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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
309 
is,  therefore,  not  so  well  adapted  for  masses  in  borders,  but 
scattered  amongst  trees  or  shrubs  it  has  a  pleasing  effect,  and 
succeeds  better  than  most  of  the  others  do  in  similarly  shaded 
situations. 
The  general  culture  of  the  Forget-me-nots  already  named  is 
simple,  and  can  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words.  They  are  all  readily 
raised  from  seed,  which  should  be  sown  at  the  first  convenient  time 
in  April,  the  seedlings  being  transplanted  to  their  position  in  the 
borders  or  elsewhere  as  soon  as  they  can  be  safely  moved.  A  well 
dug,  moist,  and  fertile  soil  gives  the  best  results  with  these  specially 
recommended,  and  the  plants  are  almost  equally  pleasing  either  in 
masses  or  lines. 
After  the  first  season  the  perennial  species,  particularly 
M.  alDestris,  require  to  be  lifted,  divided,  and  transplanted  into 
fresh  soil,  and  a  large  stock  of  strong  plants  can  be  thus  secured 
for  the  current  season’s  effect,  March  being  a  suitable  time  for  the 
operation  if  the  weather  be  favourable,  or  it  can  be  done  early 
in  the  autumn  in  preparation  for  the  spring  work.  When  a  large 
quantity  has  been  raised  from  seed  some  diversity  will  always  be 
found  in  the  habit,  size,  and  colour  of  the  flowers  and  the  length  of 
the  spikes  ;  it  is  therefore  advisable  to  mark  some  of  the  best  with 
labels  or  sticks  for  division  ;  a  more  uniform  character  is  thus 
obtained,  which  is  important  where  the  plants  are  employed  in 
lines,  but  is  less  requisite  in  large  beds. 
On  warm  soils  or  in  sheltered  gardens  autumn  sowing  can  be 
practised  with  success,  and  we  have  frequently  adopted  this 
method  ;  but  on  our  cold  soil  it  does  not  give  encouraging  results. 
When  grown  in  large  masses  some  of  the  Myosotis  are  liable 
to  a  fungoid  disease  of  the  nature  of  mildew,  which  spreads  very 
rapidly,  and  appears  to  threaten  the  destruction  of  the  plants, 
but  with  liberal  cultivation  they  seem  none  the  worse  the  following 
season,  though  the  loss  of  so  much  foliage  must  be  weakening. 
Fortunately,  the  disease  rarely  appears  until  the  flowering  is  nearly 
over,  but  the  plants  are  greatly  disfigured  afterwards,  and  a  weak 
application  of  Bordeaux  mixture  has  seemed  to  have  little  preserva¬ 
tive  effect  upon  the  foliage.  A  soil  well  enriched  with  old  manure, 
or  dressed  with  a  light  sprinkling  of  superphosphate  early,  with 
nitrate  of  soda  later  in  the  season,  the  latter  being  used  at  the  present 
time  for  instance,  will  produce  vigorous  plants  that  will  give 
satisfaction  in  every  respect. — A  Countryman. 
PRECEPT  AND  PRACTICE. 
( Continued  from  page  294.) 
Avenues  have  been  regarded  by  some  of  our  most  accomplished 
latterday  artists  as  being  somewhat  of  a  mistake.  It  is  a  question 
on  which  ripened  judgment  will  be  strong  enough  to  bear  the  weight 
of  personal  opinion.  An  avenue  is  certainly  one  of  those  daring 
touches  which  only  a  master  hand  is  capable  of  introducing  into 
his  natural  picture  successfully.  There  can  be  no  question  but 
what  it  is  a  phase  of  work  leaving  no  margin  for  those  common 
errors  which  have  entailed  from  some  a  sweeping  condemnation. 
The  question  for  us  to  now  consider,  like  others  which  through  life 
may  often  arise,  is  not  of  to  be  or  not  to  be,  the  onus  of  that 
decision  probably  not  resting  with  us,  but  the  responsibility  of 
laying  down  the  lines  on  sound  principles  which  we  must  not  evade. 
