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L0 UD 0 N'S
W I L L A. G. A R D E N E R.
2^
12. ".
THE VILLA/GARDENER:
COMPRISING THE CHOICE OF
A SUBURBAN VILLA RESIDENCE:
THE LAYING OUT, PLANTING, AND CULTURE OF THE
GARDEN AND GROUNDS;
A N D
Čſt 3}|ſimplimit if it billſ fºrm,
INCLUDING THE DAIRY AND POULTRY-YARD.
ADAPTED, IN EXTENT, FOR
GROUNDS FROM ONE PERCH TO FIFTY ACRES AND UPWARDS.
tº
AND INTENDED FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF THOSE WHO KNow:
LITTLE OF GARDENING AND RURAL AFFAIRS, ©
AND
MORE PARTICULARLY FOR THE USE OF LADIES.
3lliſfrátrú iſ IIIIPIII; Biſgrämingã. .
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By J. C. LOUDON, F.L.S. H.S. ET.c.
AUTHOR OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF GARDENING, OF TREES AND SH RUBS, AND OF COTTAGE,
FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE AND FURNITURE.
^. #econd (£dition.
ED ITED BY MIR. S. LOU DO N.
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\ L O N D O N :
PUBLISHED FOR THE EDITOR, BY
WM. S. ORR & CO., AMEN-CORNER, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
AIDCCCL.
L. O. Dup,
Order Div.
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&y transfer fro tº
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&\lert! 1914.
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LONDON
PRINTED BY WILLIAM TYLER,
Bolt-CourtT, FLEET. STREET.
*
P R E F A C E.
It was my late Husband's intention, had he lived to prepare a new
Edition of his Suburban Gardener, to alter the work considerably;
by omitting a portion of the Suburban Gardens, and inserting In Ore
descriptions of Villas; and, for this purpose, he had Engravings made
of several Villas, which he inserted first in the Gardener’s Magazine.
*
In preparing the present Edition, I have acted up to Mr. Loudon's
intentions as closely as I could,—the principal change which I have
made being in the name, which I have altered to The Villa
GARDENER, as being more suitable to the work in its present form.
I have also added numerous Designs for Plant-houses, made expressly
for this work, by Mr. Francis Rauch, and a copious Index; and I
have given the names of New Plants, and details respecting New
Improvements in Gardening, so as to bring the work down to the . . . *
present time.
J. W. LOUDON.
Bayswater, August, 1850.
() () N T E N T S.
PREF AcE . tº ſº.
List of ENGRAVINGs
INTRoDUCTION .
BOOK I.
On the GENERAL PRINCIPLES which should be taken into consideration
previously to laying out and planting a Villa Residence .
B O O K II.
Ground PLANs for laying out and planting Country Houses and Villas of
various kinds .
CHAPTER. I.
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES
SECTION I.-General Observations on Suburban Villa Residences .
SecTIon II.-Designs for laying out and planting the Gardens of Suburban
Villa Residences from one perch to two acres in extent .
Subsect. 1.-Suburban Villa Gardens, in which economy is the
principal object in view . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Subsect. 2.-Suburban Villa Gardens, in which profit is the prin.
cipal object in view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SUBSECT. 3.-Suburban Villa Gardens, where the principal object
is ornamental display . . . * is a g
SUBSECT. 4.—Culture of Suburban Villa Gardens
SUBSEcT. 5.—Renovation of Suburban Villa Gardens . *
SUBSEct. 6.—The Garden Tools required in a Suburban Villa
Garden
43
43
44
60
62
$80.74
viii CONTENTS,
CHAPTER II.
PAGE
Count RY WILLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Section I.-General Observations on Country Villas . . . . . . . 156
SECTION II.-Designs for Country Villa Gardens; with their planting,
culture, and renovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
SUBSECT. 1.--Small Country Willas . . . . . . . . . 225
SUBSEct. 2.-Culture of Small Country Willa Gardens. . . . . 255
SUBSEcT. 3.-Renovation of Small Country Willa Gardens . . . 255
SUBSECT. 4.—General Observations on Laying out, Planting, and
Managing Large Country Villa Gardens . . . . 259
SUBSECT. 5.—The Culture and Management of Large Country Willa
Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
SUBSEct. 6.—Renovation of Large Country Villa Gardens . . . .340
CHAPTER, III.
Country MANSIONs. e tº e º a g º º te e º º 34.5
SECTION I.-General Observations on Country Mansions . . . . . . 345
SECTION II.-The Scenery of a Country Mansion . . . . . . . . . 372
SECTION III.-Designs for Country Mansions . . . . . . . . . . 420
B O O K III.
PLANT-Houses. tº tº tº gº tº º . . . . . . . 465
SECTION I.-Useful Plant-houses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
SECTION II.-Ornamental Plant-houses . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
SUBSECT. 1.-Plant Cabinets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
SUBSECT. 2.-Ornamental Green-houses . . . . . . . . . . . 486
SUBSECT. 3.-Conservatories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
SUBSECT. 4.—Hothouses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
re,
B O O K IV.
Lists of ORNAMENTAL PLANTs suitable to Villa Gardens, with their culture . 497
SECTION I.-Herbaceous Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
SUBSECT. 1.-Ornamental Annuals . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
SUBSECT. 2.-Ornamental Biennials and Perennials . . . . . . . 502
SUBSECT. 3—Ornamental Bulbs and Tubers . . . . . . . . . 505
INDEX & g & © * e ſº ſº & • º sº & tº g e º g g e e wº º wº 510.
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS,
ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE SUBJECTS.
Diagrams, Sections, and Miscellaneous Subjects.
FIG.
5. Brugmánsia suaveolens (Datüra
PAGE
arborea) . . . . . . . 125
22. Clothes-posts, sockets for 54
23. Clothes-post. . . . . . . 64
53. Diagram of a bed with raised
brickwork for planting out
green-house plants . 124
80. Diagram of a curved walk . 164
1. Diagram of a window . 17
95. Diagram of a piece of artificial
rockwork . . . . . . 185
40. Diagramoflightironrods for peas 89
19. Diagram of trees arranged in a
gardenesque manner . . . . 38
20. Diagram of trees arranged in a
picturesque manner . . . . 39
9. Diagram of trees properly
grouped . . . . . . 24
18. Diagram showing how to lay
out walks . . . . . . . 32
235. Diagram showing how to plant
an approach-road . . . . 380
86. Diagram showing how to plant
a ravine . . . . . . . 173
81. Diagram showing the direction
of approach-roads . . 166
21. Diagram showing the direction
of streets . . . . . . . . . 46
237. Diagram showing the effects of
the sea-breeze on trees . . 381
138. Diagram showing the height
which a terrace-walk should
be above the level of the
flower-garden . . . . . . 243
173. Diagram showing the mode of
arranging fields with a house 279
8. Diagram showing why trees do
not group well . . . . . . 23
82 to 85. Diagrams illustrative of a
regular system of arranging
trees in groups . . . . 172
4 to 7. Diagrams of flower-beds. 22
116 to 119. Diagrams of ground to
be laid out as a villa . 204 to 207
76 to 79. Diagrams of drains for
walks g 162, 163
FIG. PAGE
10, 11. Diagrams of lawns with
flower-beds. . . . . 4, 25
60, 61. Diagrams of plantations
against a boundary-fence . 131
14, 15. Diagrams of slopes 27
2, 3. Diagrams of walks. . 21
126, 127. Diagrams showing the dis-
tances at which trees should
be planted . . . 218, 219
214,215. Diagrams showing the mode
of placing the domestic offices 348
282 to 285. Diagrams showing the
mode of planting the beds of
ageometrical flower-garden 413,414
67 to 72. Diagrams showing the mode
of planting trees. . . 153, 154
153 to 156. Diagrams showing the
mode of staking trees . . . 267
329. Elevation of a conservative wall 466
254. Elevation of a rustic summer-
house . . . . . . . . 397
105. Fields to be laid out as a villa
residence . . . . . . 199
301 to 304. Geometrical sections and
bird’s-eye views of particular
portions of the grounds at
Wimbledon House . . 428 to 431
106. Ground divided into squares
for laying out. . . . . 200
213. Ground-plan of a bath-room 346
330. Ground-plan of a conservative
wall . . . . . . . . . 467
220. Ground-plan of an ice-house . 371
253. Ground-plan of a rustic sum-
mer-house . . . . . . 396
75. Horizontal section of a water
trap . . . . . . . . . 161
152. Label for naming trees . . . 266
252. Mode of arranging the side
panels of a moss-house. 396
120 Offices, how to connect the, with
the house . . . . . . 208
250. Plan of the ceiling of a moss-
house . . . . . . . 394
243. Seats covered from the rail . .389
216. Sectional plan of a stable 349
},
-*
X IIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
FIG. PAG FIG. F A GE
180, 181. Sectional views of the lawn 247, 248. Sections of a moss-house . 392
at Fairfield Cot . . . . . 296 || 24 to 30. Sections of flower-beds . . 58
183, 184. Sectional views of the 12, 13. Sections of ground sloping
pleasure-grounds at Fairfield from a house . . . . . . 26
Cot . . . . . . 98, 299 249. Sketch of one of the sides of a .
219. Section of an ice-house . . . 371 moss-house . . . . . . 393
73. Section of a trap to prevent the 212. Spades for making drains . . 344
ascent of smells . . . . . 161 | 121. Sun-dial . . . . . . . . . 209
54. Section of raised brickwork, . 124 36,37. Training trees, two modes of $4
58. Section of the declivity of a 147 to 151. Tree guards . . 265, 266
street . . . . . . . . 129 157 to 159. Trees, modes of securing
65. Section of trellises and a dwarf them from the wind . . . 268
wall . . . . . . . . . 138 74. Vertical section of a water-trap 161
322 to 325. Sections and sectional 298, 299. Water, mode of arranging *
views of the grounds at Ken- - 424, 425
wood. . . . . 457, 458 90, 91. Wirework edgings . 180, 181
331, sººtions of a conservative
W &
Entrance Lodges and Gates.
227. Entrance-gate pier . . . . 376 225, 226, 229, 231 to 234, and 236.
221 to 224. Entrance-gates . 374, 375 Entrance-lodges, 375 to 379, and 381
190. Entrance-lodge and gates at 228, 230, 233,234. Ground plans of
Redleaf . . . . . . . . 307 entrance-lodges . . . 377 to 379
Fountains.
122. Drooping fountain . . . . 210 266 to 277. Fountains of various
inds . . . . . 403 to 409
Ground Plans of Willas, Plans of Flower-gardens, Kitchen-gardens, &c.
281. Geometrical flower-garden . . 412 307. Ground plan of the flower-gar-
59. Ground plan of a detached villa 130 den and the kitchen-garden at
103. Ground plan of a fishing-house 195 Wimbledon House . . 434, 435
246. Ground plan of a moss-house 182. Ground plan of the grounds at
and portico . . . . . . 391 Fairfield Cot . . . . . .
128. Ground plan of a small country 175. Ground plan of the house and
villa . . . . . . . . . 226 flower-garden at Fortis Green 282
17. Ground plan of a small subur- 310. Ground plan of the principal
ban house with the pleasure- floor of Wimbledon House
grounds. . . . . . . . . . . . 31 and the domestic offices . . 438
315. Ground plan of a villa laid out 179. Kitchen garden of an acre and
in the geometrical style . . 449 a half in extent . . . . . 294
177. Ground plan of a villa of four 43. Plan for making two houses
acres. . . . . . . . . 286 look like one . . . . . . 104
134. Ground plan of a villa of four 50. Plan of a double suburban villa 117
acres, with a regular outline 235 56. Plan of a double suburban villa. 126
178. Ground plan of a villa of seven 63. Plan of a double villa in Por-
acres . . . . . . . 288, 289 chester-terrace, Bayswater . 135
132. Ground plan of a villa of three 280. Plan of a Dutch garden . . . 410
acres and a half, on a level 52. Plan of a flower-garden for
surface . . . . . . . . 232 florists’ flowers . . . . . 124
130. Ground plan of a villa of three 51. Plan of a flower-garden for
acres in extent . . . . . 229 villas . . . . . . . . 122
160. Ground plan of Mrs. Law- 49. Plan of a house and garden
rence's villa at Drayton Green 269 with a greenhouse projecting
278. Ground plan of pleasure- - from the living-room . . . 116
grounds at Bagshot. . . . 409 31. Plan of a plot of ground with a
204, 205. Ground plan of the build- house and garden s &
ings and grounds of Dun- 34. Plan of a street-house-garden
church Vicarage . . . 324, 325 for fruit and vegetables . . 71
305. Ground plan of the farm-yard, 32. Plan of a suburban street resi-
poultry-yard, &c., at Wimble- dence . . . . . . . . 66
don House . . . . . . . 432 33. Plan of a suburban villa . . . 67
LIST OF ENG|HAVINGS, xi
FIG. PAGE
314. Plan of a villa in the geome-
trical style, of from fifty to a
hundred acres in extent . .
169. Plan of the court of offices at
Mrs.Lawrence’s villa at Dray-
ton-green . . . . . . . .
146. Plan of the flower-garden at
Bedford Lodge . . . . .
142. Plan of the grounds at Bedford
Lodge, Campden Hill . . . 247
171, 172. Plan of the grounds at
Fortis Green . . . . 276, 277
196. Plan of the grounds at Hoole
House, near Chester . . . .316
321. Plan of the grounds at Kenwood 456
188, 189. Plan of the grounds at Red-
leaf after the alterations 304, 305
186, 187. Plan of the grounds at
Redleaf before the alterations
274
FIG. PAGE
208. Plan of the house and grounds
at Hendon Rectory . . . . 329
I70. Plan of the kitchen-garden,
gardener’s house, &c., at Mrs.
Lawrence’s villa at Drayton
Green . . . . . . . . 275
191. Plan of the lawn and flower-
garden at Redleaf . . . . .308
35. Plan of two suburban villas
with gardens for fruit and
vegetables . . . . . . 82
125. Plan showing the distribution
of trees and shrubs over the
grounds of a country villa . 216
41. Plans for flower-gardens . . 93
291 to 293. Plans of kitchen-gardens
417 to 419
38, 39. Plans of plain flower-gardens 84
47, 48. Plans of strips of ground
laid out as flower-gardens . 114
45. Plans of two small houses and
gardens . . . . . . . . 109
42. Working plan of a suburban
residence tº ºn tº 96, 97
377. Ground plan of plant-houses
and forcing-houses comprised
in one range . . 494
199. Ground plan of the Camellia-
house at Hoole House, near
Chester . . . . . . . . 319
378. Isometrical view of plant-houses
and forcing-houses comprised
in one range . . . . . . 495
357 to 362. Modes of ventilating
plant-houses . . 483 to 485
333. Moveable glass-case . . . . 468
374,375. Ornaments for placing on
the roofs of winter gardens . 492
366. Plan of a green-house stage
with angular points . . . 487
200. Plan of the roof of the Camellia
house at Hoole House, near
Chester . . . . . . . . 320
353, 355. Plans of plant-cabinets
heated by hot water . 481,482
192. Rustic orangery at Redleaf . . 309
336. Sash-light for a cold pit . . . 469
350. Section of an apparatus for
heating by hot water . º
345. Section of a plant-cabinet . . 474
367. Section of the conservatory at
the Grange 488
373. Section of the roof of à, winter
garden
334, 338. Sections of cold pits 468,470
. 272
302, 303
300. Plan of the grounds at Wim-
bledon House . . . . 426, 427
140. Plan of the grounds of Chester
Holme Cottage 245
Plant-houses and their details.
351, 352. Apparatuses for heating
by hot water . . . 479, 480
335, 337. Cold pits . . . . . . 469
342. Cross section of a greenhouse,
with a stove attached . e
372. Cross section of a Jardin
d'hiver, or winter garden. . 491
376. Cross section of a moist stove 492
354, 356. Cross sections of plant-cabi-
nets heated by hot water 481,482
370. Elevation and ground plan of
a semicircular conservatory . 490
368. Elevation of a long narrow
conservatory . . . . . . .
339. Elevation of a span-roofed
green-house . . . . . .
198. Elevation of the Camellia house,
at Hoole House, near Chester 319
364, 365. Elevations of a green-
house with ornamental glass 487
344, 348, 349. Elevations of plant-
cabinets . . . . . . 474, 475
363. Ground plan of an ornamental
green-house . . . . . . 486
343. Ground plan of a green-house
with a stove attached . . 472
371. Ground plan of a Jardin
d'hiver, or winter garden . 491
369. Ground plan of a long narrow
conservatory . . . . . . . 489
340. Ground plan of a span-roofed
green-house . . . . . . . . . 471 | 164. Span-roofed green-house
346, 347: . Ground plans of plant: 341. View of agreen-house attached
cabinets . . . . . . 474, 475 to a gardener’s cottage. . . 471
Rockwork.
168. Arch of rockwork . . . . .
202, 203. Rockwork at Hoole House
322, 323
274 96 to 98. Rockwork, views of, 186,
l
87, 189
xii LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
Rustic-work.
FIG. PAGE
88. Covered rustic seat, or alcove 179
166. Rustic arch . . . . . . . . 273
163. Rustic arch and vase . . . . 271
256, 257. Rustic bridges . 398, 399
263. Rustic chair . . 400
265. Rustic flower-stand . . . . 46i
255. Rustic gate and railing . . . 398
Views of Villas and Ornamental Objects in Garden Scenery.
217. A bee canopy covering one of
Nutt's hives . . . . . .
316. Bird’s-eye view of a villain the
geometrical style . . . . 451
104. Boat-house formed in a bank . 195
101. Chinese Temple . . . . . 194
251. Elevation of a moss-house . . 395
102. Fishing-house . . . . . 194
279. Flower baskets in pleasure-
grounds . . . . . . . 410
161. Foliated vase . . . . . . . 270
165. French Parterre . . . . . 272
244, 245. Grottos . . . 390
16. Groups of trees, how to arrange 29
62. Isometrical view of a detached
house and garden . . . . 133
66. Isometrical view of a double
house and garden . . . . 140
137. Isometrical view of a rosarium 242
129. Isometrical view of a small
country villa . . . . . . 228
135. Isometrical view of a villa of
four acres . . 238
133. Isometrical view of a villa of
three acres and a half, on a
level surface . . . . . . 233
131. Isometrical view of a villa of
three acres in extent . . . 230
136. Isometrical view of a villa resi-
dence, of two acres, in the
geometrical style . . . . 240
206. Isometrical view of Dunchurch
... Vicarage and grounds . . . 326
99. Lawn, good effect of breadth of 191
218. Nutt's bee-hive placed in front
of a veranda . . . . . . 366
57. Perspective view of a double
house . 127
44. Perspective view of an Eliza-
bethan house . . . . . . 105
167. Statue of Mercury . . . . 273
93. Statues, mode of arranging . 182
296,297. Stone bridges . . . . . . 423
92. Vase . . . . . . . . . 181
94. Vases, bad effect of, if ill-placed 182
286 to 290. Vases of different kinds
4
FIG., IPAGE
87. Rustic seat . . . . . . . 178
261, 262. Rustic seats . . . . . 400
264. Rustic stool . . . . . . . 400
258 to 260. Rustic tables . . 399
133, i2. Rustic thatched seats 214, Žiš
89. Rustic vase . . . . . . . 180
14, 415
195. View across the rocky lawn at
Redleaf. . . . . . . . . 314
240. View from the entrance-portico
at Kenwood . . . . . . 385
145. View from the flower-garden
at Bedford Lodge . . . . 250
313. View from the grotto at Wim-
bledon House . . . . . 443
64. View of a double villa in Por-
chester-terrace, Bayswater . 136
141, Vicw of Bedford Lodge, the
villa of the Dowager Duchess
of Bedford . . . . . . .
139. View of Chester Holme Cottage 244
210. View of Hendon Rectory . . 333
328. View of Kenwood House . . 463
162. View of Mrs. Lawrence’s villa
at Drayton Green . . . . 271
294. View of Wimbledon House
from the lawn . . . . . 421
317. View on entering the gates at
Renwood . . . . . . . 453
193. View of the English garden
and summer-house at Red-
leaf . . . . . . . . . 311
197. View of the entrance-front of
Hoole House, showing the
conservatory . . . . . . 318
176. View of the entrance-front of
the villa at Fortis Green . . 284
306. View of the entrance to the
flower-garden at Wimbledon
House . . . . . . . . 433
194. View of the entrance to the
rocky lawn at Redleaf . . 313
201. View of the flower-garden at
Hoole House, near Chester .. 321
174. View of the garden-front of
the villa at Fortis Green . . 280
185. View of the house at Redleaf 300
144. View of the west front of
Bedford Lodge, showing a
terrace-wall in the flower
garden . . . . . . . . 249
143. View of trellis-work covered
with climbers at Bedford
Lodge . . . . . . . . 248
46. View of two houses looking
like one . . . . . . . 110
238. View, showing the bad effect of
want of breadth of lawn . . 382
239, 311. Views from the lawn-
front of Wimbledon House,
, * 384,439
318, 319, 326, 327. Views in the
grounds at Kenwood, 454,
455, 459, 461
207, 209, 211. Views in the grounds
of Hendon Rectory, 328, 331, 334
241, 242. Views of distant scenery -
near Stafford . . . . . . 387
308, 309, 312. Views of the flower-
garden at Wimbledon House
436, 437, 441
107 to 115 inclusive. Views, to leave
openings for, in laying out
grounds . 201 to 203
295. Water and rustic seat . . . 422
100. Water, effect of a long pool of . 193
THE
W T L L A G A R D E N E R.
IN T R O D U CT I O N.
THE enjoyments to be derived from a country residence depend principally
on a knowledge of the resources which a garden, however small, is capable
of affording. The benefits experienced by breathing air unconfined by close
streets of houses, and uncontaminated by the smoke of chimneys; the cheer-
ful aspect of vegetation; the singing of birds in their season; and the enliven-
ing effect of finding ourselves unpent-up by buildings, and in comparatively
unlimited space, are felt by most people: but these enjoyments are greatly
increased by the possession of a garden, in which the progress of vegetation
can be watched from day to day; and in which the taste and fancy can be
exercised by continually forming new and beautiful scenes. *
Before proceeding to the garden itself, we shall endeavour to excite some
interest in its favour, and to show the solid advantages which may be derived
from a country residence; though on both these topics we shall bestow very
few words.
There is a great deal of enjoyment to be derived from performing the
different operations of gardening, independently altogether of the health
resulting from this kind of exercise. To labour for the sake of arriving at a
result, and to be successful in attaining it, are, as cause and effect, attended
by a certain degree of satisfaction to the mind, however simple or rude the
labour may be, and however unimportant the result obtained. To be con-
vinced of this, we have only to imagine ourselves employed in any labour
from which no result ensues, but that of fatiguing the body, or wearying the
mind: the turning of a wheel, for example, that is connected with no machi-
nery, or, if connected, effects no useful purpose; the carrying of a weight
from one point to another and back again; or the taking of a walk without
any object in view, but the negative one of preserving health. Thus, it is
not only a condition of our nature, that, in order to secure health and cheer-
fulness, we must labour; but we must also labour in such a way as to produce
something useful or agreeable. Now, of the different kinds of useful things
produced by labour, those things, surely, which are living beings, and which
grow and undergo changes before our eyes, must be more productive of
enjoyment than such as are mere brute matter; the kind of labour, and other
circumstances being the same. Hence, a man who plants a hedge, or sows
B
2 THE VILIA GARDEN.E.R.
a grass-plot in his garden, lays a more certain foundation for enjoyment,
than he who builds a wall or lays down a gravel walk; and, hence, the enjoy-
ment of a citizen whose recreation, at his suburban residence, consists in
working in his garden must be higher in the scale than that of the man who
amuses himself, in the plot round his house, with shooting at a mark or
playing at bowls.
To dig, to hoe, and to rake, are not operations requiring much skill; and
the amateur gardener will, perhaps, chiefly value them for their use in pre-
paring for crops, or in encouraging the growth of crops already coming for-
ward: but the operations of pruning and training trees, when well performed,
are not only interesting to the operator at the time, but the plants so pruned
or trained afford him pleasure every time he sees them afterwards throughout
the season, till the period returns when they must be pruned and trained
again. The operation of striking plants from cuttings is performed in a
variety of ways, according to the nature of the plants; and may truly be called
one of intense interest, both in its performance, and in the expectation of its
results. By the great majority of amateur gardeners, cuttings are made and
planted at random; and their failure or success is, in consequence, a matter
of chance: but a very little scientific light thrown on the subject leads to rules
for operating, which will turn chance into certainty in almost every case that
can occur to ordinary practitioners; and, consequently, will greatly enhance
the pleasure of performing the operation, from the consciousness that the
labour bestowed will not be thrown away. We need not here refer to the
operations of grafting, layering, or sowing seeds; nor need we mention
innumerable other operations which require to be performed in the course of
the year, even in the very smallest garden; but we must be allowed to notice
the watering of plants, which all persons can enjoy from the earliest infancy
upwards. What pleasure have not children in applying their little green
watering-pans to plants in pots, or pouring water in at the roots of favourite
flowers in borders? And what can be more rational than the satisfaction
which the grown up amateur, or master of the house, enjoys, when he returns
from the city to his garden in the summer evenings, and applies the syringe
to his wall trees, with refreshing enjoyment to himself and the plants, and to
the delight of his children, who may be watching his operations? What can
be more refreshing than, in a warm summer's evening, to hear, while sitting
in a cool parlour, with the windows open, or in a summer-house, the shower-
ing of water by the syringe upon the leaves of the vines or fig trees trained
under the adjoining veranda, or upon the orange trees and camellias, or other
exotic shrubs, planted in the conservatory connected with it? What more
delightful than to see the master or the mistress of a small garden or pleasure-
ground, with all the boys and girls, the maids, and, in short, all the strength
of the house, carrying pots and pails of water to different parts of the garden;
and to see the refreshment produced to the soil and plants by the application
of the watering-pan and the syringe? -
Even the search after insects is a great enjoyment in a garden; and, in
fact, opens up an entirely new field of exertion and interest to those who have
not before made minute observations in this department of nature. Fifty
years ago, the subject of destroying insects was scarcely considered as belong-
ing to gardening; and their eggs, which now every young gardener recog-
mises, in winter glued in rings to the branches of his fruit trees, or in spring
gº”
INTRODUCTION. 3
deposited on the back of his gooseberry leaves, passed unheeded through their
different stages of development; and the ravages the larvae committed on
crops were considered as inevitable blights, produced by the atmosphere. In
the present day, so much of the beauty and the value of the products of all
gardens is known to depend on subduing insects, that a knowledge of the
subject is considered essential to every gardener: but it is more especially
necessary that the possessor of a small garden should know how to keep
insects in subjection; both because he is frequently his own gardener, and
because insects are more abundant in such gardens than in those of a larger
size, which are generally situated farther in the country, sometimes from the
comparatively weak and crowded state of the plants, and, in other instances,
from the absence of those natural enemies of insects, the small birds.
One of the greatest of all the sources of enjoyment resulting from the pos-
session of a garden is, the endless variety which it produces, either by the
perpetual progress of vegetation which is going forward in it to maturity, dor-
mancy, or decay, or by the almost innumerable kinds of plants which may be
raised in even the smallest garden. Even the same trees, grown in the same
garden, are undergoing perpetual changes throughout the year; and trees
change, also, in every succeeding year, relatively to that which is past;
because they become larger and larger as they advance in age, and acquire
more of their characteristic and mature forms. The number of plants, and
especially of trees, which can be cultivated in any garden at one time is
necessarily circumscribed; but, if an amateur chose to limit the period during
which he cultivated each tree or plant to the time of its flowering with him
for the first time, he might, in the course of a few years, more or less in num-
ber according to the size of his garden, have had growing in it all the plants
in cultivation in the open air in Britain, with the exception of a few of the
larger of the forest trees; and even these he might also have flowered, by
making use of plants raised from cuttings or layers, or of miniature trees,
made by ringing and rooting the branches of old trees in the Chinese manner.
Independently, however, of the variety and change resulting from the plants
cultivated, every month throughout the year has its particular operations and
its products; nay, it would not be too much to say, that during six months of
the year a change takes place, and is perceptible, in the plants of a garden,
every day; and every day has, in consequence, its operations and its products.
Even in winter, there is still something to do in every garden, however small
may be its extent: the walks require to be kept in order, and some plants
must be protected by litter or matting; and, if there should be no trees to
prune, no ground to dig, no manure to collect or to barrow out, no dung to
turn and prepare for hotbeds, there is, at all events, the preparation of names
or numbers for plants; the cutting and painting of rods to tie them to ; the
sorting of seeds; the making of baskets; and the search after information on
the subjects of plants and their culture, in books.
But imagine that to the villa garden there is added a small green-house, or
a flued pit ! What a source of amusement and interest does not either of
these garden structures hold out to the amateur gardener, during the winter
and spring ! Exactly in proportion as, in autumn, the out-door operations
become fewer, the in-door operations of the green-house or pit become more
numerous; and, if the expense of a green-house should be objected to, much
of the produce of the green-house may be procured, at half the expense, by
B 2
4 THE VII, LA GARDENER.
the use of a pit, which requires no other glass than the sashes which form its
roof. The amusement and the products which such a pit, in the hands of an
ingenious amateur, is calculated to afford, are almost without end. Small
salading may be produced in it throughout the whole winter. Chicory roots
(though this may be accomplished in a common cellar) may be made to throw
out their blanched leaves, which form the most delightful of all winter salads,
at least to our taste; tart rhubarb or sea-kale may be forced in pots; as may
parsley, mint, and other herbs. Bulbs may be forced; and a bloom of China
roses may be kept up throughout the winter. But, perhaps, the most import-
ant use to which such a pit can be applied, in a small garden, is to preserve
throughout the winter, and to bring forward in spring, pelargoniums, fuchsias,
Salvias, calceolarias, verbenas, and other fine exotic flowers, and also half-hardy
and tender annuals, for turning out into the flower-garden, or into the miscel-
laneous border, in the beginning of summer.
These are a few of the absolute enjoyments to be derived from a country
house and garden; and we shall next notice another, which flows from the
same source, but which may be called relative or incidental. The opportunity
which a garden affords to its possessor of acquiring a scientific and practical
knowledge of plants is a source of great interest, not only in his own garden,
but wherever else plants may come in his way; whether in a wild state, in
gardens, exposed for sale in markets, or delineated and described in books.
Another source of incidental enjoyment is that which will arise from the
acquirement of some knowledge of gardening, and of rural architecture as an
art of design and taste. How great a source of enjoyment this is, and how
great an interest it enables its possessor to take in landscapes, and in architec-
ture, generally; or, in short, wherever he sees a house or a tree; those only
can know who have gone through the necessary preparation.
There is scarcely such a thing to be found as a lady who is not fond of
flowers; but it is not saying too much, to affirm that there are very few ladies
indeed who are competent to lay out a flower-garden; though the skill required
to do so is within the capacity of every woman who can work or embroider
patterns for the different parts of female dress: and, supposing a female to have
grown up without the slightest knowledge of the art of working a pattern, or
of tracing out a flower-garden, it would certainly be much easier for her to
acquire the latter art than the former. The result, in both cases, might be
obtained almost without instruction, provided the party desiring to form the
dress, or the flower-garden, had a clear idea of what was wanted. But, while
every female understands this in regard to dress, and, consequently, can suc-
ceed in adapting embroidery to her clothes, whenever she finds it necessary,
very few have any distinct idea of what a flower-garden ought to be ; and,
hence, we seldom or never see them produce a satisfactory design for one,
without the aid of a professional man. We venture to assert, that there is not
any lady who can design a pattern, and embroider a gown, that might not, in
a few hours, be taught to design flower-gardens with as much skill and taste
as a professional landscape-gardener; and so as to produce incomparably
better results than are now generally to be seen in the flower-gardens of
the great majority of British country residences.
If we can succeed in rendering every lady her own landscape-gardener,
which we are confident we can do, we shall have great hopes of effecting a
general reform in the gardening taste, not only of this country, but of every
INTRODUCTION. 5
other for which this work is calculated: and we intend it for circulation in
the temperate climates of both hemispheres.
Next in influence on society, in every country, to the female sex, is the
class of teachers; including under this class the two orders, ministers of
religion and schoolmasters. The instruction of these orders in the science
and practice of gardening shall be one of our principal aims in the composi-
tion of this work, as well in the hope of adding to their own resources for
comforts and enjoyments, as of enabling them to infuse a taste for these
comforts and enjoyments into the minds of the rising generation. We can
hardly conceive any rural pursuits more adapted for a clergyman than natural
history and gardening: and what can better afford a relaxation to the school-
master, from the arduous and sedentary duties of his profession, than the
cultivation of a field of useful vegetables, and of a garden of curious and
ornamental plants, not only for his own amusement, but for the instruction of
his pupils? A garden and a field are, in our opinion, as well merited by the
schoolmaster as a glebe is by the clergyman; and we trust they will, in a
short time, be considered as no less indispensable in Britain (in the establish-
ment of a national system of education) than they already are in most parts
of Germany, and in many parts of North America.
We might enlarge here on the great advantages which would result from
bringing up children with a taste for garden pursuits and natural history; and
the vast influence which this is calculated to have on their future happiness,
and on the welfare of society, by enabling them, instead of passing their
leisure hours in a manner degrading to human nature, to interest themselves
in recreations both agreeable and useful; but the field is too wide to be
entered on within our limits, and we must therefore leave the subject to be
worked out by the imagination of our readers.
Much of the enjoyment of a country residence depends on knowing what
to expect from it; what, in short, is consistent, and what is inconsistent, with
its limits and its local situation. We have shown, in the Encyclopaedia of
Cottage, Farm, and Willa Architecture (p. 8), that all, in the way of house
accommodation, that is essential to the enjoyment of life, may be obtained in
a cottage of three or four rooms as well as in a palace; and we shall prove,
in this work, that a suburban villa, with a very small portion of land
attached, will contain all that is essential to happiness in the garden, park,
and demesne of the most extensive country residence. Let us briefly make
the comparison. The objects of the possessors of both are the same : health,
which is the result of temperance and exercise; enjoyment, which is the
possession of something which we can call our own, and on which we can
set our heart and affections; and the respect of society, which is the result of
their favourable opinion of our sentiments and moral conduct. No man in
this world, however high may be his rank, great his wealth, powerful his
genius, or extensive his acquirements, can ever attain more than health,
enjoyment, and respect. The lord of an extensive demesne seeks after health
by hunting, shooting, or other field sports, or by superintending the general
management and cultivation of his estate; the lady seeks recreation in her
pleasure-ground, or in airings in her carriage; and both find their enjoyment
in their children, and in their house and garden, and other surrounding
objects. Now the master of a suburban villa finds health in the change it
affords from his occupation as a citizen; or if he has retired from business, in
6 THE WILLA GARDENER,
the personal cultivation of his garden. He also finds enjoyment, not only in
his family, friends, and books, but in his garden, and in the other rural objects
which he can call his own, and which he can alter at pleasure, at a trifling
expense, and often with his own hands. It is this which gives the charm of
creation, and makes a thing essentially one's own. Every one must have
felt the infinitely greater pleasure which is enjoyed from the contemplation
of what we have planned and executed ourselves, to what can be experienced
by seeing the finest works belonging to, and planned by, another. Our own
work is endeared to us by the difficulties we have met with and conquered at
every step: every step has indeed its history, and recalls a train of interesting
recollections connected with it.
We shall arrange this work in books; and shall treat in succession of
the general principles which should guide an amateur in the choice, laying
out, and planting of a country residence; and of the planting and manage-
ment of the villa kitchen-garden, orchard, flower-garden, pleasure-grounds,
and shrubbery, and of the villa farm; concluding the whole with a monthly
calendar of the management of villa residences.
BOOK I.
ON THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES WHICH SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION
PREVIOUSLY TO LAYING OUT AND PLANTING A WILLA RESIDENCE.
1. Preliminary observations.—Though it does not fall to the lot of every
one who inhabits a villa, to build the house, and lay out the grounds himself;
yet most people who have a country residence, have the power of either
choosing one for themselves, or at least of making such alterations and
improvements as may render their abode suitable to their own taste or con-
venience. It is, however, to those who may wish to form an entirely new
villa residence for themselves that we chiefly address ourselves; as such a
case will bring the greatest number of general principles into action, and
as it will be easy for any one who wishes to apply these principles only par-
tially, to select those which happen to be suitable to his particular case.
2. The choice of a situation.—The first and most important consideration
for every one who designs to inhabit a country residence is its situation; and
this is as necessary to be attended to by those who intend to inhabit a villa
on the very smallest scale, as it is by those who contemplate possessing one on
the largest; for a false step committed in either case, in the choice of a
situation, may be so difficult afterwards to retrace, as to be almost impracti.
cable; and thus, nearly all the comfort reasonably anticipated from the enjoy-
ment of a country residence, may be destroyed. How much the locality, the
aspect, and the surrounding circumstances affect the culture of a garden, of
even a single perch in extent, can hardly be conceived by those who have
not paid considerable attention to the subject.
3. The healthiness of the situation intended for a dwelling is obviously the
first and most important consideration. Situations differ in regard to health-
GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 7
iness, not only with reference to the constitution of human beings generally,
but they differ as to their suitableness for persons affected with, or constitu-
tionally liable to, particular diseases. The subject embraces elevation, cha-
racter of surface, exposure, aspect, soil, subsoil, climate and character of the
weather, water, and a general capacity for improvement.
4. Elevation.—In the neighbourhood of towns, where the air is always more
or less charged with smoke, an elevated site will always be found to have the
clearest atmosphere; and, for persons in good health, it is generally allowed,
that the atmosphere should not only be free from impurities, but free from more
than the average quantity of water held in suspension in the given climate. In
valleys and low situations, there is always a larger proportion of water in the
atmosphere than in situations which are high, and have a dry soil and sub-
soil; and for these reasons, an elevated situation, for strong healthy persons,
provided all other things be agreeable, should be selected. On the contrary,
where the constitution of the intending occupant or his family has a tendency
to consumption, a low situation, with a somewhat moist atmosphere, is prefer-
able; or, in the case of asthma, an intermediate position, sheltered, and with
a comparatively warm climate. In choosing a situation with reference to the
height of the surface, its absolute elevation is sometimes of less consequence
than the facilities which it affords for the free circulation of air. A situation
may be hilly, and yet so covered with high trees, that the air, except in win-
ter, when the trees are not in leaf, becomes stagnated and charged with
watery exhalations from the ground, which is kept damp by the shade, and
by the transpiration from the leaves of the trees. Dry ground, on a lower
level, but open and exposed to the influence of the sun and the winds, is
obviously healthier than a situation of this description. A situation may
also be elevated, and yet not healthy, from its soil being naturally damp;
and, on this account, if the walls of the house have not been built in such a
manner as to prevent the damp from ascending through them, it may be
inferior in point of healthiness to a lower situation where the soil is dry.
5. A low situation near the sea, or close on its shore, is almost always
healthy; whether on a coast, like that of the west of England and Scotland,
exposed to moist winds, or like that on the east of both countries, which is
chiefly exposed to dry winds. The reason seems to be, that the air, in both
cases, does more good by its bracing properties, than injury by the excess of
moisture in the one case, or the deficiency of moisture in the other. On the
other hand, elevated situations on surfaces covered with peat bog, or with
marshy, wet, springy soil, are generally unhealthy. The banks of a sluggish
river are unwholesome, while those of a river with a rapid current are the con-
trary. The beauty of the view or prospect, or the circumstance of there being or
not being a prospect, is a subject of consideration so obviously depending on
elevation, that it only requires to be mentioned. Scarcely any object that
can be created within the boundary wall of a small spot can compensate for
the want of a distant prospect, to a general admirer of landscape; and, on
the contrary, no distant prospect, however beautiful it may be, can compen-
sate to a lover of plants, for the want of a good garden: the beau idéal is to
unite both; but, as this can rarely be done, it is for the proprietor to seek
after the nearest approximation to it that he can find, or to choose which of
these desiderata he considers preferable.
6. Character of surface.—An irregular surface is always attended by an
8° THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
irregular climate. This is occasioned by the different influence of the sun
on surfaces of different degrees of slope; and by the different degrees of
interruption which hills or irregularities of different shapes and sizes give to
the wind. There is scarcely such a thing as a perfect calm during bright
sunshine in a hilly irregular country; because, while on one side of the hill
the sun generates an intense heat, on the opposite side of it, the soil and air
remain cold. For persons of narrow chests and weak lungs, a hilly situation,
therefore, is far from being desirable; for, independently of the irregularity
of the climate, the fatigue of walking up and down hills or slopes, is greater
to such persons than it is to others. The most even and regular climates are to
be found over the most even and regular surfaces. Hence, other circum-
stances being favourable, a level plain, at a distance from mountains, gene-
rally affords the mildest and best climate for invalids. This is also the kind
of situation in which a kitchen-garden is least subject to be injured by winds;
and, if the subsoil admits of being thoroughly drained, and is not so near
higher grounds, or a large surface of water, as to be liable to be inundated by
night dews from them, it is preferable to every other.
7. The character of the climate of a situation near the sea, near a lake, or
near a broad river, resembles in some respects, that of an irregular surface;
for, the effect of the sun on the dry soil being very different from its effect
on the water, a current of wind is created, in consequence of the difference of
temperature. The air, in such situations, is milder in winter, in consequence
of the heat given out by the water; and cooler in summer, in consequence
of less heat being given out by the water than by the dry ground, and of the
breezes which arise from the tendency to an equilibrium in volumes of air of
different temperatures. Natural or accidental hollows, when they have an
outlet for drainage, and for the escape of the heavy air which accumulates in
them, afford sheltered, and sometimes very picturesque, situations for build-
ing in. Old stone quarries, gravel pits, and chalk pits are of this descrip-
tion; and, when they are open to the south or south-east, with, perhaps, a
prospect in front, the most delightful little places may be made of them that
can well be imagined.
8. Eaposure.—All elevated situations are more exposed to the prevailing
winds of a country than plains; but, as the highest winds of any particular
locality generally blow from one direction only, situations that are equal in
point of elevation may be quite different in point of exposure. In the neigh-
bourhood of London, where the most disagreeable winds are from the north-
east, a house placed on that side of a hill will be more exposed to cold winds
than on any other side. The exposure, also, is very much affected, in irre-
gular hilly situations, by the influence of other hills, in directing currents of
wind out of their natural course; so that while the north-east side of an iso-
lated hill may be the most exposed side, the south or the north side of a hill,
situated among other hills, may be equally exposed as, or more so than, the
north-east side. Though a situation exposed to the prevailing winds of the
district can seldom be considered the most desirable for a dwelling-house, and
never for a garden, unless it be one where none but the hardiest plants are to
be grown, yet there are exceptions, arising from local circumstances: for
example, in the immediate neighbourhood of smoky towns, such as Manchester
or Birmingham, any situation on the side of the town most exposed to the
prevailing winds will be the best, as being the most free from smoke,
GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 9
9. Aspect.—By the aspect of ground, is generally understood the direction
of its surface relatively to the different points of the compass. A south-eastern
aspect, or that in which the surface of the ground has an inclination to the
south-east, is, in Britain, generally considered the best, because it is the
warmest. The winds from the south-east are never very violent: they are
neither so cold nor so dry as those from the east, and they occur less fre-
quently than winds from any other quarter. On a hill side, especially if the
hill be high, the aspect least subject to high winds is decidedly to be preferred;
but, in a flat country, a slight inclination of the surface, in any direction what-
ever, is a matter of no great consequence. An aspect to the south is, in some
cases, less favourable than one to the north : for example, when the objects
which are seen from the windows of the house are near; as, in that case, the
worst side of the trees is seen, and that side will be wholly in shade, during
the most agreeable part of the day, in winter and spring. An aspect to the
north, on the other hand, shows the best side of the trees; the light side of all
objects, during winter and spring; and the greatest variety of light and shade
during summer, and, in short, throughout the year. In the choice of a situa-
tion for a house and grounds, the views from the house should not alone be
taken into consideration. Recreation in the open air is one of the great
advantages of a country residence; and an aspect sloping to the south will
admit of the grounds being walked in during winter, when, with one sloping
to the north, they will be covered with snow, frost, or moisture. Land sloping
to the south may also be much sooner walked on after rain, at all seasons; and
it is a great source of enjoyment to persons living in the country, and fond of
seeing the progress of vegetation, to examine their gardens and grounds
immediately after a shower, while the trees and plants are in the very crisis
of excitement, produced by a liberal supply of water after a long drought.
Every one knows that a garden sloping to the south or south-east not only
produces earlier crops, whether of culinary vegetables, fruits, or flowers, than
any other, but that it may also be walked in through the greater part of the
winter. Grass fields open to the south produce earlier pasture, and the corn
grown on arable land so situated ripens sooner.
10. Soil.—Though the soil, in small spots, may be very much changed by
art; and though, in suburban gardens of only two or three perches, the soil
may be entirely artificial, and consequently be made, in a great measure, what
the proprietor wishes it; yet it is always desirable, where it can be done, to
choose a soil which is good by nature. If we were asked what was the single
quality in a soil, the predominance of which would entitle it to be called good,
we should say friability. With reference to a small dwelling-house, and also
to a small garden, this quality is more especially desirable, since it will almost
always be found easier to alter the texture of a dry soil so as to render
it retentive of moisture, than to drain and alter the texture of a wet soil
so thoroughly as to give it a character of dryness. A dry soil may either
have sand or gravel as its prevailing quality: the gravel affords the best foun-
dation for a house, and the sand, the best subsoil for a garden. A soil, how-
ever, may be naturally either sandy or gravelly, and yet not be dry, from
being placed on a retentive subsoil, or from the subsoil being connected with
the watery subsoil of higher grounds. In the case of a retentive subsoil, the
surface soil, though sandy in its original nature, from being long saturated
with surface water, and from that water containing vegetable matter,
10 THE VILLA GARDENER,
will probably have become black and peaty in appearance; and unless the
water can be thoroughly got rid of by draining, such soils are decidedly unfa-
vourable both for building and gardening. As chalky soil is almost always
dry, it is favourable for building on; but, unless it has a considerable depth
of soil over it, the expense of forming suitable garden ground is greater than
on most other soils. A chalky subsoil in a valley is generally covered by a
depth of loam on the surface, which loam forms one of the very best soils for
growing every description of vegetables in the highest degree of perfection.
Chalky soils, though dry, are invariably colder than most others, from the
whiteness of the chalk not absorbing readily the sun's rays, and from the slow-
ness with which a dense body like chalk is penetrated with the rain of summer,
which is one of nature's chief modes of warming subsoils. A strong clayey
soil is not to be desired; because it will cost a great deal to render it fit for
garden purposes; and because it forms a dangerous foundation for small
houses built on its surface, on account of its liability to shrink during the great
heats of summer, and to expand when remoistened by rains, thus throwing
the walls of the house out of their perpendicular. In various parts of Middle-
sex, to the north of London, brick cottages may be seen built on strong clays,
with walls leaning to one side, or bulging out, or with deep cracks in them
produced by this cause. However, where the foundation of the house is sunk
to the depth of 3 ft. or 4 ft., or where the surface of the clay is covered with
a thick coat of gravel, small stones, or sand, or where it is paved, or laid with
flag-stones, to the breadth of 3ft. or 4 ft. all round the house, this disadvantage
of a clayey soil will not be experienced; because the soil immediately con-
nected with the foundation is thus, in a great measure, protected from atmos-
pherical changes. A strong clayey soil can be walked on with pleasure fewer
days of the year than any other, on account of its retentiveness of moisture;
and it is the most expensive to cultivate, from its being alternately too hard
and too wet. It is, therefore, the very worst kind of soil for houses having
an acre or two of ground attached; and it must obviously be the very worst
that can occur, either for kitchen-gardens or flower-gardens. There is a
description of clayey soil which is almost always soft and moist, because it
abounds in springs; and, though no soil whatever, in its natural state, can be
worse for building on, or for gardening, than this moist clay; yet, if it admits
of being thoroughly drained, it may be rendered better for either purpose than
the tough strong clay above mentioned. The reason is, that this springy
clay, from the very circumstance of its being springy, or, in other words, so
porous as to admit of water rising up through it, is less retentive of moisture,
and more freely and easily worked, when drained, than the other. In some
cases, however, the springs which rise from the subsoil cannot be effectually
cut off, so as to render the surface perfectly dry; by which is meant, perfectly
free from all moisture, but that which falls on it in the form of rain or snow.
Loamy soils (which, for our present purpose, it will be sufficient to consider
as intermediate, either between sand and clay, or between peat or soft black
earth, and chalk) are not unfavourable for building on, and are highly favour-
able for every description of gardening. A sandy loam, with rock or sand,
or even gravel, for a subsoil, may be considered as the most favourable of all
for gardening purposes, and, indeed, as the best soil for a country residence.
11. Subsoil.—The substratum on which the surface soil rests, is, both for
building and gardening, of more importance than the soil itself. No surface
GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 11
soil whatever, on a wet or springy subsoil, or even on a soil not springy, but
clayey and retentive, can be rendered fit for either garden or field cultivation
without considerable expense. On the other hand, any soil on a subsoil not abso-
lutely retentive, and not too open, may, at a moderate cost, be highly improved.
Rock, of almost every kind, forms a favourable subsoil, because it is generally
neither too retentive nor too porous: it is proverbially the best foundation for
building on; and if the surface soil is of sufficient depth, it is fit for every
purpose of cultivation.
There are some descriptions of decomposing sandstone rock, impregnated
with oxide of iron, which form unfavourable subsoils for the culture of fruit
trees, and produce canker in them; but such subsoils can be freed from the
bad effects of the iron to a sufficient depth for the culture of herbaceous
vegetables, by frequent dressings with quicklime. Dry gravel forms a good
subsoil; but, unless care be taken not to found the walls of a house too deep,
and to have a perfect exterior drainage, the surface water will, in rainy sea-
sons, find its way into the floor of the sunk story, if there be one. A gravelly
subsoil is not the best for a garden; because, in the summer season, it absorbs
too rapidly the water of the surface soil. On marshy or peaty soils or subsoils,
no house whatever should be built; but such surfaces and subsoils may be
rendered peculiarly suitable for certain descriptions of garden culture, by
judicious draining, or by a command of water combined with the power of
laying the whole dry to a certain depth at pleasure. In the case of irregular
rocky surfaces such marshy or peaty spots are not unfrequent; and, when the
house can be placed on a rocky knoll, and the garden formed in an adjoining
hollow, the concurring circumstances may be considered favourable.
12. The kind of climate of the given locality is the circumstance of a per-
manent nature which, next to elevation and soil, ought most to influence the
choice of a country residence. In warm climates, an open and airy situation
is preferable to a close and sheltered one; and in hot climates, such as in Aus-
tralia, situations with such an inclination of surface as is favourable for shade,
will be sought rather than those with surfaces so inclined as to meet at a more
direct angle the sun's rays. In cold climates, sheltered situations will be
preferred, for the sake of warmth; and, in moist climates, elevated dry situa-
tions, open to the south, and exposed to the breeze, with a dry subsoil, and
good natural surface drainage, afford the only opportunities of counteracting
or diminishing the natural inconveniences always attendant on continued
rains and fogs. In almost every situation, the wind prevails, throughout the
year, more in one direction than in all the others; and, hence, it is obvious
that such winds must blow the smoke of the town or city, throughout the
greater portion of the year, in the opposite direction. It will be borne in
mind, however, that the natural currents of the wind, in any given locality,
are always more or less modified by inequalities of the surface; and these
inequalities, when they are so great as to become hills and mountains, will
materially affect the theory here laid down. In such cases, the observation
of what actually takes place in nature will form the best guide. A large
river, in a tolerably straight direction, more especially if acted on by the
tides of the sea, has always considerable influence upon the direction of the
wind, from the difference which exists between the temperature of the surface
of the water, and that of the adjoining land and houses. In the heat of sum-
mer, the river has a tendency to create a current of air by its coolness, and
12 THE WILLA GARDENER,
in winter by its warmth; and this action is greatly increased when the motion
of the river is rapid, or when it rises and falls with the tide.
13. Water.—This element, so essential both for the house and garden, is
not likely to be lost sight of; because, from the earliest times, it has been an
understood requisite both for a dwelling and a garden. Hence, as cities and
towns formerly were placed by a river, or on some inlet of the sea, so detached
dwellings were placed by brooks or springs. With the present improved
means of procuring water by boring, or collecting it on the surface and pre-
serving it in tanks, few difficulties respecting the procuring of water can
occur. It must, however, be taken into consideration, that where there is a
garden, much more water is required than where there is only a house.
14. Eaſternal appearance and architectural style.—Many persons who have
not had much experience in the choice of a house, are captivated by the
exterior; and are more influenced by picturesque effect, than by any property
in the dwelling connected with habitableness. One person is an admirer of
the Gothic; without considering that, unless the number of windows in such
a house is greater than in a building in the Roman or Italian style, the rooms
will be ill-lighted, from the thickness of the mullions, and the smallness of
the frames; and probably also not well ventilated, from the defective manner
in which Gothic windows generally open. Some prefer a cottage with lat-
ticed windows, and surrounded by creepers; not considering that the rooms
in such buildings are very frequently low, ill-lighted, and ill-ventilated; the
floors subject to the dry-rot, and the walls to damp : for, notwithstanding the
beauty of flowering creepers, there is not a single kind of creeping plant
which will grow against a house, that does not make the walls damp, with
the exception of ivy. Some prefer a house with a veranda all round it; and
no doubt such an appendage will keep the house warmer in winter, and cooler
in summer, and will afford a dry walk during rain; but those who take a
house with a veranda, which they are, of course, bound to keep in repair,
should first well consider if it admits sufficient light to the rooms on the
ground-floor; and secondly, whether it is well put together, and made of
durable materials. Some houses which are surrounded by arcades, and which
are exceedingly handsome and architectural externally, are yet more gloomy
within than their possessors would, perhaps, like to acknowledge.
15. A thatched cottage is an object of admiration with many persons who
have not had much experience of country life; and, accordingly, we find
several in the neighbourhood of London. Such cottages have, perhaps, the
gable end covered with ivy, the chimney-tops entwined with Virginian
creepers, and the windows overshadowed by roses and jasmines. The ivy
forms an excellent harbour for sparrows and other small birds, which build
there in quantities in spring and early in summer, and roost there during winter.
In June, as soon as the young birds are fledged, all the cats in the neighbour-
hood are attracted by them, and take up their abode on the roof of the house
every night for several weeks; the noise and other annoyances occasioned by
which we need only allude to. We say nothing of the damp produced by the
deciduous creepers and the roses, as we have already mentioned that: but we
must here notice another evil, which is not so obvious, though quite as serious,
and this is, the numerous insects generated in the decaying thatch; and more
especially that generally-disliked creature, the earwig, which in autumn,
whenever the windows are open, comes into the house in quantities, and finds
GENERAL PRINCIPI.E.S. 13
its way into every closet, chink, piece of furniture, and even books and
papers. All cottages of this kind harbour snails and slugs in the ivy, and
spiders under the eaves of the thatched roof; and wherever there are spiders,
there are also abundance of flies. As there is always a garden attached to
such cottages, it is almost certain, if on a clayey soil, to abound in snails,
slugs, worms, and, if the situation is low, perhaps newts. Some of these,
from the doors, or at all events the back-door, being generally kept open, are
quite sure to find their way not only into the kitchen, but even into the
pantry and cellars. Slugs, when very small, will enter a house through a
crevice in the window, or a crack in the door; find their way to the moist
floor of the pantry or the cellar, and remain there for weeks, till they are of
such a size that they cannot retreat. There are few persons indeed who do not
experience a feeling of disgust at seeing the slimy traces of a slug in any part
of their house, not to speak of finding them on dishes in which food is kept,
or even on bread; or at discovering an earwig in their bed, or on their linen.
The kitchen, in low damp cottages of every kind, almost always swarms with
beetles and cockroaches, and the pantry with flies; while, from the closeness
and want of ventilation in the rooms, it is almost impossible to keep fleas, &c.,
from the beds. If a large dog be kept in or near the house, as it frequently
is, or if a stable or cow-house be near, the fleas from the dog, the horses, or
the cows, which are larger than the common kind, will overspread the carpets,
and find their way to the sofas and beds. Having lived in cottages of this
kind ourselves in the neighbourhood of London, we have not stated a single
annoyance that we have not ourselves experienced ; and we have purposely
omitted some. Two of these, offensive smells and rats, are the infallible
results of the want of proper water-closets and drainage; but these evils,
great as they may seem to be, are much easier to remedy than the others
already mentioned, which are, in a great measure, inseparable from the kind
of house. Two others, the danger of setting fire to a thatched roof, and its
liability to be injured by high winds, are sufficiently obvious; but it would
hardly occur to any one, who had not lived in a house of this description in
the neighbourhood of London, that a thatched roof is, of all roofs, the most
expensive, both when first formed, and afterwards to keep in repair. A
plumber or a slater, to repair a lead or a slate roof, may be found everywhere
in the suburbs of large towns; but a professional thatcher must be sent for
from the interior of the country. For example, the nearest cottage thatchers
to London are in the Hundreds of Essex on the east, and in Buckinghamshire
on the west. We have dwelt more particularly on the evils incident to a
thatched cottage, because in it, all cottage annoyances exist in an extreme
degree; but the truth is, that all the cottages which have not their ground-
floors so much elevated above the surrounding surface as to be perfectly dry,
and their rooms lofty and well lighted and ventilated, are subject to the same
evils, though not quite to so great an extent. Notwithstanding all that we
have stated, we do not recommend our readers never to take a thatched, or
other fancy or ornamental cottage; we only wish to point out the inconve-
niences and extra expense to which their doing so will render them liable,
We think we may safely assert that the same family that would want two
servants under ordinary circumstances, would require three in a cottage of
the kind we have been describing.
16. The kind of country house least liable to inconvenience is one that stands
14 THE WILLA GARDENER.
high, dry, and free; that is compact in its general form; that has the diagonal
line of its general plan south and north, so as to obtain the sun on every
window, on some part of every day that it shines, throughout the year; or, in
other words, that has no front or side pointing directly either east, west,
north, or south; that has the rooms, and especially the kitchen story, lofty,
and well lighted and ventilated; that has a secure roof of slate, lead, or flat
tiles; few creepers on the walls; and, that is not choked up with trees and
bushes. These conditions being complied with, the architectural style of the
building may be left to the taste of the occupant.
17. As the cubic form is known to enclose more space with the same quan-
tity of walling and roof than any other, so it is an established rule, that a
house square in the plan is preferable in all that regards comfort, habita-
bleness, and economy of heating, keeping clean, and in repair, to one which
is irregular in its plan. The next best form to a square is that of a parallelo-
gram; and the worst form that can be adopted is that of a long, narrow,
irregular building. A square house is more compact within, and, from its
form, it is warmer in winter and cooler in summer than any other; it is more
easily heated; it has less space occupied by passages, and is, consequently,
more easily cleaned; and, externally, it exposes less surface to the atmos-
phere, and is, consequently, more easily kept in repair than any other.
When economy is the main object, therefore, a square house ought to be
chosen; and, that it may combine architectural beauty with economy, both
in first cost and future management and repairs, one should be chosen in
which the same description of brick or stone, the same style of workmanship,
the same magnitude, kind, and disposition of windows, the same facings to
them, the same kind of cornice, and, in short, the same architecture, is
adopted on all the four sides. Above all things, as a matter of taste, a house
ought to be avoided which has any one of its sides decidedly inferior to the
rest, in respect either to architectural design or execution. We should say,
also, avoid, in point of habitableness and comfort, every house, the diagonal
line of the general plan of which is not south and north; were it not that
this maxim would condemn all those houses which have been built along, and
parallel to, streets or roads which run directly east and west, or north and
south. Unfortunately, the custom of placing small country houses that are
near streets or roads, with one of their sides parallel to that street or road,
and without any reference whatever to its direction, is almost universal, even
where there is a distance of 100 yards or more between the road and the
house, though it is productive of two serious evils, which admit of no remedy.
The one is, that the opposite side or front of the house to that which faces
the road is considered as the back, and is, therefore, generally designed and
finished in an inferior style: and the other is, that no attention can be paid to
placing the diagonal line of the plan of the house due south and north; and
that, whether this is the case or not, depends on the direction of the road, and
not on the will of the builder. The latter is much the greater evil; for so
numerous are the advantages of this disposition of the plan, in point of solar
light, warmth, ventilation, and cheerfulness, and even dryness and healthy
vegetation in the garden or adjoining grounds, that, in our opinion, it ought
to be made the governing principle in the placing of every detached house,
whatever may be the direction of the road to which the house may be said to
belong. -
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 15
18. The principal disadvantage of a square house, is, that it is said, by some
architects, to afford less architectural beauty than any other form, from the
sameness of the general shape; but this is partly a mistake, and is chiefly
believed to be true by such as consider variety to be one of the main beauties
of architecture. Now, our opinion is that variety, however prominent a
beauty it may be in landscape, is only a subordinate one in architecture;
and that the grand characteristic beauties of that art are magnitude and
symmetry. We would not exclude variety; on the contrary, we would
produce it to as great an extent in the details as was consistent with symme-
try; and, of any two buildings equal in magnitude and symmetry, we should
say that the one which possessed the greater amount of variety was the most
beautiful. Two great beauties in architecture, and without which an edifice
can hardly merit to be called architectural, are the appearances of solidity
and of magnitude. Now, no form whatever gives the appearance of solidity
to so great an extent, in proportion to the quantity of matter employed, as
the square or the circular form. Both these forms are equal in point of
solidity; but the square (the quantity of matter being the same) has greatly
the advantage in point of magnitude, by presenting, especially when two
sides are seen at once, a much greater surface to the eye. A building in the
form of a parallelogram, if seen only in front, may have the appearance of
magnitude; but, when one end is seen, and that is found to be narrow, the
impression of the want of solidity is immediately felt in a high degree, and
the impression of magnitude is proportionately diminished. Hence, a build-
ing in the form of a parallelogram, in whichever manner it may be viewed,
is never so satisfactory as one in the form of a square, or cube. Now, that
a square, or cubic, building not only possesses, by the nature of its form, the
essential and fundamental architectural beauties of solidity, magnitude,
regularity, and symmetry, but also may be made to display the accessary
beauties of variety, harmony, character, and style, might be proved by
various examples; but it may be sufficient here to refer to the Gothic and
Elizabethan mansions of former times; the noblest of which, and those
which make the greatest figure in the history of our domestic architecture,
were almost always built either in squares or quadrangles, or in the form of
three sides of a quadrangle.
19. In choosing a house that is irregular in the plan and elevation, there
are some advantages, but many disadvantages. The advantages are, that, in
particular situations, particular distant prospects may be better displayed;
and that in all situations, even on a flat surface, a greater variety of home
views, that is, views within the grounds, may be created. This, it is obvious,
is to be effected by placing the rooms in such a way that the principal
windows in them will look on the view at a right angle. The disadvantages
of an irregular house are, that it is always colder in winter, and warmer in
summer, than a square house, from the exterior surface of almost every
room being exposed to the weather on two or more sides; whereas, in
a square house, only the corner rooms are exposed on more than one sióe.
The chimneys in an irregular house do not draw so well, because the greater
part of them are in the outside walls. On account of the great surface both
of walls and roof, and of the greater number of gutters in the latter, it
is clear that irregular houses must cost more at first, and require more to
16 THE WILLA GARDENER.
keep them in repair, than square, or parallelogram, houses; the quantity of
decoration on both being equal.
20. Laying out and planting.—However paradoxical it may seem, it is
nevertheless true, that the difficulties of building, planting, and gardening,
on a small scale, so as completely to attain the objects in view, are greater
than on a large one. This will be found acknowledged by the late eminent
landscape-gardener, Mr. Repton, in various parts of his works; and it is
also well-known to every architect, and to every gentleman's gardener who
has been accustomed to lay out grounds. There is scarcely an architect who
does not find it much easier to satisfy himself in devising a design for a
mansion, than one for a cottage residence; or a landscape-gardener, who
would not have more confidence of success in laying out and planting a park
of a thousand acres, than a ground plot of half an acre. The difficulty, in
the case of small places, arises from the deep consideration required to pro-
duce the greatest possible result from very limited means. In building or
planting on a large scale, the means are generally ample; and, if not
unlimited, they are, at least, frequently indefinite : the results obtained are,
therefore, generally considerable, and such as to afford ample enjoyment to
the possessor. Should they fail of this, however, his wealth and his resources
will enable him to alter, amend, and improve, till he has succeeded to his
wishes; or, should he ultimately not succeed, will prevent him from being
ruined by the attempt. The planner of a small place, on the contrary,
whether it is for his own occupation, or for that of another, undertakes a task
of great moral responsibility; since the result may either be inadequate to
the means employed, and thus time and money which can ill be spared may
be thrown away; or the expense may be greater than was desired, or could
be afforded by the party, and might thus blight his fortune, and, conse-
quently, mar his prospects of happiness. In short, when an artist under-
takes to arrange a country residence on the smallest scale, he may be
considered as intrusted with the whole of what his employer can afford to
expend in that manner; while, on a large scale, he is only intrusted with a
part. Hence the serious consequence of failure in the former case, as com-
pared with the latter; and, hence, the deep consideration required in design-
ing, and the great anxiety felt in executing, a cottage residence, as compared
with a mansion or a palace. Those who have had most experience in matters
of this kind will be the most deeply impressed with the truth of what is here
stated.
21. In the earlier stages of civilised society, the comforts and the ele-
gances of life were necessarily few ; but, as civilisation and refinement
proceeded, both must naturally have increased. The first house was, doubt-
less, a mere hovel; and the first garden a piece of dug ground, surrounded
by a rude enclosure; and as mankind advanced in knowledge and taste, the
hovel and the enclosure were gradually improved, till they became what they
are at present. It is the privilege of every existing generation to take
ăvantage of all that is considered excellent in the practices of those which
have preceded it. The first architects could have only one manner of archi-
tecture to study, and the first gardeners only one mode of laying out their
gardens; but the architects of the present day can have recourse to all the
different styles of design, and manners of building, which have been prac-
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 17
tised by different nations, from the earliest ages of human records to the
present time. The modern architect may build a house in the classic or in
the Gothic style; or he may adopt the historical and geographical variations
of these styles, as exhibited in the Hindoo, Elizabethan, Italian, English,
and other manners of building. In like manner, the landscape-gardener,
who would lay out grounds at the present day, may adopt either the oldest,
or geometrical, style, in which the forms and lines of the house are reflected
in the garden in front of it, and which, as it has been recently shown, was
practised by the ancient Egyptians more than 3000 years ago; or he may
adopt the modern, or irregular, style, in which the forms of nature are
brought into immediate contrast with the forms of art: and he may, farther,
combine the two styles in such a manner as to join regularity and irregularity
in one design. In a word, both in architecture and in gardening, the artist
of the present day has it in his power to adopt the style or manner of any
former age, or of any other country, and adapt it to the wants of the present
age, in the country in which he lives.
22. There are certain principles common to all the arts of design and taste,
whatever style may be adopted by the architect and landscape-gardener, by
which both artists must be guided; and certain others, or rather, perhaps,
certain rules, deduced from fundamental principles, which are peculiar to
each art. Whatever, either in a building or a garden, cannot be justified on
fundamental principles, must undoubtedly be wrong; and whatever cannot be
referred to pre-established rules must necessarily be new, and may either be
right or wrong, according to its consistency or inconsistency with fundamental
principles. Hence it is that all the productions of the fine arts, no less than
of the mechanical arts, may be subjected to reason; and, consequently, that
when any part is produced, either of a building or of a garden, for which no
sufficient reason can be given, that part must be either a superfluity or a
deformity.
23. The fitness of the means employed to the end to be obtained is the
most important principle, applicable both to architecture and gardening as
useful arts.
24. The fitness of a building for the end in view ought not only to be
real, but apparent. A dwelling-house, for example, ought not to be so con-
structed as to be mistaken for a chapel, or a barn, or a manufactory; nor
a chapel, nor any public building, so designed as to be mistaken for a private
house. Supports should not only be, but they should appear to be, adequate
to the weight to be supported. Hence, when cast-iron pillars are introduced
in a brick or stone building, they ought either to be cased or cast hollow, so
as to appear of the usual dimensions of brick or stone pillars: or, if the small
dimensions required in an iron column are prefer-
able, in order to admit more light, the metallic cha- t – —— —-
1
racter of the material ought to be rendered obvious \ | T
by painting or bronzing, or by some such means; the **saºs--see-sºº.
material of which they are formed ought always to

