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CONSISTING OF

A SEMIES OF DESIGNS

FOR

GARDEN BUILDINGS,

USEFUL AND DECORATIVE

GATES, FENCES, RAILINGS, &c.

ACCOMPANIED BY

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRINCIPLES AND THEORY OF
RURAL IMPROVEMENT, INTERSPERSED WITH
OCCASIONAL REMARKS

BY

JOHN BUONAROTTI PAPWORTH,

ARCHITECT AND LANDSCAPE GARDENER TO THE KING OF WIRTEMBl KG,
AUTHOR OF RURAL RESIDENCES, ESSAY ON THE DRY ROT, &C. «5cC.

Uonlfon:

PRINTED FOR R. ACKERMANN, 101, STRAND,
BY J. DIGGENS, 14, ST. ANN's LANE.

1823.

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2009 with funding from

University of Pittsburgh Library System

http://www.archive.org/details/hintsonornamentaOOpapw

PREFACE.

£ HE circumstances which produced the Work entitled —
" Rural Residences/' by the same Author in 1818, have
also been the parents of this Essay.

During the years 1819 and 1820, the following designs for
Garden Buildings were presented to the Public in the Repository
of Arts, immediately succeeding the '' Rural Residences," —
which subject related more to the theory and practice of such
buildings than of Garden Improvement. From the patronage
bestowed on that Work the proprietor of the Repository is now
induced to publish, in a collective form, the " Hints on Orna-
mental Gardening," and so as to produce an accompanying
volume, in doing which, many additions have been made,
and the deficiencies in part supplied, which necessarily be-
longed to the first desultory manner of publication.

Like the former Essay — this Work " neither affords nor
assumes to afford information to the Architect:" — its pretentions
are limited to the desirable task of shewing to those persons,
who have as yet thought but little on the subject, that Orna-
mental Gardening is amenable to the principles of Pictorial Art ;

PREFACE.

and that no better result is to be expected from the mere efforts
of caprice and fancy in this^ than in any other, in which they
may be substituted for the offspring of cultivated imagination
and sound judgement.

J. B. P.

10, Caroline-street,
Bedford-square.

INDEX TO THE PLATES,

Plate

1 A GENERAL PLAN.

2 GATES AND FENCES.

3 COPPICE WOOD FENCES, GATES AND HURDLES.

4 A LODGE.

5 A PLANTATION SEAT.

6 A TEMPLE OR AVIARY.

7 A BRIDGE AND BOAT HOUSE.

8 A RUSTIC BRIDGE.

9 A BRIDGE AND TEMPLE.

10 A BRIDGE ADAPTED TO PARK SCENERY.

11 A PICTURESQUE DAIRY.

12 A POLISH HUT.

13 AN ICE HOUSE, TOOL HOUSE, AND GARDEN SEAT.

14 A WOODLAND SEAT.

15 A LAUNDRY.

16 A POULTRY HOUSE.

17 A CONSERVATORY.

18 A VENETIAN TENT.

19 A GARDEN SEAT.

20 AN ALCOVE.

21 AVIARY FOR A FLOWER GARDEN.

22 A FOUNTAIN.

23 THE FRONTISPIECE. A FOUNTAIN.

24 A FOUNTAIN.

25 A BATH.

26 AN APIARY.

27 GARDEN RAILING.

28 A CENOTAPH.

GENEKAL REFERENCES.

Patfe

INTRODUCTION — 7

PLANS AND GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF GROUND 33

SITUATION FOR THE HOUSE 35

BOUNDARIES AND FENCES 39

BOUNDARY PLANTATIONS 44

FORMS OF GROUND 49

WATER IN LANDSCAPE 56

FORMS OF WATER 59

EMBELLISHMENTS OF WATER 66

PLANTING 70

PLANTATION FORMS 72

ON DISPOSITION 73

QUANTITY 74

LIGHT AND SHADE 75

COLOUR . 76

TREES AND PLANTS - 81

APPROACHES — 84

LAWNS 94

WALKS AND PATHS 97

FLOWER GARDENS , lol

FOUNTAINS 103

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

Although the love of mral scenery and the capacity
to enjoy it, are universal and common to man, there seems
to have existed from very early times, as general a desire,
to controul the operations of nature when near the vicinity
of his dwelling, and a zeal to apply the pictures of his fancy in
substitution for its simple excellencies. The ancient records of
gardening bespeak that its principles were not then sought in
nature herself, nor was it the practice to assemble for its crea-
tion the chaster beauties of landscape, but rather, constraining
them to assume fantastic arrangements, forms and effects, to
treat nature as subservient to art, and so as to constitute features
wholly unlike the surrounding scenery of the country. The
gardens alluded to by classic authors were of this kind — and
such of the ancients as prided themselves on excelling in the
business of the garden, although not insensible to the beauties
of nature when seated beyond the confines of their abodes, rather
founded their claims to admiration on the evidences of their
geometrical skill in ornamenting their grounds, and in the labour
and expense of perfecting them, than in cultivating the genuine
materials of rural beauty ; as if the profusion of graces w ith
which nature had surrounded them had created satiety, and that
they were therefore no longer capable of estimating her charms.

Amongst the Romans this abandonment of nature for these
offsprings of fancy was carried to great excess, and with them,

c

10 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

probably, began the practice of clipping evergreens into grotesque
and artificial forms so long the disgrace of modern times ;
the Italians, the French, and the Germans long followed the
Roman example ; and the Dutch, with equal zeal, applied a
similar practice to the singular circumstances of their country.

In England, the study of rural improvement has long em-
ployed the attention of men of science ; and it has consequently
passed through several stages of practice in its way to the emi-
nence at which it has arrived, making the English Garden a
model, imitated by every country in Europe. Not more than a
century ago, however, the same formal style prevailed here as
in other countries, and in which the interferences of art were so
prevalent that every material of garden-landscape submitted to
the operations of the geometrician. At that time the site of a
garden was preferred in proportion to its flatness, unless terraces
and flights of steps were proposed as embellishments, and irregu-
larities of surface were only desired as they afforded real
opportunities for introducing them. At this time high walls shut
in the flower garden, and shut out the views — avenues were a-
dopted as important vistas and placed in every direction — square
fields, bordered by trimmed hedges, occupied the intermediate
spaces, and which were relieved by circles, parallelograms
and polygons disposed as ponds and canals and placed in sym-
metrical order all over the domain. As a feeling for the
liberty of nature began to dawn, the little wood and wilderness
were permitted to become features in the arrangements ; but as
yet the former was simply an assemblage of trees compactly
planted in precise order and carefully trimmed ; so the wilder-
ness, also a little wood, was regularly disposed into alleys,
converging to one or more centres, decorated with stone ponds
and leaden statues ; and were further diversified by serpentine
paths traversing the wood and intersecting the alleys in their
circuitous progress to the spot whence they commenced — thus

ORNAMENTAL fJAROENING. II

producing a labyrinth without intricacy or variety, and to which
every cross path was an effectual clue.

The style of disposing the materials of a country residence,
was considerably improved by Kent the architect — it was, how-
ever, but a modification of the former practice, which was not
departed from until Brown, adopting nature for his model,
selected the favourable, the beautiful and the striking features of
rural scenery, and studiously congregating them about the
mansion, formed thence a landscape scenery that seemed to Ije the
work of nature herself, although carefully cherished by the hand
of man. The more scientifically to obtain the end in view, Mr.
Brown sought in the works of the poets and of eminent painters, for
those descriptions and delineations of pictorial beauty, which being
realized in landscape art would become strikingly engaging :
hence the terms picturesque and landscape-gardening are com-
monly applied to such dispositions of the ground, water, trees,
shrubberies, &c. as the painter would prefer as objects wherewith
to compose his picture. The terms at least were of natural
birth, and they point out the chief means by which the transi-
tion was so ra])idly made in designs for country residences, in
which the stateliness of former times was superseded by the
simple graces of nature.

As the progress of science is always gradual, it was not to be pre-
sumed that the new manner should be pure and wholly unmixed
with some of the defects of the preceding style: and we
ought therefore to expect that something of the former practice
should be discovered even in the best works of Mr. Brown. There
is indeed much evidence of those trammels, but it may exist
because he could not at once stem the obstructions throwTi in his
way, by prejudice and by ignorance, both of which every inno-
vator on public taste has to contend with, and to conquer.
These however cannot abridge the well earned fame of our *" great

c 2

12 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

self-taught predecessor/' as Mr. Repton terms him, and who for
himself established a reputation in theart^ of no less eminence.

In Mr.Brown's arrangements, an undulating* surface of ground
was sought and improved to such natural slopes as were calcu-
lated to produce variety and grace; and on the most commanding
he usually placed the mansion^ supporting it by shrubberies on
the sides and in the rear^ through which the walks were con-
ductedj so as to be immersed in shade^ occasionally opening to
the park or landscape in favourable points ; and in this particular
iie pursued something of Shenstone's practice in his arrangement
of the Leasowes — whose object it was to lead the visitor by simi-
lar means to chosen spots prepared with suitable foregrounds,
and commanding varied and contrasting prospects of picture-
like effects.

Water formed a leading feature in his designs, whenever
Mr. Brown had suitable means of employing it. This he con-
ducted through the park as a small river, so as to be conspicuous
and decorative from the principal apartments of the house — its
banks were gently sloped — bridges, cascades, and islands formed
its chief embellishments ; and its effect was heightened by the
plantations that were scattered over the whole park, and which
he surrounded by another called a belt, supported by large
masses of plantation where the property was extensive enough
to permit it, and through them he formed a boundary drive or
walks so as to permit extensive exercise within the limits of the
local property.

The road of approach was made to traverse a considerable
portion of the park in a sinuous progress to the building, and
so as to favorably display some of the leading features of the
design. It was embellished and supported by the plantations,
through some of which it was made to pass, and by bridges as
it crossed the river, until nearly approaching the mansion the

ORNAMLNTAL (wiUDLNlNG. l.'j

view at once opened completely with bold and strikin*^ magni-
ficence. The wild as well as the polished characters of scenery
were cultivated as varieties in the arrangements ; and decorative
edifices and ornamental works were distributed over the whole
as objects of embellishment and pleasure.

To the advantages afforded him by the labours of this in-
genious improver, Mr. Repton, who may be said to have
succeeded to his attainments, was qualified to superadd those of
highly cultivated taste ; he possessed also a quick perception of
the defects presented to his view in spots requiring his aid, and
in an eminent degree, an aptitude of appropriating the beauties
of nature in substitution for them. — He readily perceived the
necessity of connecting the works of art with nature, by gentle
and almost insensible degrees, thus harmonizing the landscape
with the buildings — for without such care the one appears to be
a trespasser on the property of the other, and in the conflict the
mind is offended or perhaps disgusted.

To harmonize these operations of art and nature, the landscape
with the building, or the building with landscape, as the case may
be, requires considerable skill ; and on this important subject
Mr. Repton's works cannot be consulted without benefit; and
they are highly valuable as means of teaching how to look at
nature and to comprehend its beauties, for there are many persons
who never having directed their attention to such observances
are in effect, suffering a species of blindness : for as its beauty
conveys no kind of intellectual gratification to them, they are
incapable of appreciating and of enjoying its charms.

When however the mind becomes familiar with the sources that
produce these delights, and make the observer no longer indiffer-
ent to the perfections of natural and ornamental scenery, every
truth that tends to establish principles in the art, is received

14

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

by him with interest, and if he be about to congregate around
him a portion of the excellencies that he has feelingly admired,
he becomes anxious to do so with correctness and with taste. In
doing this he has to avoid the errors of others, and also those
of his own prejudice, and which present, perhaps, more effectual
obstacles to his success.

With a view to forward these very interesting enquiries, the
hints contained in this volume were suggested, and as the the-
ories on which they have been formed have also been supported
by practical results they are offered with some degree of confi-
dence to the public, the more particularly as they are unconnected
with certain systems of proceeding in the art of landscape im-
provement, which tend rather to teach by a formula of rules
than by an exercise of the understanding.

It would be a fruitless attempt to harmonize the landscape
with the building, if their characters were incongruous with
each other — they must be associated therefore with reference to
the characteristics of each : that is to say, the cottage with rustic
or rural scenery — the villa with the beautiful — the palace with
the grand, and the castle with rocks, rugged or alpine scenery,
with the forest and the bolder products of nature.

It has been properly observed of the rustic as it relates to cha-
racter— that it is simple aud inartificial ; a mixture of the wild
with unstudied cultivation, although not enough of the latter
to have produced the pastoral enjoyments of life.

Of the rural — that it is accompanied by marked evidences of
civilization and a desire to possess convenience and comforts,
with such embellishments as are not expensive or allied to
luxury.

ORNAMENTAL GAUDENING. 15

Of the beautiful — that it is expressed in gaiety and hjxuriance,
by an easy gracefulness of forms and parts, and tliat its quaUties
are lightness, neatness, symmetry, regularity, uniformity and
propriety.

And of the grand and sublime — that actual magnitude, solemn-
ity and simplicity are its essential qualities.

All these admit of an infinite modification, consequenlty both
in architecture and ornamental gardening, the principles inherent
in the several characters, must be applied with appropriate dis-
cretion, rather than according to any system of rules, and which
indeed, are otherwise rendered inapplicable in almost every case
in which the character of the place or subject is consulted, by
some local circumstances.

In building, the site of the dwelling has always been consi-
dered of the first importance, and to this point too much
consideration cannot be given, for the aspects of the apartments,
— the views to be obtained — the requisite shelter from the winds,
— the drainage, and many other equally important objects are to
be settled ; and when done, the offices have to be arranged, and
the planting if not already existing, to be performed, or perhaps,
completed.

It was the practice formerly to exhibit the house, as standing
alone in the cube-formed nakedness of its construction; the
offices were placed behind the dwelling, and planted out so as
not to be visible from any distant point of view below the plane
of their stations, whilst no tree was permitted to interrupt the
prospect of the house itself, which occupied the broad green field
with an undivided empire, except indeed that vestage of a yet ear-
lier system still remained — the avenue, and which contended with
it for importance ; but this practice is now judiciously abandoned

16 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

by every professor of the art, and there is little doubt that in a
few years the many excellent houses that are existing and so
circumstanced, will be benefited by the privileges which in the
improved practice has been given to nature.

In new erections the architect considers the house, the offices
and the plantations as a great whole, which he combines with a
view to create picturesque effects in every point of view, whether
near or distant. The plantations support and contrast with
the building, which by the shrubberies is carried forward
until it blends naturally and gracefully with the landscape, that
seems a surrounding domain, increasing its effect, and offering
the products of its fertility.

Evergreens are veryextensively used in pleasure grounds because
they exhibit a scenery in the adverse seasons of the year, that is
very agreeable and not to be obtained without them ; they should
however be varied by ornamental shrubs of the deciduous kind,
and by trees of delicate foliages, of which the acacia, the la-
burnam and the sumac are useful additions, as are also the
early flowering trees, as the almond, the scarlet cherry, and such
ornamental growths as do not belong to the orchard. Extensive
walks, and in some instances drives, have been clothed with ever-
greens, and w ith considerable effect ; but these are only proper
when the domain is of so great an extent as to admit it without
an injurious abandonment of the deciduous kinds, for unless they
are relieved in the chief points by those trees that experience
the more decided changes natural to the seasons of the year, the
eye would experience satiety, however grateful it might feel for
the verdure they afford at those times, in which nature is usually
deprived of her foliage.

Their beautiful freshness in the Spring — the gradual bursting
of the buds of every kind of deciduous tree, the progressive steps

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 17

by which they advance from day today — the blossoms tliat they
bear, and the full luxuriance they attain, are delightful oc-
currences that may not be dispensed with — even the change of
colour that transpires as they become mellowed in the autumn,
and fall into " sear and yellow leaf," greatly augments the
interest we take in them ; besides, the broad and bold masses
that they form in the scenery, the flowing outlines and deep-
toned shade that they project, add considerably to their interest
when in masses ; and when occasionally in combination with
each other, they are varied, contrasted, and opposed in colour,
form and substance. It will hence be seen that evergreens are not
substitutes for those beauties beyond the vicinity of the dwelling,
where indeed they are precious to us, at the time in which they
are most needed, and where they became almost a part of our
domestic furniture.

It must have been noticed by every observer of landscape,
that when distant ground slopes, and forms an extensively in-
clined plane, that the masses and groups of trees upon it, are
exhibited with much greater effect, than could occur, if the sur-
face had been nearer to a level; and when it is continued in
bold undulations, that the display is benefited.

In contemplating a place so formed and wooded, the spectator
naturally says to himself — " how admirably a house would
occupy the spot I see there;" and the imagination readily con-
verts the scene from that of landscape only, to a habitable
residence ; and so when we are about to build in such a place,
it is proper first to view it thus at many points, until the mind
is satisfied with the station proposed, and afterwards to visit the
identical site and observe if it be also one that can be with
propriety adopted, taking into consideration the views it com-
mands— the aspect and shelter it could obtain— the conveniency

D

18 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

of roads, water and drainage, and all the local circumstances
necessary to the health, comfort, and pleasure of the inhabitants.

When this is satisfactorily concluded, the style and character
of the house and offices should be studied, so that they shall be
suited to the occupancy and to the surrounding scenery.

