534 
THE GARDENING WORLD. April 21,is94. 
American climate is very different from ours, so that 
the cultural details given in some instances would 
seem superfluous here, save in exceptionally dry and 
warm seasons like the past. For instance, the writer 
states that the seeds will not germinate in dry 
ground, and that he constantly waters it, " especially 
on hot days, sun or no sun, taking the greatest care 
not to wet the young plants.” He seldom sows seed 
without previously having soaked it in water, and 
urges the necessity of shading the ground where 
Poppy seed is sown, with a temporary contrivance, 
using unbleached white muslin as a shading material. 
The writer strongly advocates various kinds of 
natural and informal gardening, avoiding in all cases 
where it is possible or convenient to do so, anything 
approaching geometrical exactness. He says that 
whole phalanxes of Hyacinths and Tulips look like 
soldiers drawn up for permanent review by some com¬ 
manding oflflcer. This idea is carried out through 
the greater part of the book ; but when the author 
begins to look for regularity and symmetry in Nature 
he finds no nearer approach to it than that of the 
Horse Chestnut leaf. We dissent from that opinion, 
and state that regular and irregular flowers or 
symmetrical and unsymmetrical flowers and leaves 
are common objects everywhere. Leaves and 
flowers must be symmetricaLwhen, if cut through 
the middle, each half is the exact representation of 
the other. There is no symmetry in the bud, flower, 
leaf or branch of the Apple the author states ; but 
in our opinion there is a great deal of precision and 
regularity in all the parts of the tree mentioned, 
notwithstanding the fact that an old and mutilated 
garden specimen may look rather scraggy, as far as 
the branches are concerned. 
The different styles of gardening and landscape 
discussed, including Japanese, Italian and English 
methods, are interesting, and in many cases instruc¬ 
tive; but we hope that Japanese art in gardening will 
never be introduced to the western part of the world. 
Although what is termed the formal English garden 
was rampant many years ago, it is happily a thing 
of the past. It is amusing to find that the most 
picturesque features of modern English gardening 
are to be found in the artists’ pictures of English 
cottages. The writer advocates the value of the 
Irish Yew, Lombardy Poplar, Cypress, and Holly in 
landscape gardening, and instances what are to be 
met with in Italy and Normandy. We are perfectly 
at one with him in that respect, for those trees are 
very prominent, artistic, and picturesque in the 
landscape; but they are formal objects notwith¬ 
standing, and show what wonderful effects may be 
produced even by trees, which have a characteristic 
rigidity and formality of their own, whatever may be 
said to the contrary. 
-- 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
[Concluded from p. 486.) 
Columnar, pyramidal or other formal trees, should 
be planted in the vicinity of the mansion and other 
buildings, including such subjects as Junipers, 
Cypress, Arbor Vitae, Irish Yews, the Lombardy, 
and Boll’s Poplar, which throw but little shade while 
conforming to the surroundings. Having distant 
prospects in view, they should not be planted directly 
in front of the house. All the tall trees should 
be planted in the distance, except where they would 
hide hills, valleys or other objects from the line of 
sight. Should the park be intended for grazing, a 
ha-ha should separate the lawn proper from the less 
trim portions of the ground. Boundary plantations 
and isolated trees and groups should be protected 
from cattle by means of iron fencing. Bold masses 
of trees and shrubs of a kind should be the aim, 
more particularly round the bounding lines of the 
park. Soil and suitability must be taken into 
account in the planting of different classes of trees. 
Tall-growing Conifers, such as Silver Firs, Spruces, 
Pines and Cedars, should be relegated to the back¬ 
ground, where they will have a retiring efi'ect in 
summer and an advancing appearance in winter 
when deciduous trees are leafless. Isolated speci¬ 
mens may appear on the grass in suitable positions, 
for they are very telling when they attain their full 
development. Groups of Conifers are very appro¬ 
priate on knolls and rising ground. 