appear obvious at first sight. Stone lintels over
openings, when they are not formed of one piece,
ought to have the joints of the pieces in such a
direction towards a centre as to give them the appear- -
ance of being the joints of an arch, as in fig. 1., even
C
18 THE WILLA GARDENER,
though the real source of strength should be an unseen iron plate or beam let
into the soffit. Every wall should be broadest at its base; openings, such as
windows, should be made above one another; solid parts of a wall above solid
parts, rather than above openings; wide openings should be arched; lintels
should be of one piece of wood or stone; all the stones forming a wall should
have horizontal surfaces on their under and upper sides; and the largest
stones of a wall should be nearest the foundation. Much more might be said
on the subject of fitness as applied to architecture and building; and the
reader will find it treated at length in our Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and
Villa Architecture, book iv., ch. i.
25. In gardening, the principles of fitness, or the adjustment of the means
to the end, may be applied to the situation of the garden; to the fitness of its
soil for the articles to be cultivated; to the fitness of the forms of the com-
partments for carrying on the processes of cultivation; to the fitness of the
culture for the particular plants cultivated; and so on.
26. The rules which, in gardening, are derived from this principle of
Fitness are, that in the latitude of Britain, and in the climate of the neigh-
bourhood of London, the best situation for a kitchen-garden or a fruit-garden
is on a level plain, open on all sides, and at a distance from hills; that in
hilly districts, in the same latitude, the best aspect is on a declivity to the
south-east; that the best soil for general purposes is a sandy loam ; that the
best form of compartments is a square or a parallelogram; and that the best
form of culture is in rows, and so forth.
27. The principles common to architecture and gardening as fine arts.-
In order to render this subject as plain as possible, it may be advisable to
commence by endeavouring to point out what a fine art is. A fine art may
be said to be a creation, or composition, intended, through the eye or the ear,
to please the mind. Its two essential qualities are to create and to please;
the work produced must be a creation of the artist, and must be acknowledged
as such, otherwise it would be no work of art; and it must excite pleasing
emotions, otherwise it would be no fine art, no art of imagination, of beauty,
or of taste. If this chain of reasoning be correct, and the conclusion is fairly
derived from the premises, the fundamental principles of the fine arts would
appear to be two; appearance of art and mental excitability. We shall
endeavour to develope these principles a little more in detail.
28. Appearance of art.—Any creation, to be recognised as a work of art,
must be such as can never be mistaken for a work of nature. It is true that
art may create a work which shall be mistaken for nature; but in such a case
the object created could afford no pleasure as a work of art, because it would
be without the first condition, viz. that kind of aspect by which art is at once
recognised. . Much is very properly said about the imitation of nature,
because no work whatever could produce an effect on the human mind but
such as was in accordance with those works from which the human mind
receives all its impressions, and to which impressions alone it is accommo-
dated. A work of art, therefore, that is not composed in imitation of, or, in
other words, upon the same principles of composition as the works of nature,
can no more give pleasure to the human mind, as at present constituted, than
an article not fit to be taken into the stomach as food can give nourishment
to the human body. The great object of all human exertion, after satisfying
those wants which are essential to our existence, is to procure the approbation
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 19
or applause of ourselves or others. To imitate nature in such a way as that
the object produced should be mistaken for nature, could never excite much
approbation for the artist, because its very perfection, by deceiving the
spectator into a belief of its reality, would prevent it from being considered
as a work of art. On the contrary, when an object is imitated in a totally
different material from that in which it appears in nature, and the imitation
is successful, the applause of the spectator is great in proportion to the degree
of skill displayed.
Thus, suppose a person to succeed in making artificial flowers of coloured
paper so like real flowers as to deceive the spectator, and another person to
carve an imitation of such flowers in wood or stone, what would be the merit
which the common sense of mankind would assign to each of these two
persons? The artificial flower-maker would be considered in the light of a
manufacturer, or mechanical producer, or repeater of an object, while the
carver in wood or stone would be considered as possessing a superior degree
of mind, from his having produced the resemblance of a flower in a material
so unlike the texture of flowers as wood or stone : he would, in short, be con-
sidered an artist.
29. The principle of the recognition of art is thus, we think, proved to be
founded in human nature: it is recognisable in every description of human
improvement; and it is no less essential in the case of the fine arts than in
those of common life, or of any of the mechanical arts and manufactures.
We have considered it necessary to insist on this principle here, in order that
our readers may go along with us when we come to make the application of
it to the modern style of landscape-gardening. This style is said to be an
imitation of nature; and, in consequence of this expression, many persons
have argued in favour of imitating nature so closely as to produce scenes
which might be mistaken for natural ones; or, in other words, for those which
result from causes operating independently of man. If we are right in our
principle, however, such fac-simile imitations of mature, even of the most
beautiful nature that can be selected, constitute but a very inferior style of
art; and the landscape gardener who should produce a piece of water
surrounded by grass and trees, with its margin fringed by bushes and water-
plants, and varied by gravel and stones, in such a natural-looking manner
that it might be selected for copying from by a landscape-painter, and mis-
taken by him for a piece of natural scenery, has exactly the same pretensions
to the character of an artist as a manufacturer of artificial flowers or Wax
figures, who should produce a flower of tinted paper, or a dressed figure of a
man or boy, so complete a fac-simile of nature that a botanical painter, or a
cursory observer, might be desirous of making a drawing from the one, and
of speaking to the other, believing both to be alive. .
30. The rules which, in landscape-gardening, may be derived from the
principle of the recognition of art are numerous. With respect to ground, it
must either be reduced to levels, or slopes of regular curvatures, as in the
ancient style; or, in the modern style, to polished curvatures and undula-
tions, which shall be, either from their beauty of form, or from their clothing
of herbage, distinguishable at first sight from the natural surface of the ground
by which the work of art, that is, the lawn, park, or pleasure-ground, is sur-
rounded. Wood, if the common trees of the locality are employed, must be
either planted in lines, or massed in geometrical figures; but, if foreign trees
c 2
20 THE WILLA GARDENER.
and shrubs only are used, they may be planted in irregular masses or groups,
and as single trees. If indigenous trees and shrubs are at any time intro-
duced in the modern style of landscape-gardening, the greatest care must be
taken not to crowd, or even group, them together in such a manner as that a
stranger might conclude they had grown up there naturally. They must be
placed so as to stand distinct from other trees and shrubs, and so as to take
forms more perfectly developed than what the same species are found to have
in a natural or accidental state in the surrounding country. For example, in
a country abounding with the common English oak, no artist, who under-
stands his art, would employ that tree in his artificial plantations, unless at
their boundaries, so as to harmonise them with the natural woods of the
country; or unless in an avenue, or in some other way in which they could at
once be recognised as having been planted. But, supposing that one indige-
nous oak existed in the midst of his artificial plantation, which he was obliged
to retain; or that he were absolutely required to plant one; or that he were
desirous of having one to complete a collection; how is that tree, supposed
to be common in the neighbourhood, to be treated, so as to subject it to the
principle of the recognition of art, and yet so as not to violate its natural
form, by clipping it in the ancient manner P To answer this question, it is
necessary to consider the state of the common oaks in the neighbourhood:
these are, in all probability, either crowded in oak woods, or pruned or other-
Wise mutilated in hedgerows. Give the oak, in the artificial plantation,
therefore, ample room on every side; preserve it from cattle, and let its
branches stretch out all around, and hang down upon the ground; and you
have at once a tree of art, and of great natural beauty. Water, bounded by
the formal lines of the ancient style is easily recognisable as artificial: but how
is this end to be attained in a style which professes to be an imitation of
nature ? There are two kinds of water, in imitations of natural scenery.
One is, where there already exists a brook, or a lake, or a river, which is to
be appropriated, and rendered a work of art; and the other is, where there is
no visible water naturally, but where excavations are to be made. and to be
filled with water, which is to assume the character of a lake or river. In the
first case, the brook, lake, or river, is readily appropriated as a work of art,
by planting exotic, woody, and herbaceous plants along the margins, in a
natural-looking manner; carefully removing all that are indigenous, with the
exception, perhaps, of such as are not conspicuous, as the usual grasses which
compose turf. Thus, the cut-leaved alder might be substituted for the com-
mon species; the weeping poplar, or the weeping willow (if not too common
in the neighbourhood), and the paper birch, for the common willow and
birch; and that truly elegant exotic aquatic tree, the deciduous cypress,
might be made the prevailing species.
31. The application of the principle of the recognition of art to rocky scenery
may, at first sight, appear to present some difficulties. By rocky scenery is
here meant scenes of nature in which rocks are predominant features. By
what means, for example, are the terrace walk and the perpendicular rocks
on the banks of the river Wye, at Piercefield in Monmouthshire, to be ren-
dered a work of art? By substituting another kind of rock for the indigenous
one 7 No; for not only is the scale too large to render this practicable, but,
if it were accomplished, the very largeness of the scale would make it to be
still considered as the work of nature; unless, indeed, rocks, which every one
GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 21
knew did not exist in the country at all, were substituted for the natural ones;
and even in this case, though the character of art would be maintained, yet
the associations connected with solid natural rocks would be so effectually
obliterated, that, on the whole, the interest of the scene would be destroyed.
Neither in landscape-gardening, nor in any other art, ought every thing to
be made to give way to one view of a subject. The most complete mode of
appropriating the rocky bank at Piercefield, as a work of art, would be, by
the artificial manner of conducting a walk through it, and by the manner in
which this walk is constructed. Such a walk should be carried along on a
level, or on a regular slope or slopes; and the contrast of such a line, and the
rough and ever-varying natural surface, would alone indicate the employment
of art. Another mode would be to remove all the indigenous vegetation above
and below it, and to supply its place by foreign vegetation of a similar character.
Instead of the common oak, which is the prevailing tree at present, substitute
the evergreen and the Turkey oaks; and, instead of the common brambles,
sloes, and thorns, which protrude from the rocks, substitute the thorns of
Greece and America, and the laurustinus, the arbutus, and the cistus of Italy.
32. In the case of buildings in the artificial landscapes created by land-
scape-gardening, art is always recognised in the building itself, that being
indisputably an artificial object: but the principle of the recognition of art is
not always perceived in the placing of the building: on the contrary, nothing
is more common, in arranging the grounds round an edifice, than a violation
of this principle. Wherever a building, whether a house, an obelisk, a column,
or a statue, is set down among trees and plants, and appears to rise up among
them as if it were itself a tree or a plant, there will be found a want of the
artificial principle. This want is produced by the vegetation being placed
too near the artificial object, and by the trees and ground not having been
treated according to art. An artificial object ought, surely, not to appear to
grow out of the ground, like a natural one: it ought to grow out according to
art, which indicates that it ought to rise from an artificial basement; and
that the ordinary vegetation of the spot ought to be kept at some distance
from it. May not creepers be planted against it? Yes; because the planting
and training of these indicate design and intention, and enable the spectator
to recognise art. We do not say that it is always advisable to plant creepers
against a building; because there are a variety of circumstances to be taken
into view before any one point can be determined: we merely say that there
is nothing in the principle of the recognition of art at variance with the use of
creepers, where their use is not at variance with any other principle.
33. Art is easily recognised in all walks and roads; but not always artist-like
- - art. The uniformity


\ / of the breadth, and \ z
\ / the evenness of the
/ surface, of a walk
> * may secure it the
character of art,
while this character
may be counteracted
by the footpath-like 3
junction of one walk
with another, as in
2
22 THE WILLA GARDENER,
fig. 2., while the artist-like junction is shown in fig. 3. The same remark will
apply to the forms of flower-beds on gravel or turf; they are always easily
recognised as belonging to art, but not always to high art; that is, the shapes
of the beds are not always artist-like. In fig. 5., the forms of the beds
resemble those of common cordate leaves, thrown down in a natural manner,
some in one direction and some in another, as if they had dropped off from
a dried specimen in a herbarium. In fig. 4., the same leaves are disposed of, as
a whole, in an artist-like manner. In fig. 6., the
shapes, considered separately, are artist-like;
but they are thrown
Ö down without the 5
- . slightest regard to
- C. symmetry. In fig. 7., -
they are disposed of -
4 Q symmetrically, that -
is, according to art.
Even a straight line,
in gardening and in
architecture, may be laid out or formed in an unartist-like manner; for
example, a line of box, or a brick edging, to a walk, or to a bed or border,
which, instead of being perfectly straight, is bent to one side, will be much
more offensive to the eye of an artist, than a line perfectly straight in the
direction of all its parts, but some parts
of which are wanting. It is not that
either line could have been formed by
| ſ nature, but that the evidence of art is
more decided in the one case than in the
- other. The imagination easily supplies
the parts which are wanting; but it will not so easily set that part of the line
straight which is bent to one side. If, indeed, the line were bent equally to
both sides, the absence of rigid art would be less offensive, because the imagin-
ation would form a middle line for itself. -
34. Combination of parts to form a whole.—The rules, or rather, subordinate
principles, derived from the principle of a whole are very numerous, both in
architecture and landscape-gardening. In architecture, a building is gene-
rally considered as forming a whole of itself, without reference to the scenery


GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 23
with which it may be surrounded; but, in landscape-gardening, a building
is only considered as forming a whole in combination with the scenery by
which it is surrounded. Hence, as every whole must be composed of parts,
a building in a town, to aspire to that character, cannot be so simple as it
may be in the country, amidst verdant scenery. In the town, it ought, with
a view to its effect as a whole, to be broken into parts, one of which should
prevail in effect over the others, which ought to be subordinate to it, while
they co-operated with it in forming a whole. Thus, two pavilions joined
together, without a centre or main body, could not form a whole; but, with
the main body larger than either pavilion, the whole produced would be
acknowledged as such by every eye accustomed to look at objects otherwise
than in detail. In the country, the plainest form of a house, a mere cube of
masonry, may form a whole, if judiciously surrounded by trees. These trees
must, if planted near the house, be either considerably lower than the house
is high; or, if the trees are of the same height as the house, there must not be
more than one or two of them, or there must be so many as to render the trees
the main feature of the whole, and the house only a subordinate feature.
Wherever the house is surrounded, or even embraced, on three sides, with a
mass of trees of the same height as itself, the view fails to produce the effect
of a whole: no ong object in the picture has the ascendency; and, if it were
not for other counteracting associations, such as that of the wealth and dignity
of the proprietor, and the comfort and splendour which are known to exist
in and about such dwellings, the bare impression, as a landscape, would be
disagreeable. On the other hand, when a house is surrounded, or embraced
on three sides by a mass of wood, either a good deal lower than itself, or a
good deal higher, a whole is produced, in which the character of architec-
tural dignity prevails in the former case, and of sylvan dignity in the latter.
A square house in the country, in an open plain or pasture, unsurrounded by
trees, or by other buildings, can never form a whole; because it has no object
of any kind to group with it.
35. A house may form a whole by itself, without the addition of trees, and
so may trees, without the addition of any other objects; but as, in that case,
the house must be rendered independent of exterior objects by being broken
into parts, so must the wood. In the one case, as in the other, one part must
take the lead from one point of view; and all the other parts must obviously
belong to it, and yet be subordinate. In the case of a park sprinkled over
with trees, if these have been judiciously disposed, they will form a whole
with almost every change of the position of the spectator; that is, those near
the eye will group together, and form the principal mass; while those which
are more distant will form subordinate masses, and unite in supporting the
* * *

24 THE VILLA GARDENER.
first. For this purpose, the trees in the park must not be uniformly scattered
over the surface, but planted in such a manner as to exhibit connection and
grouping, even in the ground plan. In fig. 8, the trees are too far apart, and
at too uniform distances from one another, to group, or fall into expressive
wholes; but in fig. 9., they will group agreeably with every change of the
spectator.
36. The eaſpression, “a group of objects,” merely implies that these objects
form a whole. Nearly the same remarks will apply to a lawn varied by
flower-beds, or by beds of low shrubs. The beds, if distributed uniformly
over the lawn, will never group so as to satisfy the eye of a spectator who is
either walking in it, or on a gravel walk round it. The defect will be ren-
dered obvious by comparing fig. 10, with fig. 11. The shapes of the former


GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 25
are unartist-like, as well as too uniformly distributed over the surface; those
of the latter are artist-like, and group or unite both with the turns of the
walk, and with their reciprocal shapes.
37. Trees in a park may form a whole relatively to one another, and yet
not relatively to the surface of the ground: for example, they may be placed
on the levels only, and not on the hills; in which case, the hills will not
group with the trees; and, when the height of these hills approaches nearly
to that of the trees, the effect, both of the hills and trees, will be in a great
measure, counteracted. On the other hand, by planting trees on the heights
as well as on the plains, the views would present groups as effective as if the
whole park had been a plain; and, if the hills were chiefly planted, their
effect would be much more striking than anything that a plain could possibly
produce. Even the magnitude which trees are calculated ultimately to attain,
relatively to the extent of the surface on which they are to be planted, should
be taken into consideration, no less than their magnitude relatively to that of
the buildings which are near them. Thus, a small park would be injured in
effect if planted with the highest and most bulky trees, because they would
not form a whole with any object in it; and, though they might group toge-
ther, and form a whole among themselves, yet that whole would be utterly
disproportionate to every thing else in the park. On the same principle, the
apparent magnitude of water, relatively to the size of the park in which it is
placed, may be diminished or increased according to the size of the trees
planted near it. Perhaps one of the practices most adverse to the formation
of a whole in planting trees is, to plant one part with very large trees, and
another part, seen in the same view, and at the same distance from the eye,

26 THE WILLA GARDENER,
with small ones. Hence, groups of aged trees among groups of shrubs do
not unite so as to form a whole, without the introduction of trees of an inter-
mediate size. In planting trees, even the kind of tree requires to be noticed,
with reference to the production of a whole. An equal number of spiry-
topped trees with round-headed ones in a group will not form a whole, from the
incongruity of their forms; while a number of round-headed trees of the same
bulk, and equidistant from the eye, will not form a whole, from the sameness
of their forms and magnitude. Even in sloping and smoothing the surface of
ground, the principle of a whole must constantly be kept in view; for, if all
the curves and the slopes are of the same curvature and inclination, and of
the same magnitude, they will not group; because there will not be a central
or leading feature. There must be a prevailing slope; one which takes the
lead, either from its magnitude, or its position relatively to the others. Sup-
pose figs. 12, and 13., to represent the sections of ground sloping from the front
12
=ºmºsº
of a house, it will not be denied that there is more of effect in fig. 13. than in
fig. 12.; and the reason is, that there is a feature in fig. 13., produced by the
large slope which occupies the place of the two smaller undulations in fig. 12.
38. In laying out and planting grounds, it is not only necessary to consider
how trees may form a whole with buildings, with themselves, with shrubs, with
ground, with water, with rocks, and even with fleeting objects, such as
animals; but how they may form a whole with the objects at different seasons
of the year. Thus, one part of the place must not be entirely planted with
13
evergreens, and a corresponding part, which is seen at the same time, planted
with deciduous trees. In looking down from the windows of a house, whether
on an extensive park, or on a lawn of a few acres, it would be unsatisfactory,
during winter, to see the principal masses of plantation, on the one hand,
all, or even chiefly, evergreens, and, on the other, all, or chiefly, deciduous
trees. It would also be unsatisfactory to see evergreens equally mixed
together throughout the view, instead of being so distributed, and yet so con-
nected, as, at a distance, to unite in forming one grand whole.
39. Regularity and symmetry.—In the modern, or irregular, style of land-
scape-gardening, as well as in the irregular style of architecture, which,
whether under the name of Gothic or Italian, is the style of country houses


. GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 27
now most prevalent, the production of a whole requires a much greater
knowledge of art than in the ancient style, either of landscape gardening, or
of Greek or Roman domestic architecture: in both of these styles an attempt
was seldom made to produce a whole, except by means of regularity and
symmetry. It is almost unnecessary to state, that, in the ancient style,
whether in ground, in wood, in water, or in buildings of every description,
and in roads, regularity or symmetry were the governing principles. The
place, as a whole, was generally symmetrical, one half reflecting the other;
and the details were always regular. In an age when the beauties of irregu-
larity, and the variety produced by wild scenery, prevailed throughout the
country, those of regularity and symmetry would be found to be characteristic
of art and civilisation; and they were preferred by our ancestors, with a taste
as just and correct relatively to them, and to the circumstances in which they
were placed, as our widely differing taste is to us, and our circumstances.
40. Though symmetry may appear to be a beauty eaclusively employed in
architecture, and in the ancient style of laying out grounds, yet this only
applies to symmetry when it is joined with regularity. In every irregular
whole, that is satisfactory to the eye, there will always be found a certain
balance or proportion, which one side of the centre of the picture bears to the
other, and which balance is nothing more than symmetry. It will be recol-
lected, that the essential principle of symmetry is the union of two parts as
a whole, which do not form wholes separately; in opposition to uniformity,
where, the parts being regular, each taken separately forms a whole. Now,
in every pleasing landscape it will be found, that, if it were bisected perpen-
dicularly by an imaginary line, something like an equal body of scenery
would be found on each side. The same may be said with reference to any
irregular building which is pleasing as a picture, and also to any irregular
flower-garden, or the planting of an irregular park. A pleasure-ground,
which, viewed from the drawing-room windows, appeared to have all the
shrubs on one side, and only flowers and lawn on the other, would not be so
satisfactory as one where they were more equally balanced. Neither would
the views from the house, over a lawn the surface
*** 14 of which formed a hill on one side and a hollow on
the other, be agreeable. Hence, a view across a
slope, as in fig. 14., is never so satisfactory as one
either up or down the declivity; but a view across
two slopes intersecting each other, as in fig. 15., is
satisfactory; because in this last case, the one
balances the other. Single objects, that are not
regular, such as a tree, are never satisfactory, unless they are symmetrical;
that is, unless the quantity of branches on one side appears to balance the
- quantity on the other. Thus, those trees which,


~ss:§ *_ being the most irregular by nature, are symme-
_`
trical at the same time, are more pleasing than
`s those which are comparatively regular and sym-
metrical; because they show a greater amount of
variety, combined with symmetry. In this point of view, an oak, an elm,
and a sweet chestnut are more pleasing trees, and higher in the scale of
beauty, than a silver fir, a spruce fir, or a larch. The same observation will
apply to shrubs, and even to herbaceous plants. One of the most interesting
results of symmetry, as applied to trees, is, where the trunk is thrown, by
28 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
nature or accident, into a position where it requires extraordinary forms of
growth in its branches to adjust them to the natural symmetry belonging to
its species: for example, when a tree, planted on the banks of a river or lake,
has its trunk inclined over the water, and its head in an erect position, and
balanced by branches on each side, in the usual manner. -
41. Variety is the next beauty common to architecture and to landscape-
gardening; and it must be acknowledged to be a great addition to symmetry,
or to any whole in which there is a complete unity of expression, whether
that whole be irregular or symmetrical. In architecture, variety is produced
in symmetrical and regular buildings, by a difference in the details; and, in
irregular buildings, by a difference even in the smaller parts of the composi-
tion, as well as in the details. In regular and symmetrical buildings, variety
is chiefly confined to what may be considered the ornamental parts of the
edifice; such as architraves, mouldings, cornices, &c. The component parts
which are essential to the symmetry, or the regularity, of the whole must
remain the same; whereas, in irregular buildings, not only may there be a
variety in the mouldings and ornaments, but in the component parts; such as
projections, recesses, towers, &c. *
42. In the ancient style of landscape-gardening, variety was very seldom
attempted, except in flower-gardens; because, as we have already observed,
it was a beauty so common in the surrounding scenery, as not to be in
demand. The reverse is the case in the modern style of laying out grounds;
for, the country being now under regular cultivation, in right-lined enclosures,
variety is, in a great measure, banished from general scenery; and, hence, it
is sought for as a rarity in artificial scenery, in the same manner as uniformity
was in ancient times.
43. In planting, variety is produced in several ways: by varying the dis-
positions and distances of trees of the same kind relatively to one another;
by varying the disposition and the distances of trees of the same kind with
shrubs principally of one kind; and by the use of trees and shrubs of many
different kinds. The latter is the most difficult; as, to produce a proper effect,
some knowledge of botany and of plant culture is required, as well as a
knowledge of art. The reason is, that this variety of trees and shrubs is
known to comparatively few ; and, many of them having been but a few years
in the country, it is only in consequence of botanical knowledge, and a know-
ledge of the art of cultivation, that an estimate can be formed of what, in
point of bulk and character, they will afterwards arrive at. Hence, an artist
may have a knowledge of architecture and of the principles of picturesque
beauty, in the general disposition of landscape scenery, without being at all
adequate to produce the higher beauties of which landscape-gardening is
susceptible; and hence, also, it will almost always be more easy to form a
perfect landscape-gardener out of a gardener and botanist, than out of a land-
scape-painter or an architect. The cause is, the science of botany; and that
practical application of it which constitutes a knowledge of plants and their
culture, consisting of numerous details, and requiring considerable time, are
best attained in youth. -
44. In the disposition of a great number of sorts of trees and shrubs in
a plantation, some principle of order must be adopted. If the sorts are mixed
together indiscriminately, the result is left to chance; if they are mixed toge-
ther as equally as possible, then the result must necessarily be monotony, by
the same number of kinds appearing in every part of the plantation; and, if
GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 29
each kind is kept in a group or mass by itself, there will be a risk of want of
connexion, and, consequently, of unity in the general result. In what way
are all these difficulties to be overcome? Chiefly, we should say, by keeping
each sort by itself, and placing all those sorts nearest each other which are
most alike; avoiding all formality in the outlines of the spaces allotted to
each sort; and allowing these spaces to indent or ramify into one another.
For this purpose, a knowledge of the natural system of botany is of the greatest
use to the landscape-gardener; since it teaches him that all those trees and
shrubs that belong to the same natural family, order, or tribe, admit of being
brought together in the same group. The chief difficulty, therefore, will be in
joining and connecting the groups together; and here a general rule may be
given. This is, that, when the groups have a near general resemblance to
each other, such as those of the oaks with the elms, or Crataegus with Pyrus,
then the union may be comparatively abrupt; that is, with a slight intermix-
ture of the trees of both groups at the points where they join. But when the
groups are very dissimilar, such as when the pine and fir tribe adjoin deci-
duous trees, the union must be very gradual, by means of numerous indenta-
tions and ramifications of the one group into the other. For example, suppose
it were desirable to join a large mass of different species of oak (fig. 16. a)
with a large mass of different species of pine (b); then, adjoining some of the
evergreen oaks in the one group (a), place one or two pines, which grow in
large and compact forms; and against some of the half-evergreen oaks, such
as the Fulham or old Lucombe oak, place one or two pines of comparatively
slender growth. In like manner, in the opposite group, evergreen and half-
evergreen oaks may be planted among the pines, as at c, so as to form the
extreme points of the oak group in that direction ; and, as the one group
approaches the other, not only evergreens and half-evergreens, but deciduous
species, in equal numbers, may be introduced. In all this, care must be taken
to avoid a regular progression, and everything like formality. By such means
a degree of union is at first indicated, and afterwards gradually increased, till,
at a point equidistant between both groups, the number of plants belonging to
each group will be equal. In this way, trees of the most opposite kinds may
be introduced in the same plantation, even adjoining each other; but, where
the plantation is of any extent, and many kinds are to be introduced, the
introduction of opposite kinds adjoining each other can never be required. It
can never, for example, in such a plantation, be requisite to unite the weeping
willow with the Scotch pine; nor the poplars with the larch or the weeping
birch; nor very large-growing trees, such as the elms, with trees of small
size, such as the pyrus or the crataegus; nor trees with pinnated leaves, such

36) THE VILLA GARDENER,
as the ash and the Robinia, with such as have narrow, grass-like, or needle-
like leaves, such as the deciduous cypress, and pines, and firs. We repeat,
that, for assembling trees and shrubs in a harmonious manner with reference
to general appearance, excellent hints are afforded by the natural system of
botany; and that the artist who has a general knowledge of this system, and
understands, at the same time, the principles of composition as applied to
lines and forms, which we have been endeavouring to lay down, can never
be at a loss how to proceed. -
45. Variety in the views obtained from the house, and from the different
walks conducted through the grounds, is one of the grand desiderata in every
place laid out in the modern style, whether its extent may be large or small.
With respect to the views from the house, the first thing to be attended to is,
the disposition of the rooms, so that their windows may look in different direc-
tions. Unless this has been studied by the architect, it will be impossible,
even in the finest situation, to produce much variety in the views. Suppose
a house placed on a slope, commanding an extensive prospect: if all the
rooms looked towards that prospect, all of them would have good views, but
these views would not be varied; whereas if, from one side of the house, the
windows of one room (say the drawing-room) looked out on a level flower-
garden; and if, on another side, those of the dining-room looked up the
slope; while, on a third side, those of the library, or breakfast-room, com-
manded the distant prospect; there would be three distinct characters of
view. Now, in very small places (say of a quarter of an acre, or even less,
in extent), this varied disposition of the rooms; or, rather, of the manner of
lighting them, ought never to be lost sight of; because, altogether independ-
ently of distance, or of any object beyond the boundary fence, the views
may be rendered of different characters by the different kinds of trees and
shrubs planted; by their different disposition; by a difference of form in the
ground, and by a difference in the architectural ornaments, or by the absence
of architectural ornaments altogether. Even a difference in the form and
size of the window, or the absence or presence of a balcony or veranda, will
altogether alter the character of the scenery. Wherever, therefore, a house
stands isolated, and has a clear space of a few yards on each side of it, it
may always have at least four different characters of view, independently of
the effect produced by balconies, verandas, or other changes in the windows
or foreground. Hence, also, in limited plots of ground, whatever is their
shape, greater variety of view will be produced by placing the house nearer
one end, or nearer one side, than in the centre. In the latter case, it is
impossible to get depth of view from any side, and thus a great source of
beauty is lost. A deep view includes a greater number of objects, and, con-
sequently, admits of a greater variety of effect of light and shade; it increases
our ideas of extent, and, by concealing more from the eye than can be done
in a confined view, it gives a greater exercise to the imagination. Add to
this, that, in a small place, depth of view is not expected; and, consequently,
when it does occur, its effect is the more striking by the surprise it occasions,
as well as by its contrast with the other views, which must necessarily be
very limited. In fig. 17., a is the house, placed at one side of a plot; b, the
drawing-room, having a view the whole length of the garden: c is the dining-
room, having a very confined view, and, in short, looking across some bushes,
to a screen of evergreens (say hollies or evergreen oaks); d is the breakfast-
GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 31
room, or common sitting-room of the family, looking on a flower-garden, to
which there is a descent from a balcony by three steps. The other small
room may be used as a business, waiting, or gentleman's room; and the
situation of the staircase is indicated. The central hall is large for the size
of the house, and may, in summer, be used occasionally as a music-room, or
as a play-place, or dancing-room, for children. All the offices are on the
basement story, and the first and second floors are bed-rooms. If the garden
were larger, or even of its present size, if circumstances were favourable, a
small piece of water, supplied from a dripping rock, at e, would have a good
effect; and there might be a statue on a pedestal, surrounded with tazza
vases of flowers, in the centre of the flower-garden; or, if water were abund-
ant, a fountain might be substituted for the statue. The rest of the garden,
with the exception of the surrounding border between the walk and the
boundary wall, is entirely of turf, varied by choice ornamental trees and
shrubs, including some fruit-trees and fruit shrubs. The standard roses, and
the fruit shrubs, such as gooseberries, currants, raspberries, &c., of which there
cannot be more than two or three plants of each kind, stand in small circles,
kept dug and manured, in order that they may produce their flowers and
fruit of good size; but the mulberry, the quince, the medlar, and the few
apples, pears, plums, &c., for which space can be afforded, may stand on the
grass. Against the walls are planted one or two peaches, nectarines, and
apricots; and against the house, a fig-tree and a vine. The remainder of the
walls, and of the house, may be varied by roses and flowering creepers; except
the more shady parts of the surrounding wall, which may be covered with the
common, the giant, and the variegated ivy. The surrounding border, between
the walk and the boundary-wall, is wholly devoted to bulbs in spring and the
beginning of summer; with a row of Russian violets inside the box, for pro-
ducing fragrance in winter; and patches of mignonette at regular distances,
to scent the air during summer. Among the groups of trees, and close by
their roots, common cowslips, snowdrops, wild violets, and wood anemones
may be planted to come up among the grass; and, being only planted in a
few places, and these near the roots of the trees, they may be easily avoided
by the mower. In such a garden as this, small though it be, a very great
variety of trees and shrubs might be grown; and the flower-garden is
sufficiently large to produce a very good display of the finer kinds of hardy
flowers.

32 THE WILLA GARDENER,
46. Where walks have been judiciously laid out, and the grounds on each side
of them planted with the proper degree of skill, the views from them will
continually vary, even in grounds of limited extent, and without any distant
prospect. This result, however, is not to be obtained otherwise than by a
very carefully-studied plan for disposing of the walks and the trees. It can
neither be attained, even in a tolerable degree, by a gardener who knows
nothing of the principles of composition, nor by an architect or landscape-
gardener who is not well acquainted with the forms, sizes, modes of growth,
times of flowering, &c., of trees and shrubs. In proceeding to lay out a small
place, with the view of making the most of it in this manner, the first thing is
to ascertain what extent of walk may be produced without ever showing any
portion of the walk to the pedestrian, except that which is immediately before
him. This is evidently more difficult to accomplish in a small place, with a
level surface, than in one where it is sloping or undulating; but, by creating
artificial undulations, even on a very small scale, much may be accomplished
in a very little space; and the effect of such undulations can always be deter-
mined beforehand. Thus in fig. 18., a spectator at a, 63 ft. from a walk at b,
S&S Ş
d
18
* N - Şs
:* E
NW's
9
would see the gravel of that walk, unless the view of it were intercepted by a
Small flower-bed, or gentle rise in the turf, 18 in. high, such as c ; whereas,
by removing the walk to d, the mere distance would conceal it. This is
supposing the general surface of the ground to be a perfect level; but if it were
to slope from the house in the degree indicated by the line a e, then the walk
would be concealed by a raised bed at f, at little more than half the distance
from the eye; and by extreme distance at g.
47. Another means of concealing walks is by chains or continuous groups of
low shrubs; but these, when not carefully introduced, are, in very small
places, apt to injure the view, by interrupting the continuity of the surface of
lawn, and by producing too many parts for so small a picture. These groups
of shrubs may, however, be resorted to for purposes of concealment, at a
great distance from the eye at the sides of a view, or at its farther extremity.
In some cases walks may be concealed, or prevented from obtruding them-
selves on the eye, by forming the more conspicuous parts of them of blocks
of earth-coloured stone, which will not have so glaring an effect as bright-
coloured gravel. Walks laid with blocks of wood, or with grey bricks, have
also a subdued tone of colour, and are not offensive to the eye; but of course
they can only be adopted on a small scale, or in particular parts of a design,
on account of the expense.
48. The walks about a place may be increased and varied by occasionally
crossing each other, either in grotto-like tunnels under ground, or by disguised
bridges above the surface. This is a source not only of great variety in the


GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 33
character of the views, but a means of procuring views of a very striking
description. In forming short tunnels in pleasure-grounds, the greatest care
must be taken to have them straight in direction, so that, on entering at one
end, the light may be seen at that opposite; and never to construct them in a
circuitous direction, because, in that case, they are necessarily dark, in con-
sequence of the light not entering the tunnel directly. This kind of circuitous
tunnel is also objectionable, because it might raise in some minds an idea of
the tricks of grotto-work, which were thought so much of in the ornamental
gardening of the seventeenth century, but which are now justly considered as
puerile conceits. The kind of tunnel that we allude to as desirable in small
gardens is, in point of use, nothing more than a bridge carried over a walk
instead of over water; and with the architecture so disguised by vegetation as
not to be obtrusive, or to interrupt the idea of the continuation of the walk. It
is almost needless to observe that perfect dryness, both in the walk and in the
masonry, is essential to bridges or tunnels of this kind; and this can readily
be obtained by covering the arch, after it is built, with a layer of clay. The
effect of even one tunnel of this kind in a limited space, in adding to the
length of walk, and in giving variety to the scenery, may be seen in the
public terrace-garden at Gravesend. Open and covered seats are also sources
of variety in the views of artificial scenery, both as foregrounds to look from,
and as objects to look at. In small places, however, they require to be intro-
duced with the greatest caution, and never as conspicuous features; because
more than one, for the sake of being able to read or work in the open air in
fine weather, can seldom be requisite. In large places, on the other hand,
seats in different situations are not only useful as affording resting-places, but
as indicating particular points of view, which might otherwise pass unnoticed
by a stranger.
49. Architectural ornaments, such as vases, statues, &c., water in different
forms, pieces of rockwork, and other objects of the like kind, independently
altogether of trees, shrubs, and plants, and of the view of objects beyond the
boundary fence, form sources for varying the views from the walks of a
Small place. Statues, vases, and other architectural ornaments, ought to be
very sparingly introduced at a distance from the house, in gardens in any
style; but more especially in such as are laid out in the irregular or modern
manner. Mixed up with groups of flowers and shrubs, they divide the
attention between the beauties of art and the beauties of nature; and, as the
mind can only attend to one sensation, and experience one emotion of plea-
sure, at a time, it becomes distracted among so many. The true situation for
statues is on an architectural terrace, or in an architectural flower-garden
adjoining the house, the conservatory, or some other architectural structure,
where architecture and sculpture are the main features, and flowers and
vegetation are altogether subordinate.
50. Combination of objects.--When the artist has brought together in his
imagination all the different artificial sources of variety that his subject is
capable of receiving, his next business is to arrange these according to some
kind of order. He will not think of having all his shady walks at one place,
and all his open walks at another; neither will he distribute shade and sun-
shine equally over the whole scene. He will contrive to have at least one
shady walk for midsummer, and one perfectly open to the sun, for midwinter;
and he will dispose of the shady parts of the walks so as generally to form
D
34 THE WILLA GARDENER,
separations between striking scenes, that the one may be forgotten before the
other is entered on; and that, by means of shade near the eye, the objects
at a distance on which light is thrown may appear the farther off. In
studying the succession of views, the artist will operate on the principle of
contrast so far as to make them different; and on the principle of union, so
as not to render them inconsistent with each other. The principle of contrast
will direct that the same description of ornaments should not be distributed
over the whole place; and that neither flowers nor trees and shrubs should
prevail everywhere, any more than that the same kind of tree and shrub
should. The same turf and the same description of gravel may prevail
throughout a whole place, as fundamental principles of union, as the same
sky and clouds appear in the atmosphere; but every thing else should be
varied, by passing from one character of scene into another, till we have
made the circuit of the entire garden: by which is meant not merely walking
round it, which may suffice in small places, where the means are limited;
but walking round it twice, the second time being in a contrary direction to
the first. This is to be effected by the mode before mentioned, of making
one walk cross over another, so that the spectator shall not be aware of being
carried twice over the same ground. In places of the very smallest kind,
even of a few perches in extent, there are always two characters of view, one
looking towards the house, and one looking from it. Hence, in a larger
place, there must be a series of views of the one character, and another series
of the other; and, consequently, to see all the beauties of such a place, a
stranger would be required to walk twice over the same ground; that is, after
he had been once over it, to turn round and retrace his steps; but, by the
system of bridging and tunneling, the eye of the spectator is carried twice
over the same ground without his knowing it, and without his passing twice
over the same walks; and thus he can hardly fail of giving the place credit
for a greater extent than it really possesses.
51. Pariety may be added to small places laid out in straight lines, by break-
ing these lines; and this may be done in many different ways. The straight
lines of the coping of a wall may be broken by clusters of ivy; by allowing
some of the trees or flowering climbers, planted against the wall, to grow
above it in some places; or by allowing plants to grow out of crevices in it.
The lines of walls may be broken, by allowing the branches of adjoining
shrubs to extend over them in some places, and in others to produce masses
of shade and concealment. Even flower-beds and compartments enclosed by
box edgings, which, when newly formed, are perfectly regular or symmetrical,
may have the additional beauty of variety conferred on them in a similar
manner. All objects distant from the eye, in a formal garden, may be varied
by placing trees in the foreground; and the more slender these trees are, the
greater the number that may be planted. Variety may be introduced, even
on flat surfaces, by the addition of ivy, and allowing it to trail along the
ground, or by planting evergreen herbaceous plants; care being taken that the
masses so produced shall always be connected with something else with which
they may form a whole. Rockwork, whether natural or artificial, derives a
great part of its beauty from the variety produced by a partial clothing of
vegetation; and even houses and naked walls may be rendered interesting by
the shade and variety, produced by trees or other plants trained against
them, altogether independently of the botanical interest which these plants
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 35
will create. Water depends for its variety on the vegetation placed along its
margin, as much as a naked wall depends on the trees or plants trained
against it. Water is also varied by its general outline, and by islands, and
projections and recesses; all of which may themselves, in their turn, be
varied by vegetation. Trees and shrubs, which confer so much variety on
other objects, may even have their own variety increased by pruning.
Heavy compact forms, and orbiculate lumpish shapes, may be broken and
lightened by the judicious removal of branches, so as to admit light and air;
and to show, in part, the trunk, and the ramifications of the tree.
52. Harmony in landscape-gardening may be produced by the introduction
of architectural terraces, statues, vases, and other sculptural objects, so as to
connect the house in some measure with the grounds.
53. Style and character.—A house, or the scenery of a country residence,
may be pleasing from its regularity, its symmetry, its variety, and the har-
monious effect of the whole, and yet have nothing in it to distinguish it from
other agreeable places of the same extent; that is, it may be without exhibit-
ing any particular style of design or expression of character. Thus, a house
may have an agreeable general form, and windows so ample as to indicate
large and lofty apartments within ; it may be placed on an architectural
basement; and it may be terminated by architectural chimney tops; and yet
neither be decidedly Roman, decidedly Italian, nor decidedly Gothic nor
Elizabethan. A house may also have a particular character given to it by
Some feature more or less striking; such as a veranda, a far projecting por-
tico, a terminating cupola, &c.; or it may be enriched so as to be expressive
of some degree of character, by sculptures, statues, or vases, &c.; or it may
assume the character of a cottage, of a castle, or of an ecclesiastical building.
It is not difficult to give character to landscape scenery, when there exists
naturally considerable irregularity of surface; but on level surfaces, where
character is to be given chiefly by trees and buildings, more skill is required.
In such a case, the first consideration is, to produce something that shall
powerfully contrast with adjoining residences, similarly circumstanced with
reference to natural features and trees. If, for example, the trees in the
adjoining residences are chiefly deciduous, those in the residence which is to
be rendered expressive of character may be chiefly evergreens; and among
these evergreens some striking kinds ought to prevail; such as cedars, silver
firs, &c. But a still more immediate expression of character may be pro-
duced by employing the geometric style of laying out roads and planting the
trees; or by adopting some style of laying out, different from that adopted
in the adjoining residences.
54. There are two principal styles of laying out grounds in Great Britain;
viz. the geometric, and the natural. The latter is what, on the continent,
is emphatically called English gardening; to which epithet a vague general
idea is attached, of grounds and plantations formed in flowing lines, in imita-
tion of nature; as contradistinguished from ground formed into regular slopes
and levels, or plantations in straight lines, or included in plots, bounded by
lines always decidedly artificial, and it may be divided into three kinds: the
picturesque, the gardenesque, and the rustic. By picturesque gardening is to
be understood the production, in country residences, of that kind of scenery
which, from its strongly-marked features, is considered as particularly suit-
able for being represented by painting; while by the gardenesque style is to
D 2
36 THE WILLA GARDENER,
be understood the production of that kind of scenery which is best calculated
to display the individual beauty of trees, shrubs, and plants in a state of cul-
ture; the smoothness and greenness of lawns; and the smooth surfaces,
curved directions, dryness, and firmness of gravel walks : in short, the gar-
denesque style is calculated for displaying the art of the gardener; while the
picturesque style has a constant reference to what would look well in a pic-
ture; and the rustic style to what is commonly found accompanying the
rudest description of labourers' cottages in the country. The object of this
last-mentioned style, or rather manner, is also to produce such fac-simile
imitations of common nature, as to deceive the spectator into an idea that they
are real or fortuitous. It thus appears that there are several distinct styles in
which grounds may be laid out, without any reference to the natural character of
the surface, the kinds of trees planted, or the architectural or other objects
introduced. We shall briefly notice the leading features of each of these styles.
55. The geometrical style of landscape gardening, or, as it is frequently
called, the ancient, or architectural style, is evidently taken from the archi-
tectural lines of houses and fortifications; and it was accordingly, when it
was the sole style in use throughout Europe, considered to be as much
the province of the architect as the house itself. The antiquity of this
style is evidently as great as that of house-building, with the progress
of which it must have kept pace in every country. As the first beauties
attempted in house-building would be those of regularity in the walls
and roof, and in placing the doors and windows; so, in gardening, the fences,
the surface of the ground, and the roads or walks, would be made regular.
The next step in the progress of both arts would be rendering the house, and
also the garden, symmetrical; one half of the elevation of the former, and of
the ground plan of the latter, reflecting the other. In general, the house was
approached directly in front, by a straight avenue, bordered on each side by
one or more rows of trees; and whatever plantations or enclosures were made
on one side of this avenue, were repeated on the other side. Immediately
round the house, and commonly enclosed by a half-sunk wall (the excavation
or ditch for which frequently formed a canal, or moat, filled with water), was
the garden, in which were cultivated not only flowers and fruits, but, for a
long period, even the culinary vegetables. Numerous improvements and
variations were made in this mode of arranging grounds in the architectural
style; but the characteristic of all these variations, and that which at once
distinguished them from surrounding nature, was, the prevalence of geome-
trical lines as the boundaries of forms, and of regularity in the distance of
objects from one another. The lines might be straight or curved, or combi-
nations of straight and curved lines; but they never deviated into lines which
might have been supposed to be the work of chance. Trees, whether in
hedgerows, avenues, or masses, were always planted at regular distances;
and never, in any case, so as to leave any room for mistaking them for trees
which had belonged to some natural wood or forest. The reason of all this is
sufficiently obvious. The whole country abounding in natural and irregular
forms, there would have been no credit for either wealth, skill, or taste,
obtained by imitating these: while, by employing artificial forms which are
nowhere to be found in nature, a mark of distinction was at once obtained,
which conveyed the idea of wealth, skill, and taste; and which thus answered
every purpose of the possessors.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 37
56. The natural, or English, style.—As the lands devoted to agriculture
in England were, sooner than in any other country in Europe, generally
enclosed with hedges and hedgerow trees; so the face of the country in
England, sooner than in any other part of Europe, produced an appearance
which bore a close resemblance to country seats laid out in the geometrical
style : and, for this reason, an attempt to imitate the irregularity of nature, in
laying out pleasure-grounds, was made in England, with some trifling excep-
tions, sooner than in any other part of the world; and hence the style became
generally known as English gardening. The English, or natural style of
gardening, was first called landscape-gardening by Shenstone ; it was also
called natural gardening by Bosc, Chinese gardening by Sir W. Chambers,
and picturesque gardening by Gabriel Thouin; though none of these authors,
unless we except Chambers, attempted to give a correct definition of what they
meant by the terms they used. The words landscape-gardening are evidently
applicable to the geometrical style, as well as to the natural style; because
landscapes are produced by both : but these landscapes differ in being, in the
former case, a geometrical disposition of walks and beds, and, in the latter,
an imitation by the hand of man, of natural scenery.
57. Artistic imitation of natural scenery.—The imitation of natural scenery
by the hand of man may be rendered artistic in three different ways.
First, we may employ the same sorts of shrubs and trees which are common
in the surrounding country; but, in this case, we must arrange them differ-
ently. Thus, if the whole country be covered with wood, treated as coppice-
wood, the artistical scenery may consist wholly of groups of full-grown trees,
surrounded by, and interspersed with, smooth turf; or, on the other hand, if
the surrounding woody scenery be composed wholly of masses of full-
grown timber-trees, such as thick close-growing pine groves, we may
employ the same kind of trees sparingly, on an extensive breadth of
smooth turf, as before. There are various other modes in which a difference
might be made between the object produced and the object imitated; but
these will suffice to give an idea of this first or lowest degree of artistical
imitation, which may be called the imitation of indigenous landscape. The
second kind of imitation consists in employing trees and shrubs of kinds
totally different from those of the surrounding country; and which, whatever
may be the mode of their arrangement, will, at first sight, distinguish the
landscapes of which they form a part from those of the given locality or
country. Thus, in Britain, the trees and shrubs of North America, the Con-
tinent of Europe, and the temperate parts of Asia, afford ample resources to
the landscape-gardener. Now, the trees employed in this imitation of nature
may be disposed in two ways, which we have already designated as the pic-
turesque and the gardenesque; the first being the imitation of nature in a wild
state, such as the painter delights to copy; and the second, the imitation of
nature, subjected to a certain degree of cultivation or improvement, suitable
to the wants and wishes of man.
58. Picturesque imitation.—To design and execute a scene in either of these
styles of imitative art, the artist would require to have, to a certain extent,
the eye of a landscape-painter; the science of an architect and of a botanist;
and the knowledge of a horticulturist. Every part of nature, whether rude
or refined, may be imitated according to art. For example, an old gravel-pit,
which had become covered with bushes and indigenous trees, and contained a
38 THE WILLA GARDENER,
hovel or rude cottage in the bottom, with a natural path worn in the grass
by the occupants, would be improved according to imitative art, if foreign
trees, shrubs, and plants, even to the grasses, were introduced instead of indi-
genous ones; and a Swiss cottage, or an architectural cottage of any kind
that would not be recognised as the common cottage of the country, substi-
tuted for the hovel. To complete the character of art, the walk should
be formed, and gravelled, at least, to such an extent as to prevent its
being mistaken for a natural path. Rocky scenery, aquatic scenery, dale
or dingle scenery, forest scenery, copse scenery, and open glade scenery,
may all be imitated on the same principle; viz. that of substituting foreign
for indigenous vegetation, and laying out artificial walks. This is sufficient
to constitute a picturesque imitation of natural scenery.
59. Gardenesque imitation.—Where the gardenesque style of imitating
nature is to be employed, the trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants must be
separated; and, instead of being grouped together as in forest scenery (where
two trees, or a tree and a shrub, often appear to spring from the same root,
and this root is accompanied by large rampant herbs), every gardenesque
group must consist of trees which do not touch each other, and which only
become groups by being as near together as is practicable without touching,
and by being apart from larger masses, or from single trees or rows of trees.
It is not meant by this, that in the gardenesque style the trees composing a
group should all be equally distant from one another; for in that case they
would not form a whole, which the word group always implies. On the con-
trary, though all the trees in a gardenesque group ought to be so far separated
from each other as not to touch, yet the degrees of separation may be as
different as the designer chooses, provided the idea of a group is not lost
sight of Infig. 19, the trees are arranged in the gardenesque manner; and
sº & a 9
in fig. 20., in the picturesque style. The same character is also communicated
to the walks; that in the gardenesque style having the margins definite and
smooth, while the picturesque walk has the edge indefinite and rough.
Utility requires that the gravel, in both styles of walk, should be smooth, firm,
and dry; for it must always be borne in mind, that, as landscape-gardening is
an useful as well as an agreeable art, no beauty must ever be allowed to inter-
fere with the former quality.














GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 39
60. In laying out and planting grounds, or in criticising such as are
already formed by eminent artists, it is necessary always to bear in mind the
difference between the gardenesque and the picturesque; that is, between a
plantation made merely for picturesque effect, and another made for garden-
esque effect. Gardenesque effect in plantations is far too little attended to
for the beauty of the trees and shrubs, whether individually or collectively;
and picturesque effect is not generally understood by gardeners; so that the
scenery of suburban residences is often neutralised in character by the
ignorance of professional landscape-gardeners of the gardenesque, and of
professional horticulturists and nurserymen of the picturesque. To make
the most of any place however small, all the styles of art ought to be familiar
to the artist; because there are few places in which, though one style
prevails, some traits of other styles may not be advantageously introduced.
In planting, thinning, and pruning, in order to produce gardenesque effect,
the beauty of every individual tree and shrub, as a single object, is to be
taken into consideration, as well as the beauty of the mass: while in plant-
ing, thinning, and pruning for picturesque effect, the beauty of individual
trees and shrubs is of little consequence; because no tree or shrub, in a
picturesque plantation or scene, should stand isolated, and each should be
considered as merely forming part of a group or mass. In a picturesque
imitation of nature, the trees and shrubs, when planted, should be scattered
over the ground in the most irregular manner; both in their disposition with
reference to their immediate effect as plants, and with reference to their
future effect as trees and shrubs. In some places trees should prevail, in
others shrubs; in some parts the plantation should be thick, in others it should
be thin; two or three trees, or a tree and a shrub, ought often to be planted
in one hole, and this more especially on lawns. Where, on the contrary, trees
and shrubs are to be scattered in the gardenesque manner, every one should
stand singly; as in the geometrical manner they should stand in regular
lines, or in some regular figure. In the gardenesque, there may be single
trees and single shrubs; but there can be no such thing as a single tree in
the picturesque. Every tree, in the picturesque style of laying out grounds,
must always be grouped with something else, if it should be merely a shrub,
a twiner, or a tuft of grass or other plants at its root. In the gardenesque,

40 THE WILIA GARDENER,
the beauty of the tree consists in its own individual perfections, which are
fully developed in consequence of the isolated manner in which it has been
grown ; in the picturesque, the beauty of a tree or shrub, as of every other
object in the landscape, consists in its fitness to group with other objects.
Now, the fitness of one object to group with another evidently does not con- .
sist in the perfection of the form of that object, but rather in that imperfection
which requires another object to render it complete.
61. In rustic, indigenous, or fac-simile imitations of natural scenery, the
object, as we have already observed, is to deceive the spectator, and make
him believe that the scene produced is of a fortuitous origin; or produced
by the humble exertion of a country labourer. Such scenes differ from those
of the geometric style, and also from those of artistical imitation, in this, that
the same person who contrives them must also execute them. They can have
no merit in design, and only mechanical merit in the execution. They
scarcely require the aid of either a professional landscape-gardener, or a pro-
fessional horticulturist; but, at the same time, they could not be executed by
every common labourer. The imitation of such scenes must be made by
a sort of self-taught artist, or a regularly-instructed artist who will con-
descend to accept of this kind of employment. Those villas in which it
might be desirable to produce a fac-simile imitation of fortuitous scenery
ought to be situated near a large town, in order that the scene created may
contrast the more advantageously with everything around it. In many spots
in the neighbourhood of London, and other towns which are built of brick,
and where gravel is found for forming the roads, there are often clay pits or
gravel pits on the ground which is to be let for building on ; as in other
situations there are old chalk pits or stone quarries. Suppose a pit of either
kind to be in some part of a piece of ground of an acre or two in extent,
which is to be laid out as a country house; and that it were thought advis-
able, as an episode to the general scenery of the place, that a fac-simile
imitation of nature should be created in this pit.
As a first example, we shall suppose that the pit is a clay pit, and not fit
for a human habitation at the bottom. In this case, let the bottom of the
pit be covered with turf, Smooth in some places, and in others mixed with
nettles, thistles, and other weeds, and varied by thorns, briars, brambles,
elder bushes, and other trees and shrubs that generally spring up on waste
ground. In one or two parts of the bottom of the pit let there be pools of
water, with rushes and other aquatic plants, and some alders and willows of
the commonest kind for shade. These and other details being executed in
the bottom of the pit, surround it on the outside by a thick plantation of one
or two kinds of trees and shrubs, such as are generally found in copse-wood;
and let there be a winding straggling path through this copse-wood, of such
a length as to obliterate for the moment the impression of the artificial
scenery of the other parts of the pleasure-grounds on the mind of the spec-
tator while he is pursuing the winding slightly-marked path among the bushes
to the bottom of the pit. If the plantation were surrounded by a hedge or
other fence, and the entrance to the path were through a gap in this fence,
the deception would be the more complete.
The second example we shall suppose to be a dry gravel pit, and that in
the bottom of it a dwelling-place might be formed for a workman and his
wife, with a hovel to serve as a cow-shed, in which cows might be kept for
GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 41
*
the family, and in which also an ass might be kept for the use of the
gardener, in rolling his walks, carting manure and weeds, and for other pur-
poses. Instead of a crooked footpath entering through a gap in a hedge, as
in the first example, a rough winding road might be formed, by which it
might be supposed that the gravel had been carted out of the pit, but which,
owing to the lapse of time, had become principally covered with grass; and
this might be entered through an old rickety gate; while in the bottom of
the pit there might be the cottage dwelling, and the hovels, which, though
comfortable within, ought to appear in a half-ruined state without; and
a hayrick rudely fenced round, with a small stack of fagots for fuel, &c.
The reader can easily supply the rest.
Both these examples would be fac-simile imitations, which might easily be
mistaken for nature itself, or what we call rustic scenery; and, though they
might, and doubtless would, afford pleasure in themselves, and as contrasted
with the scenery around them, yet that pleasure could in no respect be con-
sidered as resulting from them as works of art, unless we were told that they
were artificial creations. .
62. Comparative merits of the different styles.—We have been thus diffuse
on the different styles of laying out grounds, in order to show the distinctive
character of each; and that each has its peculiar uses and beauties. Since
the introduction of the modern or irregular style of laying out grounds, it
has been customary to consider that style only as exclusively beautiful; and
the geometrical style as unnatural and altogether in bad taste. In conse-
quence of this opinion pervading, we may say, all ranks, and being found in
all books that mention gardening as an art of taste, we see constant attempts
made to introduce the irregular manner of planting, and serpentine lines, in
places where they are altogether unsuitable. For example, it is not un-
common, in the suburbs of London, to find a garden, or a public square,
with the boundary fence in a straight line, and parallel to it a serpentine
gravel walk. If the reader has understood the remarks in this and the
preceding pages, he will feel and comprehend the utter want of harmony
which exists between the straight line and the serpentine line, independently
of the impossibility of walking with comfort, when, at every five or six steps,
the walk makes a turn; and where the turns, for some distance before the
eye, may be all seen at once. For such scenes, and for all small gardens,
bordered by straight lines, the ancient or geometrical style is unquestionably
the best; and as a proof that this is the case, it may be mentioned, that all
small gardens are laid out in this style involuntarily, by those who have no
preconceived ideas on the subject, doubtless from an innate feeling that it is
the most suitable to the boundary fence. Another class of persons, who
know just enough of gardening to be aware that there are two styles, and
who have been accustomed to hear the ancient style decried by all the
authors who have written or even touched on gardening since the time of
Horace Walpole, look at the straight walks of their small walled gardens as
deformities; and regret that they cannot, for want of room, indulge in that
style which alone they have been taught to esteem as beautiful. Such ideas
are entirely the result of prejudice in favour of opinions expressed by men
considered as authorities, and who, at the time they wrote, were so much
captivated by the novelty of the irregular style, that they could not allow
themselves to do justice to any other. Hence, they condemned the geometric
42 THE WILLA GARDENER,
or regular manner, without stopping to enquire into its merits, or, in their
admiration of the modern style, being able to separate what was merely the
effect of novelty, from what was due to its permanent characteristics. If
what we have said on this subject has been understood by the reader, he will
consider the ancient style as equal in point of merit to the modern one, and
possessing quite as much claim to be called natural, and in good taste, as it
does. In fact, the geometric style may be said to be the more natural of the
two; since the first indications which children and rude nations give of
buildings, sculpture, gardening, or any other ornamental or mixed art, are
always marked by regularity, or some disposition of the materials which
shows the object produced to be the work of man, and not the result of
nature.
63. As general rules it may safely be laid down, that whenever a piece of
ground to be laid out as a garden is small, and bounded by straight lines, the
geometrical style is that which ought to be employed; that when the ground
is to be laid out as a garden is large, it may be laid out in any style, or partly
in the regular, and partly in the irregular styles; and that where the surface
of the ground is varied, th Čegular style is most suitable; while the geome-
trical style should be preferred when the surface is even or flat. With respect
to those modifications of the natural or irregular style which we have de-
scribed as the picturesque, gardenesque, and rustic, or rural, the first, as it
requires least labour in the management, is best adapted for grounds of con-
siderable extent; the second is more suitable for those persons who are
botanists, rather than general admirers of scenery, because it is best calcu-
lated for displaying the individual beauty of trees and plants, and the high
order and keeping of lawns, walks, &c.; and the third for persons of a romantic
or sentimental turn of mind, who delight in surrounding themselves with
scenery associated with a station in life strongly opposed to that in which
they are really placed; or to attract attention by producing a striking contrast
to refined and artistical scenery, whether in the irregular or geometric styles.
64. In addition to those principles which are common to architecture and
landscape gardening, there are some which are peculiar to each. These, it
must be at once obvious, are very different in the two arts; since, in the one,
viz. architecture, the artist has to operate with inanimate matter, in conse-
quence of which his productions are most perfect the moment after they are
finished; while, in the other, he has to operate with materials which live and
grow, and the effect of which depends on time and future management.
Permanence may be said to be the principle which is peculiarly character-
istic of architecture, and which leads to all the various subordinate prin-
ciples and rules taught by the art of building; such as stability of position,
durability of materials, strength of construction, &c. -
Progress may be said to be the peculiar principle which is characteristic of
landscape-gardening, and which leads to all the subordinate principles and
rules which regulate gardening as an art of culture. Among these are, pro-
viding for growth, by suiting the trees to soil, situation, and climate; provid-
ing for their future increase in size, by thinning and pruning; providing for all
the various points of culture and management; and providing for removal
and decay, by the introduction or substitution of young plants.
Every natural change which takes effect on an architectural structure after
it is completed, may be considered as a step in its progress to decay; while
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES, 43
every natural change in a garden, after it is completed, and up to a certain
point, is a step in its progress to maturity. It is the business of the architect,
therefore, to bring his work as near to perfection as he can himself, and to
construct it so that it may remain as long as possible without change; while
it is that of the landscape-gardener to form his plan and execute it in such a
manner, as that it may admit of all those future alterations, such as the
removal of trees by thinning, altering their shapes or sizes, pruning, &c.,
which the progress of trees and shrubs generally, and the growth and habit
of particular kinds, will require.
BOOK II.
GROUND PLANS FOR LAYING OUT AND PLANTING COUNTRY HOUSES AND WILL AS
OF WARIOUS KINDS,
65. Country houses may be divided into three classes.
(1.) Suburban residences. These may be subdivided into two kinds; viz.
those of the smallest kind, which form a continuous row, or street, with
small gardens before and behind each house, the whole of the garden ground
varying from one-fourth to half an acre; and those of the larger kind, which,
though they form part of a broken row or street, are wholly or partly detached
from the other houses, and have often gardens of considerable size, which
surround the house, either entirely, or on three sides. The larger villas of this
kind have pleasure-grounds from half an acre to two acres in extent, and
comprise a lawn, shrubbery, flower-garden, and kitchen-garden.
(2.) Country villas, each standing in its own pleasure-grounds; with an
approach-road, or sweep up to the house; a walled kitchen-garden, with
forcing-houses; and stable offices. The extent of gardens of this class is from
two to ten acres.
(3.) Country mansions, which have each a park, pleasure-grounds, separate
gardens and hot-houses, and sometimes a farm attached: the extent of
the grounds being from ten acres upwards.
We shall describe each of these kinds of country-houses in succession;
first making some general observations common to all dwellings of each class;
and then giving a few ground plans, as examples of each kind, and adding all
the necessary details.
CHAPTER I.
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES,
66. The word “Suburban "implies the neighbourhood of a town; and con-
sequently houses of this class are always found within a short distance of a
town or village, if they do not actually form part of one. Those of the smallest
44 THE WILLA GARD ENER,
class, indeed, differ but little in their external appearance from ordinary
street houses, except in having a little garden before them : whereas those of
the larger class closely resemble country villas, except in having smaller
gardens, and in being frequently built in pairs.
We shall first give some general observations on all suburban houses, and
then take the different kinds in detail.
S E CTION I.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON SUBURBAN RESIDENCES.
67. As there are several circumstances connected with suburban houses,
different from other houses, but which exercise considerable influence upon
the health and comfort of the occupier, we shall endeavour to point them out
separately.
68. The garden being one of the principal objects in a suburban residence,
its shape or outline should be first considered; and, in the case of resi-
dences of the smallest size, this is of great importance. A narrow slip of
ground, as it must be enclosed, must always include an atmosphere more
or less stagnate, and unfit for the purposes of breathing, or walking in,
gardening, and even of drying clothes. A form approaching to a square or a
circle, will generally be found to admit, in the greatest degree, the influence
of the sun and wind, and to be the most advantageous for domestic purposes,
as well as for gardening. On a larger scale, the shape of the ground is com-
paratively of little consequence in point of health; though, with regard to
variety within the enclosure, it is of the greatest moment. In this case, a long
narrow slip may have advantages, instead of disadvantages, by increasing the
extent of the home views from the house ; by lengthening the straight walks
of the garden; and even, in some cases, by affording an opportunity of form-
ing an avenue of trees as an approach-road. When the piece of ground is
long, and the outline circuitous, then the opportunity of varying the interior
by planting, and by extending the walks, is much increased; and when to
length and circuitousness is added irregularity in breadth, everything, as far
as beauty is concerned, is obtained that can be desired in point of form.
Where economy is the great object with reference to shape, then that form
which requires the smallest quantity of boundary fencing will be the best;
and this is obviously the square or the parallelogram. Theoretically, the
circle or the polygon would be more perfect; but in practice, the application
of these figures would be found inconvenient.
69. The position of the house relatively to the shape or outline of the plan
of the garden in which it stands, is a matter of importance in residences of
the smallest size. The reason is, the house may be so placed as to throw a
shadow over a great part of the garden every day in the year; or it may be
so placed as to throw no shadow on it at any time, or only a partial shadow.
The great disadvantage which every small garden has, as compared with a
large garden, is the shadow thrown on it by the boundary walls, or by the
house or adjoining houses; and, if an intending occupant will bear this in
mind while looking out for a house, it will aid him in obtaining what ought
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 45
to be considered a great desideratum in a suburban residence; viz. a garden
but moderately shaded by walls and houses. In the case of a road in the
direction of east and west, with houses and gardens on the north side of it, if
the houses in these gardens are placed next or near to the road, it is evident
that they will shade great part of the garden behind them every day in the year;
and, on the other hand, if the houses are placed at the farther extremity of the
garden, that they will shade no part of it any day in the year. In this latter
case, the garden, even in London (along the south side of the New Road, for
example), might be rendered very ornamental, both from the street or road,
and from the house of the occupant; while in the former, it never could (as
is actually the case with the gardens on the north side of the New Road) be
made productive of either much beauty or much use. In the cases of the
houses and gardens along the south side of a road running from east to west,
if the houses are placed close to the road, the whole of the garden will be
exposed to the sun every day in the year. We do not state these facts with
a view of leading to the conclusion, that all houses on the south side of an
east and west road should be built close to it, and all those on the north side
as far from it as the garden will permit; but, simply, to impress on the minds
of our readers, who have a suburban residence yet to choose, the great
importance of taking the subject of shade and sunshine into consideration
when a garden is one of their main objects; and to enable those who already
have suburban residences, to determine whether their gardens are suitable
for the culture of the finer plants, or only for more ordinary productions.
70. The artificial aspect, in the case of very small plots of ground, is even
of more importance than the shape; but when the extent of ground amounts
to an acre or upwards, the aspect can scarcely be said to be artificial, as it
does not depend upon the boundary fences, or other artificial objects. If we
imagine a narrow slip (say about 20 ft. or 30 ft. in breadth, which is the
general width of the gardens of the smallest suburban houses in the neigh-
bourhood of London), placed in the direction of east and west, and that the
fences are 10 ft. high, it is evident that the greater part of that garden will
be in the shade every day in the year; and the whole of it will be under
shade at least two months every winter. On the contrary, if a plot of ground
of the same width, and with fences of the same height, be placed in the
direction of north and south, the sun will shine on every part of it during the
warmest portion of every day in the year. In the latter garden, in the
climate of London, peaches and grapes might be ripened; while in the
former, nothing would thrive but ivy, and a few of the commoner shrubs and
herbaceous plants. The first point, therefore, to be taken into consideration,
in contriving how the gardens of suburban residences are to be laid out and
planted, is, to ascertain how far the surface of the garden, and the walls or
other fences by which it is bounded, are exposed to the rays of the sun
throughout the year. On the degree of exposure to the sun all the future
operations depend; for this must determine the kinds of trees and plants that
will thrive in the garden; and on these trees and plants necessarily depends
the kind of soil that ought to be procured for growing them in, or the
improvement that ought to be bestowed on the soil already there, as well as
the future culture of the whole. Fig. 21. is a diagram, representing the four
leading directions of streets which occur in towns and their suburbs; and the
bare inspection of this figure will show what positions are most favourable
46 THE VILLA GARDENER,
for the admission of the sun to the surface and boundary walls of the gardens,
as well as to the different sides of the houses, throughout the year. In this
figure,'a a represents two rows of houses placed in a direction parallel to a
Hill||
street running north and south, in the gardens of which there will be no
shadows at midday throughout the year, but those of the separation fences: if
these are low, or if they are of open work, their shade will do very little injury;
and, unless the situation is surrounded by a very smoky atmosphere, peaches
and grapes may be ripened in the climate of London, on the wall which faces
the south. Ivy or ornamental creepers may be grown on the wall having a
northern exposure; and almost any kind of plant thought desirable may
be cultivated in the interior of the garden; provided such trees or shrubs as
may be planted there are not allowed to grow to such a height as to shade the
peach wall. +
At b b two pairs of houses are shown ; the fronts of which are also parallel
to a north and south road, and the gardens of which have nearly the same
advantages as those shown at a, except that a small portion of the garden of
the house next the north will be in the shade during the greater part of the
winter season; as shown by the triangular shadow thrown upon that garden
in the diagram.

SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 47
At c are two rows of houses similar to those at a ; but, as their direction is
south-west, the sun will shine on both sides of these houses, and both on their
front and back-gardens, every day on which he appears, throughout the year.
The small proportion of shadow which these houses will throw upon their
gardens may be considered as represented by the triangular masses of shade
on the front gardens on one side of the road, and on the back gardens on the
other. The actual shadow thrown by a row of connected houses on the
ground, would, of course, be a parallelogram, and not a series of triangles; but
our object in giving this diagram is not so much to show the actual shadows
that will be thrown at any particular time upon the ground, as to indicate the
proportion of shadow which one position of the house and garden fences will
throw on the ground relatively to what will be done by another position. In
the double detached houses, b, d, f, &c., the proportion of shadow which
we have shown in the diagram also indicates the part of the garden which
will be most in shade throughout the year. The walls of those gardens which
have a south-east exposure, will ripen figs, apricots, and the finer plums;
while those having a north-west exposure, may be devoted to currants or
morello cherries; or to roses, and the finer kinds of ornamental creepers.
At d, on both sides of a road in the same direction, are shown double
detached houses, the gardens of which have similar advantages to those at c,
but increased in consequence of the houses being detached, and their diago-
mals being south and north, which admits of the sun shining all round them
on every day on which he appears. .
At fif, on a road in the direction of south-east and north-west, are shown
double detached houses, square in the plan; the diagonals of which, being
directly south and north, their exterior walls and their gardens will have
nearly the same advantages as those of the houses shown at d, but with this
difference, that a wall having a south-west aspect is not considered quite so
good for ripening the finer fruits, or growing the more delicate creepers, as
one facing the south-east.
At g are shown two rows of houses on the north and south sides of a road
running east and west; by which it will be seen that the front or street gardens
of the houses on the south side of the road, will be entirely in the shade during
the greater part of the winter; while the gardens behind these houses will be
entirely in the sun throughout the year. As the side walls of these gardens
(at h) can only enjoy the sun one half of every day, neither of them are fit for
ripening the finer fruits; but both of them will grow plums and cherries, and
both are admirably adapted for ornamental climbers. Against the wall at the
farther end of the garden, which will be in the shade almost every day in the
year, ivy and some very hardy climbers may be planted, such as the Virginian
creeper and the Ayrshire rose: and against the house at the opposite end,
which will be fully in the sun every day in the year, may be planted a vine
and a fig; the latter to cover the lower part of the wall, as high as the first-
floor windows, and the former to clothe the upper part as high as the roof.
The walks of such gardens will be equally dry on both sides of the garden,
because one boundary wall does not throw more shade on the walk running
parallel to it, and near it, than the other; and, provided the cross walk at the
south end is kept at such a distance from the end wall, or boundary fence, as
not to be shaded by it, it will be as dry as the side walks. Hence, these gar-
dens are more favourable for invalids to walk in during winter, and immedi-
48 THE WILLA GARDENER,
ately after rains, than those can be where one of the side walks is chiefly in
shade, as will be the case in the gardens of the houses at a a. The front gar-
dens of the houses on the north side of this east and west road will enjoy the
sun throughout the day during the whole year, and are, therefore, unless the
road is very dusty, suitable for the culture of the finer flowers and shrubs.
The gardens at i, behind these houses, are, however, the most unfortunate of
all in point of aspect; for one half of them will be entirely under shade during
the whole of the winter months, and also during a considerable portion of both
the spring and autumn. Only the small portion of wall at the bottom of this
garden, which forms the end of it, is fit for the finer fruits; the remainder
should be covered with ornamental climbers: and the walks, during the
greater part of the year, will unavoidably be cold and damp.
At k are shown two pairs of houses, one on the south and the other on the
north side of an east and west road, which partake more or less of the cha-
racter of the houses shown at g : but the two gardens at m, being open and
airy, will be very suitable for taking exercise in throughout the year; and a
vine or a fig may be placed on the south side of the house. The gardens at l
will not be much inferior to those at m, in consequence of the sun being
admitted to the sides of the house as well as to its front. In this case, as in
the gardens of the houses at d, b, and f, the great advantage of detached
houses, in point of the enjoyment of the sun and air, is obvious.
Single detached houses, it will be sufficiently obvious, are subjected to the
same laws respecting shade as detached houses which are in pairs.
71. Where narrow slips of garden ground are necessarily placed east and
west, the fences between them ought to be as low as can be permitted if opaque,
or to be composed of open iron railings. For the sake of seclusion these rail-
ings may be covered during the summer season, when the occupants are most
in their gardens, with deciduous creepers, such as scarlet runners, nasturtiums,
sweet peas, or that splendid plant, the everlasting pea; but, during winter,
they should be left naked, to admit the sun to dry and warm the soil. The
aspect of the ground in the case of larger gardens is of less consequence; as,
from their greater width, the space shaded by the wall bears a smaller pro-
portion to the entire area.
72. The artificial exposure, in the case of houses and gardens on a small
scale, is no less affected by local circumstances than the natural exposure, in
houses on a large scale, is by such as are of a permanent nature. We have
shown that an irregular surface has always more or less an irregular climate,
and that the side of a hill naturally sheltered may be exposed to a current of
wind, reflected or turned out of its natural direction by an adjoining hill.
On the very same principles, a house in a sheltered or favourably-exposed
situation may be injured by a current of wind directed against it by adjoining
houses, or by trees; and this, as every one knows, is one grand cause of smoky
chimneys. An attentive observer of the chimney-tops of the houses in the
suburbs of London will find that those which have most of these unsightly
contrivances for preventing smoking, are generally small houses near large
ones, or near large trees. In the case of regular streets, where the houses are
all of nearly the same size, or of houses that are completely isolated, a common
chimney-pot will be found sufficient.
73.−The direction of the road leading to a suburban residence is not
beneath notice. We have shown that, on a small scale, where the houses and
S Ü IBU RBAN IRESIDENCES. 49
gardens are placed in rows parallel to the road, the direction of the road is of
the utmost consequence with reference to the enjoyment of sunshine. Where
the road is in the direction of the prevailing winds of the country, the dust, in
summer, will be blown in the direction of that road, and will consequently
prove a much greater annoyance to the traveller, than where the road is in a
direction contrary to that of the wind. About London, the prevailing winds
are from the west, or from the east; and hence the roads to Edgeware, Hamp-
stead, &c., on the north, and to Epsom, Croydon, &c., on the south, are much
less disagreeable to travel on than those to Uxbridge and Brentford, or in
the Essex direction. The dust from the roads running north and south is
blown off them into the fields; whereas in the roads running east and west,
whether the wind is in the east or in the west, the dust is blown along
them. It must not be forgotten, however, that those roads which have the
dust blown from them are the least eligible for having small houses and
gardens placed close to them, as the dust from the road is blown upon such
houses and gardens. The road which is most covered with dust in summer
will be most covered with mud in winter, unless the dust be removed when it
is first turned into mud. The wetness of the surface of a road during winter,
all other circumstances being the same, will be great in proportion as it is in
the direction of the wind, and is shaded from the sun. Hence, about London,
those roads which are in the direction of east and west are decidedly the
wettest during winter; because they are in the direction of the prevailing
winds, which blow the moisture along them as the dust was blown in summer,
instead of blowing it off them; and because they are all more or less shaded
by fences, houses, and trees on the south side. Hence, also, the houses on
the sides of roads which run east and west, ought to be placed farther from
them than is necessary in the case of roads running north and south. A road
which runs east and west affords shade to the pedestrian at least till between
two and three o'clock of every day throughout the year; so that a citizen
whose residence is along such a road may always walk to town in the shade;
while, on the other hand, if, during the six months of summer, he returns
from town to his residence between three and six o'clock, he will have the
sun full in his face. A road in the direction of north and south affords shade
to the pedestrian early in the morning, and in the evening; but, on going to
town during the day along the road from his house in the north suburbs, the
traveller will have the sun full in his face; while on going to town along a
road from the south suburbs, it will be on his back. These remarks apply
strictly to roads which are straight, and which have no other objects along
them to produce shade but fences 8 ft. or 10 ft. high; but, where the
roads are winding, and bordered by trees or houses, or both, the influence of
the sun is in a great measure neutralised; and, as far as respects the enjoy-
ment of shade, roads in different directions will be nearly equal. The same
remarks will also apply with respect to dust being blown along the road, or
off the road; since, if we imagine the road in a serpentine or zigzag direction,
the wind, from whatever quarter it may come, will blow the dust alternately
off the road, and along the road. Nothing, however, can be more certain
than this, that, in the climate of Britain, all roads and walks in the direction
of north and south are much sooner dried after being wet, and much more
comfortable to travel on in winter, than roads in the direction of east and
west. This may be observed even in the streets of towns in the winter
E
50 THE WILI, A GARD ENER.
season; and also in the gravel walks of walled gardens, and in the avenues
through woods. -
74. The height or level of the road relatively to the height or level of th
ground floor of the house, may seem almost too insignificant a subject to be
noticed as a separate desideratum. In practice, however, it is of very con-
siderable importance. No house that stands on a lower level than the
adjoining road ever yet looked well; unless, indeed, the extent of the scenery
was so great, and the house at such a distance, and so decidedly below the
level of the road, as not to tempt the comparison. Every one feels that
there is always something mean in looking down upon an object, or in
descending to it; while, on the contrary, there is always something dignified
and commanding in ascending to one. The truth or falsity of these positions
any one may prove, by observing the front gardens of houses, even of the
smallest size, in the neighbourhood of London, Edinburgh, or any large
town. Where the front garden ascends towards the house, there is an
appearance of dignity, dryness, and comfort; but, where it descends, we
receive from it the impression of meanness, dampness, and unwholesomeness.
Even in the choice of a street, or of a public road, on which to choose or
build a residence, it is desirable, if it can be done without sacrificing more
important objects, to fix on one that ascends towards the residence, rather
than descends. In all cases of this kind the absolute elevation is, in a great
measure, out of the question; the effect is produced by the elevation or
depression of the spot on which the house stands, relatively, to a near object;
and it can, in all suburban residences of moderate extent, be completely
effected by art, whatever may be the natural character of the surface. Let
it be observed, however, that this evil can only be avoided before the house
is built, and afterwards is past remedy, for, when once the house is set down
on a piece of ground on a lower level than the adjoining road, and the
ground floor is on a level with the surface, or even if it is only a little above
it, it is beyond the art of man to give a character of dignity to the house
All that he can do is to raise the ground round it and between it and the
house or road, in effecting which a portion of the house is necessarily buried;
and, while a part of its dignity is lost by diminishing its height, the expres-
sion of meanness, and the actual unwholesomeness, are aggravated by having
to descend to the parlour, or ground floor, by steps. Many villa houses and
large mansions in England have been spoiled, both in regard to effect and
use, as well as rendered unwholesome, by earthing them up, in order to give
them the appearance of being situated on a level, or on a gentle elevation. It
is better, in general, to submit to the first evil, rather than to incur another
which is greater. What we would recommend, in the case of small
suburban houses built on a lower level than the adjoining street, would be to
shut out the lower part of the house from the road, by a wall or open fence,
so that the relative levels of the house and road might not be observed; then
to scoop out the ground between the house, and the door opening to the road;
and to arrange the walk so that the entrance-door to the house could not be
seen till the person walking on it had arrived at the lowest part of the inter-
vening walk, from which he might ascend to the house. A great deal more
might be said on this subject; but to one class of readers we need only add,
bear in mind that elevation is dignity, and depression meanness; and to
another, who require principles to be reduced to rules, avoid a house to which
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 5 |
you have to descend, either through the front garden or grounds, or by steps
outside or within the house.
75. The size of suburban gardens generally varies from 50 ft. to 300 ft. in
length, and from 20 ft. to 100 ft. in breadth; at least we shall take these
dimensions as those of the gardens we are about to describe; and it may be
here observed that the same modes of planting and laying out are applicable
to all the plots between these two extremes, and even to larger and smaller
ones attached to houses, forming part of a street or row. The soil of such a
plot, whether large or small, we may suppose to be a loam more or less light
or heavy; that soil being more common than any other in the neighbourhood
of towns, because they are generally built in valleys or on plains, where the soil
is most commonly alluvial or clayey, though sometimes it is sandy or gravelly.
The surface of the ground within the given limits can scarcely be otherwise
than tolerably even; for though it may slope in some directions, and have
some holes and protuberances, from accidental circumstances, it can scarcely
have any natural undulations. The extent and the kind of ground being
given, the first things to be considered are, the supply of water or of gas to
the house, if by pipes that come through the garden; the pump or well, if
water is not laid on; the outbuildings, if any; the under-drainage of the ground;
the surface drainage; the number and direction of the walks; the improvement
of the texture of the soil; and the arrangement for posts for drying clothes.
76. Pipes through the garden, for water or gas, &c.—As most houses in
the neighbourhood of large towns are supplied with water from public sources,
by means of small pipes laid from a main pipe in the street to the cistern or
cisterns in the house, one of the first things to be attended to, in contriving
the arrangement of the front garden, is to fix on the place where the service
pipe, as it is called, shall be laid down. The object should be, to secure the
pipe from frost throughout the whole of its length, and to admit of its being
laid bare, when necessary, for repairs, with as little derangement to the gar-
den, and especially to the walks, as possible. The service water-pipe com-
monly enters the front garden under the sill of the street entrance or gate,
and is conducted along one side of the walk, or through that part of the
lawn, or front garden, on which there are few trees or shrubs, to the cisterns
in the house or in the area. The depth of the trench, in the bottom of which
the pipe is laid, ought not to be less than 3 ft., in order to secure it from frost;
and if, in any part, it passes through ground which is likely to be occasionally
trenched, there ought to be a line of bricks or tiles placed immediately over the
pipe, to protect it from the mattock or spade. Suburban houses are frequently
supplied with gas from the mains, which are carried along the streets for the
public lamps, for a lamp outside the front door, and sometimes for light in the
house; and probably gas will ere long be required, even in fourth-rate houses,
for the purposes of cookery. The service-pipes for conveying gas need not be
laid deeper in the soil than 1 ft., as they are not liable to be injured by frost;
but, like the water-pipes, they ought to be protected, by bricks or tiles, from
the risk of the spade, when the gravel of the walks is turned or flower-beds
are dug; and, like them, they should be laid down in such a direction as that,
when repairs are wanted, they may occasion as little derangement of the sur-
face of the ground as possible. In general, the gas-pipe should not be laid
directly over the water-pipe; because, in that case, the latter could not be laid
bare and examined without disturbing the former. If, however, the water-
E 2 4.
52 THE WILLA GARDENIER,
pipe is laid so deep as to be out of the reach of frost, or of being disturbed
by the spade, it is not likely to require repair for many years, or even a life-
time; except at its junction with the main pipe in the street, and with the
cistern in the house or in the area; and, in such a case, the gas-pipe may be
laid over it. That part of the water-pipe which rises out of the ground to
supply the cistern, if not carefully protected by a thick casing of charcoal,
ashes, or sand, enclosed in brickwork, will be liable to be frozen and to burst
every winter; more especially where the cistern is placed in the area. The
connection, indeed, of the service water-pipe with the cisterns of a house is
one of the most difficult points which the builder has to manage. It is very
commonly got over by directing the servants of the occupier, when the win-
ter approaches, to wrap straw round the pipes where they join the cistern; or,
perhaps, a cock is so placed as to enable the servants to empty the service-
pipe, or that portion of it next the cistern, every time that the cistern is filled;
but, as these precautionary measures are commonly delayed till after a severe
frost has occurred, the pipes are generally burst once or twice every winter,
and the plumber requires to be called in accordingly. The greatest care,
therefore, is requisite to have the service water-pipe rendered perfectly secure
from frost, from the point where it leaves the main in the street, to the
orifice of the cock which delivers the water to the cistern; and builders and
occupiers should insist on their plumbers making sure of this result.
77. Out-buildings, pump or well, &c.—In gardens to suburban houses, a
dust hole is essential; and a privy is sometimes required either as a substitute
for, or in addition to, a water-closet in the house. Both these ought to be
placed close to the house behind, and near the back door, in order that they
may be as conveniently reached as possible. At the bottoms of gardens, even
of the smallest size, it will generally be found useful to have a shed for
lumber, clothes-posts, old wood for fuel, &c.; and a pit, 3 ft. square and 2 ft.
deep, lined with brick or stone, for such rubbish as will rot into manure.
There should also, wherever it is practicable, be a pump or well, because,
even if it does not supply water fit for the kitchen, it will at least be useful
for watering the garden, and in case of fire. If the occupier is much attached
to gardening, and intends to cultivate culinary vegetables, a manure tank, for
liquid manure (which might serve in some cases as a cesspool for the privy),
would be found useful; and if it were properly constructed of brick laid in
cement, with a closely-fitted covering stone, it would be attended with no
offensive smell. When the family washing is performed at home, the soap-
suds should always be emptied into this tank, as, after they have fermented
for some time, they make excellent manure. It is convenient to have the
shed, well, &c., at the lower part of the garden; or, if they should be placed
in any other part, to have them hidden from the windows of the house, and
from those of the adjoining houses, by evergreen trees and shrubs. In some
cases there may be one or more bowers, or covered seats; and these, and also
architectural ornaments and green-houses, or other plant-houses, if they
are required, ought to be taken into consideration before determining on
the position of the drains, and the direction of the walks.
78. Drainage, walks, and texture of the soil, &c.—The ground, where not
naturally dry, ought to be perfectly under-drained, by drains down the mid-
dle of both the front and back gardens, communicating with the public sewer,
or with some other main drain; or, if the back garden be large, and the soil
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 53
very wet, there may be a drain along one side of each of the side walks: to
these drains there ought to be communications, with gratings at regular dis-
tances, if the walks are above 100 ft. in length; but, if they are shorter, one
grating, in the lowest part of the garden, will be sufficient. If the garden
be 50 ft. or 60 ft. broad, the soil a very strong clay, and the surface flat, there
ought not only to be drains to the walks, but drains to the part of the garden
kept under kitchen crops or flowers, and also to those parts which are kept
under grass. Nothing contributes more to the comfort afforded by a garden
on a strong clayey soil, than thorough drainage; without which it is impos-
sible to walk out in it after a shower of rain, though this is generally one of
the most delightful times in which a garden can be viewed by a person fond
of gardening. In very small gardens, where it is not considered necessary to
have under-drains, it will be sufficient to direct the water by the surface-
drainage to one point, where it may sink into the soil. The proper execution
of the surface-drainage is of the utmost importance to the enjoyment of every
description of garden, whether large or small; more especially of all such as
are on loamy or clayey soils. For this reason, even, in some cases, before
determining on the under-drainage of the back garden, the surface-drainage
ought to be attended to by smoothing down all the inequalities of the ground,
and by forming it so as to give it an inclination, or slope, to some one part
in the garden, generally that which is the most distant from the house. To this
point all the rain water that falls on the walks should run, and find an exit
either by a porous subsoil, or by a grating communicating with an under-drain.
In back gardens of great length, it may happen that the middle is the lowest.
part of the surface; and when this is the case, the surface water ought to be
directed thither from both extremities; but in suburban gardens it seldom
happens that the surface may not be made to slope from the house to the
extreme end of the back garden, even though it should be 200 ft. in length.
In regard to front gardens, if the walk and the lawn have an inclination from
the house to the street, that will generally be found sufficient. The surface-
drainage, and also the under drainage, being determined on in the mind of
the artist, we shall suppose that he has had the surface of the ground, both
before and behind the house, sloped accordingly. The next point is to deter-
mine the number and direction of the walks; because it is alongside of them
that the under-drains are commonly formed with the greatest advantage. In all
small gardens, the object is to get as long a walk as possible; and the longest
line within any given space must necessarily be that which goes round it.
The direction and position of the walks is therefore easily settled. The next
point is to determine where the drains are to be placed, and to have them dug
and filled in, the manner of doing which will be treated of under the head of
garden operations. The walks may be then hollowed out, in the manner
which will also be hereafter described; and the ground which is to be planted
or covered with turf may be trenched to the depth of 2 ft. or 3 ft.; and, in
performing this operation, if the soil requires to be rendered lighter, or more
porous, which is always the case with a strong clay, it ought to be mixed with
lime rubbish, gravel, or sand, or with all of these, to such an extent as to
render it readily pervious to water. It is more especially necessary to do
this in those parts of the garden which are most in shade; particularly on
the north side of the house, when it fronts the south. The ground being
trenched, and the walks hollowed out, the whole should remain some weeks,
54 THE WILLA GARDENER.
and, if convenient, one whole winter, to settle, before the final smoothing of
the surface, the gravelling or paving of the walks, the edging of them, and
the planting of the trees and shrubs. When so much time cannot be allowed
for the ground to settle, it is better not to trench it under where the walks and
their edgings are to be placed, but merely to dig it; because, when trenched
ground does not settle evenly, which it very seldom does, the materials of
which the walk is formed, and its edgings, require, after a few months, to be
taken up and relaid.
79. Arrangements for posts to support clothes-lines.—One considerable
advantage of a suburban residence to most families, and particularly to such
as have children, is, that they are enabled by it to wash at home, and have
their clothes dried in the open air. In the country, clothes are generally
dried on hedges or bushes; but in suburban gardens they are commonly hung
on lines which are stretched from post to post along one side, or round the
entire garden. In gardens to houses of the smallest size, these posts are
commonly fixed in the ground, and the lines fastened to them on washing
days, and taken down when not wanted; but, in all the better description of
gardens, sockets, which have been previously fitted to the lower part of the
posts, are fixed in the ground; and into these the posts are inserted on washing
days, and the lines attached to them. When the clothes are dried, and the
lines are also dry, and have been taken off and laid in a dry part of the wash-
house or back kitchen, the posts are taken up out of the sockets, and put
somewhere under cover. If there is no shed, they may be laid on brackets
projecting from the boundary wall, with a coping board close over them to
throw off the rain.
Fig. 22. shows the socket for the clothes-post: sº v
it is made of four pieces of board, forming a sº
rectangular tube, rather narrower at the lower 22 |
end; and t is a cap, or cover, also of wood,
with a ring in the top for lifting it off, which is
put on when the posts are not in use, to prevent
the Socket from being filled up with dirt and
stones; the length of the tube forming the
socket is generally about 18 in., and the width
inside about 4 in. at top, and 3 in. at bottom.
Fig. 23. represents a clothes-post: it has a
shoulder at the lower end (at wy, to prevent it
from being wedged too firmly into the socket;
and two pins (v) passed through the top, in opposite
directions, for the purpose of fastening the lines. In some


gardens the lines are fastened to trees, or stretched across ſ
23
º
{{ {
the garden from hooks in the side walls; but the most con-
venient position is along the sides of the walks, over the
margin of the turf, so that a person may stand upon the
walk while hanging up and taking down the clothes.
80. A green-house, orangery, or conservatory, ought, if possible, to be
attached to every suburban residence. The custom of rearing plants in pots,
and keeping them in the windows of dwelling-houses, is of great antiquity,
though it is only in modern times, and chiefly since the days of Louis XIV.,
that a house for plants has become a conspicuous feature in the elevation of
SUBURBAN RESIDENCEs. 55
a mansion. The most ancient description of plant-house is what is called an
orangery; in which formerly orange-trees, planted in large boxes or tubs,
were kept during the winter, and set out of doors during the summer season.
Such houses almost always fronted the south: the back wall was of masonry,
the roof covered with slates, tiles, or lead, and the front contained a range of
large glass windows. Beneath the floor there was sometimes a flue for
heating; and at other times this purpose was effected by means of German
stoves. As the object of the orangery was merely to keep the trees from the
frost, and they were not expected to grow while in the house, this description
of building suited them perfectly; and it might still be very properly added
to a mansion, provided no other plants were placed in it than orange-trees,
and a few other evergreen trees or shrubs, and succulent plants, such as
myrtles, olives, cactuses, agaves, aloes, &c. Such houses, however, are totally
unfit for plants which grow or flower in the winter season; such as camellias,
heaths, acacias, and all those Cape and Australian trees and shrubs which, by
their flowers and newly-produced foliage, constitute the great charm of British
conservatories during the winter months. To render an orangery fit for
keeping such plants, it is necessary that the roof should be entirely of glazed
frames, to admit perpendicular light, without which no plant in a growing
state can thrive; and when this is the case, according to the common usage of
gardeners, the building is no longer called an orangery, but a conservatory;
a word which appears to have been first applied to plant-houses by Evelyn, in
his Calendarium. A conservatory, properly speaking, is, however, a house in
which beds of earth are formed in the floor, and the trees and shrubs are
planted in them, instead of being kept in tubs and boxes. This, indeed, is
almost the only kind of plant-house now attached to first-rate mansions. The
term green-house is now generally confined to houses having glass roofs,
which are kept at the same temperature as the orangery or conservatory, but
where the plants are grown in pots, which are usually small, and elevated
upon stages, so as to bring them at once near the light and near the eye of
the spectator. The characteristic of a conservatory is, that it grows a few
plants to a large size, and so as to produce scenery of a magnificent exotic
aspect; while that of a green-house is, that it produces a great many different
kinds of plants of small size, which may be considered as merely living
botanical specimens of exotics. The green-house is, consequently, much
better adapted for the smallest description of suburban residences than the
conservatory; and a modification of the green-house, which may be called a
plant cabinet, or cabinet green-house, in which a few choice plants are kept,
and always taken away and renewed as they begin to fade, is, perhaps, still
more appropriate. What are called plant-stoves, tropical plant-houses, or
hot-houses, in the proper sense of the word, are unfit for being attached to
dwelling-houses, from the great heat and moisture required to render their
atmosphere fit for the plants of hot climates. We shall give some designs for
green-houses and conservatories, with details for their construction, filling
with plants, and general management, in a subsequent part of this work.
81. The enjoyments afforded by a green-house, however small, to the female
part of the family are very considerable; and, where there are children, these
enjoyments may be mingled with useful instruction, by teaching them in it the
names and nature of plants, and their culture and management at seasons, or
during weather, when it cannot be done out of doors. A green-house also
56 THE WILLA GARDENER,
affords exercise, in shifting, potting, tying up, pruning, &c., in cold and wet
weather, and at periods of the year when nothing can be done in the open
garden. At the same time that we recommend a green-house, it is proper to
state that, where the mistress of the house has not a taste for plants, and is not
in the habit of working among them herself; and where this taste does not
exist in any part of the family, and no gardener is kept, a green-house is in
danger of becoming a nuisance rather than an ornamental appendage. In
such a case, where it is determined to produce the effect of a green-house, for
the sake of fashion, or the reputation of being fond of plants, or some similar
motive, the best mode is to engage with the nearest nurseryman or florist to
keep the green-house furnished with plants, at so much per annum or per
month. By this means it will always look well; but as none of the beauty
which it presents will be the result of the care and attention of any part of the
family, of course the enjoyment derived from it cannot be anything like so
great as where the contrary is the case.
82. In the smallest suburban houses the common substitute for a green-house
is the window-sill; and the greatest extent to which this kind of gardening
can be carried is by having the sill made to project 2 ft. or 3 ft. from the wall
of the house, and enclosing it with an outside bow window. Into the space.
between the two windows the warm air of the room may be admitted at
pleasure; and if the panes of both windows are large, and kept at all times
perfectly clean, the view into this plant-cabinet from the interior of the room
will be agreeable, and create an allusion to the green-house of the villa, or the
conservatory of the mansion. For houses that have a garret, a sort of green-
house may be established there, by forming glass windows in the roof. An
enthusiast amateur might indeed have the roof of his house entirely of glass,
and train vines or creepers under it, which might be planted in the ground,
and their stems brought up against the outside wall, and covered with a wooden
case. In such roofs, the panes of glass should not be more than 2% in. or 3 in.
wide, or plate glass should be used, in order to prevent breakage from hail.
The most fitting suburban residences for having green-houses are such as are
either quite detached, or in pairs; which last-mentioned houses, in the neigh-
bourhood of London, are called double detached houses, One of the most
ordinary modes of connecting a green-house with a small house is by placing
it against the gable end; it being understood that this gable end fronts the
south, the south-east, or the south-west: though, even if it fronts the direct
west or direct east, such a green-house will answer for many kinds of green-
house plants, and for all kinds whatever, with an extra allowance of fire heat
during winter. For double cottages or houses, where the gable ends front
the south-east and north-west, a green-house may be placed against each; but
where the one gable fronts the south and the other the north, then the one
green-house should be placed on the east side of the house, and the other on the
west side. In single houses, the green-house may be placed in a great variety
of ways, and may be of many forms, as will be seen hereafter, according to the
arrangement of the ground plan, and the style of elevation of the house. In
whatever manner a green-house, or plant-house of any description, is attached
to a house, means ought always to be provided for warming, ventilating, and
watering the plant-house, altogether independently of the dwelling-house; for
few things are more disagreeable and unwholesome to human beings, as well
as injurious to furniture, and the walls of the room, than the close damp
SUB UPBAN RESIDENCES. 57
effluvia from the earth, water, and plants of a conservatory. For this reason,
the plants grown in conservatories immediately attached to drawing rooms
should be such as are natives of very dry climates (for example, the Cape of
Good Hope, Australia, &c.), and, consequently, require very little water;
and the gardener should contrive to give his waterings either late in the even-
ing, or very early in the morning; and previously to the hour the family are
likely to visit it the house should be well ventilated.
83. Leading rules for laying out and planting flower-beds in the gardens of
suburban residences.—The following rules will be found useful in laying out
and planting all flower-gardens, but more especially those of suburban resi-
dences, where a regular gardener is not kept.
1. Where the space is small, and surrounded by trees and high walls, so as not to be
open and airy, it is not desirable to form beds or borders round the margin of the plot, but
rather to have only one bed in the centre, and the rest in grass.
2. Where the space is open and airy, either large or small beds may be formed; and it
will generally be desirable to surround the whole plot with a narrow border. If the ground-
floor of the house is 2 ft. or 3 ft. above the level of the plot, then a figure, or collection of
beds, may be laid out, which shall be looked down upon from the window as a whole; and,
consequently, to aid this purpose, the beds ought to be planted with low-growing plants,
and, in general, to have the surface covered by them; each bed, in this case, being of only
one kind of plant.
3. Where the rooms on the ground-floor are on a level with the surface of the front
garden, or nearly so, large plants may be employed in the beds, provided the beds also are
large; because, as in this case the beds cannot be looked down upon, and, consequently,
their plan can never be taken in at one glance, they never can be seen as a whole from
above. It is better, therefore, to use large plants, which, by growing of such a height as
to form a whole, or group, when looked at laterally, will prevent the idea of a whole formed
by the shapes and lines of the beds, when seen from above, having been intended by the
planter.
4. In general, no figure or assemblage of beds of any degree of intricacy, and where the
beauty is dependent on the 'shapes of the beds and their connection together, should be
formed where it cannot be looked down on so as to be seen all at once. In general, also,
parterres, or assemblages of figures of this kind, should only be planted with very low
plants, which will not obstruct any part of the outline of the figures; with the exception,
however, of an occasional tall plant, such as a standard rose, to produce effect by contrast.
It may be further observed, that, when plants are to remain permanently, such should be
chosen as continue in flower for a long period (say two or three months), in preference to
such as complete their time of flowering in a short period, say two or three weeks. On the
other hand, when flower-beds are furnished with plants in pots plunged in the soil, with a
view to changing them, and replacing them by others as soon as they have done flowering,
plants which remain a short time in flower should be chosen; because these have, in general,
a greater number of blooms expanded at the same time, and, consequently, while they last,
they have a more brilliant effect. This is particularly exemplified in the case of bulbous
flowers, and in certain annuals, such as candytuft, ten-week stock, &c.
5. Where a symmetrical figure is employed, beds which answer to each other in form
and position ought to be filled with plants, either of the same kind, or of the same general
appearance, and which flower at the same time: for example, a bed of mixed hyacinths
can only be properly opposed to another bed of mixed hyacinths; but the mixtures need
not be the same in both beds. A bed of the Small dwarf blue lobelia, may be opposed to
a bed of the blue anagallis, and so on.
6. Where it is desirable not to have more than one plant of a species, in a symmetrical
figure consisting of various beds, the principle of symmetry may be preserved in planting
by placing each colour by itself. Thus, a bed of white flowers, consisting of ten plants of
as many different species, may be opposed to another bed of ten other different species, also
with white flowers.
7. The dug surface of beds formed on a grass plot ought either to be decidedly under the
58 THE VILLA GARDENER.
Surface of the grass, or decidedly above its level, in order to increase the expression of art,
and to take away from the common-place idea of merely digging down a portion of the turf
of a particular shape, and planting it with flowers.
8. In the case of flower-beds on turf or lawn, where a regular gardener is not kept, the
outlines of the beds ought to be formed by concealed brickwork, masonry, tiles, or slates;
otherwise, every time the grass is mown, and the edges of the bed trimmed with the Spade,
and, especially, every time the beds are dug, their outlines will be liable to be put out of
Shape. Where common bricks and plain tiles can be procured, the simplest mode of fixing
the outlines of the beds or borders is by forming an underground outline, if the expression
may be used, by tiles or bricks laid on their broad sides, at an angle of 45°, as shown in the
Section, jig. 24.; in which 25 -
a is the brick, b the sur-
6 face of the grass, and c
W the surface of the dug €
bed, decidedly under the z
§ level of the grass plot, *
agreeably to Rule 7. On "
the other hand, when the
surface of the dug bed is
to be above the level of the turf, agreeably to the same rule, the brick should be placed as
at d in fig. 25.; the turf kept to the level shown at e, and the surface of the bed to the level
shown at f. When plain tiles are to be used instead of bricks, they may either be let into
the ground perpendicularly, and their upper edge kept to the level of whichever surface is
to be the highest (viz. that of the grass plot, or the bed); or they may be laid sloping in
the same manner as the bricks, which will form a very delicate outline, well adapted for
beds in Small front gardens. By using semicircular tiles, and inserting them perpendicularly
in the soil, very neat curvilinear outlines may be formed; but such tiles cannot be used in
a sloping direction, like bricks or 27
plain tiles. Fig. 26. shows the
tiles let in perpendicularly, form-
ing a bed 2 in. higher than the
Surrounding turf. Fig.27. shows
the tiles let in in the same man-
ner, and the bed made 2 in.
lower than the surrounding turf.
Fig. 28. ShoWs the tiles laid in, in a sloping manner, so as to form a bed the thickness of
the file only under the
level of the turf; and
jig. 29. Shows the tiles so
arranged as to form a
bed only the thickness
of the tile higher than
the surrounding turf.
Fig. 30. is a Surface plan,
showing the manner of
forming the outlines of beds with semicircular tiles.
9. Where it is desired to express high art, every bed or border ought to be surrounded;
or, if the border be against a wall, bordered on one
side, with either a raised or a depressed framework
of turf, or of stone, or bricks, or pebbles, flints, &c.
Where the beds are raised, the plants grown in
them should be such as do not require excess of
moisture, and which thrive best in a free air; such,
for example, as pinks. Where the beds are lowered,
an excellent opportunity is afforded of growing
plants which require more than ordinary moisture, especially when they are in flower
such as ranunculuses, polyanthuses, heart's eases, &c.
10. Borders of brick or stone, or other architectural materials, ought, in general, to be