Towards placing the house well there are many and highly
important points that deserve serious attention, some of which
will be noticed in the course of this work, particularly those
which relate to its site, and the relative advantages that occur to
both house and ground when they are mutually considered.

Similar attention must be given to the aspects of the several
fronts so that the apartments may be conveniently situated and
benefited by the changes of the day. — The morning rooms to
be cheered by the east and southern sun, the dining room
to have a cool aspect, arid the offices, if possible, to be placed
to the east, that they may have the benefits of early light and
warmth, and of coolness during the later part of the day.

Of the domestic offices something needs to be observed res-
pecting a late practice of placing them beneath the level of
the ground, under the chief apartments of the house. — This is
injudicious on many accounts: it subjects the house to ill scents,
and much noise, and is often fatal to the health of servants, who
are thence afflicted by the cold and damps that must accom-
pany that arrangement. But this is not generallv suspected to
be a necessary consequence, because in London the houses are,
it is said, so circumstanced in almost every instance; this is
however a mistake arising from a want of knowledge regarding
the original formation of the streets of the metropolis, the pave-
ments of which are in general eight or ten feet above the native
soil.

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 19

Thus it will appear that although in London housfis, the
offices are in general below the level of the street pavements,
they are, nevertheless, above the surface of the original platform,
and beneath which the drainage is effected — the pavements are
elevated by vaults and other, altogether, artificial means, so
that in front and rear they are preserved from damps, and ven-
tilated by areas, and on either side they are connected with
other buildings, and so screened from all damps, except such as
may arise from the ground on which they stand, and which may be
prevented by passages of air beneath the floors, and by inserting
into the walls adequate means to arrest the progress of the damps,
that are otherwise raised in them by absorption.

If in a country building, the offices are placed beneath the
house, it almost of necessity follows that they are also below the
level of the natural ground, and subject to the damps arising
from the land springs which the walls intersect, and which al-
though in some degree checked by surrounding areas, cannot be
wholly arrested. For such reasons, if none other existed, the
offices should be apart from the house, but when it is considered
that the comfort of servants, is greatly abridged by thus banishing
them from a due proportion of light, air and prospect, and that
the offices, when viewed as adjuncts to the chief building,
may be made useful in the general composition of the scenery,
they should be conclusive ; and particularly, as upon a view of
the comparative costs, they would be found kss expensive.

The arrangement and connection of the chief apartments
should come into early consideration, as much of the after en-
joyment will depend upon both.

Until the formalities of earlier times, and the restraints to
which females were then subjected by erroneous notions of
decorum, were abandoned, the chief apartments had their

20 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

stations over an elevated basement above the ground Hoor;
so that they were completely separated from the ornamental
grounds, that in their appearance somewhat resembled our pre-
sent kitchen gardens — flowers being substituted for esculents,
and trimmed hedges for fruit walls ; and affording very little
temptation to frequent visits they were therefore used only at
certain periods of the day for exercise and air, and with as
much ceremony and preparation as if far removed; but as
society improved in liberal sentiment, and became more civil-
ized, the fair sex was enabled to repossess their equal share of
social freedom, and were permitted the exercise of that bril-
liant intellect which is their inherent property.

On the instant the models of our buildings partook of a cor-
responding improvement, and they have advanced in elegance
and social convenience to the present day.

The chief apartments are now therefore placed on the level
of the ground, and have free access to the lawn or terrace by
casements that descend to the very floor. This has been at-
tended by the introduction of colonnades and verandahs that
throw agreeable shade on the apartments, and which become
new ones for occasional reading or study : it has also drawn
the conservatory from its heretofore distant station and con-
nected it with the dwelling, ultimately blending it with the
garden, while its lawns and walks, no longer separate and
distinct, admit the hourly enjoyment of both, and certainly af-
ford by this juncture a large portion of healthful and pleasur-
able occupation.

Amongst the changes that have resulted to architecture from
this amendment in society, and by which it is so largely bene-
fited, the library has not escaped as material a transformation.
It was tbnncrly placed in any retired part of the principal floor.

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 21

or ill some almost inaccessible nook, and as far from the drawing
room as possible, as if wholly unsuitable to female occupation
and only to be consulted by the grave, on abstruse points of
gloomy study, and which admitted no feminine participation.

All this is altered — the library is now in daily use — it is one
of the chief apartments ; it is a room of morning study, and of
evening reading and recreation ; its contents have been aug-
mented by productions in the Fine Arts of every description,
and would rather seem devoted to the most refined class of intel-
lectual attainments than to monastic seclusion, which formerly
seemed to " possess it merely."

The connection of the principal apartments by means of
central folding doors communicating from room to room through
a whole suit, is another improvement that has given great ele-
gance and rendered very large apartments the less necessary,
because they are now capable of being occupied together.

When placing the dining room it will immediately suggest
itself that the neighbourhood of the kitchen is a proper station,
that it may be served and attended readily and without the ne-
cessity of subjecting the house to the savours of the meats, which
although a necessary consequence of good fare, is not agreeable
after it has been enjoyed, nor to those who have not been par-
takers of it: indeed, the recommendation of the Author of the
" Social Day," to remove after dinner from the dining room to
an adjacent one, for the dessert, would be attended with much
comfort.

" The banquet o'er * * * * *
The adjoining room the fruit supplies.
And to fresh air the party rise ;
Nor wait the encumbering cloth to clear
Ere sought another atmosphere."

22 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

In the original construction of a house, preparation should be
made for supplying the whole with warm air — not with a view
to heat the apartments, but to warm the vestibules, corridors,
passages and staircases sufficiently, and to disperse over them an
agreeable temperature ; by this precaution much after expense
will be prevented, and the object obtained in the most perfect
manner : without ample means of doing this, the rooms are ren-
dered uncomfortable every time the doors are opened, besides
that it is otherwise difficult to raise the temperature of a room
equally, or to prevent the annoying or dangerous drafts of cold
air that occur in the winter season.

The chief apartments arranged, and it being shown that the
domestic offices should not be below the level of the ground,
it is necessary to consider where they should be placed, in doing
which it will be proper to remark on the several ways in which
they have been disposed from the time in which we adopted the
Italian practice after the designs of Paladio.

In imitation of some of his Italian villas, the offices of domes-
tic use were placed on one side of the dwelling as a wing, and
the stable offices were made to form a corresponding one on
the other side, by which the front was extended to considerable
length. At that time the pleasure ground, as might be expected,
was composed of stately walks, avenues, and trimmed hedges
enclosing formal little paddocks, and ornamented with vases,
figures, and other similar decorations. This was the prospect
from the front apartments of the house : at the rear was placed
the ornamental garden, connected with the building and en-
compassed by walls or wall-like hedges; it was usually of a
square or oblong shape, intersected by crossing paths arranged
with mathematical precision, and ornamented with ponds,
canals, terraces, ballustrades, steps, vases and figures ; and the
parterres planted in the forms of scroll foliages, and any fan-

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 23

tastical device of the imagination — prospect and natural land-
scape scenery was at that time entirely out of the question.

The desire of introducing- a novelty, and as a vast improve-
ment, the vista became multiplied into several avenues, cut as
it were through a wood for roadways, or for prospect openings,
and radiating from the windows of the apartments ; the wings
which heretofore were often made to project considerably became
unsuited to this design, because they only permitted distant
objects to be viewed in a directly straight forward course.

The wino's were thence abandoned — and bv conirreo-atin""
the offices behind surrounding and garden-like walls, they were
collected together on one side of the house, and further con-
cealed by rows of trees marshalled before them, in military order.
By this arrangement another portion of the building was open
to participate in the improvement.

So soon as the stately formalities of the first style became in-
vaded, fresh innovations poured fast upon it; and as it was
soon perceived that variety of aspect brought additional comforts
and added chearfulness to the mansion, it was assumed that by
some ingenious contrivance the four sides might be disencum-
bered of buildinsrs, so as to admit the more varied chano-es.
This led to the practice of placing the servants rooms on the
level of the ground, occupying a basement, over which were the
chief apartments ; and as the avenues were found to be con-
ductors of the winds, from whatever quarter they might blow,
new arrangements were adopted as chance or fancy directed,
until the introduction of another improvement.

As it required about twenty-four external steps to ascend from
the road to the hall, and to descend from the saloon to the
garden, the house was not approachable by females except in

24 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

fair weather, and the garden could not be conveniently visited
at any time.

This was however in part remedied, although at the expense of
stateliness, by having private doors and staircases for more con-
venient entrance from the basement, but this was found to be an
imperfect arrangement : the porticos and steps were of no use,
and all greatness of effect was destroyed by the sub-entrance
and secondary staircase, and by their close connexion with the
servants rooms.

During these changes the improvement of the garden was
making rapid progress: Men of taste and feeling had laboured
to introduce natural scenery — and when the stately formal-
ities of style had been so far trespassed on, the introduction of
another style occurred, in which the offices were dismissed to the
rear and planted out, as it is called — so that being enveloped in
a thick plantation in the middle of the property, the house alone,
was visible to the observer. This was Mr. Brown's manner.

The grounds at this time were surrounded by plantations
called the Belt, and the park, so termed, if of sufficient extent to
preserve deer, was spotted over by round masses of trees, called
clumps. This manner pleased for a while, but it was still im-
perfect.

Ornamental gardening had now proceeded so far as to be
established successfully against the prejudices in favor of the older
styles, and the field was open to unrestrained improvements ;
and since they were no longer to be expected from the linear
and systematic practice, they were judiciously sought for in na-
ture, and as at this time, the best apartments were taken from
their elevated pedestals and put on the level of the ground, the

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 25

servants rooms were necessarily placed as adjuncts: for it rarely
happened that they were received into the house itself, although
certainly, there were instances of that arrangement. But as the
end at which they were placed was usually as much concealed
as possible, and as they subjected the house to many inconvenien-
cies, with those which attended the formation of the design,
arising from differing altitudes of the apartments — some being
for state and others for common purposes; besides the difficulty
of making the apertures for windows conform to both, the
practice was superceded by the foregoing method of placing the
offices, although indeed, each was occasionally adopted by
Mr. Brown.

When Mr. Repton commenced his practice, he perceived that
much remained to be done toward perfecting the art, by dedu-
cing principles from nature, as well as in imitating her works :
— that nature and art required to be blended together with more
propriety and grace, than was exhibited in the former systems ;
and that the offices were capable of becoming auxiliaries in
effecting that object, and towards creating picturesque effects.

Exercising his painter like qualifications, Mr. Repton soon
combined the offices with the plantations, and brought them
from their accustomed seclusion into view, because of their
usefulness in encreasing the richness of the composition, and to
lead to and support the chief building, by giving it accompani-
ments in its own kind and character. They were in part, con-
cealed however by the plantations, to lessen their seeming
magnitude, that they might not collectively trespass by compa-
rison on the more important claims of the dwelling, as also to
screen oflfence, and shut out the operations of their several
departments.

26 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

The practice of admitting the offices to bear a part in the
composition, has been attended by several advantages. The
house is now viewed as a principal attended by a retinue of
subordinates, that are evidently necessary to its rank and ac-
commodation, of which they ought to exhibit satisfactory
assurances. They admirably blend themselves with the planta-
tions in the home scene, and thence make way for the in-
troduction of ornamental buildings and other decorations, which
without such gradual connection would seem obtrusive and in-
appropriate.

Much of controversial and of critical acumen has resulted
from the several changes that have taken place in the progress
of landscape gardening ; and in consulting authors on the sub-
ject, it is proper to be familiar with the several stages in the
advancement of the art, and to know the practices of the day
in which they were written, or it is very probable that the
censure intended for one practice, will be applied to another
system, and prejudices created in the mind that may not be
easily removed ; for it has been no uncommon usage in the
discussion, to substitute opinion for judgement, and liking for
propriety.

Where truth has been sought in principles, then only is the
result worthy of confidence : it is to such examinations as those
adopted by Mr. Payne Knight, and others who have deeply
reflected on the subject, that taste is actually indebted, and by
which the public judgement is benefited.

With a view to exhibit the practice of the present day in ar-
chitectural arrangements of the dwelling, and in ornamental
gardening in a spot of corresponding magnitude, the general
plan, Plate I. is introduced, and to which the following obser-
vations refer.

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 27

The house is approached by a line of gravel road winding up
the slope of ground on which it is placed, in the way naturally
chosen to surmount an ascent, and so that the offices would be
seen between and above the plantations as they are passed.
The house itself would be occasionally viewed through the inter-
vening masses of trees, and the grounds gradually open to an
increased display, towards which its elevated terrace in front would
contribute; besides affording an ample platform on which the
building would stand, and the carriages turn about and find a
station, when attending for visitors.

The terrace would become a means of uniting the building
with the grounds — removing the field -like approximation of the
lawn in the spot where the objection commonly existing would
be the most apparent; and from this platform the scenery would
have a varied and park-like effect, although limited in extent,
in comparison with those obtained by the spectator when within
the south apartments. Prom these a considerable expanse
would be viewed, varied by the undulating forms of the ground,
and enriched by the masses, groups and single trees of the fore-
ground, middle and distances; and by the enlivening effect of
the water, which would be viewed up its course in the most
favorable manner, to create the interesting display of which it
is so eminently capable. From this point the whole prospect
towards the south is composed in exact imitation of the natural
scenery of a park, commencing at the evergreen plantations of
the fore-ground, and terminating in the distant prospects which
the country might afford; and to which the park character is
united by the wilder plantations near the boundary of the
property.

In the adjoining apartments toward the west, and in the rear
of the building, a new character is created : the windows shel-
tered by verandahs, open to the level of the lawn, in which

E 2

28 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

complete seclusion from the park is obtained by a boundary of
evergreen shrubs overhung by the most ornamental trees, and
varied for the purpose of embellishments, by colour, by blossom
and leafage. The lawn is disposed in flower-beds, and from its
situation is capable of affording shady or sunny walks at every
hour of the day.

Against the wall which separates the lawn from the kitchen
garden, a corridor and conservatory is placed, and in connection
with it an aviary and pheasantry. This corridor being en-
tered from the vestibule, it would lead the spectator forward
to a considerable length, and until he would arrive at the
rosiary. Along this extensive line of covered way, statues, vases,
plants, and other embellishments of art and nature might be
placed to advantage, and receive the protection of ample shelter.

The rosiary at the extremity of the avenue is circular, and
contains in the centre a fountain, and receptacles for gold and
silver fish. As this little garden is formed upon the projecting
point of the hill on which the house is placed, it commands views
of the surrounding country, and towards the south, that of the
home grounds, in which the water becomes a leading fea-
ture. It is in these selected spots in the neighbourhood of the
house that evergreen shrubs are chiefly placed, and about which
walks are planned for the purpose of being benefited by verdure
in all seasons of the year. By these means, buildings and works
of art are embellished and connected with landscape scenery —
and, being mixed with trees of the deciduous kinds, they may be
made gradually to yield their compact and deep-toned effects,
and insensibly unite with the park arrangements.

The walks about the house are disposed both for variety of
scene, and to obtain warmth or coolness as the season or the day

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 29

may permit ; these are assisted in their object by alcoves, seats,
and verandahs so placed as to afford the benefits required.

The kitchen garden forms a part of the arrangements for
walks in the accompanying plan, and it is so connected with the
pleasure grounds that it may be entered from several parts of
them. This circumstance to many is not of value — but although
the kitchen garden is not arranged for pleasure or display, its
usefulness and perpetually changing culture, is not without its
charms and therefore should not be estranged from the neigh-
bourhood of the pleasure gardens: besides as the course of walk
should properly permit every spot appropriated to interesting
purposes to be entered, the kitchen garden may fairly claim the
privilege. The walks communicating with the distant grounds,
depart from the home plantations in various places.

In the front, descending the hill by the road of approach, a
path passes the lodge and proceeds in concealment until new
prospects are obtained by openings into the grounds, and some-
times towards the country. From this line, which may be termed
the boundary path, others diverge, leading into the park and to
certain points by shortened routs ; these should be chiefly mown,
except when they speedily return into the boundary line.

To prevent the too obvious appearance of passing near the
enclosures, the plantations must generally have sufficient depth
to hide them : with this precaution, and by changing the direc-
tion gradually, and at interesting objects amidst the intricacies
of the scene, the visitor may circumambulate the place unaware
that he has so nearly approached its confines.

In varied spots in the course of the walks, ornamental seats,
alcoves, temples, bridges and aviaries may be presented to the
eye, being at once useful and pleasing ; and as the path would

do ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

lead to contrasting effects of scenery, these should be designed
and disposed accordingly — remembering always, that suita-
bleness is the essential quality to which each will be indebted
for approbation, and that the accompanying scenery must be
harmonized with them.

Prom what has been said and from a knowledge that a vast
variety of study and information is necessary to create a resi-
sidence suited to a man of taste and fortune, it is evident that
the architect ought to possess the qualifications both of the painter
and the sculptor ; and the power of combining the theories of
art with scientific excellence. This is not, however, generally
understood — nor it it generally known that the profession of an
architect is separate and distinct from that of the builder; and
that the latter is dependent on the architect for the higher qua-
lities that adorn his works.

