177 
ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF ORNAMENTAL PLANTS. 
In order to give to a collection of such plants the power of im¬ 
parting all the pleasure and instruction of which it is so capable, 
no small portion of the cultivator’s art lies in the arrangement of 
the plants, both in such juxtaposition as to produce striking and 
yet not harsh contrasts, and in giving the spot on which they are 
grown, as much the air of their native locality as possible. If this 
were properly done, collections of ornamental plants might be 
converted, as far as vegetation is concerned—and that is a great 
way—into a sort of maps ; far more delightful, and, we may add, 
far more instructive, than those of the ordinary construction. 
They would not, indeed, supersede the use of these, but they 
would extend it very profitably and very delightfully, and would 
give a new charm to the floral art, all charming as it is even in its 
most humble and simple modes. 
To accomplish this, in the way that it ought to be done, would 
be a very expensive matter, not within the reach of common flo¬ 
rists, and inconsistent with the views of professional men, who 
grow flowers for sale, or of amateurs, who grow them for exhibi¬ 
tion. The foremost men, in the most wealthy and influential 
class, many of whom are ardent admirers of, and great connois¬ 
seurs in, ornamental plants of all kinds, and spend very large sums 
upon this the most pure and delightful of all their luxuries ; some 
of them , we say, might do much in this w r ay without any great in¬ 
crease of expenditure. Besides this, if the establishment at Kew 
were made national, which it is not, and but half as well supported 
as many other things which have not the tithe of its importance, 
either in a moral or an intellectual point of view, much more 
might be done there for the pleasure and advantage of the public, 
than at the mansion of the most wealthy nobleman in the land. 
Whether it be that legislators have a peculiar fondness for laws, 
because these are their own progeny, we pretend not to divine ; 
but certain it is, that more attention is paid to laws which will not 
work till they are patched and turned again and again, and which 
after all do not work to any useful purpose, than to those incite¬ 
ments to more refined tastes, and consequently to purer morality, 
which would not fail to save a great deal of trouble and expense 
in law, besides being highly beneficial to the tone, character, and 
A A 
VOL. I. NO. VIII. 