SU PURBAN RESIDENCES. 59
narrower than borders of turf, lest the force of contrast should be too great for the general
effect.
11. When borders of box or other plants are employed to form margins to flower-beds
on turf, they ought to be of several times the breadth which they are when employed to
separate walks from gravel, in order to give them a distinctive character, and to produce
sufficient force of effect to justify their use. Nothing looks worse than a narrow edging of
box, surrounding a bed on turf; the narrow edge of box, appearing, in that situation, to be
quite superfluous; and, its colour not contrasting with that of the grass, it has a dead dull
appearance.
12. Where beds are surrounded by gravel walks, and edged with box, the latter ought
always to be of such a breadth as to form a strongly marked line; and, though the sides of
the edging may be clipped so as to give them a slope, and prevent their getting naked
close to the surface of the ground, yet the top should always be cut quite flat and level.
13. Nothing looks worse in a flower-garden than to have the box edgings narrow and
high; except having the edges of turf margins so pared by the spade as to show the raw
naked earth.
84. Keeping the plants distinct.—Where there is abundance of room, it is
most convenient for culture, to keep perennials, biennials, annuals, and bulbs
in beds or compartments by themselves; but, whether the space for flowers
be limited, or of considerable extent, when the object is to have an equal
display of flowers in spring and autumn, all these different kinds of plants must
frequently be mixed together, to make up the colours required; for example,
in February, March, and April, very little could be effected in a bed or border
of mixed flowers, without the aid of crocuses, scillas, and hyacinths ; and,
late in autumn, there would be no great display without dahlias, lupines,
China asters, marigolds, &c., all which are either tuberous-rooted plants, or
annuals. Whatever kinds of flowers may be admitted into a flower-bed or
border, one principle of planting must never be lost sight of; that is, dis-
tinctness, or the keeping of every particular plant perfectly isolated, and,
though near to, yet never allowing it to touch, the adjoining plants. This is
merely the principle of the gardenesque applied to flowers; and it is so
decidedly preferable, in point of convenience for culture, to planting so close
together as that the plants will soon join together and cover the surface of the
soil, that we should never for a moment think of recommending what may
be called the picturesque in flower-planting, either for a flower-garden or for
flowers in borders. We except, however, creepers and low plants, and
perhaps plants generally, where the object is to produce one dense mass of
any particular colour; because this object cannot be effected without allowing
the plants to cover the whole bed. On the same principles of distinctness
and suitableness for culture, no shrubs that are not either of very low growth,
such as dwarf roses, or that have not very small heads, supported on stems
four feet or more in height, should ever be admitted into flower-beds or
borders. Dwarf roses, for all practical purposes, may, in effect, be considered
as herbaceous plants; since they flower best when kept low by pruning, and
when taken up and replanted in fresh soil, every year.
60 THE VILIA GARDENIER.
SECTION I. I.
DESIGNS FOR LAYING OUT AND PLANTING THE GARDENS OF SUB UP.BAN
RESIDENCES FROM ONIE PERCH TO TWO ACRES IN EXTENT.
85. The gardens of houses in a connected street, or row, which are the
smallest in this class, generally consist of two parts, divided from each
other by the house, through which the back garden is entered. Both are
necessarily of the same width as the house, but the front garden is generally
square; while the back garden varies in length, according to circumstances.
The side walls or fences are parallel to each other; and they are generally
kept low, that they may neither throw too much shade on the garden, nor
impede the free circulation of the air. . At the end of the back-garden, far-
thest from the house, there is frequently a door opening into some back road
or lane; and if there is a stable, it is placed here.
86. The gardens of suburban villas, which, though they form a broken street
or row, are partially or wholly detached, and stand either singly or in pairs, also
consist of a front and a back garden, but the latter is not entered through
the house, there being a strip of ground connecting the two on one side of
those houses which stand in pairs, and on both sides of those which are
detached. The back garden is, however, still of the same oblong, regular
form, enclosed by low straight parallel walls, and terminating in a straight
wall opposite the house, and opening into some back road or lane.
87. It is obvious that gardens thus shaped can afford little opportunity for
taste being displayed in laying them out, and that their chief interest must
depend upon the trees, shrubs, and flowers that they contain. It is also
evident that unless gardens of this kind are kept in the very highest state of
cultivation, they will have a very unpleasing effect; as their whole space is
continually before the eyes of the spectator, and as they have no scenic beauty
to direct the attention from their untidiness and neglected appearance.
88. The planting of the front garden of a suburban residence cannot be
much varied. No large trees can be admitted, as they would throw too much
shade upon the windows, and there is no space for variety or intricacy in the
walks. In most cases, all that is required is a few beds for flowers, which
should be kept with the greatest neatness, or a few flowering shrubs, inter-
mixed with evergreens. The situation and size of the garden must, of course,
be taken into consideration in deciding which of these plans is the most suit-
able: if the garden is small and exposed to the sun, it will be best to plant it
with showy flowers; but if the garden is in the shade during the greater part
of the day, it will be best to plant it with evergreens and flowering shrubs,
such as the arbutus and laurestinus. Even a plantation of hollies only, pro-
vided a few variegated ones be introduced, has a very good effect.
89. The laying out and planting of the back garden admits of much greater
variety than the front; particularly when it is the garden of a suburban villa;
either wholly or entirely detached from the surrounding houses. It is true, that
the shape of the ground, and the formality of the boundaries, must give some-
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 6]
what of a peculiar character to all gardens of this kind, but still they allow
some latitude to taste. The style in which they are laid out, must, however,
depend in a great measure on the kind of garden the proprietor may be in
want of; but there are three principal points to be kept in view, to which
all the various kinds of suburban garden we shall describe may be referred,
viz.:-
1. Economy in the first laying out and after-management.
2. Profit as regards the produce.
3. Ornament and enjoyment.
90. Economy, when it is to be combined with neatness, and an agreeable
appearance, is, perhaps, most easily attained, by covering the greater part of
the surface of the ground with grass; and a small garden of this kind might
be easily kept in order by the proprietor himself, or an ordinary man-servant,
or labourer, by the aid of a mowing machine. There would thus be scarcely
any expense in the after-management, and, as a surface of grass when kept
regularly mown and swept, is always agreeable to the eye, and has a neat
appearance, the garden could be kept in excellent order at the least possible
expense. The laying out would also cost as little as possible, as there would
be no expense but levelling the ground, making the walks, covering the
centre bed with turf, or sowing it with grass-seeds, and planting a few trees
and shrubs.
91. Profit from the garden of a small street house can scarcely be ex-
pected; and, indeed, even where there is a large garden to a suburban villa,
almost the only saving that can be hoped for is in the article of fruit; as the
vegetables grown in it generally cost more than they could be bought for from
a greengrocer. There is, however, a great pleasure in having vegetables
from one's own garden; and, indeed, some vegetables are so much better
when quite fresh, that it is worth while to take the trouble of growing them.
Peas, young cabbages, and various kinds of greens, become tough and insipid
when they have been gathered for several days; and it is a great convenience
for a cook to have parsley, mint, and other pot-herbs, always ready whenever
she may want them. A garden of this kind, however, as it must have a large
proportion of dug ground in it, requires a great deal of care to keep it in even
tolerable order, and it looks very untidy if it is neglected.
92. Ornamental gardening is, however, the most expensive of all modes of
keeping a garden; and, indeed, it is scarcely possible to keep even a small
ornamental garden in the highest state of order and neatness without a regu-
lar gardener, a reserve garden, and a green-house, or pits and frames. In the
neighbourhood of London, the best way is to contract with a nurseryman to
keep the garden in order, and full of flowers, at a given price per year; but
as this takes away a great part of the pleasure of the proprietor and his family
in the garden (as we all like things of our own creation, better than what is
done for us), a more agreeable plan is to have a gardener once a week to
keep the place in order; and to fill the beds with green-house plants
purchased from the people who hawk them about in the streets. If the
soil and situation are tolerably good, these plants will grow luxuriantly, and
produce abundance of flowers from May till September or October, when the
plants will be killed by the frost.
We shall now give a few examples of the best manner of laying out and
planting suburban gardens, economically, profitably, and ornamentally.
62 THE VII, LA GARDENER.
§ 1. Suburban Gardens in which economy is the principal object in view.
Design I. Laying out and planting the gardens of a street house of the
smallest size.
93. Laying out the ground.—Fig. 31. shows a plot of ground, in which the
house, which is 30 ft. by 20 ft., has a front garden of nearly the same size,
and a back garden about 90 ft. in length by 30 ft. in breadth. The kitchen
of the house is half sunk under ground, and the ground floor is ascended to,
from both gardens, by five steps. There may be a privy and a dusthole in a
sunk area (d) at the back of the house, on a level with the kitchen; and at
the bottom of the garden there is a board projecting from the wall or fence,
which will be covered with ivy, and under which, on two brackets, may be
laid (by pushing them in endwise) the clothes-posts, when not in use. The
ground having been properly levelled, and drained if necessary, the central
bed is marked out, and places for the clothes-posts (§ 79) are sunk at the four
corners. There is no manure-tank or well, because no part of the ground is
to be dug; but there may be a small pit sunk in the ground, with a cover
fitted to it, at the bottom of the garden, at e, under the clothes-post bracket,
for any decayed leaves or twigs, which may be required to be removed in the
intervals between the stated times that a man comes to mow the grass. From
the entrance gate or door (a), a walk 4 ft. broad is formed to the front door
of the house (b): along one side of this walk, under the grass, the water
service-pipe is laid; and on the other side the gas-pipe, if any. The landing
to the back door is at (c), under which are a safe or small larder, and also the
water-cistern. A small cistern over the privy, at the other end of the area,
protected by a double roof, with the interstice stuffed with hay, would render
this an excellent water-closet. A walk 3 ft. wide is conducted round the
garden, the space between it and the wall forming a border 18 in. in width,
except at the bottom, where it is 2 ft. wide, in order to make room for the
refuse pit at e, over which is the clothes-post bracket. The plot of ground in
front, and also the whole of that behind, with the exception of the walks,
may be sown with grass seeds, or laid down with turf, and the walks laid
with flagstones, or slates, or paved with bricks on edge, instead of being
gravelled, in order to save trouble in keeping them in order.
94. Planting the front garden.—The boundary fences of the front garden may
be planted with gold and silver-leaved ivy, intermixed with a plant or two of
the common ivy; and the boundary fences of the back garden may be wholly
planted with either the common or the giant ivy, or with a mixture of both.
In the centre of the lawn, in the front garden, may be planted a laurestinus,
an arbutus, a phillyrea, an aucuba, a double-blossomed furze, Cotoneåster

SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 63
Uva (irsi, a common or variegated box, an evergreen rhododendron, or some
other compact growing hardy evergreen shrub, which may be selected from
the descriptive catalogue of hardy evergreen shrubs which we shall give in a
future page; or a deciduous flowering shrub may be substituted for an ever-
green tree, if there should be chiefly evergreens in the adjoining gardens.
Among the beautiful deciduous shrubs of moderate growth which require
little or no pruning and management, may be mentioned the Cydónia
japónica (either the pale or the deep red-flowered variety, or a plant of each
put into one hole), the Persian lilac, and the Ribes sanguíneum. Of all
these plants the two most suitable are the laurestinus and the Cydónia
japónica, because neither require any pruning, and both flower in the winter
season. As these plants, however, from their beauty, cheapness, and easy
culture, may possibly be common in the adjoining gardens, if expense should
not be an object, one of the evergreen berberries or mahonias, such as Bér-
beris dealbata or Mahônia Aquifolium, or Gárrya ellíptica (a valuable winter
shrub), may be selected as the evergreen; or, if a deciduous shrub be pre-
ferred, Spirača ariaefolia, or S. bélla, or some other species of that genus, or a
yellow azalea, may be substituted. These comparatively rare evergreen and
deciduous shrubs are as hardy as the others; and, like them, require no
pruning whatever, further than cutting off dead wood or dead flowers. But if
all the adjoining front gardens are planted with the more rare and beautiful
foreign trees and shrubs, and the occupier should have the laudable desire of
increasing the general variety in the street, he may step from the garden
into the fields, and place in the centre of his grass plot, for an evergreen, the
common spurge laurel, or the double-blossomed furze; and for a deciduous
shrub (if he should prefer one), the spindle tree, or any dwarf British willow,
may be made choice of. Should even these be already introduced, he may
have recourse to the pine and fir tribe, and take one of the dwarf varieties of
the common spruce, such as Abies excélsa Clanbrasiliána, or a dwarf pine,
such as Pinus sylvéstris pumílio, or P. s. Mūghus.
95. In the back garden, we would merely introduce a few standard low
flowering trees, or fruit trees, placing them along the centre of the lawn, that
they may not interfere with the walks, along the lawn side of which clothes-
lines will probably occasionally be placed in the manner before mentioned.
(§ 79.) The tree nearest the house should be a double-blossomed hawthorn,
because it comes sooner into leaf than any other low tree, and the flowers
being double, are not succeeded by fruit, so that the tree is in no year so
exhausted but that it can flower abundantly the year following; whereas a
single-blossomed thorn, or tree of any kind in which the flowers are succeeded
by a large crop of fruit, seldom blossoms well two years in succession. Such
trees, therefore, should never be chosen for points of view where it is wished
to have a fine show of blossoms every year; but rather trees which, like the
above-mentioned variety of thorn, bear double blossoms. The next tree may
either be a Pyrus spectábilis, or transparent or Siberian crab, or some descrip-
tion of apple which has showy blossoms and bears abundantly, such as the
Hawthornden. The third tree may be a perfumed cherry, standard all-saints'
cherry, double-blossomed cherry, an almond, or a Cotonefister frigida, C.
affinis, or some similar tree, which may be selected from the catalogue of
hardy trees and shrubs given hereafter. The next tree may be a mulberry,
which thrives and bears abundantly in the very heart of London, and which
64 THE VILLA GAHD ENER.
should always be planted on grass; because, as the fruit drops the moment it
is ripe, it can be picked up clean for use, which it cannotif it falls on dug
ground or gravel. The two succeeding trees may be a laburnum and a scarlet
thorn; or, if the occupier prefers fruit trees, they may be two pears, say a
glout morceau, and a Marie Louise, or a beurré de Capiaumont; or they may
be two plums, or cherries: or, if he prefers evergreen trees, they may be two
variegated hollies. We recommend the variegated holly, because it is one of
the most cheerful of evergreens, and is in no danger of growing out of bounds,
so as to require pruning. Next to it, for the climate of London, the cedar of
Goa may be planted; but, as the cedar of Goa is somewhat tender, perhaps
a preferable plant for a smoky situation would be the Quércus I'lex, of which
the willow-leaved and beech-leaved varieties may be selected; or, for colder
climates, the common red cedar. We have here shown only one line of trees
down the centre of the lawn, because they will there have abundance of
room ; they will not require pruning for many years, and their leaves will
drop on the grass, and not litter the walks. When low-growing trees are
planted near the walks, their branches hang over them; and every year
those which inconvenience persons passing along the walks require to be cut
off, or tied up, and this would occasion expense in keeping, which it is one of
the desiderata in this mode of laying out and planting to avoid as much as
possible. For this reason no tree or shrub is directed to be planted against
the house, because that would be to incur the expense of training and
pruning. The trees should be procured of 6ft. or 8 ft. in height, so that their
tops may be, when planted, out of the reach of injury from children; and
the grass may either be sown, or turf may be procured and laid down. The
latter produces the more immediate effect, though it is by much the more
expensive, and, in the end, the turf is inferior, from its usually containing a
mixture of unsuitable grasses and broad-leaved plants. The grass seeds will
produce a close verdant surface in about three months, and, in a year, a
much finer lawn than turf brought from common pasture, or meadow, or an
old grass field. The flagstones or slates should be laid on brick piers, built
on a solid foundation; so that their surface may be at all times level and
even at the joints, for walking on. The surface of paved walks, like that of
all others, as far as it is practicable, should be rather higher than the adjoin-
ing surfaces: otherwise, in heavy rains, they become receptacles for water,
which, being often muddy, disfigures the stones, the pavement, or the gravel:
but on this subject we shall enter more at length, when treating of walks, in
a future page. If the shrub planted in the centre of the front garden be one
of the more rare kinds, the natural loam, which we have supposed to be the
soil in both gardens, may require to be mixed with a little sand, peat earth,
or vegetable mould, to lighten and enrich it. The kinds of grass-seeds proper
for sowing the lawn, and the mode of procedure, &c., will be given in a
future page.
96. The eaſpense of carrying into eaſecution this manner of laying out and
planting a suburban garden will depend chiefly on the price of flagstone or
paving slate. In London, this, taking a quantity of the material together,
would be from 4d. to 6d. a foot; so that every foot in length, of a walk 3 ft.
broad, would cost from 1s, to 1s. 6d., independently of the expense of building
the piers by which the flagstones are to be supported. The whole expense of
making these walks will be about three times that of walks laid with gravel:
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 65
but the saving of expense in after-keeping will be so very great, that no one
who can afford the first cost will ever consider that as a reason for not having
them. If preferred, the walks may, however, be of gravel or asphalte;
directions for making which will be given hereinafter. The trees will cost
2s. 6d. each, and the grass seeds for both gardens 2s. 6d. The whole expense
of laying out and planting, including the paving, may be between 201.
and 30l.
97. The eapense of keeping a garden so laid out and planted, even if it
were 200 ft. long and 50 ft. wide, would not cost, in the neighbourhood of
London, 20s. a year; and yet it would at all times look neat. The ivy would
grow up against the walls, and cling to them, without any expense of mailing
or pruning, except when it infringed too much on the lawn in the front
garden, or on the walk in the back garden, which it would not do for ten or
twelve years, but it might require to be trimmed a little at the roots once a
year. In consequence of there being no box or other planted edgings, there
would be no expense of keeping them in order, and occasionally renewing
them; and the margin of the lawn would only require to be prevented from
spreading over the flagstones, by clipping the grass with a pair of shears
every time the surface was mown. Neither the trees, nor the shrubs in the
front garden, would need any pruning whatever for ten or twelve years,
except the cutting out of such dead wood as might appear among the
branches. We do not say that the fruit-trees would not be improved by
pruning, but merely that, as far as neatness of appearance is concerned, it
would be quite unnecessary. The walks would be cleaned by every shower
of rain, and would not even require sweeping, except when the edges of the
grass were clipped. The sole expense would thus be that of mowing the
lawns and clipping their edges, which might be done six or eight times in the
course of the year, at 2s. or 2s. 6d. a time; or the occupier, or his servant,
might cut the grass with Budding's mowing-machine, and the edges with a
pair of small hedge shears.
98. In planting a garden of this kind in a situation eaſposed to the smoke,
care should be taken to use only those kinds of trees and shrubs which will
thrive in close situations, as there are some kinds of shrubs and trees which
experience proves will thrive even in the midst of smoke. Thus, for the plot
in front, we should recommend Aácuba japónica as an evergreen, because
this remarkable plant, though a native of Japan, endures the smoke of
London better than any indigenous evergreen shrub whatever; and, as a
deciduous shrub, the common purple lilac, which is both hardy and beautiful,
and comes early into leaf. The trees in the back garden might be the
double-blossomed and scarlet thorns, both of which will grow and look well
for at least eight or ten years; the laburnum, the almond, the mulberry
(which thrives admirably in the most smoky places), and the weeping or
allsaints’ cherry (which is one of the few flowering trees that prosper in the
gardens of Lambeth Palace, though enveloped in the smoke of numerous
houses and manufactories). Ivy, whether common, giant, or variegated, will
thrive in the very heart of London. Grass will not live, and look well, in
smoky situations, for any length of time; but, if the Pöa ännua be used, it
will ripen its seeds and sow itself every year; and it has this advantage, that
during winter it is greener than any other grass that will grow in a town.
Should it fail in any part, and leave bare patches, seeds may be procured
F
66 | THE WILLA GARDENER,
from the seed-shops, and, being sown at any season, will come up in a
few days.
DESIGN II.--To lay out and plant the garden of a street house of larger
size, but still in the simplest manner.
99. To lay out and plant a larger garden of the same kind, and for the
attainment of the same objects, all the difference would be, that, instead of
one shrub in the front garden, there should be several; and, instead of one
row of trees in the back garden, there should be two, or perhaps three ; or,
what would be much better, that the trees should be planted in quincunx, as
shown in fig. 32., so as to give the appearance of breadth to the centre of the
lawn, and to make the garden seem much larger than it really is. The walks
would still be laid with flagstones, or some description of pavement; the
walls would be planted with ivy; and the house would still be left without a
vine, a fig, or a rose, trained against it. Fig. 32. is the plan of a suburban
º -
§ § §
{} (3 §
|*o
| * a § CŞ
.G 3. &
street residence, the house and front and back gardens of which occupy a
space 60 ft. in width, by 200 ft. in length. Here the entrance walk (a) passes
through the centre of the front garden, on each side of which there is a grass
plot, with a large shrub in the centre, and smaller ones at each angle. There
is a servants’ entrance at one side at b, and a sunk area, both before and
behind; that in front being narrow, and serving merely to keep the walls
dry, while that behind is broad, and contains a larder, bottle-rack, and similar
conveniences required for a house of the second rate. The back garden is
planted with four rows of low trees, two near each walk, in quincunx, leaving
a broad space in the middle, about 100 ft. in length, well adapted for a party
walking backwards and forwards on in the summer season, for a dance, or for
placing a tent on, for sitting under, at the farther end. A garden of this
kind might be laid out and planted for 30l. or 40l. ; and kept perfectly neat
for 30s. or 40s. a year. -
DESIGN III. To lay out and plant the gardens of a suburban villa, with
regard to economy, but with some attention to ornament.
100. The situation of the house in fig. 33. appears almost inconveniently
near the street or road; but the house is so placed, in order to allow an
appearance of ample space, and breadth of lawn, to be given to the grounds.
In fig. 33., a is the entrance; b, the drawing-room, having a view the whole
length of the lawn; c is the dining-room, having a very confined view, and,
in short, looking across some bushes, to a screen of evergreens (say hollies or
evergreen oaks); d is the breakfast-room, or common sitting-room of the
family, looking on a flower-garden, to which there is a descent from a balcony

SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 67
by three steps. The other small room may be used as a business, waiting, or
gentleman's room ; and the situation of the staircase is indicated. The
fºx & sº _r}, *N.
central hall is large for the size of the house, and may, in summer, be used
occasionally as a music-room, or as a play-place, or dancing-room, for chil-
dren. All the offices are on the basement story, and the first and second
floors are bed-rooms. If circumstances are favourable, a small piece of
water, supplied from a dripping rock, at e, would have a good effect; and
there might be rock-work, or a statue; there might also be a statue on a
pedestal, surrounded with tazza vases of flowers, in the centre of the flower-
garden; or, if water were abundant, a fountain might be substituted for the
statue. The rest of the garden, with the exception of the surrounding border
between the walk and the boundary wall, is entirely of turf, varied by choice
ornamental trees and shrubs, including some fruit-trees and fruit shrubs.
101. Laying out.—We shall suppose the piece of ground to be about 250 ft.
in length, and 100 ft. in breadth, and that the ground has been properly
levelled; the next point is to provide efficient drainage, as the part of the
garden which is to be covered with grass will be of comparatively little use,
unless it be thoroughly drained, so as to be in a fit state for walking upon
nearly all the year. The levelling and draining having been completed, the
next thing to be done is to mark out the situation of the walks; and these, as
the main object is to have a broad expanse of lawn, are kept as near the
boundary line as practicable. They may be made of gravel, or any other
similar material, or laid with flagstones or asphalte, in the way that will be
described under the head of Garden Operations. The flower garden may then
be staked out, and turf laid over the whole of the centre of the back garden
from b to e, a dug border being left at h, i, and k, if thought advisable; there
might be also dug beds at g and f; and the border between the walls and the
walks should be dug ground. The trees at l, m, n, o, and p, should, however,
be all planted on the grass.
102. The planting of a garden of this kind must depend, in some measure,
on the taste of the proprietor; but as economy is to be our object, the follow-
ing forty-three kinds of trees and shrubs may be recommended for planting on
the grass, as being at once both cheap and ornamental, either in their general
appearance and the colour of their leaves, or in their flowers:

F 2
*
68
GARDEN ER.
THE VIII, A
Amygdalus communis, the common almond.
Bétula álba, the common birch.
Cércis Siliquástrum, the Judas tree.
Córnus sibérica, the coral-wooded dog-
wood.
Crataegus Oxyacántha var., the double and
scarlet-flowering hawthorns, and other
species or varieties of Crataegus.
Cydonia japónica (commonly called Pyrus
japonica).
Cytisus alpinus, the Scotch laburnum.
Dáphne Mezèreum, the common mezereon. .
Fagus sylvática purpürea, the purple beech.
Halësia tetráptera, the Snow-drop tree.
Hibiscus syriacus, the althaea frutex.
Hippéphae argéntea, the silver-leaved buck-
thorn.
Hypéricum Kalmianum, Kalm's St. John's
wort.
Ilex Aquifolium, the common holly.
Laürus nobilis, the Sweet bay.
Ligüstrum vulgare, the common privet.
Philadélphus coronarius, the common gar-
den syringa, and many other kinds.
Phillyrea angustifolia, the narrow-leaved
phillyrea.
Pyrus aucuparia, the mountain ash.
Pyrus baccata, the Siberian crab.
Pyrus coronaria, the garland-flowered crab.
Pyrus Astracánica, the transparent crab.
Pyrus spectábilis, the showy-flowered crab.
Quércus Cérris, the Turkey oak.
Quércus Ilex, the common evergreen oak.
Rhūs Côtinus, the periwig tree.
Rhūs élegans, the stag's-horn Sumach.
Ribes aireum, the yellow-flowered currant.
Robinia viscosa and hispida, the glutinous
and rose-flowered acacias.
Salix amygdălina, the almond-leaved willow.
Sophora japónica, the Japan Sophora and
the weeping variety. •
Spártium jūnceum, the Spanish broom.
Spártium multiflorum, the white broom.
Spiraea hypericifolia and salicifolia, the
hypericum-leaved and the willow-leaved
spiraeas, and other kinds.
Symphoria racemosa, the snowberry tree.
Thüja occidentalis, the arborvitae.
Vibiirnum O'pulus, the snowball tree.
Ulex europaea plena, the double-blossomed
furze.
Xyldsteum Tatáricum, the tartarian honey-
suckle.
These will all bear the London smoke, and, with the exception of the sweet
bay, are quite hardy. If forty sorts in mixture were ordered from a nursery-
man, they would cost 9s. per dozen ; but, if the above list were given to the
same nurseryman, he could not afford them for less than 1s. each on an
average, though the sorts named are in all the nurseries.
103. To vary this mode of planting, in some places, such as at l and n, there
may be planted groups of Mahônia Aquifolium; and at o may be a group con-
sisting of laurestinus and arbutus, and also Portugal laurel, if the situation be
not too near the smoke of London for the latter tree. At p may be some varie-
gated hollies; and a few choice ornamental shrubs may be introduced in
various places on the margin of the clumps next the grass. At q may be a
Deodar cedar, which will grow freely near London; and in some other
situations, as a singie tree, may be introduced an Araucaria imbricata, or a
Paulöwnia imperialis, or a mulberry may be planted. Great care is, however,
required in planting single trees, that they may not destroy the effect of
breadth intended to be produced in the centre of the lawn, and that they may
not interfere with the openings left among the clumps, and which are intended
to produce the effect of glades and vistas, and to give the idea of the place
being much more extensive than it really is.
104. To form an evergreen screen to hide the boundary wall from the
windows of the dining-room, at s, may be planted one of the beautiful Chinese
cypress (Juníperus sinénsis); and beyond this may be a shrubbery of choice
dwarf junipers, and other similar plants, which may be mixed with hollies,
and dwarf evergreen oaks, or any other plants that may be preferred, so as to
have an agreeable effect, and yet hide the boundary from the windows of
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 69
the dining-room c.; the only care necessary being to mingle a few variegated
hollies or flowering shrubs with the other trees, to prevent the plantation from
looking too dark. If desired, the plantation may be made to slope upwards
from the house to the walk, next which the highest bushes may be placed,
and which would be thus hidden from the house. Another mode of managing
this screen would be to carry the walk next the house instead of being in its
present position, and to have a plantation of American shrubs carried from
it to the boundary wall; the kalmias, azaleas, and other low-growing plants
being in front, and the rhododendrons behind. There may also be a planta-
tion of rhododendrons and other American plants at r, and laurestinus and
rhododendrons may form the shrubbery between the house and the road.
105. The flower garden, t, may be planted with Californian annuals, which
will be in flower from March till the end of May, when they may be removed
and their place supplied by green-house plants, which will continue in flower
till October or November. The Californian annuals should be sown the latter
end of October or the beginning of November, as soon as the green-house
plants are removed and the ground has been cleared and raked. The fol-
lowing is a list of the annuals which may be sown to stand the winter, in order
that they may flower in early spring :
1. Neméphila insignis; blue. 5. Eschschältzia Califórnica; yellow.
2. Eschschöltzia cröcea ; orange. , 6. Lupinus manus ; blue.
3. Leptosiphon densiflorus; purple. 7. Neméphila atomaria; white.
4. Clárkia pulchélla álba; white. 8. Erysimum Perowskianum; orange.
Towards the end of May these should be cleared away entirely, and the
ground forked over and raked, after which the beds may be filled with green-
house plants as follows:
, Verbenas ; white.
. Phlöx Drummondii; crimson.
. Amagállis Monélli; blue.
. Pelargönium Tom Thumb; Scarlet.
1. Calceolarias; yellow.
2. Verbenas; Scarlet.
3. Lobelias; blue.
4. Calceolarias; yellow.
:
The best yellow calceolarias are C. Këyii, and C. viscosíssima, which may
be obtained at 8d. or 9d. each, or at 6s. 9d. or 7s, a dozen. If preferred,
Cúphea platycéntra, which may be had for 4s. a dozen, may be substituted
for calceolarias in the bed marked 4; and Heliotropium Voltaireanum for the
anagallis, as the heliotrope is a most splendid plant, and its flowers, which are
produced in large trusses, are of a brilliant dark purple. For border flowers
this heliotrope, Calceolaria amplexicatilis, Zauschnēria Califórnica, or Z.
coccinea, and Diélytra spectábilis may be planted, but the last two are more
expensive than the others.
106. Planting the walls.-The side walls near the house should be com-
pletely covered, in order to disguise the boundary; and for this purpose we
would recommend ornamental climbers and creepers, or planting the whole
with ivy. If climbers are chosen, the sorts which may be procured at 1s. or
ls. 6d. a plant are :
Ampelópsis quinquefolia and cordata, the Técoma (Bignonia) radicans, the common
five-leaved and heart-leaved Virginian trumpet flower.
creeper. Clématis montana, florida, azurea, Viðrna,
Atrágene austriaca, the Austrian virgin's and Viticélla, different kinds of virgin's
bower. bower.
70 THE WILLA GARDENER.
Wistaria sinénsis, the Chinese wistaria. niatis, the double-flowered and cut-leaved
Jasminum officinale, common jasmine, of brambles; or R. nutkanus and R. spectá-
which there may be several plants, as bilis, the American raspberry.
they will grow freely, and will bear the Rösa Bánksiae, white and yellow ; Bour-
Smoke. - Saúltii, Grevillei, indica major, multiflora
Lonicera flava, japónica, flexuosa, grata, repánda, Riiga, and Noisette : which may
impléxa, pubéscens, and Sempervirens; be obtained at 1s. each; but of which
all different kinds of honeysuckle. only Boursatiltii and Riiga will bear the
Lycium bárbarum and ruthénicum, the Duke smoke well, though Grevillei will bear it
of Argyll's tea-tree. for Some years.
Rübus fruticosus flore plèno, and foliis laci-
107. As the roses would require some preparation of the soil, unless it were
naturally dry and good, they might be planted at the farther end of the
garden, in the border which is 2 ft. wide, and in the narrow border which is
formed between the walk and the sunk area, both these borders being pre-
viously prepared with rich soil; or, if the atmosphere should be too smoky for
roses, this last border may be planted with common and variegated ivy, which
would cluster over the area wall, and have a lively verdant appearance at
every period of the year. Common ivy may be obtained at 3s. per dozen, or
4d. a single plant; and the variegated ivy is 1s. 6d. a plant.
108. Another mode of planting this garden would be, to have only
standard roses, and fruit shrubs, such as gooseberries, currants, raspberries,
vacciniums, &c., of which there cannot be more than two or three plants of
each kind, standing in small circles, kept dug and manured, in order that
they may produce their flowers and fruit of good size; and a few mul-
berry, quince, medlar, apple, pear, and plum-trees, standing on the grass.
Against the wall may be planted one or two peaches, nectarines, and
apricots; and against the house, a fig-tree and a vine. The remainder of the
walls and of the house may be varied by roses and flowering creepers; except
the more shady parts of the surrounding wall, which may be covered with the
common, the giant, and the variegated ivy. The surrounding border between
the walk and the boundary wall may be wholly devoted to bulbs, in spring
and the beginning of summer; with a row of Russian violets inside the box,
for producing fragrance in winter; and patches of mignonette at regular
distances, to scent the air during summer. Among the groups of trees, and
close by their roots, common cowslips, snow-drops, wild violets, and wood
anemones may be planted, to come up among the grass; and, being only
planted in a few places, and these near the roots of the trees, they may be
easily avoided by the mower. In such a garden as this, a very great variety
of trees and shrubs might be grown; and the flower-garden is sufficiently
large to produce a very good display of the finer kinds of flowers.
109. A few pot-herbs might be planted in the space marked u, or in any
other secluded place where they would be conveniently situated with regard
to the kitchen, and yet not be in sight of the windows of the house.
110. Management.—Notwithstanding the extent and beauty of this place,
there would not be much expense in the management, as there is very little.
dug ground; and if the walls were covered with ivy, or climbing plants, they
would want very little pruning and training. With regard to the grass, it
should be mown once a fortnight during the growing season, and once a
month during the rest of the year, for the first two or three years; but if it
were kept from growing by being frequently mown, the roots would soon
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 71
become so weakened, that in three or four years they would not require
mowing above five or six times in the course of the year. It is a great mis-
take to suppose that anything is gained in the end, in the way of economy,
by suffering the grass of lawns to grow long before mowing, in order to save
the expense of once or twice mowing during the season; for, in proportion as
the grass is allowed to grow long, in the same proportion are the roots
strengthened, and enabled to send up still longer leaves and stems; whereas,
if a lawn were kept short by frequent mowing for two or three years in suc-
cession, the plants of grass would at last become so weak that not one half
the mowing usually required for slovenly-kept lawns would be necessary, and
the turf would be much finer and neater in appearance. The trees, being
planted with a view to picturesque effect, would require very little atten-
tion of any kind for a number of years, more especially if the soil were dry
and not too rich. Even the flower-garden would be managed with very
little cost.
§2. Suburban gardens, in which profit is the principal object in view.
DESIGN IV. To lay out and plant the garden of a street-house, where the
principal object is the culture of fruit and vegetables.
111. General arrangements.--The mode of laying out and planting a subur-
ban garden, entered through the house, where the object is to save expense
to the occupier, by raising vegetables to be consumed in his family, differs
considerably from those recommended where the object is economy in the
first cost, or economy in the after-management. It may be necessary to
premise, that, by profit, we do not here allude to the sale of articles, but
simply to the production of such fruit and vegetables as shall be most useful
in the household economy of the occupier. We shall suppose the extent of
the back garden of fig. 34. to be nearly the same as in fig. 31. ; because the
34
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same directions are alike applicable to both, or to any other garden similarly
circumstanced. We shall also suppose that the drainage, levelling, service
pipes, &c., and also the walks, are completed, and the front garden sloped,
as advised in § 78.; and the ground trenched, improved if necessary, and
thoroughly manured. In addition, there ought to be a manure tank formed,
and so connected with the privy and the sink of the back kitchen, as to
receive the drainage from them. To this there ought either to be a fixed
pump, or a moveable cover, to admit of readily dipping a bucket into the tank
If a pump be employed, it ought to be one of large bore, so as to bring up
mud as well as water. In using this liquid manure, great care must be taken
never to put it on the leaves of the plants, and either to follow it by watering

