Architecture, which embraces every feature relating to the re-
sidence, is both an art and a science ; or rather, is a science
over which art presides : the knowledge required is derived from
so extensive a field of study as necessarily to make the attainment
extremely difficult, and the application of these to practice is of
a no less arduous nature : hence the Greeks, who understood the
art, distinguished the architect from the builder. To him the
design was entrusted, and the executive parts were performed
under others, but subject to his inspection and controul as it is
now with us. He was an artist ofthe first class — skilled in design
and all the principles of lineal composition — professedly a sculp-
tor, and a painter in every qualification, except in indeed, what is
called handling or treatment of the material — for a thorough
knowledge of the arrangement of colour is essential to his
pursuit.

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 31

Such should be the architect — endowed with a capacious
grasp of mind — full of imagination — extensively versed in the
mathematics — in the principles of art and science, and practically
an artist. Not so the builder: — the demand made on his time
by the execution of the detail is imperative for all that he can
bestow upon them ; the purchase and arrangement of materials,
the government of numerous work-people, the financial cares
and his calculations in matters which involve either profit or loss,
fill up every moment of his leisure, and leave him no time to
devote to the depths of study, or the theories of art.

Thus it will appear that architecture in the proper sense of
the word, is '' less dependant on physical than intellectual
skill ;" and that the architect is he only, who is absolutely an
artist in his profession, and that the builder's duties belong to
the execution alone.

Milton's use of the term architect, as quoted by Dr. Johnson,
is figurative, and implies creative power in its highest significa-
tion, it would indeed have partaken of the bathos if it had held
none higher than those of the bricklayer or mason ; and Sir Henry
Wotton, himself an artist, defines the architect to be " a pro-
fessor of the art of building," as he would have defined the
builder " a professor of the science of building."

These observations are made as essential to the object of the
work, as stated in the preface — for until the public discriminate
between the labours of the mind and those of the hand — between
works of mere fancy and those of sound judgement, every brick-
layer, carpenter or mason, will assume the distinction due only
to the artist ; nay, every man will become " his own architect:"
at least few will doubt his qualifications for the task, so long as
he remains unconvinced of his folly.

32 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING.

This mistake in the public mind, and perhaps the consequent
suspicion of architectural capacity in England, has given encou-
ragement to a practice of adopting the edifices of the ancients
for all places and for all purposes, and which is not only repug-
nant to good taste, but to common sense, and has allowed the
privileges of the architect (only so by his powers as an artist
and scientific superiority) to any workman who will '^ abandon
his mind" to pilfer from Stuart or Degodez, and who will
shamelessly condescend to pile up or crowd together the product
of his larcenies, and call upon the world to admire his ingenuity
in doing so.

Improved knowledge and better taste will not long yield to
such delusions. Let our architects, who have the opportunity,
by the execution of public works display the powers they pos-
sess, in a few real and legitimate works of art, founded on the
principles that have been the objects of their research, and ar-
chitectural felony will cease to be ; because the public will no
longer permit themselves to be the dupes of artifice, and the de-
luded receivers of stolen goods.

' /««igKfei%«a^^iA«Aisft.,

SITE OF THP HOUSE, 33

ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF GROUND FOR

IMPROVEMENT, AND FOR THE DISTRIRUTION

OF ITS BUILDINGS, GARDENS, &c.

PRESUMING that every spot of ground, possessing rea-
sonable extent and good soil, is capable of conversion to the
purposes of rural and elegant enjoyment, and the proprietor
having resolved on the style of building he will adopt for his
habitation ; his next proceeding should be to have the whole
intended improvements fairly drawn on paper, so as to embrace
the complete arrangement of every part. It is from foresight of
the numerous difficulties to be removed, advantages gained, and
deficiences to be supplied consequent on this practice, that
makes an early employment of the artist in Architecture and
Ornamental Design demonstratively conspicuous, even at the
commencement of the undertaking. The errors that otherwise
occur and afterwards admit of no remedy unless by immense
sacrifice of property, are secretly lamented by thousands of
persons whose knowledge, so dearly bought, would be as gene-
rally communicated, but that each is unwilling to proclaim the
great mistake he has committed in placing too implicit confidence
in his own unaided powers ; and without this experience it rarely
happens that the individual is doubtful of his ample qualifications
to excel, because it is always easier to '' please his own fann/"
than to satisfy the understanding of himself or of others. The
celebrated Earl of Burlington, so eminent for his taste, having
failed in his first eflfort to accomplish his views, ensured his
reputation by the employment of Kent, the architect, to whose
taste and scientific knowledge in the sister arts of architecture
and landscape improvement, he afterwards confided the arrange-
ment and perfection of his works, and in doing this he set an

F

34

SITE OF THE HOUSE.

avowed and praiseworthy example of candour and good sense
to every architectural amateur.

It is wholly impossible to devise rules that shall be universally
applicable to every site, character, and circumstance of a place,
but, as hints for due consideration, there are some so useful
towards ^forming the general plan, that they ought not to be
omitted. Foremost amongst which are those for the

SITUATION OF THE HOUSE.

The site for the house itself must evidently have the lead of
every other part, and too great care cannot be taken that it shall
be well placed upon the ground by which is meant that it shall
command all the advantages that the spot itself is capable of
affording, with such others as are to be obtained by views,
openings, or shelter from the adjacent country, and from apart-
ments so situated as also to receive the highest possible benefit
of aspect ; the mansion having free and well regulated con-
nexion with its offices and gardens. A supply of water and the
means of quick and ample drainage from all these, are no less
important considerations; and indeed, amongst the wise eccle-
siastic builders in our own country, and with the architects of
Rome and Italy, it was the first.

If the quantity of ground be but of moderate extent, unless
very small indeed, it is evident that it would be generally inju-
dicious to place the house in the middle of the property.

A.HOVSC

B. OFFICES

because its situation being nearly equi-distant from its boundary.

srrr, or the house.

35

as shewn by the dotted radial lines, the means of producing
variety would be limited ; and the very principles of art forbid
that quantities and distances should nearly resemble each other,
except where symmetry is indispensable.

Should the house be placed in front of a similar spot of
ground.

A.HOVSE

i

\ i

/

. . 'A . -IL

B. OFFICES

ROAD

and unless the offices are removed from the house, the distances
become more equal than in the former case, and the approach is
wholly dispensed with, although a feature capable of producing
advantageous sensations in the mind of the visitor, as it leads
him irresistibly to anticipate greater claims on his respect, yet
in store for it, in the remaining parts of the arrangement. On
account, also, of expectations so raised in traversing the ap-
proach, it cannot be judicious to seat the house deeply in the
plan.

A.HOVSE

/ i ^1

/

B.OPFiCeS

RQ&O

for the visitor in his progress towards the house, having surveyed
the greater part of the grounds ; the anticipations of extent or
beauty still further interesting his imagination, cannot be real-

p2

36

SITE OF THE HOUSE.

ized^ and he constantly returns by the road he came, disap-
pointed or disgusted.

When the house is situated near the side of the property.

A.bOVSE -

B. OFFICES

ROAD

and as is exhibited more at large in Plate I., all the objections
before stated are thereby avoided.

The radial lines have here the greatest length that can be
obtained ; they diverge from points situate in the building most
favourable to command views within its own compass of domain,
and present the amplest opportunities for ornamental improve-
ment, and the creation of variety and change which is essential
to perfection in gardening.

GENERAL PLAN. 37

PLATE I.

A GENERAL PLAN.

UPON the principle laid down in the last diagram, the
general plan represented in the annexed plate is formed. The
shadowed surface indicates that the ground is undulating, and
that the house is situated on its highest point, sufficiently in view
from without, and capable of commanding its own domain ;
the fly leaf shews the circumstances of the spot prior to the
improvement suggested.

Although the ground was not of the precise form or propor-
tion of the engraving, suiting it to the page has not altered its
character. A large barn or stable was situated near the present
lodge, and the lower ground was wholly occupied by the manu-
facture of tiles and red pottery ; which, in the course of the
workable strata, materially added to its undulations, and in-
creased a small running brook to irregular holes and ponds. As
the design of such a property, small as it is, naturally leads to
the chief points of arrangement for every other of similar and
even lower class of pretence, and as it will be found useful to
apply to a plan occasionally during the several discussions ; to
this plate reference is made for the purpose of ocular illustra-
tions of such points as may be advanced, and in this inspec-
tion the advantage of forming a general plan of every part, in
the first instance, may thence perhaps more forcibly present
itself to the proprietor of an estate who is desirous to improve its
features scientifically and with taste.

This plate exhibits the house so situated that its aspects are
good, and the views as extensive as the ground permits. The

3S GENERAL PLAN.

stables are sufficiently removed to prevent oll'ence^ and are easy
of access without too near an approach to the house. The
domestic offices are separated from the house by a corridor
and side entrance of communication to both^ being an entrance
for general use in addition to the central portico. The servants*
entrance would be at the end of the offices next toward the
stable yard, and so approached by the branch of road leading
to its gates.

The plan of the house is supposed to contain, on the ground-
floor, a hall of entrance, and corridor or breakfast room beyond
it, through which the view would pass along the covered avenue,
commanding the conservatory, and onward to the garden and
rosiary. The hall being from its aspect necessarily in shade,
and the objects beyond becoming splendidly illumined by its
southern exposure, they would be striking from the contrast,
and produce a cheerfulness of effect very desirable towards ex-
citing a favourable impression of the house upon a first visit.
The aspect of the dining room would be North East ; the draw-
ing room presents to the South East, the best aspect for its
occupancy; it has also openings beneath a verandah towards
the South West ; a spacious gallery for statues, models, pictures
and books is added in the rear, but connected with the drawing
room by means of the intermediate corridor : it oj)ens into a
covered way, communicating with the flower garden, the kitchen
garden, and stable yard ; a coat room and pantry are situated
near the side entrance.

The kitchen garden is so placed as to allow immediate com-
munication for the gardener to the flower garden, the kitchen
yard, and the melon ground, and this is in close connexion with
the stables : whence its very important materials of cultivation
are supplied.

I I I I

=r5^^-^^»*-r*

Vildj;

FOERTAS Y ViLRJAS ©E JAEJJII^'ES

RACKaSMDO'J'MPOSlTOJn'ti/'.iTlTSjmJtriuui

BOUNDARIES, FENCES AND GATE^VAYS. 39

PLATE ir.
GATES AND FENCES.

THE subjects of this engravinj^ demand early consideration,
for, until the property be secured from injury and depredation,
it is in vain to plant: hence the first suitable moment should be
taken to secure the plantations proposed to accompany the inclo-
sure. This rural screen from offences without, should be liberally
executed — a partial removal for advantages of prospect being
rapid and easy ; but its deficiencies can only be supplied by a
lapse of years, always to be regretted.

The annexed plate represents designs for gates and fences,
progressively advancing in degree from simple park paling to
the decorated iron work suited to the villa or mansion. Thus
the first design represents an oak close fence gate in two
modes of execution, that on the right is embrasured by using
pales of unequal lengths alternately, that to the left is straight,
and is therefore less liable to the injuries which frequently occur
when the palings are unsupported by each other, and the strong
oak fillet that is usually applied to the tops of this example,
firmly uniting them together.

The second design is for a field gate of considerable strength
and novel form ; it is suited to a farm house or other building in
that degree of pretension. — The hinge side is strengthened by
double posts, according to the dotted lines, and on the right is a
hand gate to correspond.

The third example is suited to a villa or manorial house, and
is applicable to any country dwelling, where ornamental embel-

l40 boundaries, fences and gateways,

lishment is sparingly introduced : this is wholly constructed of
wood.

The succeeding and last design is of a higher class, and is
proposed for execution in iron. Stone walls, in regular courses,
should accompany these gates, at least for a considerable dis-
tance, and a small lodge would properly be placed near them.

As the adaptation of boundary fences must very much depend
on the materials afforded by the country or neighbourhood of
the improvement, so should the gates correspond in design and
character ; when the materials are wood, then a light form is
admissable; but when stone, and perhaps in large and solid
blocks, are to be used as walling and piers, iron gates or more
substantial forms and constructions become necessary.

Fences in rural situations are improved in characteristic ap-
pearance by ample cloathing afforded to them by ivy, bramble,
and such defence from pressure by cattle, as can be supplied by
thorns, hornbeam, birch, and alder, according to the suitable
nature of the soil — these also assist in partial concealments of
the fence, which are essential to a pleasing effect, because, by
otherwise exhibiting itself as a mere boundary, the mind of the
spectator too readily recognizes limitation and restraint. It
is true that oak fences are subject to premature decay, when
not exposed to the free approach of air, but on the other hand,
these means greatly protect them from wet, the destroying oper-
ation of stormy winds, and the injuries permitted by an easy
approach to them ; and when decayed, they often support the
paling as effective fences for many years.

The painter and the poet, have not failed to profit by the scenic
beauty of the ivy-capped tower and wall, whether of brick or
stone, richly and harmoniously stained by mosses, and venerable

noUNDAUIES, FENCKS AND C Vll.WAYS. 41

in ;i prolonged d(3cayj unwillingly yielding to the picturesque
devastations of time. When these materials form the boundary
wall, every such means towards its embellishment should be
adopted, for surely no appearance can be more offensive than ils
otherwise dull and prison-like continuity, and, if not built with
mortar, threatening- hourly dilapidation. In counties where
piled stones are the common walling, and thence sear and dis-
figure the face of nature there, much of the deformity might be
concealed by the beautiful and legitimate veils with which vege-
tation could be made to over mantle them.

The desire of seclusion renders it necessary that small proper-
ties should be effectually screened from public roads ; but when
gardens are situated in parks, their boundaries should not be
permitted to exclude the advantages that the park scenery is
capable of affording, or give the spectator reason to suppose
that the proprietory is subdivided. — Parks being in themselves
sufficient separation, generally, to ensure seclusion to the garden,
the traveller has reason to expect from the liberal proprietor that
the park fence shall be no more an interruption to his prospect
than is sufficient to guard the property, confine his stock, and
exclude the impertinent intruder : for there is nothing so fatal to
the beauty of the road, as the fences and walls that confine his
views. Boundary fences, near public roads, are of several de-
scriptions, suited to the size and nature of the property, and
constructed according to the object desired, as mere wood paling
or park fencing, brick or stone walls upon level ground, or
fences or walls raised on banks with a trench outward.

A great variety of means may properly be used in the same
estate, adopted or devised according to the circumstances of the
place, and the peculiar advantages each is capable of affording.

G

43

BOUNDARIES, GATES AND FENCES.

Road

This form permits a person within to overlook the road,
whilst it wholly excludes the view of the passenger, and avoids
the offence of a high wall. The rear and side fences of a pro-
perty may generally be formed in a way less hostile to landscape,
by hedges and ditches with open wood posts and rails, until the
natural fence is capable of affording more ample protection.
Pieces of water and any other rural means analogous to the ge-
neral character of the spot, may be used for this purpose ; and
when there is an opportunity of commanding a distant prospect,
or of overlooking a fine and fertile country, similar modes of
separation may be used, and which are also more generally
applicable to internal separations of the domain.

FENCES OF SUBDIVISION.

Many contrivances have been resorted to for the purpose of
separating ground so that the appearances of confinement or
restraint shall exist in the least possible degree — this in the
immediate vicinity of the dwelling is absolutely needful, if cattle
are at any time pastured near it. Mr. Brown and the improvers
of his day, adopted the Ha, ha ! by which contrivance no actual
division appears when the lawn is viewed from the house.

Lawn

BOUNDARIES, GATES AM) FENCES.

43

The late Mi-. Repton preferred the terrace witli a parapet or
baUuatrade, when adopted in conformity to the style of the place:

X.

..trjftW.W.

l^iT

he considered it to be the best security aj^ainst cattle ; and, as
the different growth and appearance of the lawn and the park
verdure will always manifest a division, he preferred the honesty
of its avowal to the most ingenious substitution possible ; parti-
cularly as the terrace gradually harmonized the building with
the grounds, and gave dignity, variety and effect to the whole ;
these, however, are only suited to large properties, where the
loss of ground, or view of it, can be well spared.

The sunk fence is a substitute for both in small grounds ;

Lawn

the iron or invisible fence is a good separation ; and when a few-
sheep only are the tenants of the outer lawn, a wire fence in
front of the house will be still less obtrusive.

A difficulty has always existed where the pasture was of
such extent as to need subdivision for feeding stock — this, too,
has done much towards the banishment of paths to the extremi-
ties of the ground, making them accompany the enclosure in
one unvaried round, without hope of speedier return from its
remote parts than is afforded by the already trodden circuit line
of its boundary. If a path be made so as to separate a paddock,
and it is desirable that the view shall not be interrupted by

g2

44 BOUNDARIES^ GATES AND FENCES.

plantations, nor by ^the offence of a double railing, the object
may be attained by a trench in the way of a sunk fence on one
side of the path, and by an iron open fence on the other ; thus
enclosing the path between them, by which means it is secured
from the approach of cattle, and the paddocks completely sepa-
rated. And if, in the execution of the path and trench, care be
taken to elevate the ground towards the spectator, so as to con-
ceal them, the light iron fence only is exhibited; which, if well
disposed, will rather be ornamental than otherwise.

ON BOUNDARY PLANTATIONS.

Boundary Plantations should be made so soon as the fences
for their protection have been completed.

