it of every 
charm which it would otherwise possess. 
The landscape gardener arranges all the ornamental planting of the 
park, and particularly near the house. Here comfort, convenience, 
cleanliness, and every other sign of high keeping and art must prevail; 
here all the taste and skill of the gardener should be displayed; here 
his ideas are peculiarly applicable; and when these foreground disposi¬ 
tions are fixed, he has to design and connect the scenery of the park 
therewith, and that of the surrounding country with both. 
In the execution of all this, the most refined taste, united with a 
large share of practical, botanical, and arboricultural knowledge, is 
absolutely necessary; and in this it is said the professional ideas of the 
painter would be available. Let us suppose, then, that a Claude 
Lorraine were engaged with the gardener in laying out an English 
garden ; the trim neatness, smoothness, and regular edges of the walks 
and borders of the latter, would offend the eye of the former, who 
would rather see roughness, intricacy, and indistinctness prevail. This, 
however, would not be suffered near the abode of refinement and afflu¬ 
ence ; but the painter would advise the gardener to conceal his hard 
lines; to break the uniformity of the clumps; to give variety to the 
masses of planting, by associations of trees and shrubs of different tints 
and character; to place on the foreground the strongest growing herbs, 
the coarsest featured shrubs, and the quickest growing trees to flank 
the vistas which he would wish to have extended across the park, or 
which would let in distant objects of interest in the country beyond. 
The painter would also advise but few single trees to be planted, 
without having a few shrub-like growths near their base; and also 
that all clumps and groups should be of one kind of tree, irregular in 
outline, and intermixed with under-growths, to creep out on the turf 
around them. 
If water entered into the composition, the painter would advise it 
to be disposed in its natural place—the lowest ground; and whether a 
lake or river, he would have it as unlike a canal as possible. The 
natural abruptness of the banks he would preserve, as well as all their 
