258 
placing the entrances of two small suburban villas, so as to make them have the appearance of a single house. In 
this case, a square building, containing two houses, is entered by porches at opposite sides ; and there are hack 
entrances to each house, communicating with the area, and the garden behind each. The space in front of the 
houses is divided by a wire fence in the centre ; so that a stranger entering from the street, and proceeding to¬ 
wards either house, sees across the whole width of the front garden ; and both the houses and gardens appear to 
him to he one, and to he occupied by the same family. We have shown in this figure how shrubs and low trees 
may be distributed so as to aid this illusion. Each house contains an entrance-porch and staircase («), dining¬ 
room (5), and drawing-room (c), with a recess, which, in Elizabethan houses, is called a bay (d), communicating 
with a small closet. Between the two houses there is a pedestal and a vase, as indicated at e ; and on the lawns 
(/, g, h, i, and j) there are no flower-beds, but only flowering shrubs and low trees; k and l are verandas ; m, the 
sunk area, communicating with the walk by steps, and leading to the door of the back kitchen ; and n shows the 
descent, by a few steps, from the veranda to the garden. The style of these houses, designed for us by E. B. 
Lamb, Esq, is supposed to be the Elizabethan; and fig. 10, is a perspective view, showing the front of both 
houses next the road, and the entrance front of one of them. 
“ The object in laying out and planting these gardens we shall suppose to be a display of choice low trees and 
shrubs, but planted in such a manner as not to require much expense in keeping the garden in order. Flowering 
plants we shall imagine to be altogether dispensed with, except some in pots (which may be grown in a reserve 
ground, or supplied for a fixed yearly sum by a commercial gardener), for placing in the balconies over the bays, 
and under the verandas. The adjoining gardens we shall suppose to be planted much in the same manner ; or, 
indeed, in any manner, provided a few trees, either fruit-bearing or ornamental, are sprinkled through them. 
Such gardens will not be offensive to look at, especially through a foreground of low trees ; and hence, it will not 
be necessary to proceed on the supposition that much requires to be planted out, that is hidden or partially con¬ 
cealed by trees. The ground being drained and levelled, and properly trenched and manured, the walks may be 
blocked out; but the gravel or the pavement should not be laid for a year; unless, indeed, the walks are formed of 
pavement laid on stone piers. 
“ Such a garden is well calculated for a person of taste, who gets his chief supply of culinary vegetables from 
a market-gardener or a green-grocer. It will look well with very little care and keeping; more especially if a 
due attention be paid to give sufficient room to the arbutus, the laurestinus, the autumn-flowering mezereon, and 
other winter-flowering shrubs; and the Cydonia japonica, the common mezereon, and the lUbes sangumeum, 
double-blossomed furze, and other spring-flowering shrubs. The dying off of the foliage of so many kinds of trees 
and shrubs in autumn, and their expanding foliage in spring, will produce a great variety of tints ; exhibiting 
every morning something new, refreshing, and delightful to the lover of picturesque beauty, even if he should be 
no botanist. In this garden, as actually existing, all the trees and shrubs are named with zinc labels suspended 
from their branches with metallic wire. The zinc is in pieces about 1 in. broad and 3 in. long ; not painted, but 
written with a prepared ink ; and, in addition to the scientific and English names, the native country of the plant 
is added. Such labels, the wire included, cost little more than one farthing each ; and they may easily be pro¬ 
cured from any of the London seedsmen; they add greatly to the interest of the garden, and have a tendency to 
give young persons a taste for plants. 
“ The expense and management of a garden of this kind, supposing the length of the back garden to be 150 ft., 
the soil moderately good, and the subsoil such as not to require much drainage, the expense of laying out, and 
blocking out the walks, may be £20 or £25. The number of trees and shrubs required, exclusive of the ivy, 
may be 250, at the average price of 2s. each. The ivy, the grass seeds, and other expenses, may am ount to £5 ; 
so that the total expense of laying out and planting each garden, exclusive of purchasing and laying in the gravel 
in the walks, may amount to between £55 and £60. If trees and shrubs were purchased which averaged Is. each, 
the sum would be reduced to from £40 to £50 ; or, if the average of the trees and shrubs were 6d. each, then the 
total would be reduced to from £35 to £40. The expense of management, exclusive of taking care of the plants 
in pots, would be very trifling. If the walks were paved, nothing more would be required than mowing the lawn, 
clipping the edges of the grass along the walks, sweeping up leaves, and cutting off decayed flowers or dead twigs, 
all which need not cost more than £5 a year; and for a similar sum a commeicial gardener would keep the 
veranda stocked throughout the year with boxes of mignonette, and supply a succession of plants in flower, during 
the summer months, for the balcony. 
With another extract showing the rock-work at Hoole House, Cheshire, the seat of Lady Broughton, we must 
conclude our notice, but not without reiterating our conviction, that persons seeking information on the subject of 
which the book treats, cannot have a better guide; and young gardeners, and many old ones, too, should not be 
without it. 
“ The striking effect produced by the flower-garden at Hoole depends on the contrast between the smooth flat 
surface of the lawn, with the uniformity of the circular beds, and the great irregularity of the surrounding rock- 
work. The length of the flower-garden, within the rocky boundary, is sixty yards, and the breadth thirty-four 
yards. The baskets, twenty-seven in number, are in five square rows, and each basket is a circle of nine feet five 
inches in diameter. They are made of wire, worked on an iron rod, the rod being placed upon small pegs, to keep 
the basket to the level of the grass ; and they are painted a yellow stone colour, to harmonize with the rocks and 
the veranda. They stand eight inches above the ground, the grass coming close to the iron rod. The distance 