72 THE WILLA GARDENTER.
with clear water, so as to prevent the surface of the soil from being disfigured;
or, what is preferable, to use it chiefly during or immediately before rain.
As the supply of liquid manure will be regular throughout the year, it ought
to be regularly used; and at those seasons when it may not be proper to
water annual herbaceous vegetables with it, on account of disfiguring or
dirtying their leaves, it may be applied to perennials, such as tart rhubarb
and sea-kale, and to the roots of fruit-trees and fruit shrubs. The liquid
manure from a house, where the family consists of five or six persons, and
where they wash at home, if used as it is produced, so as to allow none of it
to run off by the drain, will be quite sufficient for a garden 200 ft. in length
and 60 ft. in breadth. Liquid manure, however, though powerful in a recent
state, is always more efficacious after being a week or two fermented; but for
this purpose two tanks are necessary, as will be hereafter described, when
treating of the arrangements suitable for large gardens. All the laying out
being completed, we next proceed to the planting.
112. The front garden we would devote chiefly to ornamental flowers or
plants, some of which should be, at the same time, useful in cookery. The
general surface we would keep in turf, forming round it a narrow dug border,
and, in the centre, a bed in the form of a circle, square, diamond, or any
other regular figure. In these borders, and in the central bed, we would
plant no trees or shrubs, but only such ornamental herbaceous plants as could
be rendered useful in the kitchen: for example, in the centre bed we would
plant a Judas tree, the flowers of which make excellent fritters when fried in
batter; or a mulberry; and in the alternate beds of a circular shape round
it, we would plant an eatable gourd, or vegetable marrow, the fruit of which
is one of the most useful of summer vegetables, either boiled or fried, and
serves either to mix with apples, or to use alone, flavoured with lemon and
sugar, for fruit pies. The best kind of gourd for using, when young, is the
vegetable marrow. In the other beds we would plant a mammoth gourd, or
American butter-squash pumpkin, the fruit of which should be allowed to
ripen, for the purpose of being used for soups and pies, and also as a veget-
able, when boiled, in the winter time. The fruit of both these species, when
the plants are regularly watered every warm evening with diluted liquid
manure, or even with simple water, will sometimes attain an enormous size,
weighing from 100 lbs. to 200 lbs. ; and, as it will keep the greater part of the
winter, even though cut, it is a most valuable resource for soups, and is so
used in some of the first families in England. When cut, a circular orifice,
of about 4 in. in diameter, is made on one side, and the piece taken out is,
after cutting off part of the flesh, preserved as a stopper to exclude the air.
When a piece is wanted for soups or pies, the stopper is taken out, and a suf-
ficient quantity scooped out of the inside with a knife or an iron spoon. This
may be practised throughout the whole winter, and the fruit will still continue
quite fresh. The mammoth gourd is much used in soups by the French,
even of the humblest class, and in the public hospitals, as well as by the
Italians and the Americans; and though in England it is as yet scarcely
known, except at the tables of the nobility and gentry, it is well deserving of
general cultivation. It gives a fine flavour and creamy richness to soup, and
is very nutritious. The flowers of all the gourds and pumpkins are delicious
fried in butter; and the points of the young shoots, boiled, are equal to
spinach in tenderness and in flavour.
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 73
113. In the border next the house, in order to be trained against it, if facing
the south, we would plant a vine or a fig; and, if it faced the east or the
west, a Glout Morceau pear, which is a never-failing bearer, of excellent
flavour, and a good keeper. If the front faced the north, we should not
recommend any tree or shrub to be trained against the house, unless it were
ivy, which keeps the house warm, excludes rain, and always looks well. As
ornamental flowers in this border, and also in those of the two side walls, we
would plant scarlet runners, which would give a length of 70 ft. of this vege-
table, and would afford an ample supply for a family of six or seven persons
during the whole summer. For the runners to twine on, pieces of packthread
should be nailed to the walls, and to the house, at about 6in. apart, and
reaching from within 1 ft. of the ground to from 4 ft. to 6 ft. above it, as may
be suitable to the height of the side walls. The lower ends of the strings are
fastened to a horizontal rod supported by props at about 6 in. from the wall.
The kidney beans, being sown between the wall and the rod, will attach
themselves, as soon as they come up, to the strings, and continue to twine
round these till they have reached the top, flowering and fruiting as they
advance. As the mails in the side wall next the path might be liable to catch
the dress of ladies passing near them, instead of nails, a rod or a wire might
be fixed there : and, indeed, the most elegant mode of training kidney-beans
against a wall is, to have an iron wire of the fourth of an inch in diameter,
fixed horizontally on studs let into the wall both at top and at bottom, and
painted green, and to stretch the threads on these wires from the one to the
other. Every April, when the kidney-beans are planted, a person taking a
ball of twine, and beginning at one end, by passing it over and under the
bars at 6 in. distance, would soon complete this string trellis, the lines of the
strings not being perpendicular, but in a diagonal direction. By going over
the space a second time, and crossing these lines, the effect would be im-
proved, and the support for the twining stems of the runners increased. If
thought necessary, a slight wire fence might be placed along the walk, to pro-
tect the grass plot from dogs, and, on this also, scarlet runners might be
grown; or an arched wire trellis, from the street entrance to the door of the
house, might be formed over the walk, and gourds and scarlet runners might
be trained on it. In the border on the fourth, or street side of the front gar-
den, we would sow masturtiums, which would soon grow up against the dwarf
wall and the railing, and also spread over the grass. Their flowers would
make a fine appearance all summer, and, with the young leaves and the
tender points of the shoots, might be used in salading; while the fruit, if
gathered before it becomes too old, is well known to make an excellent sub-
stitute for capers. In the side borders containing the scarlet runners nothing
else should be planted, unless it were a vine for the purpose of training its
shoots along the tops of the walls; because these borders will require to be
dug and manured every year, and the soil renewed every three or four years;
and because no flowering shrub could thrive under the smothering influence
of the foliage of the runners. The same may be observed of the border con-
taining the masturtiums. The only culture required for both the nasturtiums
and the scarlet runners, in the summer time, in addition to the usual routine
of watering, weeding, and keeping down insects, &c., would be, when any of
the plants began to cease bearing, to cut them down, and water freely at
their roots, in consequence of which treatment they will send up fresh shoots,
74 THE WILLA GARDENER.
and bear a second crop. In mild winters, the roots of the runners, if the soil
is dry, sometimes survive, and spring up again the following year; and, in
this case, fresh seeds are unnecessary, but the ground must either be manured
during winter, or frequently watered with liquid manure whilst the plants are
growing. The kidney-bean is one of the most valuable of culinary veget-
ables, being always ready to gather during the whole summer, and requiring
very little cookery. That kind known as the scarlet runner is by far the
most profitable that can be planted; not only from its producing a greater
quantity of fruit than any of the dwarf varieties, but because its pods are
tender to the latest period of their growth, even when the seeds within are
full grown; whereas the pods of the dwarf varieties become stringy, hard, and
unfit to eat, even before the seeds are half-grown. The mature seeds of all
the varieties, taken from the pods, and well boiled or stewed, form a farina-
ceous and most nutritious food; the quantity of gluten in them being nearly
as great as it is in the best wheat. Before Miller's time, the scarlet runner
was chiefly cultivated for the beauty of its flowers, and on account of their
being produced by the plants during the whole summer. The plants were
regularly sown every spring in the flower border, among the other orna-
mental annuals, and the flowers were eagerly sought after by ladies to put
into their nosegays and garlands; but Miller having brought the pods into
general use for the table, the scarlet runner has disappeared from the flower
border, and has now almost ceased to be considered as an ornamental plant.
The round sabre bean, which is a profuse bearer, and the seeds of which are
very nutritious when eaten in a ripe state, has white flowers, and is very
ornamental when trained against a wall. Another kind of kidney-bean has
black and white flowers, and is still more ornamental than the others.
114. The bed on the grass plot adjoining the walk between the entrance-
gate and the front door may be planted or sown with such plants as are at
once fragrant flowers and sweet herbs; such as lemon and common thyme,
mint, marjoram, sage, winter savory, fennel, and tarragon. These would
never require any manure, and need not to be taken up and replanted
oftener than once in three or four years, or even longer.
115. In gardens of smaller size, if it should be desired to confine the culture
of useful plants to the back garden, the front garden may be laid down in
grass, and only dwarf fruit-trees planted in it. The centre tree may be a
filbert or a berberrry. The filbert is most ornamental during winter, with its
long male catkins moved by every wind; but the berberry has the advantage
of being beautiful, not only when in flower in spring, but also in autumn
when covered with its bright fruit, which is useful both for garnishing and
making a delicious preserve. In this case gooseberry or currant bushes may
be planted in the circles, or the centre-tree may be a swan-egg pear, which
is very graceful in its habit of growth, and the bushes in the circles may be
dwarf apples on paradise stocks, and the kinds may be the Hawthornden, if
profit be the object, because no other apple-tree bears so abundantly as a
dwarf; but, for ornament, may be added, the Alexander, a very large apple;
the red Siberian crab, nearly as small as a cherry, but an excellent bearer,
and making an elegant sweetmeat when preserved in apple jelly; and the
transparent crab, a most beautiful apple with a skin like transparent wax,
also an abundant bearer, and good for preserving. Other fruit-trees are
either not ornamental, such as the pear and medlar; or of too short duration,
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 75
such as the cherry, which never looks well after the month of July, or the
plum, which ripens its fruit in August. The quince is one of the most orna-
mental of fruit-trees, and might be used for the centre bed, but unfortunately
it is rather an uncertain bearer.
116. The back garden.—If the back garden lies in the direction of east and
west, then the wall, having a southern exposure, may be planted with
peaches, nectarines, and apricots. The wall facing the east or west might be
planted with baking plums and cherries, and the wall with an aspect to the
north with morello cherries and currants, or with baking apples and pears,
including some of the earliest sorts, and some of the latest. If the back
garden lies in the direction of north and south, then the only wall having
a southern exposure will be one of the end walls, and on this grapes or peaches
may be planted; while the two side walls may be covered with pears, apples,
plums, and cherries, with a gooseberry or a currant between each, to be
removed as soon as the fruit-trees require more room. We recommend only
kitchen fruits, as being the most profitable for pies, puddings, &c., to a
family; but some table fruits may be introduced, if the occupier prefers them.
A vine may be trained against the house.
117. Selection of fruit-trees.—As the object in view in planting this garden
is rather to produce the fruits most useful in a family, than to grow a great
variety of sorts, the first point is to consider what kinds are best adapted for
the kitchen. Of these apples are the most wholesome for children, and are
not only useful for pies and puddings, but excellent roasted, or boiled down
with honey, so as to make a kind of sweetmeat, resembling that called by the
French resiné, to eat instead of butter with bread. Pears, when of the
melting kinds, are both very agreeable and very wholesome to eat raw ; but
they are seldom used in England for any purposes of cookery except stewing;
and this dish, when made palatable, is generally too rich for children. Of
stone fruits, damsons are the most wholesome, and most easily preserved; and
morello and Kentish are the best cherries for cooking. Gooseberries, rasp-
berries, and red currants, with a few black ones, are also extremely useful for
all purposes of cookery, particularly preserving. One of the most useful apples
for the kitchen is the Hawthornden, which comes in early, bears abundantly,
and falls (softens) well in boiling; but the fruit does not keep, and, in some
soils, the tree dies off at an early age. The Keswick codlin is also a good and
early kitchen apple. The Ribston pippin is an excellent fruit, either for the
kitchen or dessert; but the tree is not quite so hardy or so good a bearer as
either the Bedfordshire foundling (a very large apple), or the king of the
pippins. The Brabant bellefleur and Wormsley pippin are also very excellent
apples. The best keeping apples for winter use are the northern greening
and the French crab, the latter of which will keep two years. For pears, the
best for the table are the beurré de Ranz, the glout morceau, and Eyewood,
all excellent bearers, and all keep well. The earliest of the fine-flavoured
pears is the jargonelle; but it will not keep longer than a week or ten days.
Marie Louise is next in ripening to the jargonelle, but it also will not keep
long. The best pear for keeping is the Easter beurré. The best cherries for
the kitchen are the Kentish or Flemish, for the early crops, on account of
their juiciness, and the smallness of their stones; and, in the autumn, the
morello, for making cherry brandy and preserving. The wild, or black
cherry, which ripens between the kinds mentioned, is a very rich fruit for
76 THE WILLA GARDENER,
pies or puddings; but the stones are large in proportion to the pulp, and it
continues in season but a very short time. Of plums, the green gage, the
early and late Orleans, and the Shropshire or prune damson, are the best.
The wine sour and mirabelle are also frequently used for preserving; and
Gisborne's plum is an extraordinary bearer. Of grapes, the most productive,
in the open air, are the esperione and the white muscadine; the best for
wine-making is the black cluster. Of peaches, the best bearers are the grosse
mignonne, the Royal George, and the Bellegarde; the last a most excellent
sort. The best nectarine is the Elruge, and the best apricot for the table is
the Moorpark; though the Breda, which is a very abundant bearer, is most
useful in the kitchen, as it not only makes a delicious preserve when ripe, but
excellent tarts when green. The best bearing fig is the large blue or purple
fig, which ripens well in the open air, and early; but the brown Brunswick is
also much recommended. The best gooseberries for preserving green, and
making green gooseberry wine, or British champagne, are the rumbullion
and the white Dutch. The Warrington, the whitesmith, and the early rough
red are great bearers, and afford excellent fruit for the table, and for pre-
serving when ripe: the roaring lion is the best bearer of the large sorts. The
common, or Dutch, red currant is the only one used for pies and puddings,
and is the best for preserving. The black currant is used for making a kind
of jam, called rob, which is thought good for sore throats; the black Naples
produces the finest fruit. The best white currant is the white Dutch. The
red Antwerp raspberry is the best, both for the table and preserving ; and
the white Antwerp has the finest flavour for the dessert. The only straw-
berry that is suitable for preserving is Keen's seedling, and it is also the
best and most regular bearer. The red alpine is high-flavoured, and con-
tinues in bearing many months, but the fruit is small. The scarlets are the
kinds mostly used for flavouring ices, and the variety called the Duke of
Kent's scarlet is esteemed the best. The old pine is the finest flavoured of
all the strawberries, but it is a very uncertain bearer.
118. Walks and borders.-On the supposition that the walks are of flag-
stone, supported on brick piers, then the wall borders need not be more than
18 in. wide; as the space under the flagstones (the latter not touching the
soil) will be almost as available for a border for the roots of the wall trees, as
if it were fully exposed to the sun; while, in effect, as we have elsewhere
observed, it adds all the space occupied by the walks to the superficial area
of the garden. If the walks are of gravel, then the width of the borders
between them and the wall on which peaches and grapes are to be grown
ought not to be less than 5 ft. ; and those for the other hardier fruits not less
than 2 or 3 feet. In fig. 34., the direction of the side walls of the back garden
is east and west: and, the walks being supposed to be of gravel, the border
to the wall a, having a south aspect, is 5 ft. wide; that to the end wall b,
having a west aspect, is 3 ft. wide; and that to the south wall c, having a
north aspect, is 2 ft. wide; d is the rubbish-pit. The interior of the garden
is laid out in beds for the cultivation of kitchen crops.
119. Planting the central plot of the back garden.—The object being to
grow culinary vegetables in it, on no account would we recommend standard
fruit-trees to be planted there; because the shade of them is injurious to the
flavour of the vegetables grown beneath them ; and because the trenching
and digging of the ground necessary to bring the vegetables to a large size,
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 77
and succulent texture, is highly injurious to the fruit-trees; by preventing
them from ever being able to send up their roots to the surface, so as to
enjoy the warmth of the sun, and the vivifying influence of the air. Hence
it is that we so seldom see abundant crops on fruit-trees growing as standards
among culinary vegetables, and so frequently find the trees cankered. The
want of crop arises from the roots getting down out of the reach of the air;
and thus being deprived of a proper supply of food, as they derive a great
portion of their carbon from the air. If the garden be sufficiently large to
spare room for fruit-trees in the middle bed, then the best mode of growing
them is on espaliers; because, when so treated, being kept low, and within
definite bounds, they produce no injurious shade ; and, by planting them in
a border by themselves, and only stirring the soil of that border with a
pronged fork, and never farther than 2 or 3 inches deep, a sufficient number
of the fibrous roots will establish themselves closely under the surface, to
derive all the benefit that is necessary for them from the sun and air. It may
be useful to observe here, that, though it is always an advantage to fruit-trees
to have a space around them undug, to the same extent as that which is
covered by their branches, yet that they will produce crops of fruit with less
than that space; provided what space there is be fully exposed to the sun,
and either kept constantly mulched with rotten manure, or stirred two or
three times during the summer to the depth of 2 or 3 inches, and kept quite
loose on the surface. Experience proves this; and hence, it would appear
that a few roots, favourably circumstanced in regard to the atmosphere, are
sufficient to take in as much air as will supply the whole plant, in the same
manner as a few roots in contact with water will supply the whole plant with
moisture.
120. The kinds of culinary vegetables which should be planted in a small
garden, where profit is the object in view, must depend on its extent. If
that is such as to admit of growing all the vegetables likely to be used by
the family, except winter potatoes, then all that is necessary is, to determine
the proportion of space that shall be allotted to the fixed or perennial crops:
and that which shall be set aside for the movable or annual crops: but if,
on the other hand, there is not space enough for growing all the vegetables
required by the family, then the point is to determine which sorts ought to
be cultivated in preference. On the supposition that there is space enough
for growing all the vegetables required, and that the family use asparagus,
sea-kale, tart rhubarb, and artichokes, then we would allot a sixth part for
the smaller fruits, such as gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, &c., leaving
two-thirds for the annual crops. Dividing these two-thirds into 25 parts, we
would dispose of them as follows:
The cabbage tribe, including Savoys, Brussels Sprouts, cauliflowers, broccoli, bore-
cole, &c. g º º e 6
Leguminous plants, including peas, beans, and kidney-beans º ... 8
Roots, including turnips, carrots, parSneps, beet, and early potatoes (but not a main
crop of potatoes for winter use) . * - e º 6
Leafy plants, such as common spinach, white beet, and New Zealand spinach 1.
Bulbous plants, including onions, leeks, chives, garlick, shalots, &c. - . 1}
Salad plants, including lettuce, endive, chicory, celery, mustard and cress, radish, &c. 2
Pot and sweet herbs; thyme, sage, chamomile, &c.
The gourd tribe
25
5:
78 THE WILLA GARDENER,
The foregoing is given as an approximation to the usual space occupied by
these crops in gentlemen's gardens; but, as most families have some parti-
cular vegetable for which they have a preference, the space for that kind
may be enlarged, and that allotted to some other, for which they care little,
diminished. In case, however, the reader may wish to have positive rules
laid down, we may suggest that e may be planted with peas and beans, f
with carrots and turnips, g with onions, and h with cabbages; the little
circles may be gooseberry and currant bushes, and in the border below there
may be planted strawberries, or spinach or other leafy plants, or salad plants.
If strawberries are planted in the centre, then the spinach and salad plants
may be planted in the borders under the walls.
121. The system of the succession of crops in kitchen-gardens (which is as
necessary to be understood as the extent to be allowed to each crop) would
take too much space to be discussed here; but it may be useful to state that,
as far as possible, plants of the same natural order, and especially of the
same genus, should never follow each other in direct succession; nor should
taprooted plants follow each other in succession, even though of different
orders: for example, peas should never follow beans, or kidney-beans, or the
contrary; and carrots should never follow beet. Notwithstanding the
soundness of these principles, they require to be taken in connexion with
another principle, no less important; viz., that of expediency. Thus, it
frequently happens, from the lateness of the season, that a crop is longer
than usual before it is ready to be removed from the ground; or, from the
dryness and warmth of the summer, that a crop is removed sooner than
usual. When the summer crop is not all removed at the proper time, the
winter crop (such as spinach, for example, after a crop of cabbages) might be
endangered, if sowing it were delayed; and, therefore, some ground which is
empty, though according to the plan of succession laid down it should have
been cropped with something else, must be used for the spinach. When, on
the contrary, the crop is ripe, and the ground cleared before the expected
time, as it is never desirable to see ground without a growing crop, one may
be made to follow, for the sake of covering the surface, that did not enter
into the regular course of succession. The grand secret of getting the
greatest quantity of culinary vegetables from any given surface of ground
is, to have one crop coming forward in the same bed, or compartment, to be
ready to succeed that wbich is about to be removed: and, for this purpose,
it is always desirable to grow the crops in drills; a mode which is also
attended with several other advantages, as will be hereafter explained.
122. On the supposition that only a part of the vegetables consumed by the
family can be grown in the back garden, the next point is to determine those
which it is advisable to grow. This depends on various considerations; such
as those kinds in which the occupier is most curious in his taste; those
which the soil and aspect are best calculated for producing; those which are
dearest in the given locality, &c.; but the most general and influential con-
sideration is, the keeping or non-keeping properties of culinary vegetables,
after being gathered. All vegetables exposed for sale in markets or shops
must necessarily have been gathered some time, and, consequently, deprived
of their natural succulency, or even injured by fermentation; and this will be
the case, more or less, according to the nature of the vegetable, and the mode
in which it is brought to market by the grower, and kept by the seller. For
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 79
example, lettuces, peas, and spinach are brought to market in cart-loads, in
large baskets, or in sacks; and, if the distance is great, or the time between
gathering and consumption is more than a day, or, at most, two days,
fermentation will have taken place. Cabbages and turnips are also brought
to market in cart-loads; but though, when in a young state, with all their
leaves about them, these vegetables ferment in the course of two or three
days, yet, when they are full-grown and firm, they may, when deprived of
their outer leaves, be kept in heaps for a week or more without undergoing
fermentation. The vegetables which are most injured by keeping are such
as are eaten raw; and hence it is always desirable, if possible, for every man
to grow his own salading, such as lettuce, endive, cress, mustard, radishes,
young onions, &c., in order that they may be brought to table fresh, and
newly gathered. These ought, therefore, to be grown, if possible, in even
the smallest back garden of a suburban residence. The excellence of celery
also depends much upon its being eaten crisp and fresh from the ground; and,
therefore, if room can be found, this also ought to be grown in small gardens.
Next to salading, it has been found from experience that peas are most
injured by being kept after they are gathered, and, therefore, they are the
second class of articles which should be grown in every suburban kitchen-
garden if possible. Tender leaves, such as those of spinach and spring
cabbages, are next liable to injury from the same causes; and, therefore,
they ought also to be grown, if room can be found. A small bed can
scarcely be more profitably employed than under winter spinach, which (the
Flanders variety being chosen), in a rich loamy soil, not wet below, and in a
sheltered situation, will continue growing almost all the winter, and afford
occasional gatherings at that season, and an abundant supply for the table
from April till August, care being taken to pick out the flower stems as soon
as they begin to appear, and to water when the ground is dry.
123. Those vegetables which it is convenient to have always at hand, in case
of an emergency, and which a cook may gather for herself, ought also to be
planted. Thus, parsley, mint, fennel, thyme, and chives, ought to be in
every suburban garden-plot, however small, as supplying garnishings and
seasoning, which are constantly wanted; but no one would think of growing
horseradish in a fourth-rate suburban garden where a gardener was not kept;
because, however frequently it might be used, it requires considerable labour
to dig it up; and, as it keeps perfectly well, it may be procured from the
greengrocer's at any time, and kept till wanted in a cellar, or in the garden,
covered with soil. Where there is room, an asparagus bed, if properly
formed at first by deep trenching, thorough drainage, and an abundant supply
of manure, is a very convenient luxury; since the heads are easily gathered
when wanted, require little aid from cookery, and are generally considered a
delicacy. Asparagus beds, to those who prefer the shoots green, and, con-
sequently, do not cut them till they are two or three inches above the ground,
do not require to be earthed-up every winter, and of course are less expensive
in the management than those where the asparagus is eaten blanched, as this
effect can only be produced by heaping up earth on the beds. A bed of
sea-kale, though it will sooner afford a supply for the table than a bed of
asparagus, yet requires more attention from the gardener, and fails sooner,
and, therefore, is not so well adapted for a suburban garden where the saving
of labour is an object. Tart rhubarb, if planted in a soil deeply trenched,
80 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
and well manured, occasions less trouble than any other perennial vegetable ;
and, if watered in dry weather, it will continue producing leaves the whole
summer. In winter, the ground on which it stands ought to be well soaked
with liquid manure. For pies and puddings, rhubarb stalks are preferred
by many to either gooseberries or apples; and they are so easily gathered,
so wholesome, and so well adapted for children, that no suburban kitchen-
garden ought to be without its rhubarb bed.
124. Selection of culinary vegetables best adapted for small suburban
gardens.—Of the cabbages, Knight's early dwarf, introduced in the year
1835, and the early Battersea, are the best kinds for the early crops; and the
latter will be found suitable for the secondary summer, autumn, and even
winter supply. In most cases these will be found sufficient, as late cabbages
are seldom grown in suburban gardens; but, where they are thought desi-
rable, the late sugar-loaf may be chosen. Red cabbages are useful for
pickling and stewing in the Flemish manner. The kind usually cultivated is
the Dutch red; but the dwarf red, which is not much known, is more delicate
for the table. The dwarf Savoy is a very useful winter vegetable, as its
flavour is improved by frost, if not too severe, and it will supply the table
with greens from November till spring. Brussels sprouts are a delicious
vegetable, and should, if possible, be raised from seed ripened in Flanders, as
the plant is apt to degenerate in this country. Scotch greens, or German
kale, are very useful winter vegetables, as, when the heart is removed, the
stalk continues for some months to send out side shoots or sprouts. The
cauliflower is rather a difficult vegetable to grow well, as it requires an
exceedingly rich soil, and careful culture. To have it early, it must also be
protected during winter; and, as it is a vegetable that is brought to market
in very great perfection, not being much injured by keeping a few days, it
is better to purchase it when wanted, rather than to attempt to grow it,
unless there is abundance of room. Purple Cape broccoli is not liable to the
same objection, as, if sown in May or June, it will produce a good crop from
August till December, unless destroyed by frost.
Of the leguminous vegetables, the best kinds of peas for a small garden are
the blue Prussian, the dwarf marrowfat, and the white Prussian, or poor
man's profit; or the white rouncival and Knight's tall marrowfat, where tall-
growing varieties are wanted. We would not recommend any early pea to
be grown, as these are generally very inferior in flavour to the others; but,
where one is thought desirable, the early Warwick is said to be the best. For
a late pea, the late blue dwarf Spanish has been strongly recommended.
For beans, where it is thought desirable to grow them, the early mazagan,
and long pod are the most fruitful; but the broad and green Windsors are
generally preferred for the table. We have already mentioned that the
scarlet runner is the most profitable kidney-bean. For potatoes, the ash-
leaved and Rufford kidneys are to be preferred for the first crop; but Shaw's
early and the champion, though they are both very prolific, and are those
generally grown for the London market, we can by no means recommend,
either for their mealiness or their flavour. For turnips, the early white Dutch
and the yellow Dutch may be chosen; but the Teltow, or French, is well
worth cultivation, on account of its sweetness, and the richness it gives to
soups. The Teltow is the smallest of all turnips, not having more leaves on
it than a radish; and, when used, it should be only scraped, and not pared,
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES, - 81
as a great deal of the flavour is in the rind. For carrots, the early horn is
best for an early, and the Altringham, or Altrincham, for a late, crop. For
parsneps, the Guernsey grows to a large size, and the Siam is particularly
well flavoured. The dwarf red beet is the kind best grown in gardens. The
Flanders spinach is greatly to be preferred to the common kind, and will be
sufficient for a small garden; but, where there is room, the white beet and
the New Zealand spinach may be grown, to afford variety and a crop in
summer, when annual spinach runs too rapidly to seed. For onions, the
early silver-skinned and the Deptford may be recommended. The Portugal
and the Spanish are mild, and grow to a great size, but do not keep well.
Of leeks, chives, garlic, and shallots, only one kind is in general cultivation.
Of the plants used in salading, the best are the union cabbage, and the large
Brighton Cos lettuce, the Batavian endive, the variegated chicory, the curled-
leaved and broad-leaved Normandy cress, and the scarlet and white turnip
radishes. The best celery is the Italian. The curled-leaved parsley is the
handsomest for garnishing, and answers equally well with the common for all
the purposes to which parsley is usually applied.
125. As the greater part of culinary vegetables are raised from seed, sown
partly where they are to remain, and partly for transplanting, something
requires to be said here on that subject. In our catalogue of culinary vege-
tables, we shall state under each kind the quantity of ground which a given
quantity of seed will sow; and also the smallest quantities of such seeds
which are generally ordered from the seed-shops; and we shall only here
state that the larger seeds, such as peas, beans, and a few others, are purchased
by the pint, and almost all the small seeds by the ounce. There are very
few gardens to suburban houses in which half a pound or a pound of any seed
is required; and of many articles, such as potherbs, parsley, celery, &c., half
an ounce, or threepenceworth, is quite sufficient for a small garden. In
general, it is always safe to order seeds in small quantities, because the chance
is greater of getting them fresh. -
126. Management.-A back garden, even if only 200 ft. in length, and
50 ft. in breadth, with a front garden forming a square of 50 ft., cropped in the
manner we have described, would occupy one person from April to September,
during a fourth part of his time, or at least two hours a day; and besides
this time, when much watering was required to be done, or insects to be got
rid of by collecting, he would need the assistance of the female part of the
family. Where there is a steady man-servant, this is just the sort of garden
that he could take care of, directions being given to him by his employer
as to the quantity of particular crops, and the season of sowing or planting,
on the supposition that he was not a reading gardener. If he were, and
took an interest in having the garden in good order, and in raising large
crops we would recommend him to be as little interfered with as possible;
for every man likes to have something on which he prides himself, and, to
keep up that pride, it is necessary that it should be as much as possible his
own work.
127. Ea'pense.—The first cost of laying out and planting a garden of the
kind here described, will be about 30l. ; and the annual expense afterwards,
supposing a commercial gardener to be employed, will be, on an average, a
day and a half per week throughout the year; an arrangement being made
that this time shall be bestowed on the garden, according as it is wanted, and
G
82 THE WILLA GARDENER,
not formally at stated intervals of once a week; because in some weeks two
days will be necessary, while in others half a day will suffice. The expense
will depend on the rate of wages paid per day, which, about London, being
about 3s.6d. (the gardener finding his own tools), will amount, with seeds,
&c., to about 15l. a year. But the garden, if managed by a hired gardener,
working in it only at stated intervals, cannot possibly be turned to so much
account as if cultivated by the occupier, or his in-door servant; because,
during the months of June, July, and August, there are operations which
require to be attended to daily; such as the removal of insects, watering, &c.;
and which, if deferred, as they must necessarily be if a hired gardener only
be employed, will endanger the crops, and, at all events, deteriorate their
value both in quantity and quality. We would not, therefore, recommend
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SUBURBAN HESIDENCES. 83
any one to cultivate his garden with a view to profit, unless he could do so
with his own hands, or with those of a servant whom he was obliged to keep
at any rate; because, assuredly, for the 15/. or 201. a year which he must pay
a hired gardener he might purchase as much fruit and vegetables as he could
grow in a garden of the extent we have mentioned.
Design W.-Two suburban villas, the gardens of which are laid out prin-
cipally with a view to the culture of fruit trees and vegetables.
128. General arrangement.—In fig. 35., a is the entrance from the street;
b, the steps to the front door; c, the hall and staircase; d, a library or busi-
ness-room; e, breakfast parlour, school-room, or bed-room; f, diming-room;
and g, drawing-room. This house is supposed to be only two stories high;
the upper story containing two best bed-rooms, a servant's bed-room, a
nursery containing a bath, and a water-closet; and the basement floor con-
taining a kitchen, back kitchen, and other offices, with a servants’ water-
closet. The entrance to each house is protected by a porch, which is extended
as far as the boundary wall on each side; thus forming a low horizontal roof,
which will contrast effectively with the higher roof of the house. Beneath
each porch there is a bench for sitting on. Both houses are surrounded by a
platform, or terrace of pavement, 3 ft. broad, and 9 in. higher than the sur-
face of the walk, and which covers a vacuity all round the house as deep as
the foundations; thereby keeping it perfectly dry. This platform also adds
much to the dignity of the edifice, and forms a walk which is at all times firm,
and comparatively dry and sheltered.
129. The front gardens are of turf, varied by flower-beds. That on the
right has a rhomboidal figure in the centre, planted with gooseberries, with
four semicircular beds round the central one, planted with strawberries. That
on the left has a raised bed in the centre, with a border of turf, and four small
diamond-shaped beds to harmonise with the rhomboidal bed in the right-hand
garden. The centre bed may be filled with peat earth, and planted with
Vaccinium madeirénse, or some other species of Vaccinium which bears fruit
freely; and the diamond-shaped beds may be planted with the wood straw-
berry. The fruit of the common bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus) arrives at
maturity at the same time as that of the alpine, or wood, strawberry; and the
two, when mixed together, and eaten with sugar and cream, are delightfully
refreshing, as every one who has travelled in Poland or Sweden in the sum-
mer season must have experienced. In open, airy situations, the central bed
might be planted with Rūbus àrcticus, which is also a most delicious fruit,
with a flavour resembling that of the raspberry, but far superior. If none of
these fruits will thrive in the situation, or if peat soil to grow them in be
thought too expensive, then the twice-bearing-raspberry may be planted,
which requires no particular soil, but only to be taken up and have the soil
renewed every four or five years; which, indeed, is the case with all travel-
ling-rooted plants, which it is desired should continue to fruit freely. The
row of trees adjoining the street fence is supposed to be damsons, which come
early into flower; and the fruit, being small and thickly set among spines, is
not easily stolen. The plants on each side of the party-railing may be goose-
berries, currants, or raspberries, according to the taste of the occupier; or
they may be dwarf apples. The row of detached standard trees between the
entrance gate and the porch (b) may be pears, trained en quenouille; that is,
distaff fashion (see fig. 36.); or en pyramide (see fig. 37.); by either of which
G 2
8.4 THE WILLA GARDENTER,
modes they will occupy little
§ space, and look well: some 36
§ kinds also bear well when trained J
**\}. in these manners. Fig-trees or ſ
Płºś
vines may be trained in the spiral A.
§ manner round stakes. Behind
% these trees, against the wall, we
º would train common laurels, lau-
}{º rustinus, or ivy; because, though
§: currants or gooseberries would
~ § be more appropriate there, yet
: § under the shade of the pear-trees
R they would not thrive; besides,
º § if they would thrive, we think
㺠they ought to be sacrificed, in
º §: SN this particular spot, to the ever-
observe, here, that the beds in
which the strawberries are grown
will be improved in effect if they
are either surrounded with a
marginal line of brick or tiles,
or if the surface is covered by some description of stones, pebbles, flints,
or vitrified bricks. The cause of this improved effect is, the contrast between
rocky or stony materials and the turf.
|
º ź §§ { º
.§ # greens mentioned. We may
§ Fº * -
º-º
AE
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§
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:
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e
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* * * * * * º
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s - * : * > a v A = •
-* * * * * *** 2 - * s * &
%
130. To vary the plan of these gardens, figs. 38, and 39., for ornamental
flowers, might be substituted for the front gardens, shown in fig. 35.; and
provided the family residing in the house were fond of gardening, and wished
for occupation in the open air, they might be planted as follows: for training
against the upper part, Passiflóra caerûlea and Técoma (Bignúnia) capreolata
(which, as fast growers, would need a good deal of training), and Rösa rāga,
sanguinea, Noisettiāna, and other China roses, might be planted, which, dur-
ing summer, would not only require training, but constant attention to keep
down the aphides, and to remove the decayed blossoms and their stalks. If
the aspect were east or west, Técoma (Bignonia) radicans, Lonícera flexuðsa
and grâta, Wistăria sinénsis, camellias, myrtles, and climbing roses, might
be employed. The wistaria, the tecoma, and the evergreen climbing roses





























SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 85
would reach to the top of the house, and the others would cover the lower
part. The myrtles and the camellias would require to be matted during the
severest weather in winter, and the other plants would occasion a good deal
of pruning and training during summer. On the supposition that the occu-
pier of the house was a lady, we would not recommend any climber to be
planted against the house that would grow higher than 4 ft. or 5 ft.; but such
as myrtles, camellias, pelargoniums, fuchsias, &c., as these would not need
the use of a ladder to train them. The side and front walls of the front garden
may be covered with China roses, different varieties of honeysuckles, and
Jasminum officinale. Against one of the side walls, if there be room, a
double-flowering pomegranate may be planted in the centre; and against the
others Magnolia conspícua or purpurea. In the beds in the interior of this
garden, we would plant nothing but flowers; or we might devote the centre
bed a in fig. 39. to moss roses, or to some other kind or kinds of rose belong-
ing to sections different from those which include the China roses. In the
centre of this rose-bed there might be a standard rose. At the end of this
work we shall give selections of roses, as well as of herbaceous perennial, bien-
nial, and annual flowers.
131.-In choosing the flowers for the beds, the best and easiest way is to
choose greenhouse plants, which will produce a brilliant effect from May to
September, though they will require to be renewed every year, and which, in
London, at least, may be procured at a very moderate cost from the hawkers
in the streets. But where permanent flowers are preferred, the objects to be
kept in view ought to be to have an equal number of kinds of flowers in
bloom, if possible, every month in the year, and to have an equal number of
the different colours displayed at the same time. This is a sort of beau idéal,
which, however, cannot be carried into practice in the winter months; but it
is, nevertheless, useful as a guide as to what ought to be selected. Other
guides are, that such plants only should be planted as will grow in the same
soil, and with the same aspect; that plants placed adjoining each other should
not be very different in size and habit of growth when full-grown, lest the .
one should choke the other, and lest the assemblage should appear inhar-
monious ; nor very different in their natural vigour of growth, lest the roots
of the one should occupy a much greater portion of soil than the others. To
plant paeonias, everlasting peas, asters, Papàver orientäle, and such like
plants in juxtaposition with daisies, hepaticas, and pinks, would be attended
with the suffocation of the latter diminutive kinds; but the very tallest and
the very lowest plants may be included in the same bed, provided it is very
large, and there be a gentle gradation observed between the one and the
other. If the bed is to be seen from every side, then the tallest growing
kinds can be placed in the centre, and the lowest in the circumference, and
the intermediate sizes between them, so as to rise in gradation from the
lowest at the margin to the highest in the middle. If the bed is a border,
parallel to a walk, and to be seen only on one side, then the lowest plants
should form a row next the walk, and the others should be placed behind
them in quincunx, according to their sizes, the tallest being placed behind,
and forming the last row. The distance at which one plant should be kept
from another depends more on the habit of the plant with respect to lateral
extension, than on the height to which it grows; thus a paeony, which seldom
grows above 18 in. high, but which spreads its large leaves over a much
86 THE WILLA GARDENIER.
greater surface than is occupied by its roots, will require more room than a
tall-growing phlox, which will reach the height of 4 ft., and not cover above
a square foot of the surface of the border. Creeping plants also require more
room than such as grow compact and bushy, or marrow and erect. The rule
which we have just given, of not associating plants in the same bed that have
different habits, directs that creepers, and climbers or twiners, should always
be planted by themselves, or at least, not introduced indiscriminately among
other plants. At the same time, a plant with one of these habits, introduced
occasionally into a miscellaneous border, has a good effect by contrast.
Where creepers alone are employed, if each plant be of a different kind, they
ought to be kept as distinct from each other, as bushy or tall plants ought to
be; but where a bed is entirely filled with creepers of the same kind, then
they may be allowed to cover the whole surface of the bed; because the
object of the planter in this case must necessarily be to produce a mass of one
kind of form and colour. In general, small plants ought to be chosen for
small beds, and dwarf-growing plants for beds of irregular figure; but of
course this must be regulated by circumstances.
132. The back garden has fruit-trees against all the walls, and some stand-
ards and dwarfs in the central beds. The spaces h ſº, in both gardens, are sup-
posed to be devoted to annual crops, such as peas, spinach, salading, &c. The
beds marked i, in both gardens, may be planted with asparagus, sea-kale, and
tart rhubarb. The potherbs are supposed to be grown in the borders next
the walls. The three fruit-trees at k are Hawthornden apples (standards),
for immediate effect in bearing, and to be cut out in a few years after the
three rows of dwarf-trees, shown in each garden, have come into full bearing.
If the front gardens supply a sufficient number of gooseberries and currants,
these dwarf-trees may be apples, pears, cherries, and plums; but gooseberries
and currants may be substituted for these, if those grown in the front garden
are not considered sufficient. In order to insure good crops, the ground
among the dwarf fruit-trees should not be cropped with vegetables, but only
occasionally manured on the surface, and forked over to the depth of a few
inches. The trees against the walls, on the supposition that the direction of
the gardens is east and west, may be peaches and nectarines on the south
aspect, plums and cherries on that facing the north, and apricots on the end
wall; but, if the garden should lie in the direction of north and south, the
peaches, nectarines, and apricots may be planted against the side-walls, and
figs and vines against the end-wall that faces the south; or morello or other
cherries or plums, if it faces the north. The edgings to the walks of the
back garden we have supposed to be box; but strawberries might be substi-
tuted, more especially if the walks were formed of flagstone.
133. Another mode of planting the back gardens of fig. 35.—For this mode
of planting we shall suppose the gardens to be laid out like that in fig. 34. in
page 71, as in no kitchen-garden whatever, whether large or small, would
we introduce standard fruit trees among the kitchen crops; because, as we
have already stated (§ 119.), the digging and trenching necessary for the
perfection of the latter, prevent the roots of the trees from spreading near the
surface of the ground; and being forced to seek their nourishment in the
subsoil, they run to wood from excessive moisture, become cankered, and do
not produce either abundant crops or well-flavoured fruit. In a small garden
of the kind we are treating of, standard trees would shade the ground so
A
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 87
much, that, independently of other consequences, they would render it alto-
gether unfit for the culture of culinary vegetables. We therefore propose to
have no standards, but only trees trained against the walls, or boundary
fences, and on the trellis-work. On the latter, we propose to train goose-
berries, currants, and raspberries, and one or two apples and pears; and on
the walls, peaches, nectarines, grapes, figs, apricots, cherries, and plums.
134. The walls.-We shall suppose that one of the side walls faces the
south, and is 100 ft. long and 7 ft. high. On this may be placed ten trees, to
each of which there will be 70 superficial feet of walling; and a vine may be
placed at each end, and one in the middle, from each of which a single shoot
may be trained close under the coping of the wall, so as never to interfere
with the other fruit-trees. The peaches, in order to prolong the season of
that fruit, may be the red nutmeg, which ripens in July, and is hardy, but
bears small fruit; or the early Anne, which ripens in August, and bears very
good fruit, but is rather tender; the grosse mignonne, and the bellegarde,
both ripening in September; and the late admirable, ripening in October.
The nectarines may be the Elruge and the violet hätive, both ripening in
August; the Pitmaston orange (September); and the late yellow, which,
though not common in this country, is of good flavour, and a very good
bearer, ripening in October. The best dark fig is the brown Turkey; and
the hardiest and most abundant bearer amongst the light-coloured figs, is the
small green; or the Brunswick, or the large blue or purple fig, both which
produce very excellent fruit, and are very hardy and very prolific, may be
substituted. The grapes may be the royal muscadine, the black sweetwater,
and the esperione, which is one of the greatest bearers in the open air. In
favourable situations, the red Frontignan will also ripen against a wall with
a south aspect in the climate of London, and it has a very excellent flavour,
even when grown out of doors. The wall having an east or west aspect, may
be planted with the large early apricot, which ripens about the middle of
July, the Moorpark (beginning of August), and the Turkey, which ripens
about the end of August, or later. For the wall with a northern exposure,
we would recommend the May duke and morello cherries, the one the
earliest, the other the latest sort; the bigarreau couleur de chair, and the
black Tartarian, a large cherry of the very richest flavour, and which will
hang on the tree, if covered with a net, till September. The best and most
useful plums are, the green gage, Washington, Coe's golden drop, Orleans,
and the white magnum bonum, or the diamond plum, the latter being a very
large and handsome fruit.
135. The trellis (which may be arranged as in fig. 34. in p. 71.) will be
above 200 ft. in length; and, as we suppose it to be only a single trellis, that
is, one which is calculated for having the trees trained on only one side, it
may be planted on the north side of the garden, where it is most exposed to
the sun, with pears; at the two ends with apples; and on the south side with
gooseberries, currants, and raspberries. Eight pears will be sufficient; and
these may be the jargonelle, Marie Louise, Eyewood, beurré Diel, glout
morceau, Chaumontelle, beurré de Ranz, and Easter beurré; all excellent
pears, quite hardy, and good bearers. The first ripens in August and the
last may be gathered in November, and will keep in sand or in fern, packed
in jars set in a cool cellar, till May or June, or indeed till pears come again.
The other sorts are placed in the order of their ripening. The apples may
88 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
be of four different kinds, viz. the golden and Ribston pippins, and the Haw-
thornden and Keswick codlin. The latter two are most abundant bearers,
and the fruit is not only good to eat, but falls well in boiling. As the trees
of these varieties grow with great luxuriance, they should be carefully
attended to during spring and early summer, to pinch out a large proportion
of the young shoots before they have matured their leaves, in order to
prevent the plants from becoming too luxuriant.
136. The gooseberries, and other small fruits, may be planted quite thick,
and only two shoots trained in a vertical direction from each plant. They may
be placed 2 ft. apart, which will require forty-five plants. The sorts we
would recommend are:—Red: the red champagne, an early and excellent
fruit; the early rough red; the ironmonger, an excellent fruit for tarts and
bottling when green, and for the table when ripe; and Aston's Warrington,
an abundant bearer, which retains its fruit till October if protected: to these
may be added, for those who like large fruit, the huntsman and the roaring,
lion; the former having won 141 prizes in the third and fourth years of its
being exhibited, and the latter above 800. White : Whitesmith, early, pro-
lific, and excellent; crystal, much esteemed for bottling; Taylor's bright
Venus; and the white Dutch, which is preferred to every other kind for
making British champagne. Yellow : Rockwood, a large early gooseberry,
which gained 777 prizes in five years; and rumbullion, reckoned the best in
the markets for preserving. Green : Massey's heart of oak, early and a great
bearer; greenwood; and the Pitmaston green gage, remarkably rich and
sweet. In all fourteen sorts, and the quantity planted of each may be pro-
portioned to the taste of the occupier. The currants may be the red Dutch,
Knight's early red, and Wilmot's large red; the white Dutch; the cham-
pagne, which is of a pale flesh colour, which, though it ripens very early, will
hang on the trees without protection till October, and with a covering (such
as will be hereafter described) till December; and the black Naples, which
is remarkably fine and large. The raspberries may be the early prolific, the
red and yellow Antwerp, and the double-bearing or late cane.
137 The walks in the back garden we propose to be edged with strawberries;
and, if space could be spared, the alleys inside the espalier trellis might be
edged on both sides with strawberries also. These edgings would in all be
about 800 ft. in length, and they might be planted with the following kinds,
the large sorts being placed next the broad outer walk, and the small sorts on
each side the alleys. The strawberries for the margin of the outer walks may
be the old scarlet and Grove End scarlet, which are the earliest; Keen's
seedling, which is a great bearer, and, taking it altogether, the best straw-
berry in cultivation; the roseberry, which is a very great bearer; the old
pine, which is the best-flavoured of all strawberries, though a shy bearer;
and Wilmot's superb, which, though it has not much flavour, is remarkable
for its size. For the margins of the alleys we would recommend, as having
small leaves and bearing the fruit on high erect stalks, which are not likely
to be injured by the feet of persons walking along the alley, the prolific or
conical hautbois, the large flat hautbois, the red and white alpine, and the
red and white wood. The last four kinds, if regularly supplied with water,
will continue in bearing all the summer.
138. Culinary crops.-The space left for these, in a back garden of the size
shown in figs, 34, and 35., and laid out in the manner we have described,
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 89
with flagstone walks, will be but small; being merely a bed about 12 ft. wide
by 75 ft. long. To make the most of this plot, it must be divided into smaller
beds, say fifteen, each 4 ft. wide, with 1 ft. alleys between, as shown in .
the figure; and that, at the lower end, as nearest the entrance through the
trellis, may contain the perennial potherbs, such as chives, garlic, sage, mar-
joram, winter savory, thyme, fennel, tarragon, burnet, and mint, the last
three being the most useful (tarragon for vinegar, and for flavouring salads
and steaks; burnet, at all seasons, for salads; and mint for boiling with peas,
and for sauce to lamb, &c.) Annual and biennial herbs, as parsley, chervil,
and pot marjoram, may occupy an adjoining bed, double space being required
for them; because, while one crop is in use, another must be sown to succeed
it. For a very small family, not particular in their cookery, one bed, 12 ft.
in length and 4 ft. in breadth, will be quite sufficient for the whole of these
herbs, perennial, annual, and biennial. The remaining part of the plot
allotted to kitchen crops may be occupied by those vegetables which it is
always convenient to have at hand; and by such as never can be so well
procured at market, or from the greengrocer, as direct from the garden.
Among these lettuce may be included, as always convenient for making
a salad, and we would therefore devote the beds 2 and 3 to a succession of
this vegetable; bed 4 is for small and other salading, such as mustard and
cress, radishes, lamb’s lettuce, American cress, &c.; in beds 5 and 6 we
would sow winter spinach, which, if the Flanders kind be chosen, will afford
a dish now and then throughout the winter, and in spring twice or thrice a
week, from April to August; beds 7 and 8 may be planted with scarlet
runners, two rows lengthwise in a bed, and these will afford a small dish of
kidneybeans every other day, from June till they are destroyed by frost; and
beds 9 to 15 may be devoted to peas, that being a vegetable never to be
obtained good, except direct from the garden; because, in a few hours after
peas are gathered and put in baskets or sacks, they begin to heat and ferment,
and when dressed they will be found to have become tough
and vapid. The most suitable sorts of peas for a very 40
small garden are the blue Prussian, Knight's marrow, and
the dwarf marrow; because these have the seeds, or peas, -
large. The frame and the Charlton are early varieties, but
both the seeds and the pods are small, and the peas are
neither so succulent nor so sweet when cooked as the kinds
before mentioned. Whatever kind of pea is sown ought to
be staked as soon as the tendrils appear; because, in this
way, the plants occupy less room. The kind of staking or
supports proper for peas in a small garden is, a line of rods
on each side of each line of peas, and at about 3 in. distant
from them, with pieces of string stretched horizontally from
rod to rod, so as to leave a clear space between the line of
rods 6 in. wide, in which the peas will grow up, and support
themselves by clasping the strings and rods. The rods may
be from 3 ft. to 5 ft. apart, and from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in height;
the first string may be 18 in. from the ground, and the
others 9 in. apart. The rods, if Kyanised before being used,
will last several years; or light iron rods, formed by bending : ſ
quarter-inch iron rods in the form of a hair pin, as shown in |

90 THE WILLA GARDENIER,
fig. 40., and which will not cost above 2s, a dozen, may be used. There are
wire hurdles sold for the same purpose, and also iron stakes; but both are
much more expensive, though not more efficient, than the light iron rod we
have mentioned.
139. Wall borders.-We have now planted and cropped the whole of the
back garden, unless we except the wall borders, in which there is the row of
strawberries that forms the edging to the walk on that side ; and the narrow
space between the strawberry edgings to the other side of the main walks,
and the espalier trellises, in which we would not plant or sow anything.
140. First expense.—The laying out, including the trellis, manure, &c., may
be set down at from 30l. to 40l.; the fruit-trees, two years trained, will cost,
at an average, 2s. 6d. each, say 5l. ; the gooseberries, currants, &c., 4d. each,
say 20s. ; the strawberries, 4s. per 100, 32s. ; the potherbs and seeds of the
culinary vegetables, about 15s. ; the flowering plants for the back garden,
about 21.; and the shrubs, plants, and bulbs, for the front garden, 5l. In all,
the first cost will be from 45l. to 55l. ; the difference depending principally
on the cost of the labour and materials expended in forming the walks, and
in trenching and manuring the ground. This estimate is only to be con-
sidered as a rough approximation to what would be the actual cost; because
so much depends upon the nature of the soil and subsoil, and the drainage
and new soil required, the price of flagstones, of manure, &c., independently
of the price of labour, that it is impossible to make an accurate estimate,
unless a specific case were given. On turning to our priced lists, the cost of
trees, plants, and seeds, in London, may be ascertained with something like
certainty; but the exact price of every other particular must depend on the
quantity and kind of work to be done, as well as on local circumstances.
141. The mode of management of a garden thus laid out and planted
requires to be next noticed. We shall suppose the occupier to be desirous of
managing it himself, and to be able to devote to it his spring, summer, and
autumn evenings. We may premise that, in such a limited space as we have
been treating of, and so closely planted, if the greatest and most unremitting
attention be not paid to its management, it will soon become a mass of con-
fusion; and, while some trees are in full vigour and overgrowing the others,
some will be choked by shade, so as to produce no fruit worth eating; and
others will be eaten up by insects. The great object that must be constantly
kept in view, in the cultivation of such a garden, is, to keep every tree and
plant within the limits assigned to it. This must not be done by merely cut-
ting off superfluous branches in the usual manner, but by preventing them
from being produced, by lowering the strength of the tree. This is to be
done by disbudding, and by pinching off the young shoots at the extremities
of the branches, and wherever else they would require to be cut off, if allowed
to grow to maturity. Another important point to attend to in the manage-
ment of the fruit trees and flowering shrubs is, to preserve their foliage, at
all times, in a perfectly healthy state, and to keep it fully exposed to the sun
and air. For this purpose, the strictest watch must be kept for the appear-
ance of insects; and means taken to destroy them, if possible, in the egg
state, or, at all events, as soon as they are hatched. During the whole sum-
mer, every tree and bush on the premises will require to be syringed with
water in the evening of every day that it does not rain; and, when insects
appear, instead of common water, lime water, soapsuds, or tobacco water
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 91
must be used. The strawberries will require watering every evening, from
the time they come into blossom till the fruit is set; and the alpine and wood
kinds, as they bear fruit the greater part of summer, will require additional
watering in proportion. The flowers in the wall borders, and the ground
between the wall and the walk, and also the ground under the flagstones, will
require frequent watering; and, indeed, the wall border and the espalier
border ought to be mulched with half-rotten dung, to keep the ground con-
stantly cool and moist. Neither should ever be dug, but merely be pointed
on the surface with a three-pronged fork; except in so far as may be neces-
sary for renewing the strawberry edgings. The runners from these straw-
berry edgings must be constantly taken off, as soon as they extend 6 in. from
the plant over the walk; or 12 or 14 inches over the border, except when
young plants are required to substitute for the old ones. The crops of culi-
mary vegetables in the centre beds will require constant watering every even-
ing during the whole summer, except when it has rained; more especially to
render the peas productive and succulent, and the lettuces and other salading,
crisp and tender. As soon as one crop of any article is ready to be removed,
another should be sown or planted to succeed it, the ground being previously
well dug, and manured if necessary. A constant look out must be kept for
insects on the culinary vegetables, herbs, and flowers, as well as on the fruit-
trees; and, throughout the whole garden, snails, slugs, and worms must be
destroyed as soon as they are perceived. The plants in the circular bed in
the front garden should be taken up late in the autumn of every year, and the
ground trenched; a fourth part of the soil removed, and a fourth part of
fresh soil added, with a portion of thoroughly-rotted manure, if necessary;
after which the plants and bulbs should be replanted, and new ones substi-
tuted for such as may have become shabby, or are dead, or for the sake of
change. This mode of re-invigorating the soil, if not performed every year,
should be performed every second or third year, otherwise the stronger plants
will overrun the weaker ones; and the bulbs, especially the hyacinths, which
ought to constitute the principal beauty of the bed in spring, will degenerate,
and cease to be ornamental. The roses against the wall in the front garden
will require to be constantly watched, lest the aphides should make their
appearance; and, the moment any are seen, watered with weak tobacco
water, being washed immediately afterwards with pure water, to prevent the
tobacco water from disfiguring the plants. A receipt for the preparation of
this tobacco water, and more particular directions for using it, will be given
hereafter. The roses will require to be taken up, the soil renewed, and all
the old wood and roots cut out, every three or four years; that is, if it is
wished that they should flower freely, and display themselves to the greatest
advantage. Both the flowers and rose-trees in the front garden will require
constant watering; and the vine against the back front, and the wistaria,
honeysuckle, and jasmine, against the street front, will require to be watered
over the leaves with the syringe, as well as at the root; and to be summer-
trained and pruned. Many other minor operations might be enumerated;
but the above are enough to show that, where the most is intended to be
made of even the smallest-sized fourth-rate suburban garden, if planted in
this manner, there is work enough for one person, every evening, say from
six till it grows dark, throughout the spring, summer, and autumn months;
besides work that must be done previously to six o'clock, in the months when
92 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
it is dark at that hour; such as digging and cropping the culinary part of the
garden, &c.
142. Ewpense of management.—If the operations of culture and keeping
are performed by the occupier himself, the annual amount of money required
to be laid out will be very trifling. The first year, a good garden syringe,
some watering-pots, a pruning-knife, a hammer, nails and list, a spade, rake,
hoe, trowel, and three-pronged fork, a garden line, baskets, and ladder for
the vine, &c., against the house, amounting in all to about 10l. or 12l., will
require to be purchased; but the second and succeeding years there will only
be wanted a few garden seeds, manure, tobacco, or other articles for destroy-
ing insects; nails, list, matting (for tying the espaliers, and for protecting
any of the tender ornamental plants during winter, and the blossoms of the
tender fruits in spring), and some occasional repairs and renewals; the cost
of the whole of which cannot exceed 11. or 21. To employ a gardener to do
all the work requisite in such a garden, during the summer months, would
cost at least 3s. or 3s.6d. per day; and thus, supposing him to work, at an
average, three days a week, from the 1st of March to the 1st of November,
the cost will amount to about 10!. at 3s. a day, and 12l, at 3s. 6d. The
remaining part of the year, viz. from the 1st of November to the 1st of March,
(about seventeen or eighteen weeks,) need not cost, on an average, more
than 3s.6d. a week. The whole expense, including seeds, &c., would thus
be about 20l. a year. Where a man-servant was kept who was fond of gar-
dening, he might, with occasional instructions during the first year from a
professional gardener, perform all the work requisite,
143. The produce of such a suburban garden would, if a hired gardener
were employed, probably not be worth more than the expense, if so much :
but the great satisfaction of seeing the things in all their different stages of
growth, and of being able to procure fresh salading and herbs nearly all the
year; and, at the proper seasons, spinach, kidney-beans, and peas, when
wanted, quite fresh out of the garden; will more than compensate for the
outlay required to any person who can afford it. To those who cannot, or
who do not wish to incur the necessary expense, we shall suggest a cheaper
mode of planting and management.
A more economical mode of laying out and planting a back garden of the
size of one of those in fig. 35. In this case, we would advise the trellis and
strawberry edgings to be omitted, and the cross beds to be extended to the
margins of the paved walks. One of these beds may be planted with goose-
berries, another with currants, and a third with raspberries; and the other
beds with kitchen crops and herbs, much in the same manner as indicated
above, except that there will be only three beds for peas, instead of six.
Against the house, there need not be any vine or other plant trained; and
the circular bed in front may be planted solely with bulbs and annuals. This
will lessen the first cost of the garden one-fifth or one-sixth, and the labour
and expense of keeping it one-half.
§ 3–Suburban gardens, where the principal object is ornamental display.
DESIGN VI.--To lay out a small suburban garden, where the main object is
a display of ornamental trees and shrubs and border flowers.
144. General arrangement.—We shall suppose the extent and form of the
ground to be the same as in fig. 34., p. 71., and that the walks are flagged,
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 93
and the ground thoroughly drained and prepared. The walls we would
plant with flowering shrubs, instead of fruit-trees; and the trellis we would
plant solely with roses. The centre of the garden we would lay out in beds,
in which the finer kinds of border flowers might be cultivated; or, we would
form a border on both sides of the rose trellis, and lay down the centre of the
garden in grass. In selecting such flowers as might be grown in the beds
which we have supposed laid out within the space enclosed by the rose trellis,
various objects may be kept in view, according to the taste of the occupier.
He may have a favourite colour, or a favourite height; he may prefer
climbing plants, or trailers, or bushy plants, or bulbs; or evergreen-leaved
herbaceous plants, such as the pink, &c., to look well in winter. He may
choose to make the greatest display in a particular month; or to cultivate
plants which will continue in flower for two or three months at a time; or to
grow only perennials or annuals, and so on. One of the most general objects
of gardeners, in cases of this kind, is to have an equal number of plants in
flower during every month of the floral year, which consists of nine months,
rejecting the three winter months. Of those in flower in each month, the
next object is to have an equal number of each of the most prevalent colours;
and more particularly of red, scarlet, orange, purple, blue, violet, yellow, and
white. Where this is the object in a small garden, like that which we pro-
pose to plant, we would recommend a bed for each month; or, if the plants
are to be arranged in borders, a row for the same period; or, rather, an
imaginary row, so that there might be an equal quantity of plants in flower
at the same time in every part of the border. Both in borders and in beds,
it is desirable to place the lowest plants next the walk, and the tallest at the
greatest distance from it, so as to produce a sloping surface of vegetation, in
which mode it will be found that the most effectual display is made; the
green foliage of the plants not yet come into flower, or that of the plants
which are gone out of flower, contrasting advantageously with those in full
bloom. The front garden may be surrounded by a border, and have a small
circular, square, or diamond-shaped bed in the centre; or it may be laid out
in many different ways, some of which are shown in fig. 41., care being taken
41
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to employ artist-like shapes for the beds, and never to have less than 1 ft., or,
what is still better, 2 ft., of turf between one bed and another; and between