I  suppose  that  when,  some  half  century  ago,  a  certain  nobleman 
desired  to  have  an  avenue  as  an  approach  to  his  mansion  his 
imagination  could  never  conceive  the  effect  of  a  double  line  some 
half  mile  in  length  of  Lombardy  Poplars  in  their  prime  planted  in 
a  space  so  contracted  that  it  was  quite  a  triumph  of  coachmanship 
for  carriages  to  pass  etch  other  in  safety. 
Neither  could  those  who  planned  and  planted  a  century  since  a 
short,  broad  avenue  of  Elms  have  foreseen  the  overpowering  effect 
its  matured  age  would  have  upon  the  limited  local  surroundings. 
The  above  are  truthful  types  still  existing,  and  sufficient  in  them¬ 
selves  to  mar  the  features  of  the  landscape.  The  latter  example, 
certainly,  would  not  be  so  bad,  as  it  starts  from  a  noble  entrance  ; 
but  the  abrupt  finish,  owing  to  the  road  turning  at  right  angles  (to 
avoid  a  contiguous  property),  whence  the  trees  were  discon¬ 
tinued,  leaves  the  additional  bad  impression  that  the  avenue  leads 
to  nowhere.  In  each  case  the  trees  are  fine  specimens  of  their  kind, 
and  one  can  well  understand  the  feeling  which  has  led  successive 
owners  to  spare  them  and  tolerate  the  false  position.  There  is  not 
one  of  our  youngest  subjects  of  bothydom  who  could  not  see  these 
and  other  errors  as  grave  in  this  direction  when  developed  by  time. 
That  is  too- late — “Too  late  to  mend.”  Conjure  these  visions  up 
in  your  mind’s  eye,  and  you  will  never  be  guilty  of  such  near¬ 
sighted  policy. 
The  carriage  road,  whether  it  takes  the  form  of  an  avenue  or 
not,  has,  as  its  name  implies,  a  primary  object — it  is  ts  right  of 
being  ;  yet  we  may  note  examples  which  seem  to  exist  only  upon 
sufferance,  so  undecided  are  they  where  to  begin,  which  way  to  go, 
and  where  to  leave  off.  Here  is  one,  however,  of  a  very  satisfac¬ 
tory  character,  and  which  imparts  its  full  quota  of  dignity  to  a 
gentleman’s  j  ark.  Even  a  stranger,  once  within  the  gates,  would 
feel  it  unnecessary  to  ask  his  way  to  the  mansion,  although  not 
immediately  visible.  Its  chief  object  is  to  reach  the  mansion,  nrt 
as  the  crow  flies,  which  is,  of  course,  an  excellent  plan  for  aer’al 
travelling,  nor  do  its  lines  follow  perversely  a  number  of  meaning¬ 
less  petty  twists  and  turns.  It  is  simply  what  it  professes  to  be, 
and  does  simply  what  it  professes  to  do  in  the  best  possible 
manner.  Starting  from  the  lodge  gates  on  open  comparatively 
level  ground,  for  some  distance  our  common-sense  carriage  drive  is 
fairly  straight,  for  there  are  no  reasons  for  it  to  be  otherwise 
until  the  ground  rises  nearer  to  the  residence,  when  it  takes  a 
rather  wide  sweep  for  a  very  ostensible  purpose,  such  purpose 
having  been  further  emphasised  by  the  introduction  of  some  tree 
groups  on  the  convex  side  of  the  curve.  Then  sweeping  up  to  and 
past  the  hall  door  it  continues  its  sensible  course  to  its  exit 
(or  entrance  as  the  case  may  be)  at  the  other  side  of  the  park. 
Ample  accommodation  h^s  been  left  opposite  the  hall  door  for 
those  short  exercises  our  waiting  whipmen  delight  to  perform, 
leaving  them  no  excuse  for  slicing  down  or  cutting  up  the  well- 
kept  verges. 
Drives  need  not  detain  us  long,  though  their  object  is  to  some 
extent  distinct  from  carriage  roads,  being  the  means  of  conveying 
the  traveller  to  and  exhibiting  all  the  natural  beauty  of  a  demesne, 
and  to  avoid  other  points  less  desirable.  Some  are  so  cunningly 
contrived,  that  even  within  a  circumscribed  area  the  illusion  of 
having  a  much  greater  space  and  freedom  than  really  obtains  is 
perfect.  Unlike  our  carriage  road  or  avenue,  the  object  of  a  certain 
drive  which  I  will  attempt  to  describe  is  that  of  being  the  medium 
by  which  at  all  seasons,  and  one  may  say  in  all  weathers,  all  the 
most  striking  natural  or  created  beauty  is  viewed  to  advantage. 
