Tllli COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMrANION.-Joi.Yr29, 1850. 
.‘112 
Nothing tlirtL I ever saw or heard of can equal it for the 
purpose. 
Of the fruit crops, ns I have noticed them in this neigh¬ 
bourhood (Woodstock), 1 may observe of Apphs, scarcely 
any ; Penn, none ; Plums, scarce ; Apricots, a failure ; * 
Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries, generally good. 
These latter, including Strawberries, are in my garden most 
abundant. Every description of vegetable crop is good. 
We have had early Pens particularly so. Agricultural 
crops are good and healthy. The Wheats were laid by the 
storm spoken of above, and, where heavy, have not righted 
themselves again. Grass, more than the average; and 
haying, for the last fifteen days, troublesome, having, every 
other day or so, experienced severe wind and storms, which 
I am anxious to see abate on account of my Bees. 
In short, the country generally and the forest trees look 
particularly healthy, although, at the village of Ambroseden, 
near Bicester, where I was a few days ago, there is an excep¬ 
tion. In some Helds adjacent to the Rectory every leaf on 
the trees there is eaten into holes, partaking the appear¬ 
ance of having been riddled with swan-shot.— Upwards and 
Onwards. 
THE SUBURBAN VIET,A AND COUNTRY 
RESIDENCE. 
NO. XI. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN—GEOMETRIC GARDENS. 
V FLOWER-GARDEN, to be effective, must consist of a 
1 number of beds collected together, and be more or less 
symmetrically arranged, so that, as a whole, they may pro¬ 
duce a pleasing effect npon the eye. Even in what is 
termed an irregular flower-garden, if the relative positions 
of the beds are not artistic, if they do not collectively 
present some decided and well-defined arrangement, such 
a garden will fail to produce a pleasing effect; and, in the 
absence of that, no skill in combining the colours of the 
| flowers can possibly produce the desired result. These ob- 
I serrations are not intended to apply to such flower-beds as 
are occasionally scattered about the pleasure-ground at 
irregular intervals, and which are, of course, only intended 
to he seen as detached objects. Nor is it alone necessary 
| that the beds themselves should present a symmetrical 
j arrangement; the boundary should also partake of the, 
character, to complete an harmonious effect. It is not 
necessary that the outline of the beds forming such a 
garden should be decidedly formal. On the contrary, 
symmetrical figures without formality are preferable. But 
whatever figures are chosen, they should be as free as 
possible from acute angles. Such portions of the beds can 
rarely be covered by the plants, and the presence of nu¬ 
merous spots of bare earth will not only disturb the other¬ 
wise general good effect of the whole, but. they are also 
highly inconvenient. No error as regards the forms of 
flower-beds or shrubberies is more common than this, and 
it will hardly be credited, by those who have not given the 
subject attention, how much the good effect of a garden is 
destroyed in which it occurs. 
Beds that are to be filled with plants of a mixed character 
should not he large. Constant attendance will, of course, 
be required; and if the individual plants are not, readily 
accessible, without the necessity of getting fairly upon the 
beds, an unnecessary amount of labour and inconvenience 
! will result. 
Such gardens as the preceding remarks are intended to 
j apply to are generally, and, indeed, most appropriately 
made upon grass. The spaces between the beds should be 
ample, to allow the free use of t ho scythe without damaging 
the flowers. This is a point, however, but rarely attended 
to, and the natural consequence of such confined space is 
to increase labour, without affording any advantage in return. 
Geometric gardens proper are never so effective and 
appropriate as when in the vicinity of buildings, and having 
architectural accessories blended in the design. A geome¬ 
trical garden worked out upon a lawn, and wholly detached 
* At the famous Apricot village of Kidlingtou there is not only very 
little truit, but the trees are suffering amasinglv ; branch after branch is 
to be seen completely dead. 
from any building, always appears to me to be out of place, 
and, as such, to lose half its beauties. Besides, such a 
garden should always be in a position w here it, can be looked 
down upon, as from a terrace, or a great portion of its 
peculiar effect is entirely lost. 
It has always appeared to me that this kind of flower- , 
garden is worthy of a more careful attention, ns regards 
design, than it usually receives. The peculiar effect which 
such a garden is capable of affording is generally either 
wholly lost sight of or not recognised, most frequently the j 
bitter. Any formal arrangement of beds, no matter of what 
size or shape, is considered as sufficient, to constitute a 
geometrical flower-garden ; and if such beds are, filled with 
plants in a tolerably regular manner, each corresponding 
portion of the design matching the oilier ns regards colour, 
the utmost effect of which such a garden is capable is pre¬ 
sumed to be realised. As this kind of flower-garden has, of 
late, become exceedingly popular, it may be worth while to ; 
consider briefly the principles which should influence the 
design. 
1. The general outline should be a circle, an oval, or a 
parallelogram, or a simple combination of portions of 
these figures. 
2. It should be on a perfectly level surface. 
fl. Its extent should not be so large that the eye cannot 
conveniently embrace, the whole design at one view. 
4. The width of the walks between the beds should be 
wide enough for convenience, and not wide enough to. 
destroy the general effect of the design as a whole when 
seen, as it ought to be, from a terrace or elevated position. 
0. The size of the individual beds, i. c., their superficial 
area (for they-ought not to be very wide), must depend upon 
the magnitude of the garden and the nature of the design. 
(!. The outline of the beds should be simple in figure, 
and as free from acute angles as possible. 
7. The walks between the beds should be of gravel. 
8 . The edgings of the beds should be of stone, or some 
good substitute, and as simple in design as possible. A i 
plain fillet is the best. 
!). The design should not be broken up into too many 
parts, and ought, in a measure, to form its own boundary. 
The great object to be attained in a geometric flower- 
gardpn is a pleasing combination of forms and colours ; a 
scene upon which the eye can dwell with delight—an ela¬ 
borate diaper pattern, in fact, and one that may be subjected 
to the same rules as a design for a carpet or a hearthrug, i 
w'itli this material difference, however—the garden is to be j 
a prominent object, the ornament itself. A carpet should 
set off and heighten the beauty of other ornaments, itself 
being subordinate. But the principles of design are in 
each case similar. Each should form a complete whole; j 
though made up of a number of items, each separate part 
should be indispensable to the other, and the whole together j 
comprise a unity. 
In considering a geometric garden under this aspect, the i 
principles which I have ventured to lay down will, I think, 
be found appropriate in realising the effect intended. And 
it will be obvious that there are no limits to the various 
combinations which, both in form and colour, may be pro¬ 
duced. The same design may, however, be differently 
filled in with colour each succeeding season, so that a new 
combination is produced—a new garden, in fact, each year 1 . 
Of course, a geometric garden docs not necessarily com¬ 
bine all the qualities enumerated, for, under greatly modified > 
arrangements, it might still be a geometric garden. But I 
conceive that the principles named would, if fully carried 
out, tend to give a higher .character to such gardens than is 
very often observable. , 
While upon this subject, I cannot refrain from describ¬ 
ing an example of what I think a most objectionable style 
for a geometric garden. It is, as such gardens should be, 
immediately contiguous to the mansion, and is surrounded 
by a very handsome stone balustrade, with other archi¬ 
tectural accessories. A very excellent statue of Flora, as 
the presiding genius, occupies a conspicuous position, and a 
gravel terrace - walk, immediately within the balustrade, 
surrounds the garden. So far all is well enough; but, in 
the first place, the terrace-walk is entirely isolated by a 
space of turf from the gravel-walk at the entrances to the 
garden. In fact, you descend from one gravel-walk by grass 