It has been a practice to surround the whole domain with a
plantation thence called its Zone or Belt, and where a park does
not exist to make its adoption improper, the belt has many
advantages : — it obtains seclusion ; it opposes itself to offensive
neighbourhoods over which the person planting may have no
controul ; it conceals the boundary fences, and if planted with
proper trees, some of which the fence may be formed to exclude
in occasional groups or single trees, it obtains a natural character
of effect ; so, if the interior forms be made to follow the irregular
workings of nature in the shapes of bays, promontories, isth-
muses, and islets of pasture and plantation, the boundary will
soon lose its evidences of the labours of art.

The selection of trees for the purpose of the boundary, must
also be ruled by the laws that govern nature — they must be
suitable to the soil, and planted in masses of congenial kinds,
occasionally interspersed with others seeming to have obtained
accidental footing there: these, if placed with discretion, will
give great effect by contrast of colour, form and leafage, and

BOUNDARIES, GATES AND FENCES. 45

thus prevent the appearance of too much sameness, which ought
at all times to be avoided.

The common practice of plantin;^ alternately oak, elm, lime,
fir, larch, beech, birch, and a^ain repeating oak, elm, lime, and
so on, or any other order of arrangement upon the same errone-
ous system, is absurd, and wholly unlike the broad and bold
workings of nature, and is incapable of producing good effect
or suitable variety ; for although the trees be variou.s, and have
in themselves the principles of opposition and contrast in a high
degree, yet when disposed in this way, and so mingled together,
every twenty rods of it will be but the repetition of the former
twenty rods ; and although the plantation should be twenty
miles round, it is capable of affording no variety beyond that of
each tree's actual identity, which at a distance cannot be recog-
nized. Such plantations always look dull and heavy in colour,
in consequence of the complete mixture of the bright and the
dark together — so black and white, the greatest of all contrasts,
when blended become grey ; thus, too, the most brilliant primi-
tive colours^ red, blue, and yellow, when mixed together, form
a dusky hue, nearly approaching to a sooty black. The prac-
tice is so obviously bad, that it must necessarily be soon aban-
doned, and where the error has already been committed, the
remedy must be applied when the plantations are thinned ; at
which time much of the objection may be removed, and a great
deal of the effect desired may be obtained.

The projector in his general plan will do well to mark the
nature of the soils if they differ, and form his first arrangements
and selections from these circumstances. As one soil may be
suitable to several kinds, he may next plan them in masses,
conformably to suitableness, contrast, opposition and harmony
of form and colour — not abruptly placing them in masses of oak,
elm, and other trees, but as it were dovetailing them into each

46 BOUNDARIES, GATES AND FENCES.

other in the way that nature herself has joined varieties of soil
and growths ; and, acting according to her own laws of fitness
and variety, has thus perfected her plantations.

If this practice of planning and planting be pursued, the inte-
rior of the domain so surrounded will seem a favoured spot of
nature's own creation, and warrant and demand the labours of
art to subject its forest or wood-like qualities to human occu-
pancy, and domestic and elegant enjoyment.

These plantations, when advanced a few years, may be thin-
ned and opened with great advantage towards the producing
of variety. When chief views are determined on, the planting
may, in the first instance, be omitted at such points ; but for
secondary effects, the plantations may be thinned so as to
admit only a broken prospect, or to obtain it between the stems
of the outer trees. Advantage may be taken at the same time
of every incident which the operations of natural growth have
pointed out, and to this no general rule is applicable, but which
will be instantly seen and siezed by the mind of the artist.

After a few years growth, thinning is absolutely necessary
to the welfare of the plantation ; for either the larger trees will
be robbed by those which have not so well succeeded, or they
will grow up, choak and exhaust each other.

In thinning woods and coppices, much material is found for
plantations ; and its spare produce may be usefully employed.

COPPICE ^^ooD Feitces. Gates, ATT© MTumBx.Es

ivh:sf,/MU<ys JizivsrroAi ■ <-r . //u .

FENCES, GATES AND UURDLE8. 47

PLATE III.

COPPICE, WOOD FENCES, GATES AND HURDLES.

THE uses to which the produce of coppices are applicable,
and by which they become valuable property, make a part of the
present subject no further than they are subservient to garden
embellishments : to this purpose the common thinnings of cop-
pices may be applied. The annexed designs exhibit the forms in
which the hazel, the sallow, and the ash could be tastefully used.

The first design represents three fences of unbarked wood,
fastened together by thongs stripped from other branches, and
the uprights made firm by insertion into the ground.

The second design is also for a fence of the same materials,
with a gate at each extremity ; the forms may be infinitely
varied, without difficulty, by any tasteful imagination.

The third line consists of three desio:ns for warden fence £:ates,
and the fourth line, of hurdles, or short and portable fences,
which, when many are put together in the manner of sheep-
folds, sufficiently protect from ordinary injuries.

Fences of this description may be made by the gardener, in
which he may also construct alcoves, avenues, espaliers, and
garden seats of corresponding character. These means are not
proper as exterior inclosures, unless for small ornamental cotta-
ges, which have also the protection of an embankment and
hollow, in the manner of a sunk fence : in this way they become
very ornamental. Similar materials may be used as basket-w ork
fences to shrubberies ; and upon a smaller scale, to flower beds
and borders.

48 LODGES.

PLATE IV.

A LODGE.

WHEN the house is situated a considerable distance within
its boundary, a lodge or residence for some servant to the pro-
prietor is needful for the convenience of himself, and visitors,
and the accommodation of persons coming on matters of busi-
ness. It is by no means necessary that this building should
assume an ostentatious display — its size is adverse to high pre-
tension ; but being the introductory medium to the dwelling,
where the visitor receives his first impression of the place, it is
important that it should exhibit propriety and fitness — have
fair pretension to suitableness of character with the estate to
which it belongs, and possess undoubted convenience and com-
fortable accommodation.

In general the lodge should be situated at a sufficient distance
from the dwelling and its offices, to make it clear that the
accompanyment of a lodge cannot be dispensed with : for when
too near the edifice, it assumes the appearance of ostentation
rather than of unquestionable accommodation. It is no less
worthy of great care that it should, in point of size and seeming,
be perfectly suited to the consequence of the estate, and possess
those qualities which best cause it to harmonize with its ac-
companying scenery. Of no less real importance is the internal
arrangement of this building, which should be so disposed as to
prevent the appearance of a greater quantity of building than its
own nature and its relation to the estate demands.

A judicious architect will not fail to adopt that style of build-
ing in which to make his design, that some circumstance suftici-

^l GAMEKEIEFIERS 1. 0]D)<&,1|?.

: iWm Mf(}Sm^'tyf\-IjfTS j.= S^-md :^:i .

FORMS OF GKOUM). 49

ently important to govern it may demand, and thence supply its
character : this will arise either from the nature of the country
in which it is placed, the peculiarities of tlie spot on which it is
to be built, the edifice to which it is attendant, or the rank and
station of the proprietor.

In general it may be said of lodges (for but few exceptions
occur in places of moderate extent) that they should be consi-
dered as a higher class of cottages, improved upon the foregoing
principles, and also sparingly decorated.

ON THE FORMS OF GROUND.

To imitate natural scenery, an irregular surface of ground is
sometimes necessary : to eflect which is the business of garden
improvement, and demands an early attention ; for, unless an
undulating surface be prepared before the planting is begun,
very little of such advantage can be expected without sacrifices.

Great diversity of surface may, in general, be obtained at no
objectionable expense, if the labour be discreetly conducted.
To sink the valley and raise the hill is a good rule, when
properly applied, in which case the beneficial results are so
immediate and striking, as amply to compensate for every exer-
tion : hence plants and trees obtain the appearance of several
growths as they are situated on greater or less elevations, and
produce varieties of incident and opposition of light, shadow,
form and colour that cannot be effected on level around. Such
undulations also allow a command of near and distant views,
and occasionally afford sites appropriate for temples^ alcoves,
and seats, suited to retirement, reflection or study.

Artificial means should be resorted to in flat situations, to ele-
vate the house itself, for the purpose of obtaining command of

H

50 FORMS OF GROUND.

view over the landscape, and security against damps ; this may
be performed with great ease and effect by a gradually rising
knoll, formed by the earth excavated from the cellars and foun-
dations. The floors of the principal apartments should be only
one or two steps above this artificial surface, to admit a ready
egress from them at the casements, which may be made to open
to the carpet. A few years ago prevailed the Italian style, of
erecting the chief apartments on an elevated basement — at that
time the knoll was not in use for such purposes ; but since the
self-imposed constraint and reserved stateliness of the former
age has yielded to the charms of the garden, and of greater
freedom, the use of the basement story, as it was called, is aban-
doned, and the lawn become a verdant continuation of the
carpetings of the library and drawing room, sharing with them
the honours of hourly occupation.

The form or position of the natural soil on which the house
is to be erected, must govern the means employed to create
suitable levels, mounds or terraces. If the ground be sloping,
one of its fronts must be raised to an outward gently hanging
level, whilst the opposite front will require a terrace. If it be in
a hollow, then it must have a considerable elevation of the lawn
to produce the effect of a rising surface, and to throw the water
from the building, which would else be liable to an overflow
from showers.

Hollows that seem to be the site of exhausted ponds, have
always an ill effect; these should be judiciously opened at the
extremities, by which a valley-like continuity is produced, and
the mind becomes satisfied.

The mound or knoll, when a little curved on its surface and
rounding only as it becomes a sort of terrace next the house, is
more natural and pleasing than when altogether convex : indeed

FORMS OF GROUND. 51

the rising surfaces of lawn and pasture are improved when so
hollo v/ed, and are viewed with advantage from lower ground,
for they there exhibit the whole area, which is abridged in the
other instance; besides, the shadows projected upon tliem are
often considerably lengthened by this form, and thence become
means of greater repose to the landscape.

It is manifest that ground composed of hill and valley in
graceful undulations, exhibits many local and incidental beau-
ties not possessed by the level plain : — the continual changes of
form produced by the movements of the spectator — the diversity
of light, shade and colour, changed by the varied angles at
which they are viewed — the intricacy and pleasing combinations
of differently elevated objects as they are passed, all combine to
prove the superiority of an undulating surface.

Whenever the formation of ground is taken into considera-
tion, due attention must be paid to its character and that of the
surrounding country, the peculiarities and qualities of the spot,
and the effect proposed to be introduced, remembering that
" the object of the artist is to conceal his art." The romantic
should be bold and broken, combining steep declivities with
dell-like ravines. The rural exhibit natural irregularities, but
not be so broken and abrupt. The park and pastural demand
sweeping and expansive undulations, without the necessity of
wholly disguising the means employed for its improvement; but
the studied landscape which should form the fore-ground of the
mansion, and harmonize with its features, may display the entire
skill of the improver. Here the artist, judiciously selecting the
most perfect specimens from nature, should combine them ^yith
poetic feeling, and preserve them with assiduous care. Without
becoming liable to the imputation of neglect or slovenliness,
the operations of the gardener cannot be concealed in this spot.

H 2

52 FORMS OF GROUND.

On this subject much controversy has existed, because too
many authors have disregarded the harmony necessary to
combine the landscape with the building, or because a certain
quantity of " picturesqueness" was considered necessary to the
perfection of landscape. This word is still fatal to the recon-
cilement of conflicting opinions, for the roughnesses only of
nature are often supposed to constitute the essential attributes
of the picturesque.

" The Picturesque" rather implies that which is like to a pic-
ture, or such combinations of form, light, shade, colour and effect
as a painter would choose to record by his pencil. The term
indeed embraces a vast extent of matter, and painters have
shewn us what it is ; — the simply chaste compositions of Raphael
and Guido, alike with the exuberant compositions of Rubens —
all that is elegant, refined, graceful, gorgeous or splendid in the
higher claims of art, are within the measure of the term ; and
so with the inferior but pleasing compositions of the Dutch and
Flemish schools. In landscape it is the same ; the elegant and
classic scenery of Claude, the bolder compositions of Poussin,
the romantic fliglits of Salvata Rosa, the homely scenes of
AVynants, all come within the same pale, and are capable of as
distinct classification.

The fundamental error, has arisen out of the too common
opinion that all which is not rugged and rude, is not picturesque;
whereas beauty and fitness are its indispensable characteristics:
it exists wherever these qualities are combined, and ceases
where they are not. The picturesque ends at the point where
nature or art is distorted or exaggerated ; where nature herself
is extravagant, she is not beautiful but fantastic. Rubens ven-
tures to the full limit, but is yet picturesque ; Goltzius, though
a painter of genius and vast energy, passes the boundary, and
becomes grotesque.

PLANTATION SKAT. 53

PLATE V.

A PLANTATION SEAT.

THIS design is adapted to such parts of a plantation near the
house as are carefully decorated ; it is a low sheltered seat, in
which proportion and embellishment have been studied, for the
purpose of introducing more valuable materials and workman-
ship than are usually applied to similar designs. The pillars are
intended to be of bronze; marble might be introduced and
sculptured to form the back, and also for the pedestals and
plinths. The covering, composed of reeds, would be rendered
water-proof by a suitable composition or cement. The under-
side, forming an arched cieling, might be ornamented by small
enriched compartments and central flowers, delicately coloured
and relieved in gold; and several portions of the other orna-
mental decorations might be lightly gilded also.

The vases at the extremities would be of marble, and con-
trived to receive pots of flowers ; from the centre of which a
copper rod is placed to support a beautiful and appropriate
climbing plant, which would realize the effect represented in
the design.

This seat would be particularly rich and novel thus executed;
but if merely constructed in the usual manner, it is evident that
it must be pleasing, and afford an efficient shelter from sun and
rain.

.^ A TEMPLE.

PLATE VI.
A TEMPLE OR AVIARY.

THIS small building, designed to embellish extensive grounds,
affords an agreeable seat and prospect room : it is supposed to
be situated on a small island in a retired portion of the estate,
not far distant from the mansion, where repose of scene would
make such a building effective in all its points, and the melo-
dious harmony of the birds within, a delightful relief to its
surrounding stillness. Being encompassed by water, and suit-
able iron gates affixed to the approach, which is over a small
bridge, it would perhaps be secure from those depredations
from which it is to be lamented few such edifices are exempt,
when even a little removed from the immediate vicinity of the
house.

Should this appropriation of the building be dispensed with, it
would become an agreeable retirement for reading or study.

On extensive properties such erections are essential as resting
places in the walks, and as retreats from hasty showers : from
these, well arranged plantations acquire a peculiar interest;
for, besides their attractive qualities, which invite the spectator
onward, he is secure from inconvenience by the rapid changes
of the weather, and the intervening scenes are therefore enjoyed
in confidence. When they are designed and placed with judi-
cious attention to the character of the spot, they often afford
admirable embellishments to the landscape, and carry forward
the seeming extent of the more polished arrangements of the
pleasure grounds.

eg

<^

H
^

<<

BRIDGE AND BOAT HOUSE. 55

PLATE VII.

A BRIDGE AND BOAT HOUSE.

THIS design is intended as a means of approaching an island
situated on a lake at the extremity of an estate^ answering the
double purpose of a bridge and boat house, and also a shelter
from rain. The platform is inclosed by a parapet railing on
one side for safety, but is open on the other for the convenience
of taking boat, and for landing on return.

It will be seen that this building is not intended for the com-
plete protection of the boat, even during the summer months,
much less against the inclemencies of the winter season ; but it
is sufHcient shelter from the sun and rain at its moorings during
the day, when it is in readiness; and from this bridge it is
easily and safely entered, as its side comes in immediate contact
with the foot-path. The construction of this building is very
simple, the materials of which it is composed may be of un-
wrought timbers: the supports being the trunks of unbarked
trees, the arch of their tapered branches, and the walling of cleft
logs, built in the manner of the rough walling of the Romans.
The roof is of thatch, and the flooring of iron, covered by gra-
vel, in continuation of the walk. As the garden at this spot
would properly change its character to the wilder accompa-
niments of the lake, this building would assimilate with the
scenery, and please by its rural effect, well contrasting with
the more elegant and polished objects of other parts of the
plantations.

Some extensive estates that have been much improved, still
afford opportunity of combining the effect of the river and the

56 WATER IN LANDSCAPE.

lake ; indeed, it is to be lamented that the former only has been
chiefly introduced when the latter so beautifully and consistently
might have assisted as its companion. The lake, in extensive
grounds, is a very beautiful feature, and properly contrasts those
scenes which admit the appearances of cultivation by art.

ON WATER IN LANDSCAPE.

Where a continued supply of water can be obtained, and the
natural irregularities of the ground present suitable reservoirs for
its preservation, or where they can be artificially prepared, the
artist will not fail to benefit by the opportunity afforded for the
use of so important a feature ; but the supply must be ample,
for few defects of the landscape are so objectionable as the
deficiency exhibited by half-empty pools, lakes or canals, origin-
ally intended as garden embellishments ; and the defect always
occurs, too, in warm and dry seasons, when the coolness and
beauty of water is most inviting and desired : instead of which
they betray to the spectator the scantiness of their sources, and
infect the air with offensive vapours.

When the supply is abundant at all times, then water becomes
a striking and interesting material in the hands of the improver ;
the brilliancy of sheets of water give lustre to the most dull and
insipid portions of a landscape, and it is the chief means by
which the artist produces those vivid and fascinating reliefs in
the garden, which, by white or richness of colour, the painter
exhibits in his picture. — The deep tones of shade essential to
vigour and striking effect are also augmented by water, in the
reflections of over shadowing objects, whilst its occasional rippling
movements create partial and brilliant touches of light that
begem its surface.

