THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 24, 1860. 
251 
out, however, as we do our trees with a view to effect— 
face them with invaders in the absence of drill, and the 
effect would be just the same as the effect of a mob at a 
house on fire in the heart of London. 
But there are ways and means to get out of the fix, if 
we -would but fix upon them. You know we keep plans 
and books now to facilitate the yearly operations in the 
flower garden, and why not do the same for the park and 
pleasure ground F Why not keep the original plans, and 
every other plan from that day to this ? The outlines of 
all the plantings on a working plan, with numbers in the 
exact position for thetrees corresponding with the numbers 
under which every tree, shrub, and bush is written in 
your garden-book, so that at any moment you could go 
with so many men and thin out so many and such kinds 
without the smallest puzzle or hesitation, or the least fear 
of the consequences ; for the more you thinned out each 
time you took it into your head, the sooner the effect, 
desired and aimed at in the original planting, would 
become apparent to gladden the eyes and ears of all who 
saw or heard of your success. 
In very extensive plantings, as those on a large estate, 
where timber was and always will be more valuable than 
the general effect, the outlines of the different plantations, 
as they are seen from drives and walks in the grounds or 
out from the mansion windows, would alone pay for the 
pains of planting them on a different scale, or with trees 
different in outline of growth from the bulk of the woods 
behind them ; and for that style of planting the plan and 
catalogue of trees might differ from those for smaller 
places. As, for instance, instead of numbers on the 
working plan corresponding with the numbers in the 
garden-book, the moi’e prominent shapes of the trees 
would answer better. So that the shape of a Spruce 
would indicate the place of any other kind of Conifer; 
an Oak shape for all Oaks, and other round-headed trees, 
and so forth. But for small places, and for all places 
which were laid out on a garden plan, like the Crystal 
Palace, I would have a figure for every tree, shrub, and 
bush, down to a trailer, marked on the plan. Suppose 
40 was the number of Araucaria imbriedta in the garden- 
book, put 40 down on the plan where every Araucaria 
imbricata is planted out, or is intended to be planted out 
permanently, always using the number 40 for that kind, 
and no other, and so on for every plant that is intended 
to stand to grow to full size ; and no number or mark to 
any Gee or shrub which is to be thinned out as they get 
too close to one another. 
With a rough plan of that kind, and so numbered for 
each section of the garden, a perfect stranger could enter 
the Crystal Palace grounds to-morrow and thin out the | 
supernumeraries just as safely, and quite as accurately, 
as the very man who planned and planted. A garden no 
more than a quarter of an acre must often have ever¬ 
greens or something to hide the boundary, and some few 
choice trees. Therefore, book-keeping by single entry is 
just as applicable to it as it would be for the Crystal 
Palace. But this will go in at one ear and out at the 
other as sure as fate, for it seems to be the rule with us 
to plant well, to mix for thickening or for the looks of 
the thing, and for nursing up, and to let the mixings rule 
the fate of our most expensive and our most artistic ways 
of planting. 
It is the very reverse of all this with the flower gardens, 
which are more immediately under the control of the 
ladies. Point out any improved way of planting to them, 
and it is sure and certain of being adopted at once. Any 
new plant that is better than an old one is certain of a 
sale the moment it is known. Yearly memoranda are 
booked for the next season with all the regularity of a 
banking-house, and every number of a garden periodical 
like The Cottage Gardener, is read and looked over 
for the least turn of the fashion ; and this shows that 
colours are much more easily understood and worked 
upon than mere forms, although some people maintain 
that real beauty lies in the natural forms and outlines of 
natural objects. Yet the fact with which I started is 
patent to our eyes, that flower gardening is rapidly gain¬ 
ing ground, on the principle of beauty in the proper 
arrangement of colours ; while effect from the proper dis¬ 
position of trees and shrubs is understood but by very 
few, and remains the same as it was when little else was 
aimed at by the great writers of the last generation, on 
whom the light of flower gardening had never shined. 
D. Beaton. 
HOW TO FARM TWO ACRES AND MAKE 
THE MOST OF THEM. 
{Continuedfrom, 'page 156.) 
CROPPING OF SIXTH YEAR. 
60 rods of Grass that might now be called old meadow. 
GO ,, New Grass and White Clover sown preceding 
season. 
80 „ Wheat that had been Clover for two years. 
20 „ Lucern that had been cut two years, but still is 
supposed to yield well. 
20 „ Trifolium incarnatum where the Carrots had pre¬ 
viously been. 
20 „ Potatoes where Holcus Saccharatus and Mangold 
Wurtzel had been. 
In the above arrangement the Trifolium is expected to 
supply the first demand for green food : after which the 
Lucern, and finally Grass, wdiich usually grows rapidly on 
good ground if the winter be mild. The same description 
of routine work to be followed throughout in regard to 
the crops recommended, the Trifolium only to be cut 
once; and when it is all done, the ground is to be 
broken up, and, if well tilled, Swede Turnips may be sown. 
It may be too late for that, and White Turnips may be 
sown instead. It is proper to observe that the young 
Grass ought not to be grown for hay; neither ought it 
to get very long ere it is cut. In fact, it ought to be fed 
off, in order to encourage it to form a good sward ; and, 
if need be, the older Grass may be grown for hay, or an 
additional cow kept in the summer months to consume the 
extra quantity of green food grown—as the Lucern ought 
also to be used as green food, and a plot of Trifolium 
affords more fodder in a green state than any crop what¬ 
ever when it is good. But after it is off, the ground will 
require a good dressing with manure, and sometimes an 
excellent crop of Turnips will follow. The Potatoes 
require no further comment than is given in the earlier 
portion of these notes, only let them be secured before 
frost sets in. The routine work of the season will 
end in there being only 20 rods of tillage ground in 
the autumn to be dealt with. The portion of Wheat 
(80 rods) being sown with winter Beans after one or two 
good diggings, and the 20 rods that had been Potatoes 
might be sown with Winter Tares. It would, however, 
be better to reserve 20 rods of the Wheat plot to 
remain in fallow, or to sow with Turnips, in order to 
have the ground in early spring again for Potatoes. The 
cropping of the autumn of the sixth year will be thus :— 
120 rods of Grass. 
60 „ Winter Beans, in drills, to receive Swede Turnips 
between them in the spring. 
20 „ White Turnips, being part of the last-named plot 
that had been Wheat. 
20 „ Lucern as before. 
20 „ Winter Tares where Potatoes had been. 
20 „ Swede Turnips where Trifolium had been. 
In the ensuing spring the Tares will be ready for use 
as soon as anything ; and after they are done their site 
to be well worked up, and if damp weather, Mangold 
Wurtzel might be transplanted on the ground from some 
store-bed, and sown on some suitable place. The plot 
of White Turnips might be followed by Potatoes; and 
if the Jfolcus Saccharatus gave satisfaction, the remaining 