94 THE WILLA GARDENER,
the beds next the walk and the wall. The wall of the front garden facing the
south may be planted with the more showy evergreen and deciduous shrubs,
the planter being guided in his choice of kinds by the desire of displaying
different sorts from those prevalent in the adjoining gardens, in order to
increase the general variety of the street. As there will be 230 ft. of walking
in the back garden, and 30 ft. of walking in the front garden, if 4 ft. be
allowed for each plant, 60 different sorts may be introduced, which will
include all the finer climbers, twiners, and showy flowering shrubs in cultiva-
tion in British gardens, exclusive of the rhododendron and heath families,
which, in general, are unsuitable for training against walls. From this
general rule we except the stronger-growing rhododendrons, the tree hybrids
of which may be placed against the wall with a south aspect; and R. pón-
ticum and R. catawbiénse, with their varieties, against the wall with a north-
ern exposure. Some of the more hardy azaleas might also be planted against
this wall. The rose trellis being above 160 ft. in length, 80 sorts, allowing
2 ft. to each plant, might be displayed on it; in which might be included all
the very best kinds; and in addition there might be standards placed along
the trellis at regular distances, which, at 10 ft. apart, would give 16 sorts
more. The 15 beds contain 50 square feet each; and, allowing 2 square feet
to a plant, this would give 350 herbaceous or flowering plants; so that the
collection in the back garden would stand thus:—60 select climbing, and
other deciduous and evergreen flowering, shrubs; 96 kinds of choice roses;
and 350 kinds of choice flowers. Besides these, there might be a border of
candytuft, or ten-week stock, slightly mixed with mignonette, on each side of
the main walk. The choice of the shrubs and plants we shall leave the reader
to make for himself from our descriptive lists; recommending him to intro-
duce the evergreen shrubs here and there among the deciduous ones, so as to
make the evergreen kinds prevail on the border with a north aspect, and to
place the tenderer kinds on the wall which faces the south. Fragrance and
the beauty of foliage should be kept in view, no less than the beauty of the
flowers.
145. Mode of management.—This garden may be managed with greater
ease and certainty of success than one where fruit-trees are grown against
the walls; because the care and labour requisite to bring a plant into flower
is only a part of that which is necessary to bring its fruit to maturity. Prun-
ing, watering, and destroying insects, particularly the green fly and thrips,
from the roses, will be the principal operations during the summer months;
and, in autumn and spring, the greater number of the herbaceous plants will
require to be taken up and replanted. At these seasons, also, pruning and
training will be required both for the roses and shrubs against the wall.
During winter, there will be scarcely anything to do, unless to mat-up any of
the more tender kinds that may have been introduced; and, hence, this
description of gardening is particularly adapted for being carried on by a
lady, with her own hands. Instead of mats for covering any of the more
tender trees against the wall, pieces of foolscap paper, or even old newspapers,
dipped in, or painted over with, hot oil, will be equally effective; the object
being to reflect back the rays of heat radiated from the wall. The papers
may be fastened on with small nails; or they may be tied to nails already in
the wall, or to the shoots of the trees.
146. Estimate of eapense.—This will depend chiefly on the rarity and value
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES, 95
of the shrubs and plants chosen, which may vary from an average of 1s. to 3s.
each. Taking them at the first sum, and estimating the total number at
about 506, the amount will be 25l. 6s. ; but the same number of plants might
be chosen from the nurserymen's priced lists, of such prices as would bring
the amount above 100l., or under 10l. In the latter case, however, there
would only be the more common kinds; and both the roses and the herba-
ceous plants would be purchased at so much per score, or per hundred. On
the whole, the expense of laying out and stocking a garden of this sort would
be much the same as if it had been planted with fruit-trees; but it has a great
advantage over a fruit-garden, in admitting of being kept both with less
labour and less skill. Supposing a commercial gardener employed to look
after it, he might be required for two hours a day during June, July, and
August; two hours, for three days in the week, during May and September;
and two hours per week during the remainder of the year.
147. The produce would consist entirely of flowers, and the enjoyment in
looking after them. The roses would demand a lady's attention during the
whole summer. Every day some roses will have faded, and will require to
be cut off; and every evening, except when it rains, the syringe, or the bar-
row-engine, should be brought into use. To keep down the insects will also
require constant vigilance.
DESIGN VII. To lay out and plant a suburban garden, where the object is
chiefly to make a picturesque display of ornamental trees and shrubs, with a
few flowers.
148. General arrangement.—For this example, we shall take a garden
which was laid out and planted from a design of ours. The situation is a
piece of flat ground, on the border of a common, within two miles of St.
Paul's, London: it contains, altogether, about a quarter of an acre; and the
soil is a strong loam. The house forms part of a row; and, from a stable,
chaise-house, and poultry-house being placed alongside of the dwelling, the
frontage, and, consequently, the width of the back garden, is upwards of
60 ft. There being no common sewer, or general system of drainage, in the
neighbourhood, the most defective part of this residence is the dampness of
the surface of the ground in wet weather. The drains of the walks, however,
are conducted to a well at the further extremity of the garden; whence the
water, after heavy rains, may be pumped up to a gutter, which is conducted
along the surface of the common. The situation, though flat, is not without
some distant prospect, that is intended to be seen from the floor of the living-
room (which is about 5 ft. higher than the surface of the garden), broken and
varied by the trees which are to be planted. The shrubs will be, for the most
part, below the eye; and the finer flowers are intended to be chiefly confined
to the front garden; in which, in order to form a greater contrast with the
back garden, it is only intended to have climbers against the house and the
side walls. The portion of the front garden before the coach-house and
stable is separated from that before the house by a wall; thus giving a yard
for the poultry, and room for cleaning the horse, chaise, &c. The only trees
in the front garden are a row of thorns of six different kinds, placed close by
this partition wall, in order to hide the view of the poultry and chaise-yard
from the parlour window. *
149. The house, the boundary fences, the walks, and the outdoor buildings,
were designed and carried into execution before our advice was asked, and
96
THE WILLA GARDENER.
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SUBURBAN RESIDENCES.
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98 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
were to be considered as unalterable. Some asparagus beds, sea-kale beds,
and gooseberry bushes were planted, and were also not to be disturbed. All
that was left for us to do, therefore, was to arrange the beds on the plot of
lawn, or turf, which formed the principal part of the area of the back garden;
and to indicate the kinds of trees and shrubs to be planted in these beds and
in their side borders. This we did on a working plan, of which fig. 42.
occupying pp. 96. and 97. is a copy, accompanied by the following explana-
tory references; to which we shall subjoin a list of the trees and shrubs
planted, with their prices:
a The door of the house, which opens on a landing covered by a trellised
porch; from which a flight of seven steps descends to the garden walk.
b, Privy. c, Summer-house.
d, Pit for cucumbers, heated by dung from the stable; thrown into a vault,
through a door at one end.
e, Raised cover to a well. j, Pump. g, Door to the stable,
h, Situation of the dining-room window, being the only window of a sitting-
room which looks into the garden; and with reference to the view from
which window all the trees are planted.
à, Border of shrubs and flowers; the fence on this side being wooden pales,
about 5 ft. high; the aspect south by east.
k, Border for rhubarb, sea-kale, chives, parsley, and other annual and peren-
nial kitchen herbs: the fence here is a brick wall, 5 ft. high.
l, Asparagus beds.
m, Two rows of gooseberries, with strawberries between. The margin of the
walks is, on one side, a continuation of the lawn, 1 ft. broad; and, on the
other, box.
n to 0, Part of the wall, on which currants may be trained.
p, Border of shrubs and flowers, with some trees, facing the north; the wall
brick, and about 5 ft. high, covered with fruit-trees of different kinds; but
which, from the aspect, are of little use as such. Beyond the fences, on
the right and left, are similar gardens; and at the extreme end there is an
open common in grass.
q, Dark circles, indicating the fruit-trees which are already planted, and are
not to be removed.
r, Open circles, indicating the situation of trees to be planted.
8, Marks thus *, indicating the situation of evergreen shrubs to be planted.
The dots, thus '', indicate situations for herbaceous plants, annual or
perennial.
t, Marks thus x , indicating the situation of deciduous shrubs to be planted.
u to v, Twelve posts in the fence of pales, against each of which a China rose
is to be planted, and trained on each side; and also allowed to overtop the
wall, so as to break its formal outline.
w, Situation where a vase on a proper pedestal, a statue, or other architec-
tural object, might be placed; taking care to connect it architecturally
with the walk.
a', Situation where a small circular basin and fountain might be introduced.
9, Situations where chairs may be placed.
The different tools required for the garden, including the wheelbarrow and
roller, are kept in a division of the stable; the flower-pots, &c., under the
summer-house; and the mould and compost heaps near the east-end of
the pit.
****
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 99
150. In the disposition of the trees, the object is, to preserve an irregular-
sided vista along the centre of the lawn; to break the formality of the straight
lines of the walks and fences on each side of it; to conceal the termination of
the lawn, and hide the asparagus-beds; and to vary and partially conceal
the scenery of the neighbouring side gardens and of the country beyond.
The principle of guidance in the selection and disposition of the shrubs is,
partly to cooperate with the above object; but principally to produce an
agreeable variety of flowers and foliage throughout the whole space, and
during every month in the year. For this purpose, certain evergreens (such
as the laurustinus), and certain flowering shrubs (such as the China rose), are
distributed throughout; the same variety of the species not being repeated,
but different varieties. There are also shrubs for flowering at every season
of the year: such as the chimomanthus and Cydónia japónica for autumn
and winter; the mezereon for early spring; the common azalea and rhodo-
dendron for the beginning of summer; the clethra for August; and the
arbutus and wych hazel for the latter part of the season. The whole of the
trees and shrubs are of kinds which do not require peat earth, and may be
purchased at moderate prices.
151. The trees are almost all of the low-growing and flowering kinds;
under 20 ft. in height; and purchasable, on an average, for cash, at 1s. 6d.
each. Their names are as follow. The prices were kindly put to them by
a respectable London nurseryman : -
1. Pyrus spectábilis, the Chinese crab-tree, 18. Crataegus Azarölus, the azarole haw-
1S. - thorn, 9d.
2. Quércus I'lex, the evergreen oak, 1s. 6d. 19. Crataegus nigra, the black-fruited haw.
3. Thija occidentalis, the American arbor thorn, 9d.
vitae, 9d. 20. Crataegus Oxyacántha var. flava, the
4. Latirus nébilis, the sweet bay, 1s. 6d. yellow-fruited common hawthorn, 1s.
5. Juniperus virginiana, the red cedar, 18. 21. Gymnócladus canadénsis, the Kentucky
6. Cytisus Labúrnum, the common labur- coffee-tree, 1s.
hum, 18. 22, Piptamthus nepalénsis, the Nepa pip-
7. Pyrus aucuparia, the mountain ash, 1s. tanthus, 28. 6d.
8. Pavia rubra, the red-flowered Buckeye, 23. Kölreuteria paniculata, the panicled-
Or American horsechestnut, 1s. 6d. flowering koelreuteria, 1s. 6d.
9. Pyrus pinnatifida, the cut-leaved white 24. Liriodéndron Tulipifera, the tulip tree,
beam-tree, 1s. 6d. 6d.
10. Crataegus odoratissima, the sweetest- 25. Gleditschia triacánthos, the three-
Scented (large red-fruited) hawthorn, thorned honey locust, 6d.
9d. 26. Ailántus glandulosa, the ailanto, Gd.
11. Crataegus Aronia, the aronia (yellow- 27. Cércis Siliquástrum, the Judas-tree, 6d.
fruited) hawthorn, 9d. 28. Cérasus virginiana, the Virginian bird-
12. Crataegus Crüs-gälli, the cockspur haw- cherry, 1s.
thorn, 9d. 29. Cytisus alpinus, the Scotch laburnum,
13. Crataegus tanacetifolia, the tansy-leaved 18.
(yellow-fruited) hawthorn, 9d. 30. Robinia viscosa, the glutinous locust-
14. Crataegus cordata, the heart-leaved tree, or false acacia 1s.
hawthorn, 9d. . 31. Crataegus Oxyacántha var. coccinea,
15. Bérberis aristata, the bristle-leaved ber- the Scarlet-flowered hawthorn, 9d.
berry, 2s. 6d. 32. Crataegus Oxyacántha flore plèno, the
16, Crataegus Crüs-gällivar. salicifolia, the double-flowered hawthorn, 9d.
willow-leaved cockspur hawthorn, 33. Magnolia conspicua, the Chinese or
9d. Yulan magnolia, 3s. 6d.
17. Crataegus coccinea, the scarlet-fruited 34. Cytisus Labürnum incisum, the cut-
hawthorn, 9d. leaved laburnum, 1s. 6d. ; :
H 2 : : :".”
100
THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
3
36.
5.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
ſ
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
Robinia hispida, the rose acacia, 18.
Ptèlea trifoliata, the three-leaved
shrubby trefoil, 9d.
Cérasus Mahāleb, the perfumed cherry,
18.
Amelánchier Botryapium, the Snowy
mespilus, 18.
Cérasus Padus, the bird-cherry, 6d.
Cérasus semperflörens, the All Saints'
cherry, 1s. 6d.
Bétula álba péndula, the weeping birch,
3d.
Pyrus Americana, the American moun-
tain ash, 18.
Cérasus migra, the black-barked cherry,
1S.
Cotoneſister frigida, the frigid cotone-
aSter, 18.
Pyrus bollwylleriana, the Bollwyller
pear, 28. 6d. -
Sophora japonica, the Japan sophora, 6d.
Diospyros virginiana, the Virginian
lotus-tree, 6d.”
Cérasus lusitánica, the Portugal laurel,
6d.
Negåndo fraxinifolium, the ash-leaved
box elder, 1s.
A\cer rubrum, the red maple, 18.
Taxodium distichum, the deciduous
cypress, 1s.
cárnea, the pink-flowered
horsechestnut, 1s. 6d.
66, Amygdalus communis, the common
almond, 18.
The following is a List of Evergreen
Shrubs:
67. Cupréssus sempervirens, the evergreen
cypress, 6d.
Arbutus U'nedo, the common and Scar-
let arbutus, 1s., 8 plants.
Phillyrea angustifolia, the narrow-
leaved phillyrea, 18. 6d.
Rhámnus Alatérnus, the common ala-
ternus, 1s. 6d.
I\lex Aquifolium var., variegated hol-
lies, 18., 23 plants.
68.
69.
70,
71.
72, Córasus Laurocérasus var, variegated
laurel, 6d.
73. Rhododendron pánticum and Cataw-
biénse, hardy rhododendrons, 6d,
6 plants. -
74. Escallonia rubra, the red escallonia,
1s. 6d.
75. Crataegus Pyracántha, the Pyracantha,
or evergreen hawthorn, 6d.
Aácuba japónica, the common aucuba,
6d.
Juniperus suécica, the Swedish juniper,
1S.
Búxus sempervirens var., variegated
box of different sorts, 6d.
Cistus sp., the rock rose of different
sorts, 18, 2 plants.
Viburnum Timus, the laurustimus of dif-
ferent sorts, 6d., 8 plants.
76.
77.
78.
79.
9
80,
The following is a List of Deciduous
Shrubs :
50.
51.
. AE'sculus
. I'lex Aquifolium var., the common
holly, with
1s. 6d.
smooth-edged leaves,
. Salisburia adiantifolia, the maiden-hair
tree, 2s. 6d.
. Gleditschia hôrrida, the horrid-spined
honey locust, 2s. 6d.
56. Aristotélia Mácqui, the Macqui-tree,
2s. 6d.
57. Prünus doméstica myrobálana, the
myrobalan plum, 28.
58. Halësia tetráptera, the Snowdrop tree,
1S.
59. Catálpa syring&folia, the catalpa, 6d.
60. Euénymus latifolius, the broad-leaved
spindle tree, 1s. 6d.
61. I'lex opaca, the opaque-leaved holly,
18. 6d.
62. Virgília lutea, the yellow-wooded vir-
gilia, 28, 6d.
63. Negåndo fraxinifolium crispum, the
curled-leaved box elder, 1s.
64. Magnolia acuminata, the pointed leaved
magnolia, 28. 6d.
65. Liquidambar styracíflua, the maple-
tº c. leaved liquidambar, 13.
81. Dáphne Mezèreum, the common meze-
reon, white, red, and autumn-flower-
ing, 18. 6d, 3 plants.
82. Chimonánthus fragrams, the fragrant
chimomanthus, 2s. 6d., 2 plants.
83. Hamamèlis virginica, the wych hazel,
18.
84, Calycánthus flórida, the Carolina all-
Spice, 18.
85. Syringa vulgaris àlba, the white lilac,
6d.
86. Syringa vulgaris purpurea, the purple
lilac, 6d.
87. Syringa pérsica, the Persian lilac, 6d.
88. Wibúrnum O'pulus rosea, the Guelder
rose, or snowball-tree, 6d.
89. Cytisus ālbus, the white broom, 8d.
90. Spiraea bélla, beautiful spiraca, 6d.
91. Colutea crućnta, the bloody bladder
Senna, 6d.
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES.
101
92.
93.
Coronilla Emerus, the Scorpion Senna,
6d.
Azalea pántica, the common yellow
azalea, 18.
The following is a List of the Climbing
Shrubs for covering the privy, summer-
house, a part of the boundary-wall and
porch, and part of the walls of the
94. Symphoria racemosa, the Snowberry, house :
6d. 101. Caprifolium flexuosum, the Japan
95. Spártium jūnceum, the Spanish broom, honeysuckle, 1s. 6d., 4 plants.
3d. 102. Common twining honeysuckles of sorts,
96. Cydonia or Pyrus japonica, the Japan 6d., 6 plants.
quince, 1s. 6d. 103. Clématis and Atrágene of sorts, 6d.,
97. Clèthra alnifolia, the alder-leaved 6 plants.
clethra, 6d. 104. Lycium bárbarum, the Duke of Ar-
98. Hibiscus syriacus var., the althaea gyll's tea-tree, 6d.
frutex, 6d. 105. Jasminum officinale, the common jas-
99. Ribes sanguineum, the red-flowered mine, 6d.
currant, 9d. 106. Ampelópsis hederacea, the five-leaved
l:00.
Ribes aureum, the yellow-flowered cur-
rant, 9d.
All the crosses marked in the plan, which
are not numbered, are for different
sorts of roses; and the number of these
may be increased at pleasure, diminish-
ing the number of herbaceous plants in
. Rösa multiflora, and Grevillei,
ivy, 6d.
the
many-flowered rose, and Greville's
rose, 1s. 6d., 2 plants.
. Wistaria siménsis (Glycine sinénsis
B. R.), the Chinese wistaria, 13. 6d.
. Giant ivy, and Ayrshire rose, 3d, 4
plants.
proportion, according to the taste of
the owner; 6d., 25 plants.
According to the above enumeration, there need not be a dozen duplicates
in the garden; for, though there are some of the species repeated (such as
the laurustimus, the Cydonia japónica, the Chinese rose, &c.), different
varieties of each species may be chosen. The herbaceous plants may be
selected on the same principle; so that, in this small garden of not quite a
quarter of an acre, nearly 800 different kinds of ornamental plants may be
exhibited. :
152. The herbaceous plants, both for the front and back gardens, we left to
be chosen by the lady of the house; and the reader may make choice of
them from the lists given at the end of this work. It is proper to observe,
however, that, as the trees and shrubs in the back garden advance in growth,
the room for flowering plants will be diminished. After three or four years,
there will not be much space within the beds fit for bringing fibrous-rooted
herbaceous plants to perfection; because, for this purpose, it is necessary that
the plants should have unobstructed light and free air on every side. As the
trees and shrubs advance, therefore, they must either be thinned out to make
room for the fibrous-rooted herbaceous plants, or a smaller number of these
must be grown. The same remark would apply to the roses planted in the
beds; because, to flower well, and look well, they require as much light and
air as the others; and, like them, as has been before observed, they require
to be taken up every second or third year, in autumn or spring, and parted,
pruned, and replanted in fresh soil. Supposing the trees and shrubs, exclu-
sive of the roses, not to be thinned out, or reduced by pruning, then, in five
or six years, both roses and fibrous-rooted herbaceous plants would be choked.
The best mode of proceeding in that case would be, to cease to dig the beds,
and reduce or rake them to the same level as the turf, and to sow any spots
102 THE WILLA GARDENER,
not covered with the branches of the shrubs with grass. This would look
remarkably well, both in a picturesque and in a botanical point of view, for
another five or six years, when it would become absolutely necessary to root
up some of the larger trees, and to prune in, or cut over near the ground,
some of the larger shrubs. This process of keeping the beds and groups in
shape, by pruning and cutting down, might be carried on for an indefinite
period, as may easily be believed by observing the great duration of hedges
which are continually cut, and of coppice-wood. In order that the garden
may always look well, an equal amount of pruning, thinning, and cutting
over, should, as nearly as possible, be performed every year; and regard
should be had, in doing this, always to preserve the same proportion between
trees and shrubs, and between plants both of kinds which are evergreens and
those which are deciduous; unless, indeed, it is thought that an improve-
ment might be made by altering these proportions.
153. Bulbs.—Hitherto, we have supposed only fibrous-rooted herbaceous
plants to be planted in the beds; but, if bulbs are mixed with these, the bulbs
may be allowed to remain after the fibrous-rooted flowers have been removed:
because they will thrive with much less light and air than the fibrous-rooted
plants; and because they spring up and grow with great rapidity; flower
early in the season, before the leaves of the deciduous trees have expanded
so as to shade them; and, when they have done flowering, they fade speedily,
and their foliage, when removed, leaves no trace of the plants behind, and,
consequently, causes no unsightliness on the surface of the ground through-
out the summer. Besides, there are certain kinds of bulbs, such as the
scillas, some kinds of hyacinths, the snowdrop, and the narcissuses, which
thrive better under a slight degree of shade than when fully exposed to the
atmosphere. Bulbs, therefore, may be planted among groups of trees and
shrubs, and in close shady places in suburban gardens, where fibrous-rooted
flowering plants are inadmissible. , - . . . . .
154. In the borders under the side fences, in this design, flowers of all kinds
may be cultivated, during the entire existence of the garden; because, being
unmixed with shrubs, except those which are trained against the fences, they
would be freely exposed to the light and air, and might be taken up and
replanted, and the soil renewed at pleasure. - -
155. Culinary crops.-With respect to that part of the garden which is
cropped with asparagus, sea-kale, strawberries, gooseberries, and other fruit
shrubs, very little need be said. The asparagus and sea-kale will require to
be liberally supplied with manure; the strawberries taken up and replanted
euery two or three years; and the gooseberries carefully pruned annually, so
as to keep the bushes open for the admission of light and air; and when they
cease to bear abundantly, they should be taken up, the soil renewed, or refreshed
with new soil, and young plants planted. The renewal should take place by
degrees, say one row at a time; so that the garden may never be without
full-grown bushes, and, consequently, every year have its crop of fruit. The
herbs should be taken up and replanted every second or third year. The roses
and other plants trained against the fences and the house, will require to be
regularly pruned, trained, and kept clear of insects, and, as they become
unsightly, renewed. The box edgings, also, will require to be annually cut
In June, and renewed every seven or ten years.
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES.” 103
156. Estimate of ea pense : .
The preparation of the ground, including the draining and the formation of the f ; tl.
Walks, in this garden ; will cost about . . 0.
The trees required amount to 67; which, at the abbve prices, average 18. *} 3 18
each (cash), and come to g e º te i.e. e 1.
Shrubs and roses, 108, . e g e * e * e e g . 4 2 6
Climbing Shrubs, 26, & gº g sº tº { } g ſº & * . 0 19 3
Herbaceous plants, annuals, and biennials, 546; and, supposing the *} 6 6. 0
number of them to be annuals, they may be purchased for . * g &
In all . . . £25 5 10
The plants were procured at the prices stated in the list, of Mr. Donald, nurseryman,
Woking, Surrey.
157. Management.—A garden laid out in this manner may be managed
with great ease, and at very little expense. During the spring months, such
training and pruning as are required may be effected; and, during summer,
the chief operations will be mowing the grass, training the herbaceous plants
and roses, and keeping the latter free from insects, by frequently syringing
them with clear water, and daily hand-picking the aphides, caterpillars, snails,
&c. The culinary department of the garden will require nothing more, in
the summer season, than to be kept clear of weeds; and, in the winter, a
dressing of manure. All this may be done by the man-servant necessarily
kept for the horse, with the direction and assistance of the occupier himself,
and the female part of his family; with the exception of mowing the grass,
which, during the summer months, will require one day's work of a jobbing
gardener every fortnight; and during the spring and autumn months, once
every three weeks. This is supposing that the fallen leaves in autumn are swept
up every two or three days by the man-servant, or some one of the family;
in performing which operation, in this garden, as in every other, a soft birch
broom must be used, so as not to raise and sweep away the gravel from the
walks. The mown grass, the prunings, the weeds, and the leaves, and such
like refuse, may be thrown under the pit among the horse dung, so as to
increase the quantity of fermentable matter, and thus to keep up a constant
heat in the pit. The walks should be rolled at least every time the grass is
mown; and, every three or four years, that part of the surface of the gravel
which has become black should be removed, and the remainder stirred up,
fresh gravel added, and the whole rolled with a heavy roller, till it has become
as hard as a surface of pavement. The articles grown in the pit may be
cucumbers and melons, the management of which will be given hereafter;
or it may be used for raising and protecting pelargoniums (geraniums), or
such other green-house or pot plants as the lady of the house may prefer.
Gourds may be raised in the pit, and planted between the asparagus beds, so
as to yield a supply, during the whole summer, of a very delicious vegetable.
If there is any room against the side wall that faces the south, tomatoes,
previously brought forward in the pit, may be planted against it, and trained
so as to ripen their fruits, which are excellent, either plain boiled, or made
into sauce. A row or two of scarlet runners may also be planted between
the beds. The total expense of managing such a garden need not exceed
rom 31. to 5l. a year.
58. Remarks,—Such a garden is well calculated for a person of taste, who
104 THE VILLA GARDENER,
gets his chief supply of culinary vegetables from a market-gardener or a
greengrocer. It will look well with very little care and keeping; more espe-
cially if a due attention be paid to give sufficient room to the arbutus, the
laurustinus, the autumn-flowering mezereon, and other winter-flowering
shrubs; and the Cydónia japónica, the common mezereon, and the Ribes
sanguíneum, double-blossomed furze, and other spring-flowering shrubs. The
dying off of the foliage of so many kinds of trees and shrubs in autumn, and
their expanding foliage in spring, will produce a great variety of tints; exhi-
biting every morning something new, refreshing, and delightful to the lover
of picturesque beauty, even if he should be no botanist. In this garden, as
actually existing, all the trees and shrubs are named with zinc labels, sus-
pended from their branches with metallic wire. The zinc is in pieces about
1 in. broad and 3 in. long; not painted, but written with a prepared ink; and,
in addition to the scientific and English names, the native country of the
plant is added. Such labels, the wire included, cost little more than one
farthing each; and they may be easily procured from any of the London
seedsmen; they add greatly to the interest of the garden, and have a tendency
to give young persons a taste for plants.
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SUBURBAN RESIDENCEs. 105
Design VIII.-A double suburban villa, with an ornamental garden, and
the entrance porches at opposite sides.
159. General arrangement.—Fig. 43. shows a common, and at the same
time an effectual, mode of arranging and placing the entrances of two small
suburban villas, so as to make them have the appearance of a single house.
In this case, a square building, containing two houses, is entered by porches
at opposite sides; and there are back entrances to each house, communicating
with the area, and the garden behind each. The space in front of the houses
is divided by a wire fence in the centre; so that a stranger entering from the
street, and proceeding towards either house, sees across the whole width of
the front garden; and both the houses and gardens appear to him to be one,
and to be occupied by the same family. We have shown in this figure how
shrubs and low trees may be distributed so as to aid this illusion. Each house
contains an entrance-porch and staircase (a), dining-room (b), and drawing-
room (c), with a recess, which, in Elizabethan houses, is called a bay (d),
communicating with a small closet. Between the two houses there is a pedestal
and vase, as indicated at e, and on the lawns (f, g, h, ı, andj) there are no
flower-beds, but only flowering shrubs and low trees: k and l are verandas;
m, the sunk area, communicating with the walk by steps, and leading to the
door of the back kitchen; and n shows the descent, by a few steps, from the
veranda to the garden. The style of these houses, designed for us by E. B.
Lamb, Esq., is supposed to be the Elizabethan; and fig. 44, is a perspective
view, showing the front of both houses next the road, and the entrance front
of one of them.
44
160. The object in laying out and planting these gardens we shall suppose to
be a display of choice low trees and shrubs, but planted in such a manner as
not to require much expense in keeping the garden in order. Flowering
plants we shall imagine to be altogether dispensed with, except some in pots
(which may be grown in a reserve ground, or supplied for a fixed yearly sum
by a commercial gardener), for placing in the balconies over the bays, and
under the verandas. The adjoining gardens we shall suppose to be planted
much in the same manner; or, indeed, in any manner, provided a few trees,

106 THE WILLA GARDENER,
either fruit-bearing or ornamental, are sprinkled through them. Such gar-
dens will not be offensive to look at, especially through a foreground of low
trees; and, hence, it will not be necessary to proceed on the supposition that
much requires to be planted out, that is hidden or partially concealed by trees.
The ground being drained and levelled, and properly trenched and manured,
the walks may be blocked out; but the gravel or the pavement should not
be laid for a year; unless, indeed, the walks are formed of pavement laid on
stone piers.
161. Planting.—We would first plant common ivy against the exterior
boundary wall, but not against the wall which separates the two back gardens.
This ivy, if of the common kind, will require no farther attention whatever;
but, if giant ivy be planted, it will require nailing, especially when it reaches
the coping of the wall, as its claspers do not adhere nearly so well to brick-
work as the common ivy. Against the wall which separates the two gardens
we would plant evergreen and deciduous magnolias, Ceanothus azūreus, Pho-
tínia serrulāta, Stranvasia glaſica, Eriobótrya japónica, Mahônia fasciculāris,
and M. Aquifolium, &c.; Jasminum revolutum; Cydónia japónica (not be-
cause it requires a wall, but because, if the blossom buds are picked off before
expanding during summer, the plant will continue in bloom all the winter);
Chimonánthus fragrans; the Banksian, Macartney, and other evergreen
roses; and various climbers and twiners, such as the fragrant Chinese and
Japan honeysuckles, perpetual-flowering roses, wistaria, tecoma, passiflora,
&c. If the direction of the wall be north and south, then these kinds may be
placed on both sides of it; but, if it should be east and west, then the more
tender plants should be placed only on the south side. It may be observed
here, that many trees and shrubs, which are considered somewhat tender,
thrive better on the north side of a wall than on the south side, provided they
are planted in dry soil, not too rich. The reason is, they are not so soon
excited by the action of the sun in spring, and consequently not so liable to
have their buds and young shoots injured by spring frosts. On the other
hand, from the want of sun to fipen their fruit in autumn, they are more
liable to be injured by the frosts of that season; but this evil may be greatly
lessened by keeping the soil pure and dry, which will prevent the plants from
making long succulent shoots, which can only be ripened by the full influence
of the sun. All the plants above named, with the exception of ceanothus
and eriobotrya, will succeed perfectly in a northern exposure, if the border
be properly prepared with sand and lime rubbish, and the subsoil rendered
thoroughly dry. Immediately within the exterior boundary walls of both
gardens, we would plant a row of low-growing evergreen trees, at regular
distances, among which we would include all the variegated hollies (unless
these were abundant in the adjoining gardens), the box, the arbor vitae, the
common cypress, the red cedar, and, in some places, the evergreen and
Lucombe oaks, and the cork-tree. These trees, after they have grown 2 or
3 feet higher than the wall, will form, from the windows of both houses, a
foreground to the exterior scenery; and, therefore, in planting them, the tall
and broad-headed kinds, such as the evergreen and Lucombe oaks, ought
only to be planted where there is something to conceal; and the tall narrow-
growing kinds, such as the common cypress, the arbor vitae, &c., where the
exterior objects are required to be only slightly disguised. Where the objects
beyond the boundary are such as may be looked on at all seasons with
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES, 107
pleasure, such as trees, shrubs, or turf, then trees of low and slow growth
may be employed instead of the larger ones, such as the arbutus, the myrtle-
leaved box, &c. Within this outer boundary of trees, the ground may be
sprinkled with evergreen and deciduous low trees and shrubs, in the manner
indicated in the plan; none of these shrubs being planted in karge masses,
so as to require large breadths of dug soil; but in small groups, and nothing
done to the soil round them, except preventing the grass from growing on a
space about 1 ft. in diameter round the stem of each tree or shrub. This
will prevent the grass from injuring the plants while young; and, what is of
great practical importance, prevent the risk of injury to the tree or shrub,
from the scythe of the mower. In a few years, when the shrubs have
acquired strength, the grass may be allowed to spread as near to their stems
as the closeness and shade produced by their branches will admit. It will be
observed, that, though we recommend keeping a naked space round each
plant for several years, till it has acquired sufficient strength, we by no means
recommend digging this space, except in the case of standard roses, for the
more tender kinds of which digging is necessary for the sake of applying
Iſlanllre.
162. Laying down in grass.-After all the trees and shrubs are planted,
the whole garden may be laid down in grass; the surface having been pre-
viously consolidated and raked quite smooth. If the trees and shrubs have
been planted properly each plant will stand on a small hillock, which, for
the lowest-growing shrubs, should not be less than 6 in. high, and 2 ft. broad
at the base; and, for the larger shrubs and trees, not less than 1 ft. high, and
4 ft. wide at the base. On these hillocks no grass seeds should be sown; and
this, besides being better for the trees, by preventing their roots from being
exhausted by the grass, will save much trouble in their after management, by
rendering all clipping unnecessary. When trees and shrubs are thickly
scattered over a lawn, only the glades of grass can be mown with the scythe,
while that in the crowded parts is obliged to be clipped, either by a person
using hedge-shears and kneeling while he performs the operation, or by
using grass-shears and standing. Either of these operations is very hard and
disagreeable work; and they are rendered quite unnecessary by the hillock
manner of planting, and by not sowing the hillocks with grass. This hillock
manner of planting will not, probably, be approved of by many practical
gardeners, and especially jobbing gardeners, who have been accustomed to
finish their planting by rendering the surface round the plants quite level.
Our readers, however, may rely on its being by far the best mode for the
plants; since both nature and experience teach us that nothing is more
injurious to vegetation than having the collar, or base, of the stem, which
ought to be above ground, placed under it, and covered with soil to the depth of
2 or 3 inches. Independently altogether of the use of these hillocks (which,
in form, ought to be broad and flattened, and have concave sides uniting im-
perceptibly with the level surface all round), their effect in giving height and
consequence to the plants on them, and the variety which is produced in the
play of lines on the surface of the turf, ought to be an additional recommen-
dation. The expense of this mode of planting can be no greater than that of
the ordinary mode, except that, in some cases, stakes may be required to tie the
plant to, for two or three years; which, in the ordinary mode of sinking the
stem in the soil, may be dispensed with. We shall not obtrude on the reader
108 THE WILLA GARDENER,
a list of the trees and shrubs for this garden, as from those we have already
given he must be able, in some degree, to make a selection for himself.
163. Eapense and management.—Supposing the length of the back garden
to be 150 ft., the soil moderately good, and the subsoil such as not to require
much drainage, the expense of laying out, and blocking out the walks, may
be 20l. or 25l. The number of trees and shrubs required, exclusive of the
ivy, may be 250, at the average price of 2s. each. The ivy, the grass seeds, and
other expenses, may amount to 5l.; so that the total expense of laying out
and planting each garden, exclusive of purchasing and laying in the gravel
in the walks, may amount to between 55l. and 60l. If trees and shrubs were
purchased which averaged 1s. each, the sum would be reduced to from 40l. to
50l.; or, if the average of the trees and shrubs were 6d. each, then the total
would be reduced to from 35l. to 40l. The expense of management, exclusive
of taking care of the plants in pots, would be very trifling. If the walks were
paved, nothing more would be required than mowing the lawn, clipping the
edges of the grass along the walks, sweeping up leaves, and cutting off
decayed flowers or dead twigs, all which need not cost more than 5l. a year;
and for a similar sum a commercial gardener would keep the veranda
stocked throughout the year with boxes of mignonette, and supply a suc-
cession of plants in flower, during the summer months, for the balcony.
164. Remarks.-These gardens are well adapted for persons who take no
pleasure in seeing the operations of gardening going forward, and who are
rather annoyed than otherwise at meeting a gardener in walking round their
grounds. Some, also, object to having a gardener, or any strange man,
coming about the house; and in this case there would be as little of that as
there could possibly be in any garden where a handsome display was to be
made. The mowing, and all the operations required for these gardens, might
be performed in the mornings, between six and eight o'clock.
DESIGN IX.--To lay out a double suburban villa, with an ornamental garden,
the entrance-porches being close together.
165. General arrangement.—In small houses like those before us, this is a
considerable advantage, in saving the time of servants in opening the street-
entrance, and one which will be particularly felt, if the occupier of the house
should be a professional man; such as a medical practitioner, a solicitor, or
the holder of any parish or public office, &c. The present design is also
well adapted for a person wishing the one house to be occupied as his office,
and as the residence of his principal clerk, and the other to be retained as his
own residence. By such an arrangement, he would have all the advantages
of a large house; while he would only pay the Government and parochial
taxes for two small ones. Thus, there need not be more than nine windows
in each house; which, for the two houses, would cost two guineas per annum;
while, for eighteen windows in one house, he would pay nearly 5l, per annum.
In fig. 45. (which is to a scale of 20 ft. to an inch), a a are the front
entrances; b b, the entrances to the double porch; c, the entrance to one of
the houses; d, the hall and staircase; e, living-parlour; f, drawing-room;
g, front lawn, with small circular beds for growing dahlias; h, side lawns,
with circular flower-beds; i, lawns in the back garden, with flower-beds; k,
walk which separates the lawn of the back garden from the part devoted to
culinary vegetables; l, recess for the garden roller, or for a seat. The apart-
ments corresponding to e and f in the adjoining house may be a surgery and
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES,
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consulting-room, if occupied by a medical practitioner; or a clerk's office
and a master’s office, if occupied by a solicitor. In this case, both houses
being, as it were, occupied by one family, the wire fence separating the two
entrance walks, and the group of evergreens in front of the centre of the
porch, are unnecessary; and they have been, accordingly, omitted by Mr.
Lamb, in the elevation to this plan (fig. 46.).
166. Planting the garden.—The front and side boundary walls, and the
party fence which divides the two back gardens, are supposed to be planted
with ivy; and the margins within the side and front boundary walls with
laurustinus as an undershrub, and with different species of Crataegus as trees;
as far as the culinary part of the back garden, or as far as the reserve ground,
according as the taste of the occupier may be for verdant walls during winter
and summer, or for fruit trees. The reason for this mode of planting will be
hereafter given.
167. In the front garden, g in fig. 45, shows small circular beds (which
may be from 1 ft. to 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter) on turf, at regular distances, for
containing a few select dahlias, neatly trained to stakes. Instead of dahlias,
any other tall-growing plant with showy flowers might be substituted; and
the best of these would be chrysanthemums, provided the situation were































110 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
exposed to the south, the soil warm and dry, and the chrysanthemums brought
forward in pots, so as to commence flowering in August. In situations not
adapted for chrysanthemums, Lavātera arborea, Lupinus mutabilis, CEno-
thera biénnis, Persicaria orientālis, and various other tall-growing flowering
plants might be substituted. The object of this mode of planting is novelty;
that is, to produce a kind of display which is at present seldom, if ever, to be
met with in front gardens. For the same reason, standard roses might be
substituted for tall-growing herbaceous plants; or standard rhododendrons,
mixed with standard azaleas, might be used; or, where there was a large pit
in the reserve garden, fuchsias, brugmansias, or pelargoniums might be pre-
served in it through the winter, for filling the beds during summer; or a
green-house or hardy twiner or climber might be planted in each bed every
spring. Even the scarlet-runner and the common masturtium, when neatly
trained to stakes, will form most ornamental plants; continuing to flower for
a whole season, while their fruit, also, is of use. Lophospermums, mauran-
dyas, eccremocarpus, Convolvulus major, &c., are most ornamental climbers
or twiners, and very suitable for the purpose in view.
168. The groundwork ºf the side gardens is also turf, varied by circular
beds of greater diameter than those of the front garden, and symmetrically
disposed. These beds consist of a centre bed, 6ft. in diameter; and six
smaller beds, each 4ft. in diameter. In each of the latter, one kind of annual
or low-growing perennial may be planted, so as to cover the entire surface of
the bed; and in the centre bed there may either be a collection of herbaceous
plants of low growth, and with an equal number of the common colours, for
flowering in every floral month, or China roses may be substituted: or, to
give a greater latitude to choice, and to include some of the cheaper modes
with others that are more expensive, one or other of the following methods of
planting may be adopted:
1. Sow each of the six small beds with one of the Californian annuals
mentioned in the list at the end, and the centre bed with mignonette; with
Zauschneria Califórnica, or some other very showy plant, in the centre.
2, Plant the beds with greenhouse plants every spring, one kind in a bed;
the kinds to be raised in the reserve garden, or procured from a commercial
gardener.

SUBURBAN RESIDENCEs. 111
3. Plant all the beds with evergreen perennials; each plant to be kept
perfectly distinct. Those for the centre bed may be Saxifraga crassifolia,
which is as valuable among evergreen herbaceous plants as the holly is among
evergreen shrubs. The other beds may be filled with different species of
evergreen saxifrages; or, what would look better in winter, with carnations
and picotees in two opposite beds, and pinks and sweetwilliams in the four
others, disposed symmetrically; that is, the two beds of sweetwilliams being
placed opposite each other, and the pinks in the other two beds; or the centre
bed might be filled with wallflowers, and the others with different kinds of
stocks.
4. The beds might be planted with low evergreen under-shrubs, which
would look well at every season of the year. For example, the centre bed
might be filled with rosemary; and the surrounding beds with lavender,
sage, hyssop, winter savory, and thyme. These plants would serve, at the
same time, as sweet herbs. Or the centre bed might be filled with Cistus
créticus, or any low-growing cistus, and the surrounding beds with helian-
themums of different colours: or the centre bed might be filled with Ibéris
sempervirens, and the surrounding beds with alyssum, arabis, aubrietia,
vesicaria, cardamine, and barbarea.
5. The centre bed may be occupied by a cone of climbing roses; the cone
to which the plants are trained being formed by a circle 3 ft. in diameter,
composed of eight rods of Kyanised wood, or cast iron, placed about a foot
apart at the bottom, and brought to a point at top, about 10 or 12 feet from
the ground, and there tied together by wire. One kind of rose may be
planted at the foot of each rod, and trained to it; and some of the kinds
ought to be evergreens, so as to prevent the cone appearing bare in winter.
The roses may be selected from the lists which will be given hereafter; but,
in the mean time, we may suggest that some of the most free-flowering sorts
are the Boursault rose, the rose de Lille, and the Queen of the Belgians; the
last being a beautiful white. Rösa rāga is also a free-flowering and most
beautiful rose. There are several varieties of evergreen roses, one of the
finest of which is the triomphe de Bollwyller, which has large and fragrant
flowers. The surrounding beds may be planted with dwarf China roses; or
with the rose des quatre saisons; or entirely with Lee's crimson perpetual,
one of the most beautiful roses grown.
6. The surrounding beds may be planted with Fächsia globósa, which,
though it dies down to the ground every winter, comes up again the following
spring, and flowers most luxuriantly all summer; and the centre bed with
Füchsia microphylla, which is a hardy evergreen, and does not die down
during winter; or with F. discolor, which, though it is not an evergreen, is
quite hardy. -
169. Where there is a reserve garden it would be easy to keep the beds in
full beauty during the whole summer, by taking up every plant as it goes out
of flower, with a ball of earth attached (for which there is an appropriate tool,
called a transplanter), carrying it to the reserve ground, and bringing back a
plant in flower, with a ball of earth attached, to supply its place. If the
plants are grown in large pots, the labour of taking up and replanting will be
considerably lessened, and the success rendered certain, though there is some-
thing extremely interesting in removing plants in full flower by the trans-
planting machine, and watching the result. We have known persons, who
112 THE WILLA GARDENIER,
have had no love for gardening or plants, so captivated by this operation, as
to practise it for the sake of the excitement it produces; and such persons
have ultimately become enthusiastic florists. When successional culture,
whether by pots or the use of the transplanting instrument, is pursued, the
beauty and gaiety which may be displayed in even a very small garden is
astonishing; and not less so the amusement and exercise that are by this means
created for the occupier. The exercise, indeed, may be increased or dimini-
shed, according as the plants chosen are those which remain a long time, or
only a short time, in flower. Some plants of great beauty, such as the scarlet
verbena, continue blooming three or four months; but others, also of very
great beauty, such as the cyclamens, produce all their flowers in the course of
a fortnight or three weeks. The choice of flowers for regular flower gardens
is almost endless, but selections may easily be made from the lists in the last
book of this work. -
170. Planting with fibrous-rooted perennials of the lowest growth.-The
whole of the plot is dug; and the borders surrounding it, and the beds, are
edged with thrift, or sea pink (Arméria vulgăris), and the walks gravelled.
If paved, the flagstones should be laid hollow, and supported on piers, in
order that the space beneath may serve as a drain for absorbing the water
which falls on the beds, and also on the walks. The surface of the soil of the
beds we may suppose to be 2 in. below the surface of the walk, and quite flat.
171. Planting with fibrous-rooted perennials and bulbs alternately. — The
advantage of introducing bulbs in flower-gardens is, that their flowers make
a greater show than those of fibrous-rooted plants generally do in spring; and
as, in small suburban residences, it seems more desirable that the gardens
should look well in spring than in summer (because at the latter season many
families go out of town for a few months), the use of bulbs appears very
desirable. The manner of introducing them may either be in beds by them-
selves, to be succeeded by fibrous-rooted plants when they go out of flower;
or intermixed with fibrous-rooted perennials, by using only half the number
of the latter, and those of larger growth; and by placing the bulbs and the
perennials alternately. As the bulbs come all into flower in March, April, or
May, they will have faded before the perennials have come to their full
growth; and hence, notwithstanding the increased size of the perennials, the
bed will not appear crowded. -
The advantage of this mode of planting is, that a much greater show will
be made in the months of March, April, and May; because, as already men-
tioned, the flowers of bulbous-rooted plants are much larger in proportion to
the foliage than those of fibrous-rooted plants. The flowers also are much
more conspicuous; because, in general, they expand before the leaves have
attained their full size. On the whole, however, the culture of bulbs in
mixture with perennials is inconvenient; except when florists' bulbs only are
employed, that come into flower and fade all about the same time, and the
bulbs of which may be taken up annually in June or July, and replanted in
November or December. This admits of taking up the perennials every year,
or every other year, stirring, refreshing, or renewing the soil, and pruning or
otherwise reducing the plants, and then replanting them. On the other hand,
if what may be called botanical bulbs were introduced, as these are best
allowed to remain in the soil for several years, the perennials cannot be so
conveniently taken up, reduced, and replanted, when they get too large.
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 113
Another reason against intermixing permanent bulbs with perennials is, that
the moisture required during summer to keep the fibrous-rooted plants in
vigorous growth, has a tendency to rot the bulbs, they being at that time in a
dormant state, and, in their native habitats, comparatively dry; almost all
bulbs being natives of countries which have alternate seasons of drought and
moisture, and flowering only in the latter. The best florists' bulbs to intermix
with perennials are the different varieties of the common hyacinth, the crocus,
the tulip, and the narcissus.
172. Planting with showy green-house plants, which are common and cheap.
—According to this mode of planting, pelargoniums, fuchsias, verbenas, calceo-
larias, &c., are purchased in May or June, and planted in the ground, where
they are left to grow till killed by frost in October or November. If bought
in large quantities when young, these plants may be had at 3s. or 4s. per
dozen. º
173. Planting with biennials and annuals, to be followed by green-house
plants.-The flowers of these gardens may consist solely of biennials, which
require to be sown every two years; or of annuals, which must be sown every
year; or there may be a mixture of these two kinds. The advantage of
biennials is, that they are generally plants of great bulk (such as the holly-
hock, which is one of the most splendid of biennial plants), and, consequently,
few are required for a considerable space; and the disadvantages are, that the
first year of their growth no blossoms are produced; unless, indeed, they are
transplanted from a reserve ground, in which case they never flower so
strongly as when allowed to remain where they are sown, unless a pit about a
foot or 18 in. square is prepared for them and filled with rich soil. Their
large size renders them, in general, unfit for small front gardens, unless we
except an occasional hollyhock, Canterbury bell, French honeysuckle, marvel
of Peru, &c.; or unless the occupier should prefer temporary bulk and show,
to permanent and more minute beauty and variety. The advantage of
annuals is, that they occasion little trouble in cultivating the ground; because,
as the greater part cease flowering at the commencement of frost, they may
be then removed; and the ground, being dug, will require nothing further to
be done to it till February, when a fresh supply of annuals may be sown; or
till March, when, if annual plants are purchased from a commercial gardener,
or brought from a reserve garden, they may be planted. The disadvantages
of using annuals are, that the ground is naked during winter, and that there
are among them no early spring flowers; with the exception of the Califor-
nian kinds, such as Calliópsis, Collinsia, Gilia, Clärkia, Eschschóltzia, Nemó-
phila, and others, which, if sown in September, will stand our ordinary winters,
and flower in May. Other disadvantages of annuals for a small garden are,
that many of the common kinds are rampant, straggling, weedy-looking
plants, especially when sown in patches, and not thinned out; and that there
are but few of them, such as the mignonette, which continue in flower all the
summer. Some, indeed, as the China aster, require the whole summer for
their growth, and only come into flower in the autumn. Annuals, therefore,
are not well adapted for making a perpetual display in a very limited spot of
ground; though many of them, especially the dwarf and trailing kinds, such
as Eschschóltzia, Clärkia, Gília, Nemóphila, Anagállis, &c., make a very
splendid show during the time that they are in flower.
174. The back garden may be laid out in beds of flowers or grass, as shown
I
114 THE WILLA GARDENER:
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in fig. 47., or in beds bordered with box, and intersected by narrow paths of
gravel, as shown in fig. 48. Fig. 47, might be planted with Füchsia globósa,
the different kinds of mimulus, Frogmore pelargonium, dwarf roses, helio-
tropes, particularly the beautiful new Heliotröpium Voltaireanum, petunias of
various shades, cupheas, verbenas, Genísta bracteolāta, and Cytisus raceměsus.
DESIGN X.—To lay out and plant a small suburban garden, where the object
is to have a green-house, or to force fruits and flowers.
175. General arrangement.—Wherever plant-houses, pits, or frames, are
introduced into suburban gardens, unless these are to be kept in order, and
supplied with plants, &c., by a commercial gardener residing in the imme-
diate neighbourhood (by far the cheapest mode), it will be found necessary
to have a small portion of the garden separated from the rest as a reserve


































































SUBURBAN RESIDENCES, 115
ground. In this space the proper soils and manures may be kept, a dung-
bed for bringing forward plants, or a pit for the same purpose, and for forcing
cucumbers, growing melons, &c. It is also necessary, wherever plants are
grown under glass or kept in pots, that this reserve ground should have a
back door, or communication with a public road, otherwise than through the
house, for the supply of dung for hot-beds, soils, fuel, and other articles
required. The possession of a cucumber or melon frame adds greatly to the
interest of every suburban garden; and there need scarcely be one, however
small, without it; for, on a small scale, where there is only one bed, if there
is no back door, the dung may be carried through the house in baskets. On
a larger scale, dung, except as manure, may be dispensed with ; and the
heating of cucumber-frames and pits effected by flues, or, what is greatly
preferable, by pipes of hot water. Wherever there is a green-house, it ought,
if possible, to be connected with one of the living-rooms of the house; and
it might frequently be so arranged, that in a vault or cellar underneath this
green-house, rhubarb, sea-kale, chicory, and other vegetables that are eaten
in a blanched state, might be forced; or mushrooms grown throughout the
year. When this is attempted, however, there ought to be no communication
between the cellar and the green-house; nor any openings in the former that
will admit the air from it into the living-rooms; such air being always over-
charged with moisture, and having generally an earthy disagreeable smell.
Some possessors of suburban gardens have a taste for forcing different kinds
of fruit, more especially grapes and peaches; and some even might wish to
grow pine-apples. All this may be effected in a suburban garden almost as
well as farther in the country; because the operator has a greater command
of the air enclosed by the glass case, than he has of the exterior smoky
atmosphere; and, however paradoxical it may seem, it would be easier to
grow a good crop of pine-apples under glass in a back garden in Cheapside,
than it would be to produce a good crop of grass in the open air in the same
garden, or to keep there a smooth closely-covered turf. The principal con-
sideration with respect to forcing-houses in small suburban gardens is, the
difficulty of placing them so that they shall obtain the full influence of the
sun, from its first appearance in, the morning till sunset. Even in large
suburban gardens in large towns, it is next to impossible to accomplish this,
from the proximity of houses that either prevent the morning sun from
shining on the glass so soon as it otherwise would do; or, what is still more
injurious, that intercept its rays between two and four o'clock in the after-
noon, during which period, in towns, they have generally, from the compara-
tive clearness of the atmosphere, the greatest power. Trees, also, in adjoin-
ing gardens, are often very injurious; and there is yet another drawback,
which is the road dust, and small particles of soot, which, in dry windy wea-
ther, are floating in the atmosphere, and, settling on the glass roof, lessen the
quantity of light that penetrates it. All these circumstances ought to be
taken duly into consideration, before the occupier of a suburban garden ven-
tures to erect forcing-houses for ripening fruits. -
176. The green-house.—Whatever may be the aspect of the house, a green-
house may be projected from it, unless it be due north; and even in that case
there are many exceptions. We shall take the same extent of ground that
has already come under consideration, and shall suppose a green-house pro-
jected from the living-room, as shown at c, in fig. 49. ; in which a is the
I 2
116 THE VILIA GARDENER,
49
Hiſt G)
K.
entrance-hall, and b the principal living-room. Underneath the green-house
there is a vault, in which is placed the furnace; and from a boiler over it hot
water pipes are conducted up into the green-house, where they are concealed
behind the shelves, or stage, on which the pots stand. In the vault, various
articles which require little or no light may be forced, as already mentioned.
The communication between the green-honse (c) and the living-room (b) is
by a glass door, the view through which, from the room, is along the front of
the stage, and, consequently, brings into perspective all the finest plants.
Plans of green-houses will be given hereafter.
177. Pits, frames, and the reserve ground.—At the lower end of the
garden, a space is shown, walled off, in which pines and melons may be
grown in pits, either heated by dung or by hot water; and here, also, cucum-
bers, and roses and other flowers, and rhubarb and other culinary articles,
may be forced at pleasure. One fire-place and boiler, centrally placed, will,
with ease, heat all these pits and frames, even if they were of three or four
times the extent we have supposed them to be. Plans for such pits will be
given hereafter. In the ground plan, fig. 49., the boiler is supposed to be
placed beneath the green-house (c); and pipes conducted from it, as indicated
by the dotted line, will pass through and heat the vinery (d), the general
forcing-house, or stove (e), the small pit (h), the propagating box (g), and
the pine pit (f). There is a place for compost at i, and a potting-shed at k.
The long bed (l) in front of the houses is supposed to be in turf, or devoted
to exotic flowers and shrubs kept in the forcing-house and vinery in the win-
ter season, and turned out during summer. The enclosure containing the
pits will also serve for a reserve ground for bringing forward articles proper
for decorating the green-house, and for containing soils, composts, pots, and
various articles. The potting-shed is used for shifting and potting in, and for
other operations required to be performed with house plants; and also for
containing the pots, tools, &c. Without an appendage of this kind, no green-
house can ever be made to look well for any length of time together; for
some of the plants require to be removed as soon as they have left off flower-
ing on account of their unsightliness; others become too large and strag-
gling; some get diseased, and others die altogether; so that a reserve
ground, with a pit or frame in it, is absolutely necessary, as an hospital, to
renovate plants that are sickly or unsightly; as a receptacle for such as are
in a dormant state; and as a nursery to raise young ones, in order to keep up
a fresh supply of plants in full vigour. :
178. Forcing-houses.—If these are required, we should continue them, as
indicated in fig. 49., from the end of the green-house towards the reserve
ground, as shown at d and e, and, if this were done, the same fire which
heated the green-house, might, as already mentioned, heat the forcing-houses

SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 117
50
also. This is easily done by having a separate set of pipes for the green-
house, the circulation of the water in which can be stopped whgnever heat is
not wanted there. The fire-place being in a vault beneath the green-house,
...there would be no danger of its ever communicating more heat through the
green-house floor than what would be salutary for the plants. Indeed, by
forcing culinary productions or growing mushrooms in the vault, and having
the green-house over it, scarcely a particle of heat generated by the fuel
would be lost. The forcing-houses, in a suburban garden of this kind, can-
not, in general, be made higher than the party-wall of the garden; because this
would be to produce a greater shade on the adjoining garden than would be
submitted to by its occupier; whose permission would be necessary even to
raise the green-house, so that its floor might be on a level with that of the
sitting-room.
179. A small suburban garden, like that shown in fig. 49., with the wall
having a south aspect covered with glass, with two small forcing-houses, and
a reserve garden with pits and frames at the end, would require a first-rate
gardener, or a zealous and skilful amateur, to manage it to the greatest ad-
vantage; and, in our opinion, unless it is done, it is better to dispense with
glass in a garden altogether.