So pleasing is the effect of objects reflected on clear water.

WATEIl IN LANDSCAPE. 57

which objects themselves scarcely attract attention, that they con-
vey a charm to the eye of the same poetic sentiment, that sound
returns to the ear in the magic voice of the echo ; and in the
agitation of water by wind or other causes, a continual change
is produced, which dispels the sameness of effect that many
persons have objected to, as produced by lakes and canals : an
objection that has been maintained by many proprietors, but
only so because they have not given attention to the fair claims
of water; even the track of fowls upon its surface, and the ring-
lets which the swallow creates by the dipping of its wing, are
interesting, and produce variety of incident, always relished by
the tasteful.

Ground, trees, and water are the chief and legitimate mate-
rials of landscape; and if the latter be dispensed with, a full
proportion of the means of creating its picturesque beauty is
abandoned also.

A beautiful piece of water, particularly if it be seated in a
well clothed, sequestered, and tranquil spot, engages the mind,
and inspires it with pleasing sentiments; and notwithstanding
our northern atmosphere is unfavourable to a full perception of
the claims which water has to the gratitude of the inhabitants of
warmer soils, yet we are enchanted with the sublime eulosries
afforded to it by the poets and historians of the East ; and
assuming something of their feelings, we readily transfer the
pleasure excited by their glowing imagery to the shades and
streams we contemplate ourselves— there we remember with
pleasing sympathy the many tales that we have read in our
youth, and which have been told to the fountain and the
stream by the proselytes of love, of hope, and of despair, in a
language that has imprinted on our memories not only the
thoughts of the poet, but the pictures which his eloquence has
created in our minds.

£»8 WATER IN LANDSCAPE.

The painter, too, has represented the beauties of water with
all the magic of his wondrous art. If, in his introduction of
water into landscape scenery, the artist can so dispose it as to
call into action any of the sentiments that each of these sources
is capable of producing-, he will have in that spectator's mind
an advocate for the beauties of water that will make needless
all other motives for its admiration.

With regard to the situation of water in landscape improve-
ments, it is scarcely necessary to observe that the practices of
nature in her happiest works should be followed, and therefore
that the valley is the properest site for it ; for, when situated on
high ground, or on rapidly inclined planes particularly, the
operations of art, in some points of view, will be manifest, unless
the defect be discreetly hid by such well arranged plantations as
will conceal the embankments, arrest the view of the slope,
and produce the appearances of a valley.

PLATE VIII.

A RUSTIC BRIDGE.

WATER being so essential to the beauty of cultivated sce-
nery^ from its power of contrast to the surrounding verdure^, its
brilliancy, colour, motion and sparkling reflections, as also from
other results of its mirror-like surface — the frequent use of it
demands the introduction of an additional picturesque feature to
the landscape.

The annexed design for a bridge is suitable to this purpose :
it forms a rustic shelter and fishing seat ; and the parapets of
each extremity arranged in step-like forms are prepared to
receive orange trees or other plants.

The construction is chiefly of timber and unbarked slabs, and
the roof is proposed to be covered by reed thatching.

It sometimes happens that the natural slope of ground will
not permit so large a piece of water as may be desired, unless
it is made to occupy two or more levels, at such points a low
bridge erected over its fall will conceal the irregularity.

ON THE FORMS OF WATER.

As the character which water assumes is dependent on its
shape, quantity and motion, each should be well considered
before the ground is prepared for its reception. In England the
source of a natural stream is generally a small bursting of water
from the earth, bubbling in some elevated spot, or the draining
of hilly lands, for nature has benevolently placed on heights her

I 2

60 FORMS OF WATER.

treasury of fresh waters, wlience she liberally dispenses them to
the country until having fulfilled their duties they again blend
themselves with the ocean. From their source they depart in a
rill gentle or rapid, wide or contracted, deep or shallow, accord-
ing to the form and slope of ground over which they pass. The
confluence of several of these make the streamlet and the brook,
until by multiplied union and increase, they become a river.

In the first instance it is the mere shape of ground that influ-
ences the course, but in its progress, the softer soil yielding to
the stream, it speedily makes channels for itself, still however
conforming to the resistance of harder soils or casual opposi-
tions, every obstruction it meets with operates to change its
course from a direct line, these being abundant the serpentine
form of running waters must necessarily occur, and in proportion
to the rapidity of its motion, the abruptness and sinuosity of the
river will be found — the gentlest waters have easy and long
sweeping curves.

It often happens that in the line of a river, the water is
received into a valley which having no outlet below the level of
the stream, lakes and islands are formed of various magnitudes,
governed by the eminences which rise above the plane of its
surface, this also collecting water from the surrounding hills
the river departs from it with augmented supplies and greater
power.

The quality of the beds of streams and rivers operate to
create diversity of shape and character, for by the yielding or
opposition of the soil beneath it the motion of the stream
is increased or retarded, and the water is permitted to imbed
itself, or is spread over the surface ; from all these causes it is
found that the margins of natural waters are seldom parallel
to each other for any considerable distance, unless bounded by

FORMS (IF WATKU.

Gl

steep (lecliviiics, but that in j^eneral tlie widths and de[)tlis are
proportioned to each other :

" The l)roa(l is shallow, and the narrow dfM'p."

When their course is broken by abrupt changes of levels,
ravines, cascades and waterfalls are created, accommodating
themselves to the quality and structure of the soils over which they
travel : the hard will effect a sharp and immediate fall like the
overshot of a mill-dam, whereas the soft will gradually and par-
tially give way, permitting the waters to form a ravine through
which it will rush in a broken and rugged course, creating a
variety of cascades in its progress.

Having examined the operations and effects of nature in these
interesting features of her works, such portions of them may
readily be adopted as are suitable to the character of the place
to be improved, the magnitude of the property, and the object
to be attained. The romantic stile admits the lake and the
river, the ravine and the cataract, with all the wild abruptness
of which water is capable. The rural and the pastoral compose
the lake, the meer, the pool, the river, and all the lesser and
milder operations of the stream. So the pleasure garden being
a work of art, and in which art is avowedly directing nature in
contradistinctional submission to her great mistress in all other
parts of the domain — the canal, the basin and the fountain, are
legitimate materials to the artist, provided he does not violate
the laws of fitness and propriety in the use of them, and admits
them only when designed with taste.

Where the grounds are sufficiently extensive it is very desira-
ble to enlist portions of both the river and the lake into the
landscape, commencing at the point of juncture as exhibited in
nature. The variety of scene consequent on this proceeding

62

louMs (»r \y.\Tr:H.

would be very pleasing, and obviate the objectionable repetition
of river forms in the several views about the property.

In laying- out ground for the river, particular regard should be
had to the point from which it will be chiefly viewed, as from
the house or lawn, so that it may obtain variety of form and
incident, and display the greatest possible breadth, contrasted
with the narrowness consequent on the perspective.

rOi rr <yy^^-r^~^'~i^

The above is a perspective representation of a river so plan-
ned, viewed up its serpentine course, the margins of which are
supposed to be parallel ; but were that parallelism departed from
according to nature, the effect would be increased, and the
water appear of still greater magnitude.

The usual practice has been to place the water so that persons
at the house shall look across rather than along its course : —
this gives the effect of equal width to the stream, although it may
considerably vary in its dimensions. The same principle should
be applied to the formation of lakes and islands, for by a proper
arrangement of form agreeably to the laws of pespective, their
magnitude will, in appearance, be greatly increased ; but if this
be neglected, they will seem proportionably to diminish.

FORMS OV WATtK. 63

The lifcavy character of circular pools, square and of)Ioiif»-
canals, and other such geometrical forms of masonry should have
prevented the patronage they once obtained and so long pos-
sessed : they produce no intelligible change although viewed at
various places, and therefore excite little interest beyond that
which arises from their obvious cost, and the contemplation of
the excessive labour that produced them. They are capable
of affording astonishment but cannot please.

64

BRIDGLS.

PLATE IX.

A BRIDGE AND TEMPLE.

WHERE the banks of a stream intersecting the garden of a
domain in an elevated class of decoration are precipitous, a
bridge, as here represented, would form an agreeable feature of
the scene, and accordingly as the stream favourably deviated
from a straight line, the view from the temple would be varied
and interesting.

This design should be executed in stone, and upon a small
scale; for such an edifice, when applied as ornamental chiefly,
should be considered rather as a bijou than otherwise, and ele-
gance of character be made to supersede the striking and bold
effects necessary to buildings connected with the chief approach
to the mansion. When stone quarries are on the estate itself,
and the charge of distant carriage therefore not incurred, these
buildings may be erected at a moderate expense, and many
architectural beauties introduced that are not within the reach
of persons otherwise situated, without a vast expenditure. The
expense attendant on land carriage, has done more to prevent
the use of stone, and consequently the adoption of similar de-
signs, than the consideration of the labour necessary to erect
them, united with the additional charge of the material itself:
from this cause they have sometimes been built of wood or
l)laistcr; and the speedy decay of these have necessarily pre-
vented the frequent use of such buildings in landscape or
ornamental gardening.

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PLATE X.

A BRIDGE ADAPTED TO PARK SCENERY.

WHERE water intersects a park in such a way as to render
a bridge across it necessary in the line of approach to the man-
sion, the annexed design would be appropriate, particularly if
the ground at each end of the bridge happened to be so elevated,
or gently rising from the plane of the park as to permit the
parapet to be level, instead of an extended curve, according
to the usual practice in such edifices; and this circumstance
would afford a greater length to the road-way of the bridge,
and consequently produce an effect of magnitude at little ad-
ditional expense.

Without the side arches, a building so formed would divide
the grounds on both banks of the river or canal ; but in this
instance, a free communication is obtained, and the walks
along its margins preserved entire ; which are here supposed
to be embellished by plantations, as being in the immediate
vicinity of the pleasure grounds, and one bank might very pro-
perly form a part of them.

A bridge of this description should be placed so near the
mansion as to combine with its general design, and appear to
be an essential part of the whole ; in which case it would greatly
add to its seeming magnitude and consequence, and lose its
liability to the objection raised to many bridges standing in
the middle of a park, on account of their unsupported and
solitary appearances.

,K

66 WATER.

EMBELLISHMENTS OF WATER.

Sheets of water however beautiful in form^ unless it be the
ocean, are little interesting in themselves — they require the
intervention of suitable objects of art or nature to embellish
them, either on the margins or their surfaces, as the character
of the place demands. The judicious artist will supply these
so as to produce variety and intricacy, without injury to the
composition of the landscape, and to its proper breadth of effect,
and without overloading the picture, as it is called, by too
much material.

In the embellishment of water, it is necessary to remember
that it doubles by reflection all the objects of its margin. This
circumstance is favourable, or otherwise, according as the
means are adopted ; — if the banks are steep and the water
narrow, an ill effect is produced, because the height of the
banks is exaggerated, and the width of the water seemingly
diminished. If the water is wide, as in lakes, then the steepness
of its banks and the over-hanging foliages of its margin acquire
added dignity and multiplied effect. The management of the
varieties of the margin of ornamental water is of great conse-
quence ; when it is viewed transversely or over narrow portions
of it, the ground should slope to the water's edge, or the banks
will intercept the view of its surface and perhaps hide it wholly ;
on the other hand, when water is viewed upward in its length,
steep and broken banks add the advantages of form and colour
to the variety it produces, and give force and vigour to the
scene. Water should be placed to the southward of the man-
sion, not only on account of the coolness of effect, but as its
brilliancy is augmented when so viewed.

Because nature is not prolilicof the nobler trees in the vicinity

WATKR. 67

of much water, slie has added to her store such as are peculiarly
suited to its decoration ; and in the aquatic plants will be found
the means of adding still more extensive variety, than at first
appears, to the retired scenery of the grounds : these, differing
in colour and character, may be so arranged as to be highly
ornamental, and favorably contrast the valley with the hill.

When the valley is not of sufficient extent to allow the intro-
duction of the lake, the river may be much improved by
separating its course into branches : thus forming small islands
or aits; which, when planted according to their forms and
characters, will become admirable embellishments.

K %

6^ DAIRY

PLATE XI.

A PICTURESQUE DAIRY.

THIS building is designed in imitation of the ruins of a
church or chapel,, formerly belonging to a small sequestered reli-
gious establishment, and intended to be placed, as those houses
generally are, by the side of a piece of still water, as if formed
for the purpose of being a stew for the preservation of fish, and
to which it might be appropriated; or built by the side of a
river, as if to partake of the benefit that would accrue from a
succession of fresh-water fish that would be caught in the different
wears placed in the stream.

The spot on which the building is supposed to be erected, is
in a retired part of a gentleman's estate, who farms his own
land, and has an extensive dairy-farm under his own direction,
and who would build it to be at one and the same time an
object of attraction to his visitors, as well as a place of resi-
dence for the person entrusted with the superintendance of the
dairy.

Though the outside of that part of the building which consti-
tutes the supposed chapel is meant to bear the appearance of the
dilapidations of time, the inside is intended to be handsomely
firjislied with Gothic decorations — at least it was originally so
designed, having been prepared for actual execution. The spot
was surrounded by higher ground, whence a spring issued, and
as a cascade, fell into the lake, on the margin of which the
building was proposed to stand. At a sufficient height a small
stream was separated, and continued under-ground, with the
intention to conduct it, in a small channel, roimd the pavement

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of the chapel, and from thence into the river ; bringing, by that
means, a constant current of air, that would prevent atmospheric
stagnation, and render the building at all times wholesome and
of even temperature.

The lower building extending on the side of the chapel, was
to be constructed for a scalding apartment, and for preserving
the dairy implements in that state of cleanliness and purity w hich,
is so necessary for the welfare of such a delicate establishment,
and on which so much of its prosperity depends.

This picturesque dairy should be placed at the end of the
pleasure grounds, and the door of communication approached
by devious walks : From the perspective delineation of the plan,
this is hidden from sight, and must be imagined, as well as the
residence for those entrusted with the management of the farm ;
while that part of the erection which has been stated as the
boiling room, apparently communicates with the meadows, where
the kine may be supposed to be grazing.

The bell is placed upon the principal roof, not merely to have
a picturesque and appropriate appearance, but for the useful
purpose of summoning the herdsmen to drive the cattle to the
stalls, as well as to call the milk-maids to their duties.

Surrounded by well grown plantations, the appearance of the
building would become interesting, and if backed by foliage
of many-tinted green, occasionally hidden, and then bursting
on the sight, it would enrich the home-grounds, and embellish
the neighbourhood.

The inside of the building was proposed to afford accommoda-
tion on marble shelves for a considerable number of pans^ in
simple arrangement, and with the introduction of stained glass

70 PLANTING.

at each window, it would produce a pleasing sensation^ and
embrace the gratifying consideration — that the edifice was built
for profit as well as pleasure. The charm of the whole is meant
to be heightened by the cheerfulness and neatness of the lighter
coloured material with which the interior would be cased, in
contrast to the more sober grey hue of the stone with which
the outer walls should be erected.

Woodbines, jessamines, ivy, and other aspirants might be
trained up the blank wall next the pleasure ground ; while the
part appropriated for business would merely require space, and
the charms of regularity and cleanliness.

ON PLANTING.

During the study of the forms of ground and the disposal of
water, planting is always present to the mind as needful to
the perfection of the scene, and a painter-like perception is
necessary to combine them with effect ; indeed the artist must
have many other qualifications, in common with the painter,
superadded to those more obviously essential to the landscape
gardener, before he is capable of giving reality to the pictures
of his imagination.

The principles on which the painter works are equally appli-
cable to this study. The materials which nature and art supply
are represented by his palette; the laws which govern the
character, compositions, arrangements, and linear harmonies of
the one, apply as correctly to the other. In point of light and
shade, each seeks and disposes them with the same relations
of effect and balance : the same knowledge of harmony, oppo-
sition, contrast, expression and gradation is necessary ; and
both direct them by similar laws and scientific principles. Their
practice however differs in this ; the painter sees on the instant

FLANTINO.

71

all lie desires to produce, but the other artist's labours are those
of anticipation : time alone can perfect his works, and exhibit
the fulfilment of his wishes. Like the works of the sculptor,
his objects are subject to new appearances with every change
of the spectator's movement; and no artist better knows the
difficulty of associating blended forms, so that at every point of
view they shall be graceful and pleasing.

A picture may be painted with three decided features — the
fore-ground, the middle, and the distance; but in the actual
disposition of similar machinery, it must be remembered that,
by the spectator's movement, they change places, and the fore-
ground becomes the middle or the distant, thus each character
must be suitable to all. From these facts it must be evident, that
the mere amateur is not accomplished for the purposes of orna-
mental improvement, and his failure will be complete when
architectural embellishments are to be added to those of nature,
an union always accompanied with difficulty, and only to be
reconciled by the man of science.

The planting of the boundary having been considered, so far
as it encloses the property, it will be needful to view it in con-
nection with the whole plot ; and as nature is to be followed in
all things, to examine her operations and endeavour to imitate
them. When we find a naturally over-wooded property, and
seek to improve it by expanding the lawns and pastures, and by
selecting groups and assemblages of trees to remain insulated
within them, — it will be seen that two or three kinds of forest
trees prevail as the native tenants of the soil; and although
many others are found interspersed, that they seem chance
thrown, or as strangers hospitably received — such are the bold
and broad workings of nature, and which are too often rejected
for aflfected variety.