Carriage drives should be outside the park alto¬ 
gether if possible, but well-made walks may be con¬ 
structed towards the sides where they will afford all 
necessary convenience, but be screened from the 
windows of the house as much as possible. Let the 
masses of deciduous trees round the borders be as 
bold as possible, and avoid all intricate mi.xing of 
evergreens amongst them. To divest the plan of 
formality, however, an isolated tree or two, belong¬ 
ing to one group of a kind or class, may be allowed 
to extend a little way into the confines of another 
and adjacent group. This will appear natural 
enough. Nor should the bounding lines of these 
marginal groups be straight, but follow bold curves, 
one side of which may be convex, preferably that 
on which the vision rests when viewed from the 
house, while the other side may be concave and 
recede into bays and sheltered arbours with inner 
"curves of easy and graceful sw'eep. Some of the 
groups may project further than others, but not so 
much as to hide the rounded contours of slightly 
more projecting groups in the distance behind them, 
nor so far as to give the open expanse of grass a 
limited and confined appearance. The greatest 
length of the park should be kept open for the sake 
of the perspective it will secure. The receding bays 
will help to deceive the eye as to the attual extent 
of the park, even in cases where it may be com¬ 
paratively restricted in size. 
Materials for a selection of deciduous trees are 
very extensive, incluoing such things as Oaks, 
Beeches, Horsechestnuts, Maples, Poplars, Elms, 
Planes, Limes, Pyrus, Ailanthus, Cherries, Robinias. 
Ashes, Thorns, and Willows for situations near 
water. Heavy clay soils are favourable to the 
rapid development of Poplars, such as the Black, 
White, and Gray species, and the Aspen, Beeches, 
and Oaks are adapted for jwell-drained clay soils as 
well as for chalky districts. The graceful, drooping 
spray and the white stems of the common Birch 
(Betula alba) should not be hidden behind ever¬ 
greens, but when in front of the latter are shown 
off to advantage. All the dwarfer deciduous trees, 
such as Cherries, Thorns, Mountain Ash,Scotch and 
Common Laburnum, would naturally display them¬ 
selves to the best advantage in the foreground, and 
this fact the planter would do well to remember. If 
in the background they would merely represent a 
struggling mass of vegetation after a few years, or in 
any case be entirely concealed. Low growing 
shrubs may be planted amongst the trees if the 
latter are planted widely enough for permanent 
positions. On the other hand the trees may be thickly 
planted and afterwards thinned out as they require 
it, leaving the best. Quickly growing subjects, as 
nurse trees, might in the first instance be planted 
amongst slow' growing and tender kinds, to be kept 
within due bounds and ultimately cut out. 
Slow growing, or dwarf evergreens, of beautiful 
outline and compact habit, may come to the front in 
places, and even be planted widely enough apart to 
enable them to preserve their natural outlines. These 
may consist of Cypress, Retinosporas, Yews, 
Junipers, Thuyas, the American Blue Spruce (Picea 
pungens glauca), Japan Spruces and others, according 
to taste. There would be a beauty in appropriate¬ 
ness if the background was occupied with the tall 
growing Conifers at command. Other evergreen 
groups that may be brought to the front are Hollies, 
Holly Oaks and the sub-evergreen Lucombe Oak, 
all of which will be beautiful in summer, but come 
into bolder prominence in winter. 
In the case of shrubbery, when planted in masses, 
the evergreen and deciduous kinds should not be 
confusedly mixed together ; they do not occur in this 
condition in a state of nature, and could not con¬ 
trive to live happily together. It is therefore very 
artificial and in bad taste to carry out such a plan- 
in cultivation. Extensive clumps or boundary masses 
of shrubs may consist of evergreens entirely, or of 
deciduous and flowering subjects, according to 
position or to the taste of the employer. The two 
great classes may, however, be grow'n in proximity 
to one another, but in forming masses or belts to 
conceal a boundary, tall evergreensjshould be planted 
behind, so that when the deciduous subjects are 
leafless, the others may still be impenetrable to the 
eye, and preserve the mystery of the background. 
