September 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
401 
i from the upper terrace-walk to the termination of that 
space which claims the Italian ancl the English style of 
I landscape gardening, alike; that geometrical accom¬ 
paniments follow these three straight lines on either 
side of them; and that the English style of landscape 
gardening would begin “gradually” to •6sume the “bold 
and free” slopes of grass, winding walks, large and 
small masses of trees and shrubs, with free sweeping 
outlines, and all the rest of it. The measurements were 
also given to the last inch; so, as I said before, that 
the whole could be as easily grasped in the mind, with¬ 
out seeing it, as the main features of a new country 
from a good map. 
Well, I never went near it till I was sure the first 
planting of the flower-beds was at its prime for tbe 
season. I met with no delays on the way from London, 
as I expected from the reports in the newspapers; got a 
splendid view of the gardens and Palace out of the train, 
passing round the “ Geological Island;” saw tbe “ beasts 
before the flood” panting for water, at the bottom of the 
ground, and the first, second, and third class lions, 
feeding near the top, and under the shadow of the 
right wing of the Crystal Palace itself; the seeming 
relish, mixed with the savory perfumes from the kitchen, 
the store and still rooms, tbe cellar and the larder, 
made my “ teeth water,” and I was obliged to feed too. 
Ten days after this a lady took me in her carriage to 
see it a second time. I was her ladyship’s “ guest for 
the day,” and got home scot free. 
Now, from the rapid sketch I have just given of the 
place from the newspapers, a gardener could see at a 
glance where the key lay for examining the details of 
the garden,—-just at the liout door, in the centre of the 
middle transept. In the open gallery, exactly above the 
frontdoor, is the proper place to study the composition ; 
there is no other spot, high or low, where it can be so 
easily “ construed,” as the Dominie would say. If I had 
been brought here blindfolded, and had not seen the 
building in Hyde Park, I should have wondered why 
blue and white flowers were not as freely planted in 
the terrace-garden before me, in proportion to the 
yellow and scarlet ones. Blue flowers, it is true, are 
not so telling as scarlet and yellow ones, in a large 
space, or at long distances from the eye ; that might bo 
the reason ; and one good reason is better than ten lame 
ones; but then, white flowers are more telling at a 
distance than either yellow or scarlet. Why is it, there¬ 
fore, that not a single white flower, for contrast, or for 
combining, is seen in this garden, which is said to be 
nearly one-third of a mile long, and above five hundred 
feet wide? Nothing cau be more clear, and easier 
accounted for. The whole area, or nearly the whole, is 
already bounded by blue and white; the whole of the 
back-line and both ends of the garden, up to the sky¬ 
line, is one entire mass of blue and white, in the ele¬ 
vations of the Palace itself, the long, horizontal, light- 
coloured lines of the terrace-walls and walks, the pure 
white marble of the statuary and flower-vases, which 
surmount these walls all round, aud similar groups 
round the fountain - basins along the centre of the 
garden, would, of themselves, drown all the beds, so to 
speak, were they all planted with blue aud white flowers. 
Add to this, all the fountains at play on a clear summer 
day, the water shooting up to a great height, in sky-blue 
jets and columns, and returning in foam and torrents, in 
broad blue sheets, or glassy films, or spray, sparkling in 
j a thousand shapes, and clear as crystal itself; I say, only 
j imagine all this for an instant, and then say, “ if thou 
I can’st toll it,” how tame a proportionate balance of 
blue and white, to the yellow and scarlet flowers, would 
; render this magnificent garden ; and then, also, if you 
! understand the drift of my story, let me never hear such 
silly questions again, as—“ Don’t you think they have 
j too much scarlet and yellow?” 
All the shades from blue to white, as the different gay 
Verbenas, Heliotropes, and Ageratums, together with the 
pink and purple shades in Verbenas and Petunias, with 
the Lucia rosea, and Unique Geraniums, also, .Salvia 
patens, subdued, and blue Anagallis, and dwarf Ver¬ 
benas, as neutral corners or centres to start from, are all 
introduced here in judicious proportions, except, perhaps, 
the purples, and we all know they are most difficult to 
deal with in a new arrangement. You must actually 
see the effect of purple shades, before you can possibly 
assign its own station to each. 
It is marvellous to me how they escaped at the 
Crystal Palace, with hardly a failure to speak of, in the 
arrangement of the different designs and beds. There 
is one original idea (twice repeated, however), in the 
centre of this terrace-garden, which is radically in oppo¬ 
sition to the law on which the garden is laid out; I 
mean the three circular Rhododendron beds—in each 
of the two pannels surrounded by a chain of Tom 
Thumb and Calceolaria being placed in corners forming 
light angles; but a slight alteration in the angle of 
the banks will rectify that without any prejudice to the 
angle formed by the two walks with which the banks 
correspond. But the effect produced by these circular 
beds, in causing the chain of beds to make two angle 
links (beds), and a festoon (of beds) round each Rhodo¬ 
dendron-bed, is most exquisite, and just like grace notes, 
by Jenny Lind, in your favourite tune. Perhaps we 
may engrave one of these pannels some day to show 
what I mean; and also' to exhibit a suitable plan for 
enriching the design by another style of plantihg, or 
rather of connecting the beds by a different colour— 
differently inlaid, as an artist would say. At present, 
this chain-pattern of Yellow Calceolaria and Scarlet 
Geranium, the links or beds being in double circles and 
an oval alternately, with each link joined to the next 
by a dark purple band, a yard long and two feet wide, 
of the Emma Verbena, is the richest pattern of the 
kind in England; and the nearest to it in the three 
kingdoms is at Drumlanrick Castle, in Scotland, one of 
the scats of the Duke of Buecleucb, where part of the 
gardens must be seen a long distance off, and, therefore, 
must necessarily be planted only with the strongest 
colours. 
Strictly speaking, this is the only pattern-planting in 
all the garden, the rest of the beds being either angle 
beds or accompanying beds to promenade walks. The 
angle beds, both on the terrace and in the transition 
garden, just under the terrace, are well managed; there 
are four of them in each end pannel of the terrace- 
garden planted with the Compactum Scarlet Geranium, 
the eight are edged round with a purple Verbena, redder 
than Emma, and the effect produced by the two shades 
is extremely poor. Compactum is not quite a scarlet, 
but a shade between orange-scarlet and pink; it never 
“ comes to a head,” as we say ; that is, never makes a 
flat surface like a bed of Tom Thumb. The purple 
Verbena, which I object to round Compactum, does not ' 
come to a head either. The style of growth was, there- j 
fore, well considered; but the two shades neutralise each j 
other. The planter was put out, also, by a purple in the i 
centre of the terrace. The third bed from the upper ! 
corner beyond the Salvia patens does not agree with its 
match, on the other side. 
With these slight exceptions, which are not worth I 
mentioning, I would challenge the most angry critic to 
point out a false step from first to last. The sloping 
green bank, on which the Palace seems to stand, follows 
the ground line of tbe wings at each end; and where the 
two bauks meet at right angles, evergreens are planted 
in groups to soften the severity of the posts at both ends 
of tbe upper-terrace-walk ; below that, and opposite each 
end of the terrace, the sloping banks in front of the 
wings are planted in rich drapery of Cloth of Gold, 