12

PLANTING.

Ill forming a residence on a similar spot of ground^ that
is yet without trees, it is on this principle that the plantations
should be made, so that when the whole has arrived at maturity,
these embellishments of the spot shall seem to be derived from
nature without the aid of art. In the disposition of single trees,
of groups, or masses, nature should be imitated in her most
effective and agreeable productions; to do which, it is necessary
to understand something of the rationale of her proceedings ;
on this knowledge, also, such further embellishments should be
added as will increase the effect and beauty of the scenery, and
transform the wilds of the forest into the abode of the rational
and tasteful being, — the man of reflection and of taste.

Toward the employment of these additions, an acquaintance
with the following points is necessary, on which a few hints are
therefore introduced.

OF PLANTATION FORMS.

The outlines of the spaces occupied by planting, compose the
forms in question, and they are suitable or otherwise, as they
produce, or fail to produce, the best effects of form in scenic
nature. The frequent practice of planting by a belt surrounding
the property, and by clumps or circular patches of trees within
it, gave rise to a notion, yet existing with many, that in the
arrangement of these, consisted the chief art of garden improve-
ments.

The ingenious Mr. Brown was the unconscious author of this
style, for he did not originally propose to himself that these
massive incumberances to the picturesque should long retain
the circular forms, which for the convenience of fencing and for
temporary advantages he gave them. Mr. Brown's object was
to rear them to a certain state of growth, then to abandon the

PLANTING.

73

geometrical figures, and to carve from these, blocks, with an
artist's hand, the variety of form and shape desired ; and select-
ing the well grown trees from the lower growths, preserve the
one from injury, whilst his skill added dignity to the nobler trees,
by the advantages of contrast.

In the mean time, whilst he waited for the period suited to his
object, fashion adopted the novelty, and many of Mr. Brown's
works never had the benefit of his better intentions : thus the
country soon became clumped and dotted in lamentable abun-
dance. This practice has at length passed into disrepute, and
the irregular forms of natural growth have succeeded, — the
advantage of which, towards producing character, variety, and
intricacy, are evident; and all of these are improved by judici-
ous dispositions of the parts, and by the effects of light, shade,
and colour.

OF DISPOSITION.

The arrangement of groups and masses of trees should be so
made that they shall not divide the ground into equal portions,
for it is important that broad spaces of verdure shall be preserved
and contrasted by the less, being so proportioned that the larger
shall be seemingly magnified by the opposition. Unequal gra-
dations in distances of objects should also be observed : on this
the effect of the aerial and linear perspective of the scene is
greatly dependant.

When the ground consists of hill and valley, much beauty
may be produced by disposing the forms so as to rise irregularly
up the ascent, thus increasing the heights, whilst the valley is
chiefly disposed in pasture ; for the seeming elevation of the
hill is magnified by the additional altitude of the trees, so
long as the valley is unoccupied. To abandon this advantage

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74 PLANTING.

by planting the valley, would be a gross error, into which
however many amateurs have fallen, or have permitted to exist,
because they have argued that it must be right, as nature is
less prolific on the hill than in the valley — forgetful that she
often leaves the valley and clothes the hill with trees, and is then
most beautiful in her operations.

OF QUANTITY.

As it relates to the sizes and magnitudes of trees, grouping,
and masses, in planting, the due arrangement of quantities is
of important consideration : — indeed, in the whole art of design,
the management of quantities, as they are called by painters, is
a study of the first order; that which is great and valuable in
the scene, should be augmented by the contrasts of well propor-
tioned masses supporting, and therefore not competing with its
importance.

When the quajitities are nearly equal in any design, the
composition is bad. In planting, they should be so arranged
that contention shall not exist between them, but that the low
growths shall improve the appearance of their more exalted
neighbours, and the groups readily yield to the larger masses; —
these should all occasionally give way to the expanse of the
plain, or the water, which, in other points of view, will as
readily be made to submit to them.

Trees planted so as to appear detached from the groups or
masses, and being yet in their neighbourhood, have a very
pleasing effect, produce variety, and give solidity and breadth
to the greater masses : these should be placed at unequal dis-
tances, or they betray the interference of art. Insulated trees
are rarely unpleasing when so disposed as to leave spaces decid-
edly differing in quantity between them ; it is otherwise if they

PLANTING. 1.0

occupy the lawn or park in spaces of mathematical sameness;
and it has been observed of small groups, that the effect is most
agreeable, when their trees are planted in odd numbers, at least,
so far as seven, beyond which the eye does not convey to the
mind impressions so accurate as to enable it to determine on the
instant, if the numbers be odd or otherwise.

OF LIGHT AND SHADE.

As display of form in objects depends more or less on light
and shadow, and as, in works of art, they become pleasing or
defective, according as they are produced agreeably to certain
rules, it is necessary to understand them, that in the business
of planting, the forms adopted shall be such as to produce
well regulated effects of light and shade ; and the plantations of
the boundary give ample means to obtain them. If these be
planted so as to form large bays and bold promontories, well
disposed to receive the glancing rays of the sun, it is evident
that broad effects of light and shade must transpire ; so, in laro-e
masses of planting, if they be formed judiciously, the irre^-u-
larity of their plans will, at all points of view, exhibit effective
light and shade, without which, such objects are tame and vapid.

In making arrangements to produce the effects of light and
shadow, the objects must be governed upon the same principles
as a painter would dispose them for the purposes of his art ; they
would then acquire prominent and modified lights, broad sha-
dows—in part re-illuminated by reflections — middle tints, and
actual depths or darknesses ; — it is from the disposition and due
proportion of all these, that what is called force in a picture, is
produced, and it is not otherwise in landscape improvement.
Under the term Light, may be considered the illuminations
of the object, whether within the actual and sparkling effect of
sunshine, or subdued by the operations of distance : The sha-

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76 PLANTING.

dows form the relief and repose of the scene^ the small and brilli-
ant touches, and the deep and vigorous shades that give force
by opposition, are the powerful means of creating the bold effects
so greatly admired in works of art, and which may be produced
with equal success in the actual landscape. The broad glare
of sunshine on an uniform surface cannot please, and the calm
equable tone of shade alone, is dull and insipid; but when both
are judiciously modified by form and situation, and relieved and
contrasted by each other, they become all that the tasteful mind
desires to create by them.

For the purposes of contrast, or for relief, it is not uncommon
to place small white objects in grounds, as statues, vases, busts,
&c. ; it may not be improper to observe, here, that these are
generally more injurious than useful — particularly if they are of
white marljle ; the contrast is too abrupt, and at a distance the
object seems but as a spot which, however, acts so forcibly on
the sight, that it seems actually near, and thence lessens in
appearance, the real extent of the ground. Indeed, so power-
ful is this effect, that where several marble busts and statues
have been introduced in grounds, an experienced eye has been
deceived in more than half its area ; these embellishments are
best in retired places and in buildings — they do not always mix
agreeably with the landscape.

ON COLOUR.

The pleasing effects that may be produced by light and shade,
are capable of increase by colour. Vegetation, in the hands of
the landscape improver, is a substitution for the palette of the
painter, and both use them upon the same principles. But, as
the green colours of the landscape artist may generally be di-
vided into the simple denominations of light and dark, he cannot
do better than view them as such, and proceed accordingly: thus

PLANTING. 77

he will augment his ettccts of light in his general arrangements,
by light-coloured trees, and increase his depths by the dark
ones; and thus he will produce contrast and opposition, and
give general effect of disposition and colour, even without the
invigorating benefit of sunshine.

The blossoms of some trees present another feature of colour
which should be carefully applied — they admirably embellish
the near grounds and home plantations, by their gaiety and
brilliancy ; but on those accounts they are not suitable to the
general scenery, because they either produce a spotty appear-
ance, or otherwise disturb the general harmony and park-like
character. In low growths, however, if sparingly brought for-
ward from the masses of trees they contrast, they are certainly
decorative and inoffensive.

In the dressed grounds and the flower garden^ where gaiety
and splendour should prevail, every thing that suitably contri-
butes to them, in art or nature, is desirable aid, and there is am-
ple space for an ingenious and tasteful display of them : Towards
accomplishing this, a few hints, well known to artists, may be
useful.

Red and blue are called hot and cold colours, and all their
modifications are considered as warm or cool, as red or blue are
found to prevail in them ; they are strong in contrast to each
other, but do not harmonize without the intervention of a third.
The colours that are said to be in perfect harmony are Red and
Green, Blue and Orange, Yellow and Purple — they are
nevertheless perfect contrasts, or in the extremes of opposition,
green possesses a greater portion of repose than any other
colour; Nature, therefore, has beneficently made it the mantle
of the earth, and with which all colours agree. The use of
white is too well known as the means of increasing the lustre
of colours, to need further observation.

78 POLISH HUT.

PLATE XII.

A POLISH HUT.

THIS design is intended as an embellishment to plantations^
and to form an open and spacious retreat^ fancifully intersecting
a long and straight pathway of an elevated terrace. Several
buildings thus placed, and at proper distances^ produce an
agreeable vista, and are particularly useful and ornamental in
newly made plantations. This kind of improvement has been
successfully adopted at the beautiful grounds of White Knights,
by his Grace the Duke of Marlborough, who, in this way, and
by arcades and trellises, has created a novel and interesting
feature in a part of his domain, that was otherwise destitute of
interest.

The style of this building is similar to many of the cottages
of Poland, and not unlike those of Switzerland: the former
country, however, afforded the example from which the present
design originated. These huts were greatly admired, and
perhaps first employed in garden decoration by the celebrated
architect Kleber, in the picturesque and anglicised grounds of
the Marquis of Florimont, at Florimont in Alsace. This is the
same Kleber, who, afterwards, as general in the French service,
so eminently distinguished himself in Egypt, by his amiable
manners, and his scientific and military acquirements ; and of
whom Buonaparte exclaimed " If I could be jealous of another,
it would be of Kleber!" — he was born a general, and bred an
architect.

The trunks and arms of trees that retain their bark, are the
simple materials of which the building is erected, and the roof is

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POLISH HUT. 79

covered with reed lliatching; the cieling and walls are covered
with kiln-dried furze, which is of a warm drab colour, and
which, from its nature, is little subject to become a harbour for
noxious insects or vermin ; indeed, the abundance of these
troublesome creatures are so injurious to the use of garden build-
ings which are not enclosed, that it is desirable to ascertain a
remedy efficient to prevent their approach. The furze so dried,
is adverse to small animals and birds, and has a reputation for
being offensive to insects ; but it is doubted if experience war-
rants full dependence on its efficacy. If, however, seats were
detached from the walls, and supported on glazed porcelain feet
of a mushroom shape, and used as castors are applied to furni-
ture, it would prevent the annoyance, in a great degree, which
some persons find from these intruders.

If straw be used instead of reeds for thatching, a few seasons
will show the propriety of employing the sharper material : for
mice and sparrows have a great facility of assailing such roofs,
and speedily destroy them.

80 ICE AND TOOL HOUSE.

PLATE XIII.

AN ICE HOUSE, TOOL HOUSE, & GARDEN SEAT.

IN a retired spot of the grounds, and not far removed from
water, and yet sufficiently elevated to be secure from damps,
this building should be situated ; it is intended as an ornamental
covering- to an Ice Well, for when the means of drainage are
not ample, in point of depth, the building is often so near the
surface of the ground as to require additional covering, and a
thatched roof becomes important to the preservation of the ice,
as the sun will otherwise penetrate and melt it ; — in such cases,
a free current of air should be permitted to take place between
the crown of the well and the roof, so that the temperature
should be moderated.

The plan of this building is square : space thus remains appli-
cable to a tool house for the gardener; and on the opposite
side, a garden seat might be formed, which, if so placed as to
command a prospect, would make a pleasant retreat, and an
arbour in which ices and other refreshments might be taken.

Reed thatching is the proper covering for this building ; the
pillars which support it should be the unbarked wood of forest
trees, and the arches and railing composed of its branches;
creepers and other plants might be trained about it in great
luxuriance, so as to render it an ornamental object in a planta-
tion.

TREES AND PLANTS. 81

TREES AND PLANTS.

The nature of the soil being ascertained, and due consideration
bestowed on the character of the surrounding scenery, both
having great claim on the attention of the landscape improver,
the choice of forest trees will not be difficult ; but as ample
space must be allotted for the trees and shrubs more imme-
diately ornamental, it will be proper to mark their respective
sites on the general plan — to do which they may be considered
in the following order, after having appropriated the spaces for
the buildings, lawns, pastures, water, roads and walks : —

Forest Trees, for the leading features and characteristics

of the place.

Low-growths, to plant with them, for the purposes of

thickening the bottom, to produce con-
trasts, and occasionally to soften the
outline forms.

Copse or Underwood, to thicken.

Plantation or Ornamental Trees, for the immediate

vicinity of the home walks, and to
intersperse in suitable situations.

Evergreens, to produce variety, and supply foliage in

the winter.

Shrubs, to ornament and soften.

Plants and Flowers, for embellishments.

In the choice of trees for original planting it is needful to
consider if the general character of connecting objects are,
in outline, best suited to the pointed forms of the fir, or
to the rounding and undulating lines formed by other trees ; —
again, as to the character of the architecture adopted : firs do
not harmonize with the gothic style, its pinnacles and pointed

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82 TREES AND PLANTS.

terminations oftcr no contrast to their upright steins and conic
forms; whereas, the horizontal and massive heads of the oak
and elm, by opposing the prevailing lines of the building, give
additional grace to it. Firs are decorative to plantations, and
useful as ever-grcens ; they are beautiful in masses, but do not
mix well with other trees. When associated with them, and
viewed at a distance, their form and colour disagree; and if
placed in the rear of other plantations, should they overtop them,
they present a meagre fringe-like border to the bold waving line,
and in some seasons of the year, disturb the sober colouring of
the greater mass, by the obtrusive brightness of their shoots.

Where a property is already wooded, although insufficiently,
the later growths may be made to operate to great advantage
in contrasts with the established features of the place : in this
instance, size, form and colour are in favour of it.

Low growths, and particularly thorns and hollies, arc useful
in concealing that defect in parks called '' The browsing line,"
produced by the deer or other animals, who bite off the bran-
ches to an equal height from the ground, creating thereby a
parallel and offensive vacancy around all the foliages that admit
their devastations.

Evcr-greens are numerous, and by adopting every class
of them with judgement, portions of the grounds may be chear-
fuUy embellished with foliage during the winter season.

It must, always, be remembered in good time, that it is in
vain to plant, unless the ground is suited to it by trenching and
all the preparations of the gardener, and this too in an ample
and liberal manner; if this be omitted, the growth of a few
years will demonstrate the error by the weak and ])erhaps decay-
ing evidences of the trees themselves; on the other hand, the

TliEEfi AND PLANTS. 83

i^rowtli will correspond with the culture^ and with interest
reward the labour bestowed upon it for its advantage, provided
the ground be well drained at the same time, if it be of a nature
to retain the rains, for then the portions trenched or dug become
pond-like, and the roots are too constantly immersed in water.
So, when a single tree is to be planted in the lawn or pasture,
it generally happens that a mere hole is dug for it, perhaps,
indeed, of sufficient depth and size, and the ground properly
enriched for the purpose, but as no immediate drain presents
itself, it is so left, and necessarily becomes a reservoir for the
water, which not having means of escape, the root rots, and in
a short time the plant becomes stag-headed, (as its manifestation
of decay is called,) it gradually withers and soon dies, or
continues to exhibit a deformity and the negligence of the
gardener.

M

84 WOODLAND SEAT.

PLATE XIV.

A WOODLAND SEAT.

THIS building is intended to be composed chiefly of unbark-
ed woodj which is commonly the refuse of trees felled and sawn
into square timbers for the carpenter. To receive these native
pieces^ a frame-work is to be erected^ and to which they are
to be fixed ; and here the ingenuity of the selecter of the mate-
rials would be fully employed^ for much of the design consists
in the choice and disposal of the planks and pieces^ so that
by its colour it may claim attention, independent of its outline
and general proportions.

The various sizes of the materials, the colour and texture of
the bark when contrasted with the dark browns and yellow hues
of the sawn surfaces of the timber, afford ample means for an
effective display of taste, particularly as they may be disposed
in infinite variety. The upper roof is intended to be covered
with reed thatching.

The scat should be placed on the border of an elevated
wood or coppice, at a short distance from the residence : here it
would add relief and force to its sombre or secluded character,
become a resting-place and a shelter from heat or rain, and
induce the visitor more satisfactorily to contemplate the prospects
its situation might command.

OF THE APPROACH.

In the General Plan, Plate L this road is designed to possess
all the advantasres to be gained through "grounds of such limited

A '^'VoojcXiA:^'© Sjsat

Tul-f'atJi:ACKEltM:£SKi ^SZPflSITCJaorARrS. tji Strand. 2g!2.

APPROACH.

85

extent, except that it is not quite the shortest road from tlie j^ates ;
but as the shortest road may not be the best line to adopt, be-
cause superior benefits may result from a different course, it
must be yielded.