On the other hand, neither evergreen nor deciduous 
shrubs need necessarily be confined to huge or ex¬ 
tensive masses of a sort; but the fullest latitude 
may be given to the introduction of variety, the 
stock of which at the command of the planter may 
be looked upon as unlimited. The foreground 
especially should be made to look as varied and full 
of interest as possible, and while the plants in front 
may be suflficiently far apart for each individual to 
show its true form and habit upon close inspection, 
those in the background may be closer, or what is 
better, they may be made to conceal all openings by 
alternate planting. Choke-muddle medleys should 
be avoided under every possible circumstance, and 
this condition maintained by annual and timely 
pruning. Beltings of shrubbery or low’ growing 
plants may constitute the foreground of the groups 
of trees : but a narrow belt of any evergreen would 
lose in effect if placed in front of deciduous trees, 
but more especially if of growth sufficiently low to 
allow the eye to travel into a bare background of bare 
stemmed and tall trees. The situation could of 
course be improved by having the ground covered ■ 
with an undergrowth of Rhododendrons or Cherry 
Laurel. 
According to the size of the park, a few bold 
masses of trees may be planted in positions isolated 
upon the grass for the purpose of breaking up a 
w’ide expanse of view, and giving the whole an 
appearance of being fully furnished. Different 
views or vistas would therefore be secured to the eve 
of the beholder from different positions in the park. 
These views should extend into the bays or recesses, 
the object being to make the park appear as ex¬ 
tensive as possible, while the eye is prevented from 
seeing or grasping the w’hole from any one point. 
Most agreeable and pleasing effects may be pro¬ 
duced in places where the e3'e can penetrate the 
ground or space beneath tall trees, by planting ex¬ 
tensive and irregular masses of Daffodils, Wild 
Hyacinths, Primroses, or Polyanthus, where their 
surroundings will be natural. Strong growdng 
British Ferns may even be turned to good account 
in shaded and damp situations. Weeping and other 
formal trees of relatively low growth w'ould be in 
keeping when sparingly planted on the lawn or 
better dressed ground, near buildings or other 
formal objects. The Weeping Willows, particularly 
the Babylonian, are appropriate and happy when 
located on the banks of streams, ponds, upon islands, 
or anywhere in the vicinity of water into which their 
long plumes will often dip. 
Seasonal Effects. 
The appropriateness of planting trees and shrubs 
of a kind or even of a class in proximity, may be 
proved by looking at it from an entirely different 
point of view from any which I have already given. 
This may be done by reviewing the varying effects 
produced by the same or different trees at regularly 
recurring periods of the year. Even in early spring 
distinct effects are produced by the flowers of the 
Elm, the Catkins of Willows and Poplars, particu¬ 
larly the White Poplar, the delicate green of the 
needle-like leaves of the Larch when unfolding, the 
■ soft green of the more majestic Beech—the Queen 
of the Woods ; the green, yellow, and purple shades 
of the Sycamore, and by the red tints of both flowers 
and leaves of the Red ISIaple. We cannot but 
admire the rosy blossom of the Almond, the snowy 
Yulan, white flowered Cherries, the Scarlet Japan 
Quince, the crimson rose and white flowers of Pyrus 
floribunda ; also the Snowy Medlar, Snowdrop Tree, 
flowering Currants, and yellow Broom! Later on 
we have Horse Chestnuts, Thorns, yellow or white 
Genistas, Cytisus, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Manna 
Ash, Mock Oranges, and others which produce a 
successional displaj' till well into summer. The 
Rhododendrons themselves may be said to do this in 
May and June. 
Early summer brings a plethora of fine effects 
produced by the young, but more or less fully 
developed" foliage of bush and tree everywhere. 
Those who have an observant eye cannot fail to note 
an endless variety in different shades of green, and 
occasionally other tints such as the bronzy red of 
the Catalpas, Ailanthus, and Rhus typhina, the last 
trees to assume their summer clothing. Bizarre and 
even beautiful effects may be produced by the dark 
leaves of the Purple Beech in variety. Golden Elder, 
the purple Prunus cerasifera Pissardi, the Purple 
Hazel, the variegated Negundo, Hollies Cornus alba 
Spathii, and a host of other variegated subjects at 
command. These may be planted in large beds in 
mixture. Nor must the golden and numerous varie¬ 
gated Conifers be overlooked. Those who appre¬ 
ciate the beauty of fine foliage alone, and believe in 
the restfulness of green may have masses of Ailan¬ 
thus, Rhus of species, Paulownia imperialis. Poly¬ 
gonum cuspidatum or P. sachalinense. False Acacias 
and many others which may be planted in masses 