My  ideal  drive — I  must  add  it  bears  that  name,  “  The  Drive,”  and 
appears  to  be  appropriate — runs  for  several  miles  in  the  most 
satisfying  manner,  and  although  it  passes  in  its  course  through  some 
beautiful  bits  of  woodland  scenery,  where  banks  and  plantings  of 
flowering  shrubs  have  been  freely  introduced,  the  exchange  from 
gravel  to  grass  never  prohibits,  even  in  wet  weather,  the  enjoyment 
of  using  it,  sufficient  bard  material  having  been  employed  in  its 
formation  to  render  this  feasible.  Through  the  glen,  or  following 
up  and  mounting  to  higher  ground  in  graceful  curve  or  graduated 
incline  judiciously  planned,  peeps  are  afforded  of  the  outlying 
country1  without  disclosing  the  proximity  of  the  boundary,  to  which, 
indeed,  it  is  often  invisibly  near. 
The  primary  study  of  these  free  and  flowing  lines  is  accom¬ 
modation  to  the  ground  plan — natural  formation  of  the  ground. 
All  other  matters,  essential  as  they  are,  are  the  filling  in  of  that 
plan  by  taste  and  skill  in  planting,  or  making  manifest  natural 
beauty,  of  which  more  anon.  We  must  never  lose  sight  of  the 
fitness  of  things  to  their  purpose — beauty  of  purpose,  and  it 
matters  not  whether  that  has  a  prior  existence  or  is  a  subsequent 
creation  of  art,  the  distinctive  object  in  lome  shape  or  form  must 
be  present,  or  the  purposeless  and  the  puerile  court  condemnation 
from  the  cultured  eye.  We  may  note  in  some  instance*  how 
caprice  alone  has  misled  the  designing  hand  to  curve  or  even  double 
curve  S  fashion  on  flat  ground,  with  no  apparentlv  ulterior  object. 
Now  a  curve  is  very  graceful  if  it  has,  or  ha*  given  to  it,  a  reason 
for  existing.  There  are  hundreds  of  such  curve*  to  be  found  in 
roads,  walks,  or  paths,  begot  of  caprice  and  existing  on  sufferance, 
which  await  but  a  little  tasteful  planting  at  the  convex  side  to 
provide  the  purpose,  the  meaning,  the  object,  even  though  it  is  an 
afterthought. 
There  are  very  good  reasons  why  thcsQ,  which  are  but  the 
narrow  suggestions  upon  a  very  broad  subject,  should  have  the 
attention  of  our  young  gardeners,  for  I  venture  to  predict  that  the 
future  will  have  strong  claims  upon  them  in  this  direction.  The 
fetters  of  formality  which  have  long  tied  the  gardeners’  bands  are 
broken  ;  we  are  emancipated,  and  if  we  choose  to  call  it  a  new 
fashion  it  is  one  allowing  of  full  and  free  scope  for  natural 
harmony,  varied  beauty,  enlarged  ideas.  Already,  in  several  places, 
I  have  seen  the  garden  flowing  over  the  whole  demesne  and  the 
gardener  running  after  it,  as  be  should  do,  making  a  bog  garden 
here,  a  rock  garden  there,  planning  and  planting,  sowing,  and 
reaping  the  fruits  of  his  extended  sphere  in  picturesque  gardening. 
But  let  no  youth  think  this  is  any  rough  and  ready  method,  planned 
in  haste  and  performed  in  a  hurry,  for  hasty  flights  bring  igno¬ 
minious  falls.  Even  plain,  natural  features  are  preferable  to  over¬ 
strained  specimens  of  ingenuity,  in  which  characteristic  scenery  is 
obliterated  and  startling  incongruities  await  one  at  every  turn,  in 
which,  perhaps,  we  hear  of  hundreds,  even  thousands  of  pounds 
being  spent.  This  may  be  magnificent,  but  it  is  not  gardening. — 
An  Old  Boy. 
(To  be  continued. 1 