The entrance should be so conspicuously placed that the visitor
shall not seem to pass the house before he obtains a sight of the
lodge or gates — nor should he from any other circumstances be
in doubt that he has missed his way, and as it is desirable that the
grounds should escape the appearance of too great limitation, it
is advantaD:eous that the road should exhibit so much of its line
as will assure the visitor that the grounds are of an extent pro-
portionate to the building of which he has had already a distant
view, and which should not be visible from the gates, because
it would at once define the distance, more usefully left to be
discovered in future ; and here the form of ground or the plantation
should screen the landscape, that it may not be overlooked.

In its progress towards the house, the road should not skirt
the boundary, because by doing so it demonstrates limitation ;
and it ought not to divide the pasture into similar quantities,
but pass so near the one side as to escape the first error, giving
to the greater portion all the benefit of contrast. The road
should be judiciously supported by occasional plantations, to
prevent the nakedness which is othei'wise offensive, and its line
should be curved, because the most pleasing, as it produces
greater variety of scene than a straight one, as it is traversed ;
and if the ground be rising, it is also the most natural, for we
always attempt to ascend the hill by the easiest means.

The house having been already viewed, it should be concealed
as near approached, until arrived at the most favourable point
it may be commanded under all the imposing circumstances
of its perspective : here it should burst at once upon the sight.

86 APPROACH.

and if from amidst a well-grown plantation whose shadows, as
a fore-ground, would give greater brilliancy to the sun-shine
upon its surface, the effect would be additionally striking.

This road, for a certain distance, will lead toward both house
and offices ; but as the stable or farm yard should be at some
distance in the rear, at a convenient point, a second road should
branch off to them, less in width, and so differing from the
sweep of the main road that its purpose shall be unquestionable;
and this should be sufficiently distant from the house to prevent
the gravel in its vicinity from being disturbed by the traffic to
the offices.

If these points are attended to, and advantage taken of the
localities that are about it, the approach will be well disposed ;
but it must be remembered that its object, and those of diverg-
ing roads, should be intelligibly clear. All labyrinths are offensive
when the mind is not prepared for a puzzle : an exercise with
which the discreet and the wise are most willing to dispense ;
and as servants and persons whose business leads them to the
domestic offices are numerous, and not being generally well
qualified to solve problematic difficulties, the avenues to them
should be clearly demonstrated.

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LAUNDRV. 87

PLATE XV.
A LAUNDRY.

ALTHOUGH the purposes of the annexed design are foreign
to those of a garden, as a building it may often afford embel-
lishment to the shrubberies, if suitably designed : in the present
instance a retreat is formed in the centre, and the walls which
would inclose the drying ground are disposed for training the
magnolia ; thus becoming a useful and pleasing feature of the
garden arrangements. The plan exhibits the requisites of a
complete laundry, suitable to a large establishment : its parti-
cular advantages may, however, be introduced into a building
on a small scale, and many of its points may be applied with
advantage to every apartment devoted to such purposes, and
consequently supercede many annoyances of the operations
in this department of domestic economy.

The plan is separated into two parts — one disposed for wash-
ing and the other for ironing, mangling, and folding linen:
between the two apartments are situated drying forms, heated
by steam ; and the linen is at once passed into the second apart-
ment by these forms and dried, when the weather is unfavorable
to the use of the drying ground ; the steam or vapour is dismissed
by funnels immediately above the forms, and a current of air
admitted to dispatch it more freely. The mangle is lighted by
a sky-light, and the windows being opposite to each other, the
whole is well ventilated. The washing trays are fixed, and
supplied with hot and cold water by pipes, and are emptied by
valves and pipes into reservoirs for the use of the garden, so
that none of the valuable properties of the soap wash may be
lost to it.

88

LAUNDRY.

A large cistern is disposed in the roof, and the hot water and
boiling coppers below, as also the small steam apparatus. The
several parts will be understood by reference to the index.

The apartments are warmed by the steam apparatus, which
may effect other useful purposes.

A A. Washing Trays.
B B. Rinsing Trays.
C. Elevated Boiler.
D D. Coppers.

E. Steam apparatus.

F. Mangle.

G G. Folding Boards.
H H. Ironing Boards.
K K. Drying Forms.
L L. Closets.
M. Pump.

L.

I-" O "W L S

i" T T i

A P01!J]LTM:lr HOUJSE

Jnj>f'atJL.4(XZiai:jjVJ/j:Jt£Pesn-(mT^fuil{TS.iiu.<trand idzz.

A POULTRY HOUSE. 89

PLATE XVI.

A POULTRY HOUSE.

EVERY office building belonging to a dwelling may be
made subservient to the embellishment of the grounds, and to
such end the design of a poultry house is introduced.

It may be placed in some secluded nook of the plantation,
and SLii ornamental elevation presented to the walks, which
are here made to pass near the margin of the water, and strong
wire fences would confine the poultry, except such water-fowl
as might be permitted to embellish it, restraining them from
wandering, by a light surrounding fence.

This building should have its chief aspect toward the morning
sun, that the inclosures may be divested of their damps at an
early hour, and afford to the poultry the benefit of its rays —
it must be amply screened from the cold and prevailing winds,
and so judiciously sheltered by trees, that at all times of the
hottest day some parts may be in shade, and if possible, a rill
of water should be conveyed through the enclosures. The
floor is best formed of sand or fine gravel, and it must not be
forgotten that cleanliness and free ventilation are essential to
success in the management of poultry. A small grass paddock
should be situated in the rear into which the fowls may be occa-
sionally admitted.

It is proper to keep the roosting places separate from the nest
rooms, for the laying fowls seek concealment for their nests,
and are readily disturbed by the intrusion and noises of thoir
companions.

90 THE PHEASANTRY.

The economy of domestic fowls of every kind is an agreeable
study, and such a building would afford interesting amusement,
as its accompaniments consist of many varieties of animated
nature. A pigeon house may properly form a part of this build-
ing, and be rendered accessible through the cieling in the centre
of the roof.

The poultry house should be built on a dry soil, and as near
to the farm or stable yard as possible, without subjecting the
horses and other animals to be disturbed by its noises — these are
so frequent and alarming to animals, that without such care much
injury has sometimes been sustained, and particularly by breeders
of valuable horses.

The pheasantry is a building also affording considerable in-
terest and amusement, and is well suited to the more embellished
portions of shrubberies — they require very similar arrangements
of space and shelter, and are more than equally in need of
choice of sun and shade; they require also the addition of sheltered
out-door roosts, which the birds sometimes prefer even in cold
and inclement weather; opportunity of seclusion, free venti-
lation and great cleanliness are essential to the pheasantry.

h

m

U

A CONSERVATORY. 91

PLATE XVII.

A CONSERVATORY.

THE attention bestowed by gardeners of this country to
plants introduced from every quarter of the globe has made it
necessary to erect buildings for their preservation and culture ;
and to so great an extent has the means been carried by the
scientific, to create and govern artificial temperature, that
many exotic plants and fruits have arrived at a perfection
with us, rarely known to the country whence they were ob-
tained. Being compelled by the variableness of our climate to
study their nature and devise means to cherish them, Horticul-
turalists have proceeded in their exertions, and at length, have
arrived at results, beyond the products of nature in the most
congenial climate, unless assisted by the studies and labours of
man, which not being necessarily demanded they have in gene-
ral failed to receive. The transactions of our Horticultural
Societies exhibit ample testimonies of these facts, and satisfacto-
rily illustrate the experiments and results obtained by enlightened
theorists, and by practical men on these subjects, and thence
supply an ample source of amusements no less beneficial to society
than interesting to the individual whose leisure permits the
prosecution of such studies.

The propogation of heat, and the application of it to all the
purposes of horticulture are now well understood ; and although
every year adds something to the great fund of knowledo-e
collected on these subjects, they are frequently the efforts of
the ingenious to economise in fuel and building, rather than to
introduce new methods of cultivation. This branch of the
science is, perhaps, near to its perfection, and its improve-

N 2

92 A CONSERVATORY.

ments are fully communicated to Horticulturalists by the publi-
cations of the Societies' transactions, these benefits are not only felt
and appreciated by this country, but are eagerly sought for by
others, and there is good reason to expect that their influence has
produced useful results in every country in Europe, notwith-
standing the Societies both of London and Edinburgh are yet of
recent establishment.

To the transactions of those societies the studious are referred
for the latest and best information on Horticultural subjects.

The conservatory is a building contradistinguished from
forcing houses of every description, and as its name implies, is
chiefly used for the preservation of plants, although vines are
sometimes trained within it. The means consist in the capabi-
lity of affording shelter to delicate plants from the winds and
rains ; in equalizing the temperature of the seasons, and of the
day and night — in the summer it is rather devoted to display
than to protection, but in the cold months, the stoves provided
to create artificial heat are occasionally brought into action, and
whether heated by smoke flues or by steam, thebuilding possesses
a suitable and equal temperature — and thus the conservatory
seems to be privileged against the severer laws of nature, and
its inmates flourish in one eternal spring.

The subject of the annexed plate is a garden building, the
centre of which forms a small conservatory, to which the alcoves
at each end serve as approaches, being separated only by glass
partitions, and having glass terminatures at each end, orna-
mented by small portions of coloured glass. The front of the
building should be situated to the south, and the back towards
the kitchen garden, whence it receives the attentions of the gar-
dener and prevents the occasional litter that would otherwise
occur in the walks and lawn.

A CONSERVATORY. 03

The application of iron to the formation of hot-houses has
certainly done much towards perfecting them ; the bars and
supports are thence so small as in the least possible degree to
intercept the rays of the sun; and unless its frequent expan-
sion and contraction by whichthe glass would suffer — its liability
to oxidation, or tendency to transmit heat, be not found by ex-
perience to diminish its present reputation, iron will be generally
adopted for the frames of garden buildings.

The conservatory is a very desirable appendage to the mansion
itself, and forms in such cases, one of its most interesting apart-
ments; indeed, it presents such an endless source of amusement
at all seasons and all times, that its frequent adoption may be
well expected : — coloured glass may be introduced in several
parts of the conservatory with admirable effect ; and if the aviary,
small fountains of water, and basins of gold and silver fish,
bfe introduced as embellishments, the conservatory may be ren-
dered as ornamental as any part of the building. < •

94 A VENETIAN TENT.

PLATE XVIII.

A VENETIAN TENT.

THE frame to form the tent and to receive the canvas is
composed of light manufactured iron-work, and suited to receive
decorative foliages which might be trained on wires below the
roof so as to embower the whole without being liable to much
injury when the canvas should be added as exhibited in the
design ; and it will be obvious, that a great variety of such
erections may be contrived to suit the same canvas in part or
whole, so as to form with ease and at pleasure, other tents of
various shapes, or the whole erection might be conveniently
removed from place to place, if sockets were properly placed
at chosen situations to receive them ; for the parts being con-
nected by screws and nuts, and the awning canvas suspended
by hooks and eyes, it would need but half an hour's employ-
ment to take it down and replace it where required. In summer,
such a temporary retreat is a gratifying appendage to the
house, and affords variety and healthfulness to the amuse-
ments of the day.

THE LAWN.

By the lawn is meant that portion of grass-plat which lies be-
tween the house and the pasture, and which is constantly kept
mown, forming a verdant carpet on which the building stands,
and amongst the improvements that have resulted from the
modem practice of gardening it merits particular notice, for in
small dwellings it is a substitute for the broad gravel or stone
terraces that were formerly adopted, it now receives the inha-
lants from the windows of the apartments ; and, in fact, the

se

S

^

^

^

>

1

^

<

^

THE LAWN.

95

lawn has become a favorite auxiliary to every apartment of the
ground-floor.

The lawn is usually separated from the pasture by a light
iron-fence — from parks by a ha ! ha! or sunk fence and terrace,
as before described ; its embellishments are beds of choice shrubs
and flowers, formed upon it of various shapes, and by single
ever-green trees or shrubs growing from the grass, and which
should be distributed upon the same principles as are described
in the subject upon planting in general : — if these are judicially
disposed they will harmonize the landscape with the building,
and dismiss the nakedness that too commonly prevails in the
lawns of villas in general. From the interior this decorative
planting will carry forward the richness and furnished effect of
the apartments, and obviate that abrupt and offensive difference
that seems otherwise to prevail between them and the external
scenery.

Small ornamental seats of China or porcelain — rustic or fan-
ciful chairs — ^vases — and basket-work borders to the flower-beds
are furniture of the lawn ; and the tent or marquee is in summer
an important accompaniment. The lawn is in general very
much restricted in point of size, from the labour that is ima-
gined to be necessary to keep it mown : but this is a great
error — perhaps proceeding from the silly habit that the mower
has of indicating his industry, by the frequent use of the grit-
stone in sharpening his scythe ; and generally at the time of
the morning when such noises are most tormenting.

96 A GARDEN SEAT.

PLATE XIX.

A GARDEN SEAT.

THIS design would furnish an elegant appendage to
flower-gardens, as its parts are composed for the purpose of
training foliage in a light and playful manner : the construction
is very simple^ consisting of oak-pillars and iron-rods to form
the arcades and trellisses. The basket-like ornaments on the
pillars may be formed either of light-iron or wicker-work into
which creepers could be trained, so as to fill them with a rich
assemblage .of natural and living flowers ; or vines could be
substituted and so conducted as to appear to fill the baskets with
their produce. An arcade of this kind, being of considerable
length, would have a good effect either in a straight line bor-
dering a parterre, or in compassing a circular or polygonal arena
of grass-plats and beds of flowers. I-

As a garden seat, perhaps the design could be improved by
adding to it a light trellis roof, sloping from the straight con-
necting rods above the arches, down to the wall or back of the
recess; this roof might be covered by foliages, thus aflfording
protection from the sun.

In flower-gardens, it is usual to have an ornamental conserv-
atory, and if it be so placed as to permit this kind of erection
on each side of it, forming ornamental approaches on its right
and left, a beautiful perspective continuity would result when
viewed through its length, and the front view would also be
improved by it. The expense of this addition is compara-
tively small, but the effect produced would be both striking and
agreeable.

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GARDEN WALKS. 97

GARDEN WALKS.

The arrangements of garden and plantation walks and drives,
require the perception of an artist's eye, and all the judge-
ment of his mind to perfect them: — when properly disposed,
they afford relief to the scene by their form and colour, and
become connecting and blending mediums to parts of land-
scape that would else seem disjointed and straggling from each
other — in such cases they are like the ribbon that confines the
nosegay — uniting individual beauties into one grand whole.

Walks and drives are necessarily the means by which the
spectator is brought to view successively, the scenes that are
prepared for him ; and here the discrimination and taste of the
artist is chiefly engaged. Presuming that the spot is furnished
with natural and artificial beauties of home scene and dis-
tance, his business is to direct his course in such manner that
each shall be viewed to the best advantage — that variety shall
constantly spring up before the eye, heightened by the effects
of well-adjusted contrast.

The effects and benefits of sun and shade must be culti-
vated in the arrangements of walks: in the heat of the day the
refreshing coolness of the latter should be secured, and all the
opportunities of sunshine obtained against the chill hours of the
morning and evening, and of spring and autumn : indeed, for
the perfect arrangement of walks and drives, and the creation
of effective scenery in extensive grounds, the artist should be ca-
pable of embracing in his mind every effect of sun and shade
upon his work, through each hour in the day — of every day in
the year.

98 GARDEN WALKS.

Although that inestimable compound of quick perception, fine
fancy, and sound judgement, commonly denominated taste, is
requisite to perfect this department of ornamental gardening, and
therefore but little subject to rules ; which, though they may
properly govern the multitude, are merely beacons to the skilful ;
yet, there are some precepts relating to paths so established by
scientific experience and principles, that they are worthy of
general attention — they do not, however, relate to formal
gardens, which are exempt from such controul.

Paths should not be seen to cross the lawn before the windows
of the apartments.

They should not be viewed from the windows along their
course.

They should not seem to divide portions of lawn or shrubbery
into equal parts.

They should not be quickly sinuous without sufficient cause,
and in all cases, connected curves should be unlike each other
in extent and compass.

The whole of two, or more curves, should not be visible at
the same view.

Paths that are parallel, or that appear to be so, should not be
seen at the same time.

They should be well drained, and particularly where the
ground is sloping.

They should not ascend rising ground abruptly, but inclinedly.

GARDEN WALKS. 99

Walks should always have an outlet, and occasionally di-
verge into ramifications, so that visitors shall not be obiif-ed to
return by the path they went, or to join society when they would
choose to be private.

Garden walks and drives are of two kinds — the one formed of
gravel or some firm substitute for it ; and the other of grass,
kept mown and rolled for the purpose of rendering it smooth
and even, and to permit the damps to evaporate speedily which
it may have received by rain or dews. Grass walks are suited
to spacious avenues, or as diverging branches from principal
gravel walks, and for summer terraces ; they should be wide, that
the footstep may not be constrained to form a beaten-path, and
they should be bounded by dwarf shrubberies separating them
from the over-hanging branches of larger trees, that they may
avoid the injurious consequences of their drip.

In the formation of grass paths great care should be taken to
lay between the soil and the turf a bed of lime and smith's ashes,
or other sufficient means to prevent the occurrence of worm -casts
upon them ; for, without this precaution, they become unpleasant
to walk upon, unsightly, and very troublesome to the gardener.

Gravel walks must be separated from beds of flowers or from
plantations, by a border or verge; where the labour to the soil
is frequent, as in flower-beds, and the kitchen garden, box is
the favorite edging — but to plantation paths, the verge should
be of grass, from fifteen to twenty-four inches in width where
they are not connected with portions of lawn ; but otherwise if
it can be so distributed — the path should seem to be inlaid upon
the lawn itself, skirting its area and separating it into occasional
bays and avoiding the objectional parallel lines which otherwise
belong to grass verges.

o %

100 AN ALCOVE.

PLATE XX.

AN ALCOVE.

THE design of an alcove is represented as seated on an
eminence, facing an extensive portion of a garden, and so as
to become an ornamental feature from the walks. The stile
of this little building is light and elegant, but of no specific archi-
tectural character ; and from its arrangements and design should
be rather splendid in its finishing, than otherwise.

The pillars are of iron, and from them are suspended China
pattera of rich colours : the chains are gilt, as is also the ter-
minal of the roof. The scale-like forms of the roof covering
are of thin lead, and might be richly painted; indeed, the
whole should be so decorated as to become highly ornamental,
and be in splendid harmony with its accompanying parterres
and flower-beds — its aspect should be north, to insure shade in
the summer, and look forward on the effects of sunshine before
it, which would be augmented to the spectator by being viewed
from a shaded spot — this circumstance should be attended to in
all buildings of the flower-garden, erected for alcoves not in-
tended for the reception of plants; and, in general, where
garden-seats are erected they should be disposed with reference
to the seasons of the year ; thus it is desirable to have a re-
treat presented to the sun for the spring and autumn, and for
summer, one that affords ample shade and free ventilation.

Al^ AlLCOVlE o

nii^ai:.K:ACKEJa€-aiyiJiEFi>SIT01tror,JRZS2CL.'^.2.i.izS!2.

AN AVIARY. 101

PLATE XXI.

AVIARY FOR A FLOWER-GARDEN.

THIS design is intended as the chief feature of a flower-
garden — it is an aviary in the centre of an arcade of woodbine,
roses, jessamines, and other creeping and flowering shrubs : in
front is a piece of water for gold and silver fish, and ornamented
by a fountain- — the roof of the aviary is greatly projecting, afford-
ing shelter and protection to the birds during the months they
are permitted to remain in such inclosures, and the supports
are formed for the purpose of receiving foliages — the banks
sloping to the water, are embellished by flower-beds, enclosed
by basket-work, imitations of which are admirably executed
in iron, and in small pieces, when placed around the beds
they have a good effect, are of easy application, and from the
nature of the material very durable.

The custom of the antients to have gardens suited to the
seasons of the year is followed by ourselves, or rather our
inventions, have superceded the necessity of several gardens,
so far at least as our hot-houses and conservatories are con-
cerned ; yet there is a defect in our alfresco gardens that was
avoided by them. Flowers are there planted and sown for suc-
cession, as it is called, so that one plant is seen to flourish in full
blossom and display, whilst its neighbour on one side is proceed-
ing to decay, and on the other is just budding into promise ; this
is a defect; and it will be found, that in the best gardens, if they
are not prepared for the luxuriance of one or two months, in the
year alone, the flowers are in the state alluded to, and do not
present the full effects of which they are capable.

102 A FOUNTAIN.

PLATE XXII.

A FOUNTAIN.

PLATE XXIII.

THE FRONTISPIECE.

SOURCES of water, were respected or held sacred, from very
high antiquity in Eastern nations, as is recorded by historians both
sacred and profane. The Greeks, Tuscans, and Romans also,
employed them as useful and decorative architecture ; and hence
they were adopted by the Italians and the French. In the
formation of the celebrated gardens of Versailles, they were in-
troduced in profuse magnificence, and became a prime feature
in all the varieties of falls, fountains and jets-d'eau. Fashion
immediately took them up, and water was spouting every where ;
Oo place was complete without a fountain, and the first recom-
mendation of the tasteful towards the embellishment of a garden,
court, walk, or alley, was " certainly place a fountain there." —
Rutin art, as in matters of less importance, it frequently happens^
that fashion encroaches upon, or supercedes the more steady pa-
tronage oi fitness and propriety ; and in her vacillating progress,
adopts or discards, equally without reflection ; and, in her dis-
missal, the subject, which was hitherto her pride and boast,
becomes as obnoxious to her distaste. Thus it was with the
fountain in ornamental gardening.

As in other cases where fashion predominates, its fulness pro-
duced its fall; — their absurd adoption in most instances, with
the incessant repetition of them, occasioned satiety and disgust,
consequently they were demolished with as little regard to fine

A FOiri^TAII^"

lUfKKRu.-imrjREPosrTonTqf^^ia-suc.euhloctri.iezd.

A FOUNTAIN.

103

feeling or sound judgement as was bestowed upon them when first
erected. Time has now banished the impression that was fatal to
such designs, and their beauties are again proper subjects for
garden embellishment, when circumstances permit an unforced
use of them. Water is rarely otherwise than desirable; and the
motion and sound of lightly-falling water gives liveliness to a
spot however secluded, that is not readily obtained in its
absence.

To execute the proposed fountains it is necessary to be in pos-
session of a body of water at a sufficient height to produce the
jet, and it must be something higher than the altitude pro-
posed, because of the resistance the jet meets with, and amongst
others, from the pressure of the air, and in striking against its
descending waters: the aperture at which the water escapes
mu^ be proportioned to the height of the reservoir, and to the
diameter of the conducting pipes. The following table will give
the practical results, in feet, of the received theories on this
subject.

Height

of

Reservoir.

Diameter of

conducting

Pipes.

Diameter of

aperture or

ajutage.

Height of
the Jet.

Feet.
5
10
20
30
40
50
60
80
100

11 inch
2

2|

3k

41

5

6

7

8

k inch

i

1

5
8

i

J
A.

1 inch
11

H —

Ft. D.

4 : 91
9 : 68
18 : 82
27 : 48
35 : 74
43 : 65
51 : 24
65 : 64
79 : 12

These proportions of conducting-pipes are suitable to jets
removed from reservoirs not exceeding five hundred feet; but

104 A FOUNTAIN.

if the water requires to be brought from a yet greater distance
the pipes must be of larger diameters.

Unless the bends in pipes of communication from the re-
servoir to the aperture or ajutage be easy and bold, the es-
cape will be proportionally impeded ; and to produce an even and
regular jet it is necessary to apply a suitable air-vessel near
to the ajutage, the construction of which is well known to
manufacturers in copper, of which material they are usually
constructed.

The designs are simple in form, and consequently limited in
show of water ; but if the jets were amply supplied, the over-
flow of the tables would produce the effect desired.

Designs of this kind are now usually manufactured in artificial
stone, or sculptured in Portland stone ; as they were formerly of
lead, the convertibility of which valuable metal undoubtedly
assisted in the rapid disappearance of fountains as soon as they
fell into disrepute. The present rage for cast iron will probably
supercede the use of such leaden works, and as iron would offer
no premium for their demolition, they may be expected to enjoy
a longer triumph of fashionable importance in our gardens.

A GAM-IDIE^ FOUl^TAII^r

JVi^atACJCERMAJmi KtTaSiTORi^of^iRTS. 2aijtran.i. i.Ui .

A FOUNTAIN. 105

PLATE XXIV.

A FOUNTAIN.

FEW architectural embellishments have so interesting an
effect as fountains, and being capable of an inexhaustible vari-
ety of design, situation and magnitude, it. is rather a matter
of surprise that their beauties have been neglected, ever since
the general abandonment of them nearly a century ago. At
that time certainly their whimsical and profuse introduction
in all places, suitable and otherwise, naturally satiated the
taste, and was eventually altogether fatal to their cultivation ;
but, since they have been excluded so long from our country,
the motive which effected it, is surely banished also, and they
may again very properly meet with encouragement, and suc-
ceed to some of the patronage by which far less valuable
material is now fostered.

When a supply of water is adequate, fountains may in most
cases be introduced with propriety; for it is that part of their
artificialness which implies scarcity of water, and manual la-
bour in effecting a display of its powers, that is offensive to
true taste ; and surely it must be most painful to witness such a
display, when it is known that, to produce it, a poor fellow, hid
in some nook of the premises, is pumping most lustily, and anx-
iously wishing you would turn your attention to some other
object, that his labour may be over. It was formerly, however,
no uncommon thing to witness extensive displays at the expense
of proportionately laborious means.

106 A BATH.

PLATE XXV.

A BATH.

AMONG the decorative buildings employed for the embel-
lishment of gardens, the bath should not be neglected, for its im-
portant usefulness demands a place wherever pure water can be
obtained; and the agreeableness alone of bathing, without its sa-
lubrity, should suffice to procure to the bath a higher degree of
patronage than it has yet received in this and its neighbouring
country : but during many years the difficulties of dress, conse-
quent on the fashion of wearing powder in the hair, were inimical
to its use : this impediment being removed, it is probable that
baths will be employed by us as common and frequent sources
of innocent pleasure as well as for medical relief.

Bathing among the Romans was held in very high estimation,
so much indeed, Rome alone is said at one time to have contained
eight hundred and fifty-six public baths; and the emperors
endeavoured to conciliate the people by the erection of such
buildings. Those of Paulus ^milius, Titus, and Dioclesian,
ranked amongst the noblest edifices of the empire.

The use of the tepid bath is now so much prescribed, and
the method of imparting heat to water is so simple and perfect in
its application, that the warm bath ought to accompany the
cold one.

F^

u

APIARY. 107

PLATE XXVI.

AN APIARY.

THE cultivation of bees as a rural amasementj gives occasion
for the annexed plate, presenting a subject for garden embel-
lishment ; for few studies afford more satisfactory results to
persons of leisure and reflection, than are to be obtained by
contemplating the habits and conduct of these little animals
from which just lessons of prudence, industry, and social virtue,
may be as correctly acquired, as from the deep-studied instruc-
tion of the schools.

The design for an apiary is given as an ornamental reception
for the hives, which are, as usual, placed on forms, and sheltered
by a roofing which encompasses them from the ground in an
arched canopy covered with reeds, and lined beneath an opening
to admit a free current of air, with straw mattings, similar to the
hives themselves, the more fully to screen them from the
excessive heat which transpires from other roofings, and is inju-
rious to their contents. The back of this erection is supposed
to be glass, through which the bees would be visible from the
walk behind it; and the wire fence is placed on each side as a
guard, to prevent the too near approach of persons, who would
be liable to attack from their offended government, always pre-
pared to repulse intruders. An apiary should be remote from
the farm and domestic offices, and placed under the care of the
gardener, near to whose labours it is best situated, and whose
gardens, plantations and orchards, afford the means for an
abundant produce of wax and honey.

108 APIARY.

Bees aftect warmth^ and need ample shelter: their abodes
should therefore present to the southward, and be protected
fiom the north and east winds particularly,, and from the driving
rains of the south-west; they should be so constructed also as
to be screened from the degree oold, by which honey becomes
candied : thus it will appear, that the apiary should be situated
in low and sheltered spots, that a medium temperature may be
more readily obtained and preserved.

Water is essential to bees, which should be near their abode :
a small pool is therefore introduced in the design, and as a
receptacle also for valuable aquatic plants.

The improvements recently made in hiving bees are worthy
of particular attention : — by the arrangements made according
to Wildman's method, not only a regular examination of the
proceedings of these ingenious artificers is permitted, but the
comb and honey can be collected in small portions : — besides,
they afford the very humane opportunity of collecting the honey
and the wax, without the ungracious necessity of destroying the
animals, when we wrest from them their store-houses and their
treasures.

Hemlock, nightshade, red-poppy, feverfew, black briony,

box-wood, hew, and other plants of a bitter flavour are injurious

to the Apiary, as they impart such qualities to the honey, if the

bees select from them ; these should therefore be banished from

Is neighbourhood.

GAMJrDiE:^' MAILILII?-©

it^'iaL£MaxrsMr<>siTosrofAsTsicc,ri,PAr,,i!/ii.'<z'<.

GARDEN RAILING. 109

PLATE XXVII.

GARDEN RAILING.

FOR the purposes of separation, or of protection, an orna-
mental fence is sonnetimes required in flower gardens; and they
impart considerable finish when tastefully designed : but usually
they are very far from meriting distinction on that account.

As varieties of design the annexed plate is introduced, some
of which have been executed, and being bronzed, and in part
gilt, have proved both decorative and useful. They are designed
to be chiefly executed in iron, and the lighter parts, of strong
copper wire.

Although these designs are suitable to the flower garden, they
are not so as fences against cattle, or to separate lawn from
pasture, or the latter from the shrubberies. Here the simplest
are most proper — formed by four or five strong horizontal bars,
finished by a chain at top, supported at equal distances by
efficient standards; this is perhaps the least obtrusive to the sio-ht,
and the mind is satisfied of its powers of protection, against the
inroads of the cattle that may occupy the pastures.

In small grounds and where no other animals than sheep are
fed, the lighter sort of fence composed of wire nettings, are suf-
ficient for the purpose ; and they may be rendered nearly invisible
to a distant observer by color.

110 CENOTAPH.

PLATE XXVIII.

A CENOTAPH.

IT is justly observed by a celebrated writer on the embellish-
ments of gardens^ that they are usually uninteresting from want
of variety^ and insipid^ as they induce no sentiment beyond
what springs from rural beauty, although their object is, to fill
the mind by varied incident and contrasting subject. To this
truth, however, many of our best gardens are tasteful exceptions;
and fashion is again adopting the aid of architecture and sculp-
ture towards multiplying the means by which a judicious change
and interest are created, which she once abandoned ; because
mere eye-traps and grotesque absurdities were substituted for
works of real art, and intrusively thrust upon the observer at
every turn and alley of the plantations.

The annexed design is intended not merely as an embel-
lishment, but as the model for some monument of veneration,
esteem, or respect for departed worth or friendship. Its situation
in grounds would properly be a spot adapted and exclusively
devoted to solitude and meditation.

FINIS.

Ai

A €iE55"OTAIP2I

jtjaa:ia>a.v/fjMPi>sm)Xi'of.Mi'~'Mj^ti>.''Men*j^c.

I N D E X.

AJUTAGE

Ancient Gardens
Alcove
Apiary
Approach
Aviary
Bath
Bathing
Bees
Belt

Blossoms, of Trees
Boat House
Boundaries
Boundary Fences
■ ■ Planting

Plantations

Bridge

Browsing Line
Burlington, Earl of
Brown, Mr.
Cascades
Cenotaph
Character, in Styles

, of Parks

, of the Pastoral

; of Pleasure Gardens
-, of Scenery

Page

103

101

100

107

84

50, 101

106

106

107

44

77

55

40

40

70

44

55, 64, 65

82

33

42, 72

61

109

51

51, 61

51, 61

61

61

Clumps

Color

Conservatory

Copse Wood

Dairy

Disposition, in Planting

Drive

Embellishments of Water

Evergreens

Earl of Burlington

Fences

Fences in Gardens

Firs

Flowers

Forms, of Ground

Fountains

Garden

Fences

Paths

■ Railing

Seat

Walks

Gardens, Ancient
Gates

General Plan
Gravel Walks
Goltzius

Page
72
76
91
81
68
73
97
66
81
33
40, 47, 109

109
82

101

49

102, 105

101

109
99

109
96
97

101

39

33, 37

99

52

INDEX.

Ground^ Forms of
• Holloxss in

Hurdles
Jet d'eau

Ice House

Iron, used in Hot Houses

Islands

Italian, Style of House

Kent, the Architect

Page
49
50
47

103
80
93
62
50
33

Kleber, the Architect and General 78

Knolls

Landscape, Painting

, Materials of

, Water in

Lake

Lawn

Laundry

Light and Shade in Planting

Line Browsing

Lodges

Low Growths

Marbles in Gardens

Materials of Landscape

Mounds

Ornamental Trees

Painter, Landscape

Park, Character of

, Paling

Pastoral, character of the style 51,61

50
70
57
56
62, 67
95
87
75
82
48
81
78
57
50
81
70
61
39

51,

Paths

Picturesque, the
Pipes, to Fountains
Pheasantry
Plan, General
Plants

, and Trees

, and Flowers

Planting

33,

Disposition in

98
52
103
90
37
81
81
81
46, 70, 82
7 A

Planting, Light and Shade
Plantatio7i

Seat

Pleasure Garden, Character

Polish Hut

Poultry House

Quantity, in Planting

Railing

Repton, Mr.

Reservoirs for Fountains

Rivers

Road of Approach

Romantic, Character of, in

Scenery
Rubens

Rural, Character of the
Rustic Bridge
Shrubs

Seat, Garden
Situation of House
Streams

Style

, of House

Thinning Plantations
Trees, single

, Ornamental

, Blossoms of

Trenching

Trees and Plants

Venetian Tent

Verges

Underwood

Walks

, Gravel

Walls

Water, in Landscape

, Forms of

, Embellishments of

Woodland Seal

of

Page
75
44
53
61
78
89
74

109
43

103

60, G6

84

51, Gl
52

51

. 61
59
81
96
34
60
51
50
45
83
81
77
82
81
94
99
81
97
99
40
56
59, 62
66
84

niggtm, Prinitr, St. Ann's l^ane, London.

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