118 THE WILLA GARDENER,
Management—If the occupier intends to manage this garden himself, he
must be at home every day throughout the year; with the exception, perhaps,
of a month or two during summer, when his forced trees, having yielded
their crops, are in a dormant state; and when he may commit the care of his
reserve department, and of his green-house, to a commercial gardener in the
neighbourhood. If he employs a gardener, it must be one who thoroughly
understands his profession, and who is so decidedly steady and regular in his
habits, that the utmost confidence may be placed in him. The neglect, for
one night, during severe frost, of the fire which heats the hot-water apparatus,
or the making of too large a fire in a mild night, would be sufficient to destroy
a whole crop of either peaches or grapes. For this reason, not only a re-
markably steady man must be employed as gardener, but one who lives either
in the house, or near at hand; so that he may be able to attend the fires,
when necessary, at any hour of the night. Even during the day, there is
great danger of overheating forcing-houses, either by sun heat alone, or by
the joint effect of sun heat and fire heat; so that in the day time the occupier
or his gardener will require to be as vigilant as during the night.
DESIGN XI.--To lay out a double suburban villa, with green-houses attached.
180. General arrangement.—In order to prevent both the entrances a a in
j.g. 50. from being seen at once, it requires a considerable projection between
them, as shown at b b; or, instead of that projection, a mass of evergreen
trees and shrubs. The projection may either be some additional conveniences
to each house; or it may be a span-roofed greenhouse, with glass in front
and on the sides, and separated by a wall to be covered with evergreens, such
as camellias, myrtles, or oranges, as in the plan before us, at c c. Or, to
avoid the risk of one of the occupants not paying the same attention to his
green-house as the other, then, to insure a good effect from the exterior, and
the proper cultivation of the plants, the green-house may be exclusively in
the possession of the occupier of one of the houses, though equally looked
into from the windows of both of them.
181. The principal object of the possessors of these houses, with reference
to their gardens, is supposed to be, as the green-house would seem to indicate;
ornamental display; for which reason, the ground is principally laid down in
grass, and sprinkled with ornamental shrubs and low trees; the latter, as
before observed, being indicated by a darker shade than the shrubs. On the
supposition that the ground belonging to the adjoining houses is planted with
a view to the same object, then the occupiers of the houses shown in fig. 50.
should study to introduce species and varieties different from those in the
adjoining gardens, but, at the same time, a sufficient number of the same kinds
to preserve harmony in the general view of the whole, to a person passing
along the street. If we suppose, for a moment, that, in one garden, small
select trees, such as thorns, crabs, cypresses, &c., were planted, and in the
adjoining garden large rapid-growing forest trees, such as poplars, limes,
elms, &c., it must be evident that the contrast in appearance between the two
gardens would destroy all unity of effect in the general view of the street;
while the shade produced by the large trees of one garden, on the low and
more choice kinds in the other, would so materially injure their growth as to
prevent them from flowering, or being at all ornamental. “What, then, is to
be done,” it may be asked, “when a neighbour on the south-side of our
garden chooses to plant a row of poplars, so as to throw our garden completely
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES, 119
into the shade?” All that can be done is, either to plant large coarse trees
like our neighbour, or rather still larger and more rapidly-growing ones; or
to cultivate only such trees and shrubs as prosper best in the shade. Of these,
one of the most valuable is the holly, of which there are twenty or thirty
varieties, with very distinctly variegated leaves; all of which attain in time
the size of trees, and, by the gaiety of their foliage, make a splendid appear-
ance at every season of the year. There are also other varieties of holly
which are curious; such as the hedgehog, the myrtle-leaved, and the recurved-
leaved holly. Some foreign species of holly, which attain the size of low
trees, might also be introduced; such as Ilex opâca and I. madeirénsis, both
of which thrive better in the shade than in the sun. The yew, of which there
are two very distinct sorts, the common and the Irish, will afford two other
trees which, like the holly, will thrive better in the shade than in the sun;
and to these may be added the box, than which, when planted singly in deep
free soil somewhat calcareous, and allowed to take its own natural shape,
there is not a more picturesque and beautiful low evergreen tree in the British
arboretum. The tree box is picturesque, from its irregular outline, and the
varied forms of the masses of its foliage; and it is beautiful from the smooth
glossy green of the latter, and the graceful tendency of its lower branches,
which recline on the ground. This tree, when grown in full sunshine, assumes
a yellow hue, compared with the rich deep green which it has in the shade;
and the same may be said, to a certain extent, both of the yew and the com-
mon green holly. Besides the common tree box, the broad-leaved and the
myrtle-leaved varieties, and the variegated box, all of which attain the size of
low trees, there is the Minorca box, which forms a very handsome tree; and,
in addition to these trees, and others which will be found in our list of those
that love the shade, there is the common laurel, which may be trained so as
to assume the character of a tree, a shrub, or a hedge, at pleasure; and in
each capacity there are a denseness and an appearance of comfort and gaiety
in its foliage, which render this plant welcome almost everywhere. Few are
better adapted for making evergreen screens, either between a front garden
and the street, or between two adjoining front gardens. The privet, in like
manner, may be trained so as to form a handsome small tree, an ornamental
bush, or an evergreen hedge. The common arbutus, of which there are two
very distinct varieties, also forms a very handsome low tree. For shrubs that
delight in the shade, it is only necessary to mention the whole families of
rhododendrons, azaleas, mezereons, and some of the evergreen daphnes. In
the most shady part of the garden, against the walls, where nothing else will
grow, the gold and silver ivy will produce a most brilliant effect; but, as both
are weaker and more slowly growing plants than the common and the giant
ivy, care must be taken that they are not overpowered by these kinds. With
respect to rhododendrons, azaleas, mezereons, &c., the different species of
these genera, with their varieties, are of themselves enough to fill a shady
garden with a display of evergreens in winter, and splendid flowers in summer.
We shall not enumerate any other plants adapted for shaded gardens, those
above-mentioned being enough to show that the possessor of a garden shaded
by the trees of his neighbours, though unable to grow some of the finer kinds
of trees, has still ample resources left for ornamenting his grounds. Among
herbaceous flowers, there is still more ample choice: for example, in annuals
120 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
alone, which will grow in the shade better than in the free air, we have only
to point to the lists of Californian plants given in this work. (See Index.)
182. Planting the front garden.—To return to our plan (fig. 50), each house
consists of a vestibule (d), hall and staircase (e), dining-room (f), and draw-
ing-room (g), communicating with the conservatory (c). In the garden at h,
are shown flower-beds on each side of the entrance-walk; and these, to
harmonise with the green-house, may be symmetrically planted, the two
central circles with fuchsias; the two beds i i with variegated pelargoniums
(geraniums); and the remaining four beds with scarlet pelargoniums. These
will continue in bloom during the whole summer; and, in order that the beds
may not every year present the same appearance, heliotropes, rose-scented
pelargoniums, celsias, and calceolarias may be employed in succession ; or,
instead of these kinds planted in the free ground, the green-house plants may
be plunged in the beds in their pots; being symmetrically arranged with
regard to size and foliage, so as still to maintain the rule laid down in p. 57;
viz. that symmetry of form in the beds requires symmetry in the form, colour,
or arrangement, of the plants. It would, for example, be contrary to sym-
metry of arrangement, to plant two of these beds with green-house plants,
and two with the common hardy kinds; though, by choosing plants of the
same size, symmetry of form might be produced. If it were desired still
further to vary these beds, they might be planted, for a year or two, with
roses; a standard rose being placed in the central bed, surrounded by migno-
nette, and dwarf roses planted in the other beds; or the centre bed might be
occupied by climbing roses trained over a cone formed by a framework of
rods; or there might be an arch of iron rods thrown from one central bed to
the other, across the walk, and covered with climbing roses, or with a coboea,
or some other ornamental climber. The beds may be edged with wire-work,
to which mignonette may be trained; or with ivy, trained to an iron rod
raised 6 in. above the surface; or they may be bordered with any very low-
growing evergreen shrub, such as the evergreen iberis, thyme, &c.; or they
may be edged with tiles or slates, or with cast-iron or wooden edgings. In
short, these beds may be planted and edged in a different manner every year,
during the whole period of a lease; and, in addition to the summer planting,
they may be filled every autumn with bulbs, so as to produce a brilliant show
in early spring.
183. In the back garden, the borders may be planted with a mixture of
China roses, or of rhododendrons and azaleas, selected so as to present a
bloom from April to August; with some clethras and Ceanothus azureus, to
continue to bloom till November; or they may be planted with a mixture of
herbaceous plants and bulbs, so selected as to present some species in flower
during every floral month in the year. Against the basement wall of the
green-house, in this design, chrysanthemums may be planted, and carefully
trained; in which situation they will flower beautifully: and against the
lower part of the house Cydonia japónica may be planted, which, in that
situation, would flower throughout the winter; while, in such other parts as
did not interfere with the windows, Lonícera japónica, Jasminum officinale,
climbing roses, and other ornamental flowering creepers, might be planted,
for their show and their fragrance. In the green-house, there ought to be
vines or creepers trained on the piers between the windows, and under the
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 121
rafters; and, in summer, when the plants in pots are taken out of the green-
house, these creepers ought to be removed from the piers and rafters, and
trained over the windows and sashes, so as to produce a sufficient degree of
shade to admit of the interior being used as a sitting-room for the ladies in
the morning, or as a banqueting-room for taking the dessert in after dinner,
or as a room for taking tea in in the evening. The green-house may be
heated in various ways, and, among others, by a fire-place or stove at the end,
as shown in the plan at l; but, if only the more hardy green-house plants are
grown, such as camellias against the wall, and heaths and Australian plants
in pots, no other heating need be required than what may be given every
night after the family go to bed, by leaving open the glass door communicat-
ing with the living-room, a fire being supposed to have been kept in that
room during the day. The warm air from the living-room will raise the
temperature of the green-house at least above the freezing point; and some
degrees higher even in the most severe weather, provided the sashes and
windows of the green-house fit tightly. It would be easy to heat this green-
house in a most effectual manner, from the kitchen fire, or the parlour fire,
by pipes of hot water; but the tendency of contrivances of this kind, after
two or three years' use, to go out of order, renders us reluctant to recommend
them if they can be avoided. Underneath the green-house, on the basement
floor of the house, there may be a coal or beer cellar.
The part of the back garden which is not seen may be either wholly devoted
to ornamental trees and flowers, on a lawn connected with that shown in the
figure; or separated from it by a border of evergreens, and cropped with
culinary vegetables. In either case, a portion of ground at the bottom of the
garden must be fenced off as a reserve garden, in which there must be a pit
or a hot-bed, to keep up the supply of young plants for the green-house, and
for the beds at h; unless the cheaper mode is adopted, of having this done by
contract with a commercial gardener.
Expense and Management.—The gardens to these two houses might be laid
out and planted for from 30l. to 60l. each, according to the kind of trees
selected, exclusive of the reserve gardens, the green-houses, and the gravel-
ing or paving of the walks. From their being flower-beds, if the occupiers
of the houses or their servants were not attached to gardening, the assistance
of a man for each garden might be required, on an average, one day in a
week throughout the year; which, with the requisite seeds, plants, &c., might
bring the yearly expense of management to about 101. This is supposing
that the watering, and other attendance required by the plants in the conser-
vatory, were chiefly done by some part of the family.
Remarks.-These gardens are particularly well calculated for amateurs who
are fond of performing the operations of gardening themselves; because
there is no heavy, dirty, or disagreeable work required in them, and because
the green-houses would afford recreation during winter.
184. Planting a front garden so as to produce symmetrical masses of colour.
—An agreeable variety might be produced in this design, by substituting fig.
51. for i i in fig. 50. This garden is supposed to face the south; and to be
30 ft. broad, and 45 ft. long. It is surrounded by a broad border (a), sepa-
rated from the lawn, or grass-plot, by a line, which is slightly waved, in order
to harmonise it with the curvilinear forms of the beds; but, at the same time,
not so much so as to be out of harmony with the straight wall and the straight
122 THE WILLA GARDENER,
walk. These beds we shall suppose 51
to be planted in masses of one kind trºº
in a bed; the object being to make a º
great display of colour from the win-
dows of the house, and from the walk
from the street entrance to the front
door, and yet to preserve in the
colours the symmetry shown in the
forms and disposition of the beds.
The border (a) we would plant with
rhododendrons, and other low ever-
greens, to form a dark background to
the flowers on the lawn; intermixing
the rhododendrons with laurustinuses,
autumn and spring flowering meze-
reons, and Cydónia japónica, for late
and early flowers; and planting the
wall with ivy. The border next the
street may have three variegated
hollies planted in it, to break the view
of the street from the house; or one holly, one scarlet-flowered arbutus,
and one variegated tree box may be chosen for this purpose. The border
beneath the parlour window may have myrtles, camellias, maurandyas,
passion-flowers, sollyas, &c., planted against the house, and some dwarf half-
hardy flowering shrubs, such as escallonias, Ceanothus azureus, fuchsias,
Céstrum noctarnum, a dwarf fan palm, &c., planted in the border, so as to
create a necessity for winter protection. We shall show different modes of
planting the beds; previously noticing how statuary ornaments may be
introduced in them.
185. Introduction of statuary ornaments in front gardens.—The centre bed
(b) may have a sun-dial in the middle, rising from the base, surrounded by
rockwork (the manner of forming which will be given hereafter), planted
with select creeping plants; and there may be a vase for plants on a pedestal
in each of the beds c and d, the pedestal being surrounded by climbers, to
be trained to it, but not higher than the base of the vase. Throughout the
floral months, these vases might be filled with pots of plants in flower, and
throughout the winter with evergreens. The beds e e may then be filled
with red-flowering low plants, allowing an equal number for every floral
month; f f, with white-flowering plants; g g, with blue-flowering plants;
and h h, with yellow-flowering plants. The small beds may have crocuses
round their margins and in the centre mignonette. As this plant is never
fragrant except in poor soil, these beds should consist almost entirely of lime
rubbish, except round the margins where the crocuses were planted. Among
the shrubs we would plant bulbs of as many low-growing kinds as room
could be found for, but no fibrous-rooted herbaceous plants whatever. Bulbs
among evergreens make a very fine appearance in spring; and, as their
foliage dies off altogether in summer, they have not that littery, disorderly
appearance which herbaceous perennials in shrubberies usually have when
they have done flowering. - - -
186. Planting with bulbs, to be succeeded by showy annuals.—Instead of
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SUTEURBAN RESIDENCES. 123
this arrangement, the three central beds might be planted with three different
kinds of showy perennials, or with three different kinds of bulbs, or with
three different kinds of annuals. The bulbs for the centre bed might be
crocuses, as coming first into flower; and for the two others hyacinths; for
the beds e e and f f, tulips; and for g g and h h, polyanthus narcissus; the
smaller beds may be solely devoted to crocuses. This mode of planting
would produce a fine display from March till the middle of May; when the
bulbs should be taken up, and the beds, having been dug, should be imme-
diately planted with annuals, previously brought forward to nearly a flower-
ing state in pots. In planting these annuals, not more than one kind should
be introduced in each bed; and the kinds in beds opposite should be as like in
colour, height, and general appearance as possible. Thus, if one of the beds,
e, were planted with the ten-week stock, the other ought to be planted with
purple candytuft, or any similar flower that came into bloom at the same time;
and, if one of the beds, h, were planted with Clárkia pulchélla, the other
should be planted with Lobel's catchfly, &c. On the whole, however, a more
striking effect is produced by planting opposite beds of exactly the same kinds;
and those for fig. 51. may be the following, it being understood that the plants
are to be so close together as to cover each bed entirely; and that, whenever
any gap appears in a bed, the adjoining plants are to be pegged down to
cover it. For b, Lupinus mutäbilis, which would produce its fine blue, white,
and yellow flowers, all the summer; for c and d, German stocks in mixture,
purple, red, and white; for e e, German larkspurs in mixture, purple, red,
and white; for f f, new scarlet candytuft, scarlet; for gg, Calliópsis bícolor,
yellow and brown ; for h h, Collinsia bícolor, blue and white; for i i, Clärkia
pulchélla, lilac ; for k k, Eschschóltzia califórnica, yellow and orange; for l,
Málope grandiflóra, dark crimson; for m, Zinnia èlegans coccinea, scarlet.
All these annuals are new, and eminently beautiful; and seeds of them may
be procured in most of the principal seed shops.
187. Planting with bulbs, to be succeeded by half-hardy annuals and green-
house plants.-The third mode is adapted for gardens where there is not only
a reserve ground, but pits or hot-beds in which to preserve some of the plants
which we shall recommend during winter, and to bring forward others in
spring. During winter, the beds are supposed to be filled with bulbs in the
manner before-mentioned; or, what would produce a truly brilliant effect,
wholly with hyacinths, and the margins of the beds with a line of crocuses.
The bed b might be planted with mixed hyacinths, one of a sort; the beds c
and d, with white hyacinths; h h and ee, with red; and f f and g g, with
blue. The smaller beds might be filled entirely with crocuses. In the course
of the month of May, the bulbs should be removed, and the ground dug and
planted as follows:—b, with variegated pelargoniums (geraniums); c, with
Bath scarlet pelargoniums; d, with Frogmore scarlet pelargoniums; e e, with
Verbèna chamaedrifolia (Melindres), scarlet; f f, with Lobélia lutea, yellow;
gg, with Petània nyctaginiflóra, white; h h, with Petània phoenicea, dark
purple; i i, with Lobélia grácilis, blue; k k, with Nierembérgia grácilis,
white; l, with Nemóphila aurita, blue; and m, with Senècio Élegans fl. pl.
rüber, red. All these plants are easily procured; and they may be preserved
in pits or frames, with a very slight assistance, during cold and damp weather,
from fire or dung heat. All of them ought to be planted so close together,
as to cover the beds by the middle of July; and any shoots that rise above
124 THE WILLA GARDENER.
6 in. from the bed should be cut off or pegged down, and any naked space
that may occur on its surface should be covered by pegging down shoots from
the adjoining plants. -
188. Planting a front garden with Florists' flowers.—Fig. 52. is a front
with a view to the
garden of the same size as fig. 51. in p. 122., laid out
culture of florists' flowers. The side -
walls should be planted with ivy;
and in front, next the street wall and
railing, the ivy may be trained to
wires, one wire being introduced
between each rail. The plants trained
against the house should be select
climbing roses. The borders a and b
should be devoted entirely to dahlias
in summer, and bulbs in winter and
spring; the bed c, to chrysanthemums;
d, to pinks and carnations; e and f,
to tulips; and g and h, to hyacinths;
the other bulbs, such as ranunculuses,
anemones, &c., being grown in the
dahlia borders before the latter are
planted; or, if the symmetrical effect
is dispensed with, tulips, hyacinths,
ranunculuses, and anemones, may be
grown in the beds efgh. These
beds, after the bulbs are removed, may be planted with showy annuals, or
other plants brought forward in the reserve ground. As the foliage of the
carnations and pinks, which occupy the centre bed, is evergreen, it will look
well throughout the year.
189. A mode of planting a front garden with ornmental green-house plants,
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SUBURBAN RESIDENCEs. 125
of bricks laid flat, and half sunk in the turf; s, a circle of bricks laid all to
one slope, and touching with their lower edges the circle of flat bricks; and
t, the surface of the bed. The perspective view of this bed is shown in fg.
53. Such a bed ought to be planted in the centre with the most choice
summer-flowering green-house plants; and round the margin, with migno-
nette, Perbèna chamaedrifolia
(Melindres), or some other
fragrant or brilliant-coloured
creeper which will hang down
over the bricks. Alargefuchsia
in the centre, surrounded by
variegated pelargoniums, with
a border of mignonette inter-
mixed with blue anagallis, will
have a good effect; as will a
large Brugmánsia suaveolens
(Datºra arborea) in the centre,
with the surface of the bed
entirely covered with the Per-
bèna chamaedrifolia, which
would hang down with its
brilliant scarlet flowers over
the brick frame. The brug-
mansia (fig. 55.), when well-
grown, is a particularly suitable
plant for this purpose. It may
be kept in the frame in the re-
serve ground during the winter;
and, if turned out intorich soil,
and kept well supplied with
water during summer, it will
produce a profusion of its fine
trumpet-shaped, pure white,
fragrant flowers, from June till
the beginning of October;
when the plant ought to be
taken up, repotted, and re-
turned to the pit, to prevent it from being injured by frost.
Design XII. To lay out, and plant the grounds of a double suburban
villa in the Italian style, with the entrances from a common terrace.
190. General arrangement—This house, of which fig. 56, is the plan, and
fig. 57. a perspective view of the elevation, may either be occupied by a pro-
fessional man, as in the preceding design, or by two private families. In the
first case, the main entrance would be from the terrace (d); but, in the
second, though this would be the ostensible entrance, the real entrances
would be at the sides, through the green-houses, or plant lobbies (k).
191. The ground plan (fig. 56.) shows the main walk (a) from the entrance-
gate to the terrace (d); two servants', or side, entrances, in the event of the
house being occupied by two different families (b); stairs down to the sunk area
and the kitchen floor (c); terrace common to both houses (d); open porch,

126 THE WILLA GARDENER.
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also common to both (e); vestibule, leading to the staircase (f); vestibule
to the green-house (g); dining-room (h); drawing-room (i); green-house, or
plant lobby (k); library (l); balconies to the dining-room and drawing-room
windows, with steps descending to the lawn in the back garden (m); flower-
beds on the lawn in the back garden (n); lawn in the front garden, with two
arabesque beds for flowers (o).
192. Laying out and planting.—The object, in laying out and planting
these two gardens, we shall suppose to be picturesque effect, so as to harmo-
mise with the broken outline and numerous parts which compose the eleva-
tion of the house. The disposition of both trees and shrubs is consequently
irregular, and by no means gardenesque. The kinds we shall suppose to be
partly evergreen, and partly deciduous; and the prevailing species to be such
as are common in the gardens or general scenery of Italy. -
Evergreen Trees.—Pinus Larício, P. Pináster, P. Pinea, and P. halepénsis;
Quércus I'lex and gramāntia; and Cupréssus sempervirens, and Juníperus
phoenicea. - - * - * *
Deciduous Trees.—Among these may be mentioned, the Lombardy poplar




























































supu RBAN RESIDENCEs. 127
(which, however, must be very sparingly introduced); the Turkey oak, and
the Neapolitan and other acers, various species of thorns, the catalpa, tulip
tree, Judas tree, laburnum, almond Pyrus spectábilis, &c.
Evergreen Shrubs.-These include the holly, box, sweet bay, common and
Portugal laurels, arbutus, philly rea, rhododendron, daphne, yucca, and many
others.
Deciduous Shrubs.-These are very numerous, and include the Paliurus
aculeatus, various species of Rhamnus and Rhás, azaleas, lilacs, cistuses,
almonds, Coronilla Emerus, colutea, and many others.
193. As characteristic of Italian scenery, the vine ought to be planted, and
allowed to climb up the trees, not for the sake of its fruit, but for effect; and
one of the best kinds for this purpose is the claret grape, on account of the
colour of its leaves in autumn. The pomegranate, the phillyrea, and the ilex
are highly characteristic of Italian gardens; the pine and the Arándo Dönax,
of Italian scenery; and the orange tree, and the agave, or its substitute, the
yucca, both in tubs and vases, of Italian villas. The most characteristic
shrubs of the flowering kind belonging to Italy are, the cistus and the cytisus,
We do not here mention the myrtle, the olive, or any other trees or shrubs
which will not thrive in the open air in Britain, because they could not be
introduced with effect in British imitations of Italian scenery. The Rüscus
hypophyllum, and the shrubby species of asparagus, are also found more fre-
quently in Italy than in any other part of Europe, unless we except Greece.
It fortunately happens for the imitator of an Italian villa in the suburbs of a
great city, that the Pinus Larício, the most common pine in the open scenery
of Italy; the pinaster, the next common; and the stone pine, which is most
generally found near Italian houses, and in their gardens, will all grow remark-
ably well in the smoke of London; as may be seen by examining the trees
of these species in the arboretum of the Messrs. Loddiges, and comparing
their appearance with that of the American pines, and even the Scotch pine,
growing beside them.
194. The flower-beds.-The two arabesque beds in the front garden may
be planted with carnations and pinks, which are peculiarly the flowers of

128 THE WILLA GARDENER,
Italy; or with wallflowers and stocks, which are also very much prized there;
or with evergreen saxifragas, which are common on the Italian alps. Or
these beds might be wholly planted with the indigenous bulbs of Italy, which
include some sorts of tulips, narcissi, crocuses, scilla, &c., interspersed with
Neapolitan violets at regular distances. The beds n will have the best effect
relatively to the other beds, and to the trees and shrubs, if planted with China
roses, which were first improved by cross impregnation in the Royal Gardens at
Monza. At the roots of the deciduous shrubs, in the groups on the lawn, may
be planted some of the hardier bulbs of Italy, along with primroses, violets,
&c., to come up through the grass; and, more especially, the colchicum and
the Cyclamen europaeum, which are highly characteristic of Italian scenery in
autumn, as the crocus, the Scilla itálica, and the poet's narcissus are in spring.
195. The Italian terrace and the green-house.—For ornamenting these in
summer, we would cultivate, in a green-house or orangery in the reserve
garden, some orange trees, oleanders, pomegranates, olives, myrtles, and
jasmines, in large pots or boxes, to place on the terrace and in the green-
house about the middle of May. For training against the walls of the terrace in
the autumn, we would recommend a collection of chrysanthemums to be kept
in pots in the reserve ground till the beginning or middle of August, when
they may be brought out, and the more delicate and late-flowering kinds
placed against the walls of the house within the terrace, and the other kinds
placed against the walls all round the house; some of the most select being
arranged in the plant lobby. The kinds may either be chosen from the old
Chinese varieties, of which there are above thirty in cultivation in the nur-
series, or from the new British varieties, which have been raised from seed
in Jersey and other places.
196. The back garden may either be wholly or in part under turf, and
varied by trees and shrubs planted for picturesque effect, as in the front
garden; or, it may be in part laid out in beds for culinary vegetables, as in
fig. 34., p. 71. The walls should, we think, either be covered with ivy, or
with evergreen and deciduous shrubs, and especially the flowering and
odoriferous kinds. Among these, and also among the trees and shrubs
planted in the front garden, may be some dwarf and standard fruit trees, of
the more hardy free-bearing kinds; such as the Hawthornden apple, the
glout morceau pear, the Orleans and magnum bonum plums, the morello
cherry, the green gage and Warrington gooseberries, Wilmot's red currant,
the champagne or striped currant, the Dutch white currant, the Naples black
currant, and the cane and Antwerp raspberries. Even if there are no beds
for culinary crops, there may still be a few circular beds, distributed in open
places, for a few strawberries of different kinds; or the strawberries may be
grown on a cone of earth faced on every side with bricks, flints, or stones,
the strawberries being placed in the joints between them. By such an
arrangement, the strawberries are obtained a week or a fortnight earlier than
they would be on flat beds, particularly on the south side of the cone. The
advantages of this mode of growing strawberries are, that the fruit may be
gathered without stooping; it is certain of being always clean; and, if water
be supplied liberally during the flowering and swelling seasons, it will attain
a large size. The alpine, or common wood strawberry, treated in this manner,
and supplied with water (which can be done by pouring it into an opening made
on purpose in the apex of the cone), will continue in bearing all the summer.
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 129
197. The reserve garden should contain a house 10 or 12 feet high, to
preserve the myrtle, olive, and orange trees from frost during the winter.
This house, provided that no plants are kept in it but evergreens, which, like
those above-mentioned, make their young wood during the summer, need not
have a glass roof, but only a glass front; in consequence of which the frost
will be very easily excluded by a very little fire heat. The chrysanthemums
and other plants may be kept in a pit without flues.
198. Remarks.-Should it be wished to have a coach-house and stables,
they might be formed near the kitchen entrance at c, the stable being on a
level with the sunk area and the coach-house over it. The idea of having the
stable under the coach-house is not one likely to be familiar to the general
reader; nevertheless, there is a detached house in Porchester Terrace, where,
from the declivity of the surface being in the direction of the road, the line
of frontage is several feet lower at one end than it is at the other; and at this
lower end an entrance is made to the stable and coach-house, which, by exca-
vating the ground a little, are obtained under the principal floor of the house.
To render this arrangement more clear to the reader, we refer to the longitu-
dinal section (fig. 58.), in which the line n n shows the declivity of the street;
58
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o, the principal entrance which is at one end; p, the entrance to the stables
and the garden, which is at the opposite end; q, lines showing the depth to
which the ground is excavated opposite the doors of the stable and coach-
house, and to which there is a gradual slope from the street entrance; r,
dotted lines, showing the level of the floor of the coach-house and stables;
and s, the level of the principal floor of the house.
DESIGN XIII. To lay out and plant the grounds of a detached house, occu-
pying about an acre and three quarters.
199. The general form is that of a parallelogram, as shown in fig. 59. In
this plan the street entrance is by the veranda (a) to the porch (b), which
leads to the staircase (c), dining-room (d), library (e), drawing-room (f), and
green-house, heated from the back of the drawing-room and library fires (g).
The kitchen-court is shown at h, and steps from the drawing-room to the lawn
at i. At k, are steps down to the kitchen area, for servants; and at l, a flight
of steps up to the green-house, for the gardener. The green-house has one
glass door to the drawing-room, and another to the library; and, where the
waste heat is not sufficient to keep out the frost, recourse is supposed to be
had to one of Joyce's stoves, or some other apparatus for burning charcoal.
This last resource, however, will seldom be necessary, if, every night during
K


130
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SUBU RBAN RESIDENCES. 13 I
the most severe weather, the family, immediately before quitting the drawing-
room and library, throw open the green-house doors; which will tend to
equalise the temperature of the three apartments. As the furniture, books,
walls, &c., in the drawing-room and library, must necessarily be heated to a
temperature of about 60°, it will be several hours before the demand for heat
by the green-house will reduce these rooms 20°, which would give a temper-
ature common to the three of 40”; at which, or even at 35°, green house
plants will take no harm. Two detached pavilions, supported on four latticed
pillars, form a break in the walks at m and n, and serve as a foreground to
the back garden, and vice versá; and between these and the boundary walls
there are covered seats at n n : o o are flower-beds; p is a plantation of low
trees and shrubs, each plant standing distinct, in the gardenesque manner,
and, in the plan, the trees being distinguished from the shrubs by their
darker shade. For two or three years after these trees and shrubs are
planted, the ground about them may be kept free from grass and weeds, and
occasionally hoed or slightly dug; and for this purpose the plantation ought
to be included in a definite outline, such as is formed by the edging of the
walk on one side, and by the line q r on the other. As soon, however, as the
plants have acquired sufficient strength to grow on a grassy surface, the out-
line on the lawn side may be obliterated, such of the trees and shrubs as touch
one another thinned out, and the surface sown down with the finer grass
seeds; the whole uniting and harmonising with the lawn, as indicated at p
and s. We may observe here, as a general rule, that, in the gardenesque
manner, wherever the ground is to be dug among trees or shrubs, the boun-
dary should be definite; because the principle is, that a definite outline is
most convenient for culture, and for the display of individual beauty. On
the other hand, in a picturesque plantation, where the surface is to be dug,
the outline should be indefinite, or consist of a ragged line; because indefi-
niteness and irregularity are properties of the picturesque. We may farther
observe, for the sake of referring practice to principles, that, in a small garden
bounded by right lines, like that before us, it will seldom be desirable to
imitate the picturesque manner of gardening, and scarcely ever to form
picturesque outlines; because, as the outline of the whole ought to serve as a
guide for the outline of the parts, and as that outline, in the case of the
smaller suburban gardens, is generally a square or a parallelogram, or, at all
events, a right-lined figure, a picturesque line within would ill harmonise
with the other lines; and, whatever kind of outline we might form on one
side of the mass, or group, that on the other side could hardly fail to be geo-
metrical or gardenesque. Thus, for example, if, instead of the definite line
q r, in fig. 59., a ragged line had been substituted, still, though that side
would have had a picturesque outline, the other side of the plantation next
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132 THE WILLA GARDENER,
the walk must still have been straight and definite, as in the plan; and thus
the boundary on one side of the mass would have been at direct variance with
the boundary on the other side. Almost the only case in which a picturesque
boundary can be given to a group in a small square or parallelogram garden,
like the present, is where the group stands completely detached on the lawn,
as in fig. 60, at a ; or where a marginal plantation is placed against the
boundary fence, as at b. These outlines represent the boundary of the dug
space before it is planted; but, after it has been planted a few years, this
outline will be almost entirely obliterated by the trees and shrubs spreading
over it, as shown in fig. 61.
200. There is a small fruit-garden at t, consisting of a central bed, in which
strawberries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, &c., are cultivated for being
eaten as gathered by the family; and it is surrounded by a border, containing
a trellis, on which some gooseberry and currant trees are trained, but which
is chiefly covered with the finer kinds of cherries, plums, and summer pears,
for the same purpose. There is a reserve garden at a w, for the cultivation of
sweet herbs, salading, tart rhubarb, &c.; and for flowers for supplying the
beds (o) on the lawn and the side borders (u). There is a small forcing-stove
(v) for bringing forward roses, bulbs, mignonette, &c., for the green-house (g),
and for growing early salading; and a flued pit (w), of the same size, in which
a reserved stock of green-house plants may be kept. The borders (u u), it
will be observed, are of considerable width for a small garden; and it is
proposed to devote them entirely to flowers. The walls may either be
planted with fruit trees, or with the higher class of ornamental low trees and
shrubs, according to the taste of the owner. If the latter plan were adopted,
and no duplicates introduced into the plantation q r s p, or into the boundary
plantation from m by a to m, then in this garden there might be included all
the finer low trees and shrubs of the British arboretum. The display of
roses, Japan, Chinese, and American honeysuckles, magnolias, wistarias,
passion flowers, pomegranates, Clématis, Cydonia japónica, Chimonánthus,
and a host of other articles of the same kind, which either have been or will
be enumerated, would be delightful at every season of the year; while in the
borders might be passed in review all the finer herbaceous plants, annuals,
perennials, or bulbous. The green-house (g), though small, yet being sup-
plied by the small forcing-stove (v) and the reserve-pit (w), would make a
fine display throughout the year; and, if it were thought desirable, there
might be a vault under each of these pits for growing mushrooms, and
forcing sea-kale, tart rhubarb, or chicory. The arabesque beds (o), and the
small circular and triangular beds which accompany them, will contain a
very fine display of half hardy annuals during summer, and masses of cro-
cuses, snowdrops, tulips, and other bulbs, in spring. In short, this garden,
of an acre and three quarters, under the management of a master fond of
gardening, and with the assistance of a single labourer, might contain almost
every thing that is desirable in a suburban garden. The general appearance
of the house, veranda, walls, and walks, is shown in the isometrical view,
fig. 62. -
201. Expense and management.—Such a house as we have shown need not
cost more than 750l.; and 250l. more will lay out and plant the garden,
including the erection of the two pits. As so considerable a portion of the
surface is under grass, the cost of yearly management will be much less than
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 133
if the whole, or even the greater part, were under the spade. The grassy
surface, from o to the small fruit-garden (t), occupies three quarters of an
acre; the house, walks, and other buildings, fully one quarter of an acre;

134 THE WILLA GARI) ENER,
leaving three quarters for flowers, fruits, and vegetables. This space might
either be cultivated by the master, with the assistance of a labourer and a
mowing-machine ; or by a head gardener, with a labourer, or the occasional
assistance of the house servant. In the case of this villa, however, as in
most others, very little can be said with certainty as to the expense of manage-
ment, unless the style in which the garden is to be kept be given as one of
the data on which the calculation is to be made. High keeping may always
be set down at double the expense of ordinary keeping.
202. Remarks,—This residence, it is thought—would—suit—a-eitizen—with-a-
large family of children, or with a number of sisters, or grown-up daughters;
as it would contain a fine display of flowers, and also abundant space for
amusement on the lawn, on which a tent might be placed during summer. If
the occupier were his own head-gardener, he would find something to do every
day in the year. Instead of ornamental trees on the lawn, there might be
fruit trees. The walls might also be planted.
Design XIV. To lay out and plant the garden of a double suburban villa,
in Porchester Terrace, Bayswater. -- *
203. General arrangement.—In the ground plan, fig. 63. the entrances to the
two houses are on opposite sides, on the same principle as in fig. 43. in p. 104;
but here, the porches not being so conspicuous, and it being utterly impos-
sible to see any considerable part of both at the same moment, from any
point of view, the illusion is more complete. As this figure represents the
ground plan of a double house and garden, one of which we designed, built,
and laid out for ourselves, we shall, as a detailed illustration of the mode of
laying out and planting suburban gardens ºf this kind, describe it at some
length. The object was to build two small houses, which should appear as
one, and have some pretensions to architectural design; being, at the same
time, calculated for invalids, and, therefore, furnished with verandas extend-
ing nearly round the whole building, for taking exercise in during inclement
weather. The houses form part of a row of detached dwellings lying
parallel to Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, running north and south. Accord-
ing to the principles we have laid down, the diagonal of the square ought to
have been parallel to the road, instead of one of its sides; and we should
have placed the building in this manner: but, on stating our intentions to the
surveyor of the estate, from whom we took the ground on a ninety-nine
years' lease, he objected to it, as it did not appear probable that it would be
generally followed in the other buildings in the same row, and, therefore,
was, in his opinion, likely to disfigure the terrace.
204. Drainage, service-pipes, &c.—The Soil being a loam on a subsoil of
gravel, no under-draining was required, except the drains for the water-
closets, back-kitchen, and rain-water pipes. For these purposes, each house
has a barrel-drain, communicating with the sewer in the road. The general
surface, and all the walks in the back garden, incline from one point at
a, to another at b, where there is a drain to a small sewer in the back
lane. From the point a, to c near the steps up to the front door, the surface
of the walk and the adjoining ground is nearly level, but slightly inclining to
c; and from e to the street entrance (d) there is a gradual slope of above a
foot. There is also a very gradual slope of the general surface of the garden
(say of 3 in.), from the margin of the walk a c d, to the party wall which
forms the southern boundary of the garden; and between c and d there is
SUBURBAN RESIDENCE
63
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136 The WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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also a gradual slope (say of 6 in.) towards the pointe. In consequence of
these inclinations of the ground and walks, no rain ever stands on the sur-
face, however abundantly it may have fallen. The service water-pipes of both
houses are laid down along one side of the walks, from d to a, and are thence
conducted to main cisterns for the supply of the houses, to others jointly for
the houses and the gardens, and to other cisterns for water-closets.
205. Soil, walks, &c.—The whole of the ground, except the part on which
the house stands, was trenched 4 ft. deep; the surface soil of what was
excavated for the foundation and basement story of the house, and the
half on the surface soil of the road, being previously distributed over the
garden in such a manner as to raise the ground at the house 2 ft. higher
than the footpath in the street. Round the house the ground was kept nearly
on a level for some feet distant; after which it was made to decline
equally on every side, till at the front entrance it was higher than the gravel
of the public path by the depth of the sill of the gate; and at the back
entrance it was on a level with the path of the public lane. Before trenching,
the ground was also limed, and thickly coated over with the best London
stable dung. The lime was introduced, not only for the sake of adding cal-
careous matter to the earth, but for forming a comparatively insoluble
compound with the dung, in order to prevent it from being all employed by
the roots of the trees at once. By a part of it being rendered comparatively
insoluble, there will be, as it were, a reserve of nourishment in the soil for
many years to come; because it is well known that time and the soil
gradually dissolve such a compound. The trenching was performed in
autumn, and in the following spring the walks were hollowed out, the edgings
firmly beaten, and planted with box, and the walks laid with gravel, and
immediately after very heavily rolled.
206. The houses.—The general appearance of this double house, as seen
from the road, is shown in fig. 64., which is a sketch taken by E. B. Lamb,
Esq., in September, 1837. The two street entrances, or gates, are shown in
the front wall, each having two small niches for the scrapers. The gates
are of open iron rods, hinged to stone, without the intervention of wood, which
always gives a temporary appearance when joined with iron-work, especially
in a door or gateway exposed to the weather on all sides. Consistency, with
reference to durability in architecture, is as much a fundamental principle,
as consistency in point of effect; and to hang an open iron gate to a wooden
door-frame is a gross violation of this principle; and one which, when it












SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. ‘x 137
occurs on the very threshold of a residence, gives but a poor example of the
taste which may be expected within. Wooden lintels to the entrance gates
of the front gardens of suburban houses are offensive on the same principle,
whether the gates are of wood or iron. An error of a different kind, very
frequently committed in street gates and railings, is that of having them too
much ornamented for the style of the house. The gates of these two houses,
and the railing on the low wall between them, are composed simply of
straight iron rods, pointed at top; and, instead of being painted of a pea-
green, as is very frequently done, they were coated over with boiling gas tar,
when first put up, and nothing has been done to them since. This preserves
a proper gradation from the front railing to the railing between the pillars of
the veranda, which is of a more ornamental description, and is painted of a
stone colour. The trees in those parts of the garden which adjoin the house
are so arranged as to make each side present quite a different aspect.
207. The ground-floor of each house consists of a porch and veranda,
terminating at one end in a water-closet (fig. 63. f.), and at the other in a
small circular conservatory with a domical roof (g), a view of the plants in
which is enjoyed equally from both verandas, as well as from both front
rooms : h is the dining-room, with a recess for the sideboard; i is the library,
with two large, and three small, recesses for bookcases; k is a grating over the
sunk area into which the back-kitchen door opens, and which communicates,
under an arch opening at l, with the ascending steps (m). The apartment (n),
which might have been divided so as to form a light closet to each house, is
appropriated to the house on the south side. The sunk floor consists of a
front and back kitchen; wine, beer, and coal cellars; pantry, store-closet, and
two other closets; and two servants’ bed-rooms. So many apartments are
obtained by making use of the space under the veranda; in which space, also,
the main water-cistern is placed, with a sink under it, and also a fixed safe.
The dust-hole, water-cistern for the garden, lumber-closet, and servants'
water-closet, for each house, are under the apartment n.
208. Out-door arrangements.—The front gardens are divided by a light
wire fence, in the centre of which is the pedestal o, surmounted by a handsome
sculptured vase of Coade's artificial stone. The back gardens are separated
by a flued wall, which, though only 10 in. thick, yet, being built with bricks
set on edge, and not having the ends of the bricks quite flush with the wall
on the north side, has a flue left in it 4 in. wide. The wall on the north side
is chiefly covered with ivy; and, consequently, the surface of its brickwork is
entirely concealed. At the lower end of the back gardens is a double shed (p);
and on the south side of the party wall was a hot-house (q), and a green-
house, or glass case (r), for green-house plants, which were trained to upright
wires, against the flued wall; one species to each wire. Over each rafter of
the hot-house was an iron rod, placed so as to be about 4 in. from the glass,
and connected with light horizontal rods for the purpose of supporting a
canvas covering during the winter nights, or in very hot weather in summer,
when shading is required. This covering, when not in use, was rolled up by
means of a pulley, on a rod which extended the whole length of the house, so
as to be completely concealed from the sight, and secure from the weather.
There were similar canvas coverings for the glass case (r): s is a double
wire trellis for training fruit shrubs, such as gooseberries, on both sides; and
in the south garden there was an additional trellis (t), placed on a dwarf wall,
138 * THE VII,I,A GARDENER.
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for ornamental shrubs. These trellises, the dwarf wall, and other arrange-
ments, will be better understood by the section fig. 65.; in which a is the
green-house, with the flued party wall behind; b b, the two paved walks
in the sunk, area; c, the strip of grass between these paved walks; d, the
shelf for alpines in pots; e e e, the double trellises; ff, the gravel walks;
g g g, raised beds for herbaceous plants; h h, borders for the arboretum and
fruticetum; i i, miscellaneous borders; and l, the southern party wall.
Between the dwarf wall under the trellis and the glass case, or green-house,
the ground was lowered, so as to form the sunk area (b c b), which was on the
same level as the floor of the back kitchen, and that of the hot-house (q in
fig. 63.). On the south side of this area there was a stone shelf (w) for
alpines in pots; on the north side, the green-house, or glass case (r), before
mentioned; and the space between had a paved walk on each side, and in the
centre a strip of grass, as already shown in the section fig. 65. In the middle
of this small grass-plot, at w, was a socket for a double clothes-post; that is,
a post having two horizontal arms at top, each of which supported a clothes-
line, which was fastened to a hook in the rafter of the hot-house at one end,
and passed over a pulley fixed to the basement of the veranda wall at the
other. When the clothes-post was not wanted, it was taken down, and laid
in a place appropriated for it, under the stone shelf u. At the hot-house end
of the grass-plot, the alpine shelf terminated in a shallow cistern for marsh
plants, and a deep cistern at v for aquatics. Near the cistern v was a sun-
dial, and at the opposite end of the grass-plot a vase, the plinth under which
formed a cover to a liquid manure tank, supplied from the water-closets.
The double shed p has a turret with a clock, in the centre of the gable facing
the houses (as shown in the section, fig. 65.), and a semicircular window in
the centre of that towards the lane, which lights the lofts of both sheds; so that,
from whichever side it is viewed, this double shed is symmetrical, and appears
as completely a single one, as the double dwelling to which it belongs appears
to be only one house. The shed belonging to the north house is fitted up as a
wash-house on the ground floor, and it has a loft over. The shed on the south
side has three floors: the middle floor, which is shown in the plan, is one step
above the level of the walks of the garden, and the ascent to it from the hot-
house was by four steps. In it there are a potting bench, a pump, a carpenter's
bench, and a wooden safe for preserving fruit, bulbous roots, or large specimens
of plants that will not lie flat between paper; and, against the walls, a small
| Wi
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SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 139
glass case for a garden library, for the use of the gardener, and shelves for
seeds, roots, tallies, &c. Beneath the potting bench are bins for different
kinds of soils, empty pots, &c. There is a wooden staircase to the floor
above, and there was a stone staircase to the floor below. The floor below
contained a fireplace for heating the hot-house and green-house, with a space
for fuel or lumber, and the remaining space was used for growing mushrooms,
or forcing rhubarb, chicory, &c. The loft floor is for mats, and for onions,
bulbs, and similar articles; with an opening to the machinery of the clock,
for winding it up; and the half of the window, before mentioned, opening to
the back lane. The smoke from the fires of both sheds came out through the
vertical openings between the columns of the turret, in order to avoid the
incongruous appearance of a chimney top over a clock; the turret being for
the purpose of supporting a vane to indicate the direction of the wind to both
houses. At a y, in the south garden, were two pits for green-house plants,
4 ft. deep, with hollow walls and hollow bottoms; and with an iron rod over
each rafter, and about 4 in. above it, for the purpose of keeping the canvas
covering necessary in winter a few inches from the glass, so as to preserve a
non-conducting vacuity between the canvas and the glass. The part of the
walls of these pits that was above ground was covered with ivy, to keep them
warm. The bed z is planted with trees and a few flowers; and the border at
1 was a trough with a brick bottom and sides, for marine and bog plants. At
& & 3 are brick pedestals, 9 in. square, and 1 ft. high, for supporting vases,
or pots of choice plants when in flower; or which might be used for seats: the
pedestal indicated at m, in the south garden, is surmounted by a statue in
Portland stone; and that at a, by a crouching Venus in Austin's composition.
At 22, in the front garden, are brick pedestals supporting vases, but which
were formerly used as stands for bee-hives covered with earthenware covers,
which were scored to imitate a straw hive; and at 3, in the back garden, was
a Polish hive, fixed against the wall. [The hot-house, green-house, cold pits,
stone shelf for alpines, &c., in the back garden, were removed in 1844, some
months after the death of Mr. Loudon, and the space filled up, and laid with
grass, to avoid the expense of keeping it up in its original state.]
Fig. 66, is an isometrical view of the house and both gardens, in which
will be observed most of the objects described, except the trellises, and
the trees and shrubs; which are omitted, to leave the ground plan more
distinct. *
209. General system of planting both gardens.—The object being to make
both gardens, as well as both houses, appear as one, whether when seen in
front or from behind, the more conspicuous ornamental and fruit-bearing
trees and shrubs chosen for both gardens were of the same kind; any tree
placed in a particular position, at the angle of the house, or adjoining the
back or front entrance, &c., or of a particular kind or form (such as the cedar
of Lebanon), in one garden, having a corresponding tree of the same kind in
the other. For this reason, also, double trellises for gooseberries, &c., were
formed in both gardens in the same situations (s s in jig. 63. p. 135.): and
even, to a certain extent, similar ornaments were introduced. At the same
time, as we intended to occupy the house and garden on the south side our-
selves, we introduced a great many subordinate trees and shrubs of rare
kinds into that garden, which were not planted in the other; and pursued a
system of management and culture which, as it will show how much may be
1 40 • THE VILLA GARDENER.
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SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. - 141
done in a small suburban garden, we shall give an account of under a distinct
head, after noticing the mode of planting common to both gardens.
210. In the front gardens of both houses, close by the entrance gate to each
garden, there are the following trees and shrubs:—a cedar of Lebanon, a
walnut, a sweet chestnut, a purple beech, a Pyrus Sörbus, a Pyrus spectá-
bilis, a Cérasus Mahāleb, a scarlet thorn, a laburnum, purple and white lilacs,
a syringa, a mountain ash, a Lycium bárbarum, a Clématis Vitālba, the com-
mon and giant ivy, and the Virginian creeper. These eighteen kinds of trees
and shrubs are in two groups, one on each side of the entrance, immediately
within it; and they form a dense mass of shade over the walk, and project
over the wall into the road. This produces a dark shade, both without and
within the entrance gates, which acts like the case of a telescope to the dis-
tant glimpse caught of the steps which ascend to the front door of each house.
If we imagine for a moment that there were no trees or shrubs immediately
within the entrance gates, the total want of shade and foreground, and, con-
sequently, of what artists call effect, would be felt in an instant by every man
of taste. Embracing the angles of the verandas near c, so as to connect both
houses with the scenery as far as the boundary walls, are two groups, the
same kinds of trees and shrubs being planted in each group; viz. a cedar of
Lebanon, Robinia viscosa, Sörbus hybrida, Cérasus Pădus, C. nigra, C. sem-
perflörens, a variegated and a common holly, a Portugal laurel, pinaster,
Prünus myrobálana, Amelánchier Botryāpium, a deciduous cypress, Phillyrea
angustifolia, Aiſcuba japónica, evergreen and variegated hollies, Symphoria
racemosa, Persian lilac, rose acacia, and Hibiscus syriacus. These form
picturesque masses, and contain a sufficient number of evergreens to look
well in the winter season; while, in spring, the myrobalan plum comes into
flower at the end of February or the beginning of March, and immediately
afterwards the amelanchier, and then the bird-cherry; next comes the Sörbus
pinnatífida, and then the Robinia viscosa. In the autumn, the purple berries
of the bird cherry, the red berries of the sorbus, and the white snow-berries
have a fine effect; as have the coral berries of the holly throughout the winter
and spring. There are two other main groups, the one to the north, and the
other to the south, of the pedestal and vase at 0, in the separation wire fence.
These, in each garden, consist of a scarlet-flowered arbutus, rhododendron,
azalea, kalmia, Cydónia (Pyrus) japónica, mezereon, Méspilus arbutifolia,
and Cytisus purpūreus and sessilifölius, the latter two being grafted standard
high. From the windows of the front rooms on the ground floor, this
lengthened group makes an excellent middle distance between the pillars of
the veranda, with the clustering foliage of the fig and the grape round the
windows of the dining-rooms of the two houses as a foreground, and the trees
and shrubs within the front fence as a distance. In winter, the fruit of the
arbutus, and the flowers of the Cydonia japónica, make a fine appearance;
and the latter shrub, which is indeed a truly valuable one, is more or less in
flower during the whole year. Immediately within the front fence, which
consists of a dwarf wall surmounted by an iron railing, is a row of variegated
hollies, of as many kinds as there are plants; between each of which, when
first planted in 1823, was a standard rose: but all these, as well as every other
holly, have been since removed, in consequence of the vigorous growth of
the hollies. Among the hollies are planted, as standards, nine thorns. Those
next the entrance gates are the scarlet, that in the centre is the Crataegus
| 42 THE WILLA GARDENER.
glandulösa, and those between it and the scarlet thorn, on each side, are, the
double-blossomed common thorn, C. tanacetifolia, and C. orientâlis (odora-
tíssima). The double-blossomed common thorn comes into leaf a week or a
fortnight before any other deciduous tree in the garden, and is profusely
covered with its rich white blossoms, which die off of a beautiful pale pink,
every year. Had it been a single-blossomed thorn of any kind, and, conse-
quently, a fruit-bearing tree, in all probability it would only have been prolific
in flowers every other year, as we have already stated, p. 63. C. glandulösa
comes first into flower, and produces every other year a profusion of scarlet
berries; though, if the blossoms were thinned out, there would be a crop of
fruit every year. C. tanacetifolia is an upright, fastigiate-growing, rather
singular-looking tree, with large yellow fruit; and C. orientälis is a low
spreading tree, with somewhat drooping branches and coral-coloured fruit.
Had the variety C. orientälis sanguinea (Arb. Brit., p. 828.) been in British
gardens at the time we planted this tree, we should have preferred it, its fruit
being of a very deep port wine colour. The scarlet thorns, which, in both
houses, are next the entrance gates, come into flower at the same time as the
Pyrus spectábilis, the laburnum, and purple and white lilacs; and, at that
season, when these groups are looked down on from the drawing-room win-
dows of both houses, they appear like gigantic nosegays. As scarlet thorns
seldom set their fruit, they generally flower profusely every year. Between
the entrance gates (d) and the points & &, in both gardens, there are, close to
the boundary wall, common hollies, planted at regular distances, and between
them pears and plums alternately as standards. The plums come early into
blossom, and form a fine contrast with the dark green of the hollies. The
pears were 20 ft. high when planted, and bore large crops of fruit for several
years, till, with the plums, the greater part of them were obliged to be cut
down, on account of their smothering the hollies and other plants. Behind
the hollies, and immediately against the wall, common laurels were planted,
and nailed against the wall so as to cover it; but plants of the giant ivy and
of the Virginian creeper being planted there at the same time, they have
since destroyed the laurels, and taken entire possession of the wall, forming a
rich mantle along the coping.
211. Between the line of hollies and the walk there are various trees and
shrubs, besides fruit-trees; including the autumn-flowering mezereon, of
which there is a large plant exactly opposite the steps which ascend to the
porch, the purple laburnum, the weeping variety of the common oak, Sörbus
vestita, Quércus palástris and Q. I'lex, I'lex opäca and I. baleárica, the
hemlock spruce, the common yew, the variegated common laurel, the scor-
pion senna, white and yellow broom, Búxus baleárica, Spártium virgātum,
Rübus pauciflórus, Laürus nóbilis, Córnus sibirica, Juníperus virginiana,
Cupréssus sempervirens, Philadélphus hirsutus, Pyrus nivālis, Rhâs élegans,
and a great many others. On the opposite side of the walk, between the
points c and d, the kinds, being in a great measure concealed from the road,
are more rare on the south side of the building than on the north side; and
include Salisbüria adiantifolia, a male plant, with the female grafted on it;
Diospyros Lötus, a very handsome tree, of which there sia portrait in our
Arboretum Britannicum ; Maclüra aurantiaca, Magnúlia purpūrea, Ben-
thämia fragifera, Mahônia répens, Paeonia Moûtan, Théa viridis, Illicium
floridanum, Caméllia japónica, Latirus nôbilis, and several standard roses.
SUBURBAN HESIDENCES. 1 4 3
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212. In the curvilinear triangles & & & of each garden are, a cedar of Leba-
mon, Siberian crab, Córylus Colárna, a quince, a berberry, a filbert, laurus-
tinus, rhododendrons, Córnus más, Juníperus suécica, and various others.
In the triangular spot in the south garden, between 3, m, and the trellis (t),
are, a weeping birch, sweet briar, Halimodéndron argénteum, grafted stan-
dard high, the common single-blossomed furze, Cydónia japónica, Euénymus
europaeus, Syringa rothomagénsis, Rhododéndron mäximum, Rúscus aculeatus,
R. hypophyllum, &c. This piece of ground is left in a comparatively wild
state, to contrast more forcibly with the dressed ground beyond. It is worthy
of remark here, that one of the most ornamental shrubs on this piece of lawn
in the north garden is the common Rösa canina of the hedges. It has thrown
out shoots 15 ft. in length, which bend over the party wall, and in other direc-
tions, in the most graceful manner. It continues flowering the greater part
of the summer; and in autumn and winter the branches are borne down by
the weight of the scarlet hips. The laurustinus, some standard Noisette
roses, Cydónia japónica, and the double-blossomed furze, on this lawn, are
also very ornamental.
213. Against the veranda on the side of both houses next the road, there is
at each angle a giant ivy; next, Crataegus Pyracántha and Magnolia grandi-
flóra ; and, round the dome, Lonícera flexuosa, Técoma capreolāta, Magnúlia
cordàta, Rösa Boursatilti, Ayrshire rose, Wistăria sinénsis, and Cydónia japó-
nica; and, in the centre, a claret grape, on account of its purple foliage in
autumn. On one side of the wire fence, near the dome, is a double-blossomed
furze, and on the other a Ribes sanguíneum; and, in front of the kitchen
window (the semicircular sunk area before which is shown in the plan), are
Winca major and minor, and Yácca gloriésa. Against the veranda on the
south side of the house are planted Escallónia rúbra, Lonícera grâta ; Mag-
nólia acuminata, M. conspícua, and M. grandiflóra ; Rösa moschâta, Passi-
flóra caerûlea, Wistăria sinénsis and frutéscens; China roses, budded on Rösa
arvénsis, Cydónia japónica, Jasminum officinăle, Kérria japónica, and the
double-flowered pomegranate. Against the veranda on the north side of the
building are honeysuckles of different kinds, Virginian creeper, and ivy; and
against the east side are honeysuckles, ivy, figs, and vines. The veranda all
round the building is roofed with glass, and under it, on the south-west and
east sides, are trained on upright iron rods, placed 8 in. apart, figs, which
grow luxuriantly and produce abundant crops of fruit, and grapes; the
stems of all these being conducted through the area under the paved floor
of the veranda, to the ground outside of it. -
214. Bowes for flowers.-Between the pillars, immediately within the
panels of open iron-work, are placed narrow boxes, the exact length of each
opening, which are filled with small pots of plants in flower, changed through-
out the year as they go out of bloºm. In autumn and winter, these are
chiefly Russian violets, protected from frost by having a mat thrown over
them; and, in spring, forced hyacinths, which make a brilliant display. At
the bottom of the back wall of the veranda, a collection of chrysanthemums
are placed when in flower, and their stems being tied to the rods which sup-
port the vines, they flower beautifully in the month of October and November,
remaining in mild seasons till Christmas. We mention this for the sake of
showing that a veranda of this kind is capable of affording a great deal of
floricultural enjoyment. Under the veranda on the north side of the building
144 THE WILLA GARDENER.
no plants are trained, the occupier preferring to be without them. The con-
servatory (g) is planted with different varieties of Caméllia, and the piers
with Eriobótrya japónica, Lonícera flexuosa and japónica, Wistăria sinénsis,
Passiflóra caerûlea, and vines: the latter are the royal muscadine, the muscat
of Zante, muscat of Alexandria, Money's West's St. Peter's, and the black
Hamburg. These vines are trained round the inside of the glass dome, and
produce a good crop yearly. The door shown in the back part of the veranda
has the panes of looking-glass; and, before the camellias grew large, it
reflected them, as seen from the front garden, and from the road, in a very
striking manner.
215. Grass-plot in the front garden.—We have now completed the planting
of the front gardens; and all that remains is, to state that the surface of the
soil among these plants, composing much the larger half of both gardens, was
next sown down with grass seeds, in order to be kept in turf; the cropping of
the grass among the stems of the shrubs being done by hedge-shears. As a
finish to the turfed part of the gardens, and also as a definitive line of demar-
cation between it and the dug part, the dwarf pedestals and vases at & & were
introduced. These vases also harmonise with the vases which form the
crowning termination to the pillars of the veranda.
216. The planting common to the back gardens of both houses will not
require many details. In each of the two small angles between the back
entrance and the shed, a walnut tree is planted, which, having been 20 ft.
high in 1823, soon overshadowed, not only the entrance, but even the roof of
the shed. There are also common ivy, Virginian creeper, a China rose, and
Lycium bárbarum planted in these angles, from which they are trained over
the shed and the boundary wall, mantling over and greatly enriching both
from the lane. The other trees immediately within the eastern boundary wall
are pears, a golden-pippin apple, and a mulberry. The pears are the Chau-
montelle, glout morceau, Duchesse d’Angoulême, Marie-Louise, and beurré
Spence. On the west side of the north shed a giant ivy and a vine are
trained; and on the south side of the south shed Lonícera japónica and
Cydónia japónica. The fragrance of Lonícera japónica (the Lonícera
flexuosa of most nurseries) is so great, when in flower, that, when coming
home from London late in the evenings, when the wind has been in the west,
we have felt its sweetness at the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile. The
wall of the north garden which faces the south is planted with peaches and
nectarines, and the east wall with apricots. Down the centre of the spaces
enclosed by the trellises e e, a row of standard apple-trees was planted,
chiefly the Hawthornden and other early-bearing sorts, as it was intended to
take them away as soon as they produced too much shade on the ground
below. The north side of the party wall of the south garden was planted
with cherries and plums, and with standard pear-trees, at regular distances,
so as to produce shade in the summer time on the walk, and to admit the
sun's rays during winter. Ivy, honeysuckle of different sorts, and climbing
roses, were subsequently planted against this wall; but the ivy has now taken
entire possession of it, and forms a mantling covering to the coping from one end
of it to another. The eastern boundary wall of the south garden is planted with
Chimonánthus fragrans, Magnúlia Soulangedna, Jasminum revolutum, and
Rösa Boursatilti, and other roses. In the centre is a plant of ivy, which is
trained with a single stem as high as the coping, on the top of which, under a
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 145
chevaux-de-frise, it spreads both ways, and forms a fine mantling canopy.
The footpath in the lane being formed over an old, deep, dry ditch, by filling
it in with the soil of an old grubbed up hedgerow, it occurred to us, when
building the wall, that it would form an excellent place for the root of a vine.
We accordingly had a small hole left in the wall, about a foot under the sur-
face, and, in due time, thrust through it a strong three-years-old cutting of the
black Hamburg, 4 ft. in length, which has since grown with extraordinary
vigour, mounting to the tops of the pear-trees, and producing abundance of
fruit, which, in fine seasons, is coloured (though not ripened), and which
gives the whole the character of Italian scenery, admirably in keeping with the
veranda round the house.
217. The edgings to the walks of both back gardens are of box. That of the
front gardens, from d to &, was originally of turf; but the grass not growing
well, in consequence of the crowded state and greatly increased size of the
shrubs, we found it advisable, some years afterwards, to substitute an edging
of brick, laid flatwise, without mortar, alternately header and stretcher; and
which, joining in with the turf on each side, soon became covered with
weather stains, and now forms altogether an admirable edging for this
description of garden : it may be considered a kind of architectural string-
course or band, which, expanded into a parallelogram or square basement,
as at a or &, forms an excellent foundation for erecting a pedestal for a statue
or a vase. It also harmonises with the band of brick laid on edge which
forms an apparent basement round the veranda. In 1849, twenty-six years
after these gardens were laid out and planted, that on the south side still pre-
served much of its original character; though nearly a third of the trees and
shrubs originally planted had died, or had been cut down for want of space.
In the north garden only a few trees were left, and the greater part of the
ground was covered with grass.
§ 4.—Culture of Suburban Gardens.
218. Plants grown in suburban gardens labour under many serious dis-
advantages inseparable from their situation, and the evil effects of which can
only be guarded against by extraordinary care in their cultivation. The
soil in which they grow is frequently hard and cold, from bad drainage and
constant saturation with water: they are deprived of a proper quantity of light
and air, and the pores of their leaves are choked up by constant depositions
from the smoky atmosphere by which they are surrounded. Thus circum-
stanced, it is almost impossible to keep flowering plants in a healthy state
without constant care and attention; and even care and attention will be
useless unless accompanied by a knowledge of the wants of the plants, and of
the right manner of supplying them. It will therefore be necessary to say a
few words on the food of plants, and the organs through which it is absorbed,
in order to know how to supply that food properly, and how to keep the
organs which are to absorb it in a proper condition.
219. Plants take the greater part of their food, which must be either in a
gaseous or liquid state, partly through the spongioles of their roots, and partly
through the pores in their leaves; and consequently, it is of the greatest
importance not only to keep these organs, which are of the most delicate con-
struction, in a condition to exercise their functions properly; but to take care
that they come in contact with the food required by them. The food of
L
146 THE WILLA GARDENER.
plants consists of carbon, (which is found partly in the ground, and partly in
the air,) oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, which are absorbed by plants partly
from the air, and partly from the water with which they are supplied; and
numerous mineral or earthy substances, which are produced from the ground,
but which must be dissolved in water, or reduced to the state of gas, before
they can be absorbed by the plant. Although it is clear that the principal
organs through which plants take their food are the roots and the leaves,
there is no doubt that some portion of it is absorbed by the green part of
the stem and branches. The leaves are also useful in assimilating or
digesting food; and they act as organs of respiration and perspiration, by
throwing off superfluous air and water. It is quite evident that these various
functions cannot be performed properly if the surface of the leaf is loaded
with soot, or dust, or any other substance which chokes up the pores; and
consequently syringing the leaves is one of the most important points of
culture in a suburban garden. The roots only take up food through what
are called their spongioles, from their resemblance to little sponges. These
spongioles consist entirely of cellular tissue and mucus; and, as they are
unprotected by any epidermis or skin, they are easily rotted if exposed to too
much moisture; and, on the other hand, if they are kept too dry they lose
their power of expanding and contracting to receive moisture, and to send it
up through the other vessels of the plant.
220. Manures should be used with caution in suburban gardens, as the
plants are seldom in a state to digest properly those which are of a very strong
nature. Animal manure to plants is like animal food to human beings, and
requires a healthy frame to assimilate it. Vegetable mould, formed of rotten
leaves mixed with sand; and carbonate of ammonia, mixed with water, will
be found the best manures for delicate plants growing in a confined situation.
221.-The soil in suburban gardens is very often in a very bad state for
growing plants. This is most generally the effect of want of drainage; and
as most suburban gardens are over watered, the water which cannot escape
chills the soil, and, in some cases, rots the roots of the plants. It is true that
the latter evil is only seldom felt; but the coldness of the soil is a fact of
every day occurrence, though comparatively few persons are aware of its
existence. “Drained land,” says Dr. Lindley, “is, in summer 10° or 20°
warmer than water-logged land.” The reason “consists in the well-known
fact that heat cannot be transmitted downwards through water.” Thus, neither
the heat of the sun nor the warm rain can penetrate to the roots of plants in
ill-drained land; even boiling water poured on the surface would have no
effect in warming soil on which cold stagnant water naturally stands. Air
also cannot reach the roots of plants grown in soil of this nature; and, as Dr.
Lindley observes, it is as important to permit the access of air to the roots as
to the leaves: “both extremities of plants feed on air, the roots more than the
leaves. Place a plant in a place where air can gain no access to its leaves
and they fall off, to be followed by the decay of the stem : roots, under the
same circumstances, will gradually shrink and die.”—(Gard. Chron., 1849,
p. 35.)
222. The principal conditions, therefore, necessary to the health of plants in
suburban gardens are, to keep the soil open and friable, so as to admit freely
of the passage of minute particles of air and water to the roots of plants; to
syringe the leaves of the plants as frequently as possible, so as to keep them
SUBURBAN RESIDENCES, 147
clear from all impurities; and not to overwater the roots. Where rose trees
are grown, it is a great point to keep them clear of aphides; and the best mode
of doing this is to make a little brush of pieces of bast mat, tied together,
and fixed on a bit of stick. This brush is much softer, and less likely to
injure the delicate texture of the young shoots, than a brush made of hair
or bristles.
223. It is necessary that the food of plants should be in a state of minute
subdivision when it is presented to the spongioles of the roots; and it is also
necessary that these delicate organs should not be plentifully supplied with
food, unless the leaves are kept in a healthy state, so as to digest it properly.
Thus, if the roots are supplied with abundance of water, manure, and air, and
no water is given to the leaves, which are suffered to remain laden with soot
or dust, the spongioles, acting mechanically, will take up more food than the
plant can digest; and its vessels becoming choked up, “the usual circula-
tion of the fluids will be impeded, and it is not surprising that the plant
should droop, that its flowers should not expand, or that its fruit should
shrivel or drop off prematurely, and that in the end it should die; as in fact it
may be said to expire of apoplexy, brought on by indigestion.”—(Gardening
for Ladies, 1st edit., p. 27.)
224. The want of light is another disadvantage which attends suburban
gardens. Light is essential to plants to produce the chemical changes which
ought to take place in their leaves; and suburban gardens, from their small
size, and the height of the surrounding houses, have frequently their largest
portion in the shade during the greater part of the day. Light is particularly
necessary to the production of flowers, and to the ripening of fruit; and hence
suburban gardeners find it very difficult to grow showy flowers, and to ripen
fine fruits. -
225. Selection of plants for a suburban garden.—It is generally necessary,
before planting a suburban garden, to decide whether it will be better to plant
trees or flowers; or, in other words, whether the garden shall be shady or
showy, as it is very difficult to manage to combine the two. In general, a shady
suburban garden is thought most agreeable, as green leaves and shade form
a delightful contrast to the hot dusty road; and an appearance of gaiety in
flowers can be obtained by placing a few calceolarias, verbenas, petunias,
and pelargoniums (which have been grown in pots, and brought into flower
in a green-house), here and there as taste may dictate. These plants may be
procured in full flower during the months of May and June, in London and
its neighbourhood, at about 4s. for a dozen plants, and, during the remainder
of the summer, for about 3s. a dozen. The same kinds of plants, without pots,
may be had at a still cheaper rate, and are very useful for bedding out; that is,
for planting in the open air.
The deciduous trees, not having ornamental flowers, that will thrive in a
suburban garden, are:
The walnut. The wych elm.
The black walnut. The weeping elm.
The fig. The oriental plane.
The weeping ash. Various kinds of poplars.
The tree willow. To these may be added, Ailántus glandu-
The weeping willow. losa, and Sophora japémica, with the
The elm. weeping variety of the latter.
148
THE WILLA GARDENER.
The flowering trees are:
The horse chestnut.
The robinia, or false acacia.
The laburnum, and its varieties.
The hawthorn, and some of its varieties.
The double-blossomed peach.
The almond, and, in some places, Magnolia
grandiflora.
The hardy climbing shrubs are:
The Wistăria, or Glycine siménsis; the com-
mon jasmine; the Virginian creeper; Clé-
matis montana, with some other kinds of
clematis; Periploca graeca : the common
passion-flower; Menispérmum canadénse;
Aristolochia Sipho.
The evergreens are not numerous, as they will not bear the smoke so well
as trees which lose their leaves in winter.
firs become stunted and shabby in a town garden.
All the American pines and
The Scotch pine does not
attain half its usual size, and its foliage looks black and withered. The spruce
fir and the cedar of Lebanon lose their lower branches, and a great portion
of their leaves. The principal evergreens that will bear the smoke are:—
The yew.
The red cedar.
Alatérnus.
The arbor Vitae.
The box, and
The holly; of which last there are numerous
varieties. The Deodar cedar, Pinus Larício,
and Pinus excelsa, will also grow in town
The best deciduous shrubs are:
The lilac.
The garden syringa.
The Althaea frütex.
The red-blossomed currant (Ribes sangui-
neum).
The sumach (Rhtis Côtinus, and typhina).
Cydonia, or Pyrus japonica.
Pavia macrostachya.
The mezereon, pink, dark-red, and white-
flowered.
Snowy mespilus (Amelánchier canadénsis).
The best evergreen shrubs are:
The laurel; the privet; the Portugal laurel;
and sometimes the laurustinus; the ar-
Herbaceous plants.
The following list comprises most of the
common perennials which will bear the
Smoke:
DWARF PLANTS.
Alyssum saxâtile (yellow flowers).
Aſrabis montana, white, and Some other
kinds.
Aubrietia, purple.
Hepatica, pink, blue, and white.
Campánula pumila, white and blue.
C. gargánica, and some other kinds.
gardens. The pyracantha, or evergreen
thorn, is an excellent plant to train against
a wall, from the great profusion of its
white blossoms, and its red berries, which
hang on all the winter.
Ivy, the common, the giant, the palmate,
the golden-leaved, and the silver-leaved,
are all valuable.
Roses of various kinds; observing that the
hybrid China and Bourbon roses will bear
the Smoke better than the common cab-
bage, or Provence, or than the yellow
roses. The cluster, the tea-scented of
various kinds (particularly Rösa ruga), and
the perpetual roses (especially Lee's per-
petual, or the Rose du Roi), will grow as
well in London as in the country. Of the
moss-roses, the crested-moss is the best.
butus; the broom ; the double-blossomed
furze, and the alaternus.
Scilla sibirica, and other kinds.
Hyacinths of various kinds.
Christmas rose (Helléborus niger).
TALI, PLANTS.
Aconitum (monk's-hood and wolf's-bane) of
various kinds. A. autumnale is a new
species, which flowers in autumn.
Aquilegia (columbine) of various kinds.
Adonis vernalis (yellow).
Agrostémma coronaria (the rose campion).
Antirrhinum majus tricolor (variegated
SUBURBAN
1 49
RESIDENCES.
Snap-dragon), and various other kinds of
Snap-dragon.
Anchusa itálica (blue bugloss).
A'ster Améllus, and other kinds of Michael-
mas daisy and China aster.
Baptisia tinctoria.
Various kinds of tall campanulas.
Catanánche caerulea.
Coreopsis verticillata and C. lanceolata.
Delphinium grandiflorum and Barlowii (blue
larkspurs).
Diánthus latifolius, and some other kinds of
pinks and carnations.
Dictámnus Fraxinella.
Fritillaria imperialis (crown imperial).
Gêum coccineum major.
Gladiolus commiumis (corn flag).
Hedysarum (French honeysuckle).
Heliánthus decapétalus (perennial sun-
flower).
Lilium candidum (white lily).
— aurántium (orange lily).
Mártagon, and several other kinds.
Lupinus polyphyllus (dark purple, lilac, and
white).
Lupinus nootkaténsis.
CEnothèra speciosa and macrocárpa (evening
primrose).
Ornithégalum umbellatum (white star of
Bethlehem).
O'robus variegatus.
Paeonies of various kinds.
Papaver orientale, and P. bracteatum (scar-
let poppies).
Pentstèmon gentianoïdes.
atropurpureus.
Phlox, various tall kinds.
Polemonium grácile.
Potentilla atrosanguinea.
nepalénsis.
Rantinculus aconitifolius (fair maid of
France).
acris fl. pl. (bachelor's buttons).
Rudbéckia hirta.
Spiraea Filipéndula.
Státice latifolia.
Tróllius europaeus (globe flower).
Verónica multifida.
Hops are climbing perennials, very useful in
town gardens.
Biennials.
Hollyhocks. Campánula pyramidalis.
Stocks. Sweet William, various kinds.
Canterbury bells (Campánula Mèdium).
Annuals.--Most of the common kinds require more space, more free air,
and more sunshine than are to be found generally in town gardens.
The
Californian annuals, however, and some other kinds, may be sown in autumn
to flower in early spring.
The following is a list of annuals, principally
from California and South America, which may be treated in this manner:
Nemëphila insignis, blue.
N. atomaria, white.
N. discoidalis, blackish with a white margin.
N. maculata, white with purple spots.
Eschscholtzia Califórnica, yellow.
E. cröcea, Orange.
E. compácta, yellow.
Clärkia pulchélla, lilac.
C. p. flore àlbo, white.
C. elegans, red.
Gília tricolor, lilac, blackish, and white.
G. bicolor, lilac and white.
Collinsia bicolor, lilac and white.
Ileptosiphon, several species, blue and white
and pink.
Callićpsis tinctoria, and varieties.
Málope trifida.
Wiscaria oculata.
Sweet peas, convolvuluses of different kinds,
and the common masturtium (Tropae'olum
majus) are hardy annual climbing plants.
Climbing half-hardy annuals.
Tropae'olum peregrinum(Canary-birdflower).
Coboe'a scándens
Lophospérmum scándens, and varieties.
Maurándya Barclayana.
Rhodochiton volubile.
To these may be added, Thumbérgia alāta, Ipomoea rúbro-caerûlea, and
several other showy plants, which require a hot-bed to raise them, but which
will grow and flower freely in the open air during the summer. Eccremo-
cárpus scaber may be raised from seed, and will flower the first year, but if
protected from frost, it will live several years. *
150 THE VILIA GARDENER.
§ 5. Renovation of Suburban Gardens.
226.—Renovating suburban gardens.—Whoever does not build or take
possession of a new house, so as to have the garden to lay out himself, will,
on changing his residence, probably find that the garden of his new abode
requires renovating. To ascertain how far this is necessary, he has only to
test every part of his garden by the principles and rules for laying out and
planting which we have already laid down; and we shall therefore confine
our remarks here to directing his attention to those points in which an old
garden will generally be found defective. -
227. The soil in old suburban gardens has frequently a sodden, black, soft
appearance, and the fruit-trees are barren, cankered, and covered with moss.
This is the combined effect of bad drainage, over-watering, and over-manur-
ing. Over-watering is a common fault in town gardens; and it is particu-
larly injurious in the neighbourhood of London, where the soil is generally
clayey and badly drained, and where the soil is frequently loaded with stable
manure. Most persons imagine that manure and water are all that are
wanted to make a garden fertile; and, if the fruit-trees do not bear, and
the flowers and vegetables do not thrive, manure and water are considered to
form an universal panacea. Now, the fact is, that so far from this being the
case, most small gardens have been manured and watered a great deal too
much ; and in many, the surface soil, instead of consisting of a rich friable
mould, only presents a soft black slimy substance, totally unfit for the pur-
poses of vegetation, and into which the manure is changed, from being satu-
rated with stagnant water. “No appearance is more common in the gardens
of street houses than this, from these gardens being originally ill-drained, and
yet continually watered; and from their possessors loading them with manure,
in the hope of rendering them fertile.”—(Gard, for Ladies, first edit. p. 26.)
The obvious remedy for a case of this kind, is to trench the ground so deeply
as to bury the surface soil, and to supply its place with the subsoil, or to
mix the surface soil with lime or sand; but no remedy will be permanently
efficacious if the drainage is defective. “Why is land improved by good
drainage?” asks Dr. Lindley. “Many believe the whole advantage consists
in removing water: but water is not in itself an evil; on the contrary, it is the
food of plants, and its absence is attended with fatal results. It is the excess
of water which injures plants, just as an excess of food injures animals; with
this difference, that animals can refuse what is hurtful to them, while plants
have no choice, but must take into their system whatever is in contact with
the spongioles of their roots. The latter therefore are more readily gorged
than the former. But undrained land is not merely wet; it is water-logged.
All the interstices between the particles of earth being filled with water, air
is necessarily absent, except that small quantity which is dissolved in the
water. In this way plants are deprived of the most essential part of their
food : but when the water is removed, air takes its place, and holds in suspen-
sion as much water as the roots can thrive upon ; for it is not water in a fluid
state that plants prefer; it is when it has assumed the state of vapour that
they feed upon it best; so that the removal of water permits air and air-
borne vapour, the best of all food for roots, to take its place.”—(Gard.
Chron. for 1849, p. 35.)
228. The underground drainage, in a garden which has been in cultivation
RENOVATION OF SUBURBAN GARD ENS. 151
for twenty years, will frequently be found more or less choked up; the indi-
cations of which are dampness and moss on certain parts of the walks, where
the surface is lowest; the sodden, black, soft appearance in the soil, already
described; and mossiness and canker in the fruit-trees When the drainage
is defective, there is no remedy but digging out the drains, or forming others
in their stead, in the same or in preferable directions, and with fresh mate-
rials. The surface drainage, also, will often be found defective, from the
ground, when the garden was first formed, having settled unequally; and this
evil having been aggravated during a series of years. In cases of this kind,
the hollow places formed by the sinking of the soil will hold water in pools
after every heavy shower; where the walk has sunk, the gravel will have
become blackened or muddy on the surface, and the box or other plant
edging will look pale and sickly. There is no remedy for this but relevelling
the surface; which implies taking up the gravel of the walk and its edgings,
as well as such of the trees, shrubs, and plants as may grow in the hollow
spaces; and, after raising the whole with fresh earth and gravel, to replace
the plants. The sewerage, or drain, from the house to the public drain or
sewer, and also the means of conveying water to the house, whether by pipes
from a public company, or a well or tank, should be examined. The well
will most probably require cleaning, and, possibly, its sides may want to be
taken down and rebuilt. The same remark will apply to tanks.
229. The boundary walls, or fences, of the garden, of whatever kind these
may be, can hardly fail to require some repairs. If they are brick walls, on
which trees have been trained for many years, the bricks will be full of nail-
holes, and their joints will be found open from the falling out of the mortar.
The common mode of remedying this evil is to repoint the wall; that is, to fill
up the interstices between the bricks with fresh mortar, replacing any greatly
damaged bricks with new ones: but, as this is attended with considerable
expense, a cheaper and more effectual mode is to brush over the entire wall
with a mixture of Roman cement and water, as thick as it can be laid on with
a brush. The wall having been previously brushed over with water to clear
it from any loose materials, the mixture should be instantly applied; and it
should be used as soon as made, or it will set in the vessel it was made in. If
one coating of this liquid cement be not sufficient to fill up the holes, a second
may be given, after the first has been two or three days laid on; or even a
third, if necessary to render the surface of the wall tolerably even. An old
dilapidated brick wall, in the Horticultural Society's Garden, was treated in
this manner upwards of twelve years ago, and has ever since been almost as
good as new. The coping of walls should be examined and rendered water-
tight; otherwise, the water will be liable to get into the heart of the wall, and
rot it. For the repair of copings, cement is admirably adapted; and, even if
the coping should require to be entirely renewed, plates of artificial stone,
formed of cement, will, in many situations, be found cheaper and better than
any other. When a wall is in a bad state, and it is not considered desirable
to bestow much expense in repairing it, the cheapest mode that we know of
for keeping it standing for a great many years is, to plant ivy at its base, and
allow it to run up; in which case the ivy will not only protect the sides of
the wall, but will form a mantled coping to its top. When the boundary
fence is of wood, it should be examined, to ascertain whether the parts are
rotten “between wind and water” (that is, at the surface of the soil), which
*
152 THE VILLA GARDENER,
is very frequently the case while the upper part of the fence is fresh and
strong. In this case, the posts should either be entirely renewed, or the
cheaper mode adopted of inserting fresh posts close to the rotten ones, of such
a length as to reach two or three feet above the surface. By nailing these
short new posts to the sound part of the old posts, the fence may be kept up
during another lease. A full-grown hedge, with gaps in it, is one of the
worst fences to repair; because young hedge-plants will never thrive among
old ones. The only mode, in this case, is to intertwine the adjoining
branches, and to insert stakes for retaining these in their position. The
hedge will often be found too broad at top; in consequence of which, the
light and air are too much excluded from the bottom, which becomes naked;
and here the only remedy is to cut in the sides of the hedge, so as to reduce
the width at top; when, after two or three years, it will become equally
thick from the ground upwards. …'"
230. The walks, whether of gravel or pavement, will hardly fail requiring to
be taken up and replaced or renewed; and, as the underground drains are
generally along the sides of the walks, both may be renovated at the same
time. The edgings to the walks, if of box, will probably be overgrown; in
which case they will require to be taken up and replaced by young plants
from a nursery, unless the occupier be content to take up the old box, and
plant it in rows in the interior of the garden, in the manner called by
gardeners laying in, leaving only an inch or two of the plant above the
surface, in which state it will commonly throw out fresh roots from the side
shoots, and, in a year, be fit to plant out along the walks as edgings. Some
gardeners plant old box at once as edgings, where it is finally to remain,
burying the plants to within 2 in. of the ends of the shoots; but as, from the
length of the old overgrown box, it becomes necessary in this case to bend
the plants in planting them, and, consequently, many of them are broken,
and thus are liable to die during the summer, it is better to make certain of
plants that will live, by rooting the box first in nursery lines, as recom-
mended above. In almost every case of renovation, of whatever material
the edgings to the walks may have been made, whether grass, thrift, straw-
berries, brick, tile, slate, or stone, they will require to be taken up and
replaced, if not renewed.
231. The turf, if there be any, if it does not require the surface on which
it grows to be relevelled, may be renewed by digging it down, forming and
consolidating the surface by raking and rolling, and afterwards sowing grass
seeds; or, if expense be not an object, fresh turf may be procured from an
old pasture. In many cases, however, all the renovation that will be required
for turf will be the filling up of the inequalities of the surface with fine soil,
rolling the whole firmly, and sowing grass seeds in the bare places after
the first shower; then slightly raking it, and again rolling it after it becomes
dry.
232. The most important consideration, however, with reference to reno-
vating suburban gardens, is the state of the trees and shrubs. In almost
all suburban gardens of twenty years' standing, this will be found to be most
wretched. The ornamental shrubs will commonly be found to consist only
of the coarser-growing kinds, which have remained and become vigorous,
after having choked up and destroyed the weaker and more delicate kinds;
and the ornamental trees will be found too large, overshading everything,
RENOVATION OF SUBURBAN GARDEN.S. 153
and rendering the ground damp and unproductive, and the atmosphere
unhealthy. The fruit trees will generally be cankered, and producing little
or no fruit; and the little which they do produce will have a bad flavour.
The fruit shrubs, such as the gooseberry, the currant, and the raspberry, will
be found overgrown, and crowded together for want of pruning and thinning.
The only effectual remedy for these evils is, to root out the whole of the
ligneous plants, and to introduce young healthy plants in their stead. There
need be the less regret at doing this, because the kinds of fruit trees and
shrubs, and of ornamental trees and shrubs, that were planted in suburban
gardens twenty years ago, were very inferior to those which may now be
purchased in the nurseries. There is another reason why it will almost
always become necessary to root out the fruit trees in an old garden; which
is, that their roots will, in most cases, be found too deeply buried in the soil.
The main cause of this is, that they have been planted too deep at first; that
is, the soil having been trenched perhaps 2 or 3 feet deep, previously to
planting, the trees have been planted just as deep as they would have been
on solid ground; in consequence of which, and of the watering and treading
down the soil to the roots at the time of planting, the collar of the tree is, the
very first year, 2 or 3 inches below the surface; and every year afterwards,
from the additions made to the soil by manure, and from its swelling up in
consequence of the pulverisation it receives by culture, the root of the tree
becomes still more and more deeply buried, till, at the end of 20 years, the
collar is perhaps 6 or 8 inches deeper in the soil than it ought to be. This
burying of the collar is the grand cause of the unfruitfulness of fruit trees in
small gardens; and, indeed, it is not too much to say in all gardens whatever;
and this deep burying of the roots is just as hurtful to a gooseberry, a currant,
or a raspberry, as it is to an apple, a pear, or a plum. In the case of flowering
trees and shrubs it is equally injurious, by preventing them from flowering.
If, therefore, old trees and shrubs of any kind are to be retained in reno-
vating the garden, they will require to be taken up, and replanted with their
collars rather above the surface than under it, so as to allow for the sinking of
the ground, and to cause the tree, even when the ground is thoroughly
settled, to have the appearance of growing out of a small mound. If we
examine thriving trees in a
state of nature, we shall always ſ
find that the collar (that is, the `/
point of junction between the 68
stem and the root) rises above
the general surface, as shown
in fig. 67. On the other hand,
if we examine trees that have been planted by man in
deeply trenched soils, we shall generally find that, though planted at first as
shown in fig. 68., they will, after a certain number of years, have sunk, as
shown in fig. 69.; or, if care has been taken to keep the ground about them
level by adding fresh
soil as it sinks, they will
appear, as in fig. 70.,
with their collars com-
pletely buried, and their
trunks rising out of the


154 THE WILLA GARDENER,
soil like a post driven into
it by art, instead of spring-
ing from a woody base
formed by the roots, like
trees and shrubs in an in-
digenous state, as shown
in fig. 71. " In replanting,
either with trees already in the garden, and taken up in order to have their
roots raised higher, or with young trees, they ought always to be planted on
little hills, more or less in the manner shown in
fig. 72.; so as ultimately to settle down into
flattened protuberances, as in fig. 67. It may
be asked how the ground is to be cropped close
to the roots of trees so treated; to which we
answer, that we have already shown in pp. 76.,
77., the utter impossibility of fruit trees planted
in dug ground bearing well, unless an undug space be kept all around them.
There is not a single point in the whole culture of trees and shrubs that is of
equal importance to that of keeping the collar of the trunk above the surface;
and there is not one which is more generally either neglected, or by some
means or other counteracted, not only in small, but in large gardens.
233. Where it is proposed to retain the ornamental shrubs or trees already
existing in an old suburban garden, they will very generally require to be
taken up and replanted, no less than the fruit trees, unless they should be so
large as to be of a timber-like size; in which case, as in a very small suburban
garden they will be disproportionate to every thing about them, they ought
to be rooted up entirely. The only remedy for trees which have been too
deeply planted, besides taking them up and replanting them, is removing the
earth which covers their roots, as deep as the lower part of the collar; but, as
this would very much disfigure any garden, whether large or small, it is a
remedy which we cannot recommend any one to resort to. In the case of
the smaller shrubs, whether fruit-bearing or ornamental, such as gooseberries,
currants, roses, &c., there need never be the slightest hesitation in rooting up
such as have been too deeply planted, throwing them away, and replacing
them with young plants from the nurseries.
234. It may sometimes happen, where the soil is poor and shallow, and the
subsoil gravel, rock, or chalk, that fruit or ornamental trees or shrubs may be
suffering for want of nourishment, and may, from this cause, exhibit canker
or mossiness on their branches. In this case, the obvious remedy is to supply
mourishment, which should be done, not by digging dung into the soil, but
by top-dressing it with thoroughly rotten horse or cow dung, or with a com-
position of soil and some other animal or mixed manure. Where such trees
stand in dug ground, the manure may be slightly forked in ; but where they
stand on turf, spreading it on the surface in autumn, and allowing it to
remain there during winter, will be sufficient. Renovating fruit trees by
top-dressing the surface has the double advantage of rendering them more
productive of fruit, and of making that fruit of higher flavour. Even when
trees have been too deeply planted, if their collars are laid bare, and the
surface soil removed for 2 or 3 feet all round, to within 2 or 3 inches of the
main roots, and afterwalds the surface top-dressed, from the trunk as far as


RENOVATION OF SUBURBAN GARDENS. 155
the roots are supposed to extend, the evils of deep planting will be mitigated,
it being understood that the surface is never to be afterwards dug. The
fibrous roots are, by this treatment, tempted to come up to the surface in
search of the nourishment afforded by the manure; and, whenever the greater
number of the roots of a tree are near the surface, from the greater warmth
in summer, and the influence of the air, it is certain to blossom and bear
well, and, without being over-luxuriant, to be in a thriving state.
235. The only remaining subject connected with the renovation of suburban
gardens, is that of insects and other vermin.—Where these have not been kept
down by vigilant attention, the soil, owing to the state of closeness and
dampness in which small gardens usually are kept, will be found teeming
with snails, slugs, and worms; and the shoots of the trees with the eggs of
moths and other insects. In winter, the snails and slugs will be found col-
lected, for shelter and protection, under evergreens, among stones, or any
similar materials that afford them .shelter, and in the crevices of walls, &c.
The most effectual mode, when they are in large quantities, is, to collect
them by hand, and then destroy them; and, when they are less numerous, to
water every part of the garden thoroughly and repeatedly with clear lime
water, which, when it comes in contact with their bodies, effectually destroys
snails, slugs, and worms. The eggs of insects attached to the trees should
be rubbed off with a hard brush, and then collected by hand; and, early in
spring, the progress of any that remain should be watched, and tobacco-water,
lime-water, or soapsuds (which operate in the same manner as lime-water,
but are longer retained on the plant, in consequence of the greasy medium
in which the alkali is enveloped), should be applied as soon as the insects are
hatched.
236. In general, we may observe that, though there may be some advantage
in taking possession of a large garden, which has been planted for some years,
on account of the fruit-trees being in a bearing state, and the ornamental
trees being of a sufficient size to produce considerable effect, there is none
whatever in occupying an old suburban garden. With all such, the best
mode will generally be found to be, to root up all the trees and shrubs, and
renovate the garden by improving the soil, &c., laying out afresh, and
replanting entirely. -
§ 6.—The Garden Tools required in a Suburban Garden.
237. A garden engine is of the greatest use in a suburban garden, as it
affords the greatest facility for watering the leaves of plants, with the least
possible trouble; and where this cannot be obtained, a syringe is indispensa-
ble. Two or three watering-pots will also be required, and at least one
should have a very fine rose.
238. The principal implements required will be a spade, a small iron rake,
a small fork, and a hoe; a trowel, and a sécateur or pruning shears. A pair
of steps, a large pair of scissors, and a hammer for driving nails into the wall
in training, will also be useful; and a small mowing machine may be added,
if expense be not an object.
156 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
CHAPTER II.
C O U N T R Y W I L L A S.
239. Country villas, even of the smallest size, differ from suburban villas,
in not being regulated in the situation of the house by any street or road.
Hitherto, we have been limited, by the necessity of keeping the front of the
house in a line with the fronts of other houses; and by the right-lined boun-
dary 6f the garden, as well as by its comparatively limited extent; but now
we are released from these trammels, unless we except some cases where
a plot of ground of a few acres in extent, may be bordered by straight lines,
which is no great disadvantage in this comparatively large space, and more
especially where the ground has an irregular surface. We shall, therefore,
in these designs, be enabled to introduce greater variety, as well as a greater
number of objects, in each design. If to irregularity of outline, and the
extent of a few acres, irregularity of surface be added, and the choice left
as to the situation of the house, all the leading desiderata necessary to
make a fine place are present; and, whether such a place be produced or not,
will, all other circumstances (such as climate, soil, water, &c.) being favour-
able, depend on the taste of the designer, and the liberality of his employer
in regard to the sum to be laid out. -
S E CT I O N I.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON COUNTRY WILL AS.
240. The most important point of difference between a suburban and a country
villa, is undoubtedly the circumstance of the latter never forming part of a
street or road: but there are several other distinctive marks of difference. In
giving designs for suburban gardens, we have supposed, in almost every
case, that the surface is flat, and the space limited; and, consequently, that
... the beauties to be produced must necessarily be included within the enclosure.
In some cases, indeed, we have suggested that adjoining trees, and other
objects might be admitted to view ; and, in others, that unsightly objects
might be excluded by trees; but, as there is in general, very little scope for
exercising this kind of art in laying out street gardens, we have hitherto not
said much on the subject. In the gardens of which we are now about to
treat, however, and especially such as have an uneven surface, the exterior
landscape necessarily forms a constant object of attention, in laying out the
surface of the area within the boundary. Without a nice attention to the
adjoining grounds, and the manner in which they are planted, built on, or laid
out; and adapting the foregrounds and middle distances to them, as the case
may require; the effect produced will not be entitled to be considered as
landscape, in the artistical sense of that word.
241. What constitutes an artistical landscape.—It may be necessary to
COUNTRY WILLAS, 157
remind the general reader that by a landscape, in the sense in which it is under-
stood by artists, is meant a scene, verdant, architectural, or aquatic, which
can be seen by the eye looking horizontally and directly in front, without
moving the head; which consists of strongly marked parts, within a few feet
or yards of the eye, forming what is called the foreground; which contains a
number of parts in the horizon, sufficiently distant to appear greatly dimi-
nished in size, which is called the distance; and which is completed by an
intermediate portion of scenery, neither so indistinct as the distance, nor so
large and bold, nor so much in detail, as the foreground, which is called the
middle distance. Such landscapes admit of infinite variety: 1. as to the
extent of the space within which the three component parts of them, viz. the
foreground, middle distance, and third distance, are contained; and, 2. as to
the nature, number, and magnitude of the objects which form each of these
component parts. One property, however, is common to every landscape that
is satisfactory to the eye; viz. that it is composed of parts or distances, and
that these are not less than three. The principle on which this is founded is,
that no landscape can please that does not form a whole; and that three are
the smallest number of parts in any object by which a whole can be produced,
In addition to constituting a whole, a landscape may be expressive of different
other kinds of beauty: it may be gay or gloomy, simple or intricate, and so
on ; and though the landscape-gardener may not always have it in his power
to confer much expression of this kind, yet he is always able to form a whole,
and, if he does not do this, he is without excuse.
242. The distant scenery should always be considered in laying out a country
villa. Having endeavoured to give the general reader a clear idea of what
constitutes an artistical landscape, our next object is to impress on his mind
the proposition, that in every well laid out place there will be a considerable
number of views, consisting of at least three distances; all more or less strik-
ing or captivating, and all more or less forcing themselves on the attention of
the spectator. These views are to be obtained from the windows of the prin-
cipal rooms of the house, from the walks of the pleasure-grounds, or from
seats placed in different parts of them. If, in moving along the walks, one
part of the scenery be found just as interesting as another, and mone capable
of attracting much attention, then the artist has failed in his attempt to create
a series of landscapes. It does not follow from this that he has not created
beauties of another kind; for there may be handsome beds of flowers, elegant
sculpturesque objects, and fine specimens of trees and shrubs: but these
beauties belong to floriculture, architectural decoration, and arboriculture,
and not to landscape-gardening. Neither does it follow that every step in a
pleasure-ground ought to produce a new and striking landscape, though this
is practicable under very favourable circumstances; and we shall show, from
a garden of less than an acre in extent, how upwards of a score of striking
landscapes may be produced in almost immediate succession. Nor is it
necessary that every landscape should have its third distance beyond the
limits of the area under the control of the landscape-gardener: on the con-
trary, this distance may always be obtained within the grounds when it cannot
be found beyond them ; though the views, under such circumstances, will be
confined rather than grand. It is principally to effect this sort of pleasing,
gardeiresque, or picturesque views, that sculptural and architectural objects
are introduced into gardens.
158 THE WILLA GARDENER.
243. The house.—In proceeding to lay out the grounds of a country
residence, the first point that requires to be determined is, the situation of the
house and domestic offices; the latter including the kitchen-court and the
stable-court. We have already said so much on the advantages of a situation
for the house so far elevated as to be commanding, and on a soil so dry, and
a surface so open, as to be healthy, that we shall not enlarge further upon
these subjects here; but the site of the house, relatively to the public road
and the boundary fence, remains to be considered. Where there are offensive
objects in or near the boundary, there is a motive for placing the house at a
distance from it; but, where this is not the case, the house may be set down
on the spot containing the best views, provided that spot allows of properly
placing and disposing of the offices and kitchen-garden. Where it is intended
that the establishment shall be small, there will often be found great conve-
nience in placing the house near the public road and main entrance, in order
to lessen the labour of servants in attending the gates. On the other hand,
in the case of complete establishments, a situation at some distance from the
public road has the advantage of concentrating the business of the establish-
ment, and thus bringing all the servants more immediately under the eye
and control of the master and mistress. Where it is desired to make a place
look larger than it is, an advantage is gained by placing the house at a great
distance from the entrance-lodge ; because the approach road is thus
lengthened, and the impression on the stranger, in regard to the extent of
the place, is heightened in proportion to the length of space which he has to
travel over between the entrance-lodge and the front door of the mansion.
This idea of extent is greatly increased when the approach road separates into
two branches at a short distance within the entrance-gates, and where one
road is devoted to going to the mansion, and the other to returning from it;
provided, however, that the one road is not seen from the other.
244. The offices.—It is almost needless to observe that the kitchen-court
should always be immediately connected with the mansion; and that in some
cases, as in small houses, the kitchen and other offices should be, in a great
measure, under the principal floor of the house. The drying-ground is most
conveniently placed between the kitchen-court and the stable-court; and
between the latter and the drying-ground is a suitable situation for a poultry-
yard, which, in our opinion, is an essential addition to every kind of
residence which contains an acre or two of land; and, also, for the cow-house
and piggery, where only one or two cows are kept, and no more pigs than
are necessary to eat up the refuse. The stable offices should be as near as
possible to the kitchen offices, in order that the servants employed in them
may be within hearing of the bells by which they are called; that as little
time as possible should be lost after ordering a carriage, till it appears at the
door; and that the master may inspect his horses, carriages, and dogs, with
little trouble, during severe weather.
245. The extent of the accommodation of the house and offices will vary with
the style of expenditure of the family; and the style of architecture will
depend on the taste of the proprietor; and, therefore, neither require to be
here enlarged on. In order that access may be readily obtained to both the
kitchen and stable offices by servants and tradesmen, without crossing before
the entrance-front of the house, these offices should always be placed on that
side of the house which is next the entrance-lodge.
COUNTRY WILLAS. 1.59
246. The kitchen-garden should be near the stable offices, for the supply of
manure; and so placed, that it may be at no great distance from the house,
for the convenience of daily bringing to the kitchen the vegetables which it
produces. It is also desirable to have the kitchen-garden so situated that
ready access may be had to it by the master and mistress; because, in all
small places, it is a part of the out-door establishment which is more frequently
visited by the family than any other; being always interesting from the
variety of operations carrying on in it, and the constant succession of pro-
ductions in which the mistress of the family, more particularly, takes a
daily interest. If the kitchen-garden be placed near the offices, it will
necessarily be situated between the house and the entrance-lodge; and, con-
sequently, be readily accessible to carts bringing manure, or soils, or other
materials for the garden, from a distance, and also to the visits of neighbour-
ing gardeners. In many small places, it is, for this reason, convenient to
have the kitchen-garden near that part of the boundary which lies along the
public road, in order to have a carriage entrance directly from the latter.
This is also very frequently the case with the stable offices, in order to admit
of bringing in hay, straw, corn, &c., without carting these along the approach-
road to the mansion. Where, however, the house is placed at a distance from the
public road, this can neither be the case with the kitchen garden nor the
stable offices; for, in residences of limited extent, nothing will compensate
for having these essential parts of an establishment at a distance from the
centre, to which they are to contribute their quota of comfort and enjoyment.
The kitchen-garden should consist of a wall for the growth of the finer hardy
fruits, which wall is generally made to surround the enclosure; borders,
protected by the wall, or by hedges or temporary screens, for growing early
crops; open compartments, unencumbered by standard trees, for the culture
of the main crops of culinary vegetables; a reserve-ground, or nursery, for
bringing forward plants in their young state, till they are fit to transplant
where they are finally to remain, as well as for keeping a stock to supply
blanks occasioned by accidental deaths; and a forcing-ground. The borders,
and the compartments of the main garden, are generally laid out in the form
of a parallelogram or square, and enclosed by a wall with a border on the
outside, in order that fruit trees may be trained on that side of the wall, as
well as on the inside. The reserve-garden and forcing-ground are usually
included in a small square or parallelogram; at one end, or on one side, of
the large square, and in or near this small square, is generally placed the
gardener's house. The forcing-houses may consist of pits of different dimen-
sions, heated by flues or hot water; of wooden frames, placed on open brick-
work, and heated by outside linings of dung, tan, or leaves; and of walled
pits, not heated by artificial means, but simply protected by a covering of
glass. Forcing-houses, in the general sense in which that expression is under-
stood, may now be altogether dispensed with in moderate-sized gardens; and
thus the great expense both of their original construction, and annual repairs
of glass, &c., may be avoided. A forcing-house, such as was constructed
thirty or forty years ago, consists of a glass roof, more or less lofty, and
placed against a high wall; a glass front, and glass ends; with the interior
laid out with at least one walk, which is generally paved; or with a raised
bed in the centre, surrounded by parapet walls, flues, and a paved walk. A
pit, on the other hand, such as is now built in the best forcing-grounds,
160 THE WILLA GARDENER.
whether large or small, has the side and end walls of masonry; the back
wall seldom above 7 or 8 feet high; no part glass but the roof, and commonly
with only one narrow walk at the back. The saving, both in original con-
struction and in future repairs, is obvious; and every good gardener knows
that in such houses the forcing is not only conducted with less labour and
expense, but in general produces better results, than in large houses.
247. The conservatory and flower-garden.—The conservatory has been
already treated of, as an appendage to the mansion, in pp. 54. to 57, inclu-
sive, and several designs for conservatories and other kinds of plant-houses
will be given in an after part of this work. To be truly enjoyed as a luxury,
it ought to be connected with the house, and entered from one or more of the
principal living rooms. The flower-garden ought to be near the conservatory,
in order that it may be at all times reached from the house in a few minutes,
and also that it may, by its richness and high keeping, add to the appearance
of art and refinement in the immediate vicinity of the mansion. Conserva-
tories may either be of glass on all sides, and connected with the mansion by
one end; or they may be placed lengthwise against the mansion, or against
a wall projected from it, or against the offices; in either of which cases, only
the front and the roof need to be of glass. The latter kind of conservatories, or
green-houses, are always heated and managed at less expense in the winter
season, than those which are of glass on all sides; and the plants in all con-
servatories always look well in an inverse proportion to the artificial heat
required. The main reason why a conservatory with glass only on one side
requires so much less artificial heat in the winter time is, that the glazed side
is generally contrived so as to front the south; and, while this and the glass
roof admit all the rays that the sun gives at that season, the thick wall on
the north side protects the conservatory from the cold north winds. A very
convenient arrangement, where the aspect is suitable, is, to place the con-
servatory against the exterior wall of the buildings of the kitchen-court; and,
between this and the kitchen-garden, to form a flued conservative wall against
the drying-ground, poultry-yard, and stables, and to continue it on, either in
straight or in curved lines, or in a combination of these, as far as the wall of
the kitchen-garden. The flower-garden might, in this case, be placed in
some part of the lawn in front of the conservative wall, that is to say, the
general flower-garden; because, where there is a great attachment to plants,
and the place consists of two or three acres, there may be an American gar-
den, an ericetum, an alpine garden, a marsh garden, an aquarium, &c.
(which may all be considered as belonging to the class of flower-gardens), in
various parts of the grounds.
248. The drainage of the house and offices, and of the entire place, may
next be taken into consideration. In the country, in general, there are no
public sewers, as there are near large towns; but, nevertheless, there are road-
side, or field, ditches, and natural brooks, which receive the surface water
produced by the rains on the given tract of country; and into these all drains,
whether for drying the soil, or carrying off the waste water from the dwelling-
house and offices, must be made to empty themselves. In general, there
ought to be one main drain from the house, through the centre of the courts
of offices, to a large liquid manure tank; or, what is preferable, there may
be two tanks, that the one may be filling while the other is being emptied.
If the manure produced in these tanks be properly valued, and, consequently,
COUNTRY WILLAS, 16.1
carried away as it is duly fermented, there will seldom be any overflow; but
nevertheless, to provide against the possibility of this occurring, there ought
to be a drain from the tanks continued to the boundary of the property, and
thence into the nearest ditch or brook. This drain, between its origin at the
house and the manure tanks, ought to have all the communications with it
furnished with proper traps, to prevent the rising of smells; and, where it
communicates with the tanks, and also at its commencement and at its exit
into the public drain, there ought to be either cast-iron gratings, or water
traps, to exclude rats.
249. Traps to prevent smells are made of cast iron, and they are generally
from 6 in. to 1 ft. square on the upper surface, according to the quantity of
water that is supposed likely to pass through them. The construction and
action of such a trap will readily be un-
derstood by the section, fig. 73.; in which
a is the grated covering to the basin of
the trap, and y the funnel through which
the water escapes to the drain. Water
falling into this trap through the cover
(a) escapes by the funnel (y); but the
bell-shaped cover placed over this funnel,
by dipping into the water all round it,
prevents the escape of air upwards. In
order that such a trap may be protected
from the effects of frost, it is convenient to have it sunk 1 ft. or 1 ft. 6 in. in
the ground, and covered with an ordinary cast-iron grating, on a level with
the surrounding surface. The funnel may communicate with the drain,
either through the top or sides. As the basin of the trap will be liable, after
being a certain time in use, to become filled up with sand or other earthy
matters, the grated cover to which the bell is attached is not fixed to the
basin, but may be lifted out at pleasure, to admit of emptying the latter.
250. A water-trap, for the purpose of preventing the progress of rats along
a drain, is formed by sinking a pit in the Aºy
bottom of the drain, say 1 ft. 6 in. or 2 ft. 74
deep, and suspending a piece of flagstone *~<> E---
across it, from within half an inch of the
cover of the drain, to within 6 in. of its
bottom; the flagstone being built into
the sides of the drain and pit. This a
construction will readily be understood
by the vertical section, fig. 74., and the
horizontal section, fig. 75. In these L-
sections, a a represent the line of direc- T=
tion of the drain; b the flagstone which
forms the dip or trap; and c the flag-
stone which serves as a cover, and which admits of being taken off without
disturbing the dip-stone, in order to clear
#
=
out the well, or pit, of the trap. The - * §§
action of such a trap is sufficiently sººn
=====; d.
obvious. No animal can pass it without * *ś
diving under the dip-stone; and this, it º *NS
M









162 THE VILLA GARDENER,
is ascertained from experience, rats will not do, unless where the water is
clear, and both sides of the trap are fully exposed to the day, in which case
they will dive under the dip-stone and ascend on the other side, though the
stone should descend several feet into the pit. It should be observed, that
only a small space of about half an inch is left between the dip-stone and the
cover; this space is essential, in order to admit the passage of air; for
though the water would escape without it, yet it would be at a much lower
raté. It may be useful to observe here, that all underground drains from
offices, or from any part of an estate, which are intended to carry away night
soil, or any earthy matter, ought to have a certain slope or inclination; with
the bottom of the drain not flat, but concave, and generally so much so as
to form the section of a semicircle. A semicircular bottom, and a slope of
13 in. in 10 ft., it has been ascertained by builders, will enable any drain,
with a tolerable supply of water, to carry off all the nightsoil suspended in it;
but, where there are sand or small gravel, pieces of bones, broken crockery,
and other matters of that description, to be carried away, the slope requires
to be at least 3 in. in 10 ft,
251. If the subsoil of the property be dry, very few drains in the grounds,
for the purpose of drying the soil, will be required; but, if the soil be loamy,
or on a retentive bottom, every part of it will require under-draining. The
kitchen-garden must be more thoroughly drained than the general surface,
which is to be laid down under grass, or planted with trees, because the
excellence of culinary produce depends chiefly on the culture of the soil; and
an extra attention to drainage must be paid in the flower-garden, and in all
those parts of the lawn (especially such as are near the gravel-walks) which
are liable to be much walked on in autumn or spring. Whether the subsoil
be naturally dry or wet, every walk and road, whether in the kitchen-garden,
the flower-garden, the pleasure-ground, or forming the approach roads to the
mansion, and the branches to the offices, will require to be drained, for the
sake of absorbing as completely as possible the water that falls on them during
heavy rains, or is produced by the thawing of snow. For this purpose, a
drain should be conducted along one side of the walk, under the gravel in the
kitchen-garden, and either under the gravel, or under the turf, in the pleasure-
grounds; and to this drain small grated openings should be made, at regular
distances, along one side of the walk. Where the walks in the pleasure-
ground are of great length, branch drains require to be introduced at certain
distances in the lowest situations, in order to conduct the water collected in
the drains along the walks to the nearest public drain. The drains along the
walks should be what are called box or barrel drains; the former having a
7 bottom and square sides, with a flagstone cover, 77
6 as in fig. 76. ; and the latter being a circular
cylinder of brickwork, a section of which is
k--- shown in fig. 77. Small iron or stone gratings
H on the surface communicate with the drains
| | by short upright shafts, 9 in. square in the 2%
- clear within; and, in the bottom of the drain,
immediately under each shaft, a pit is formed, and walled on the sides,
a foot square within, and from 1 ft. to 2 ft. or more in depth, as in the
section fig. 78. The use of this pit is to receive the sand that is carried
through the grating with the water, immediately after very heavy showers in
COUNTRY WILLAS. 163
summer; and thus to prevent the sand from
being carried along the drain, and in a few
years choking it up. Once a year, the
grating at top is taken off, and the deposit
of sand taken out with a spade having a
kneed blade; and by this means not only
may the drains be kept quite clear and
effective for many years, but much smaller
and less expensive drains may be made at
first. Where the subsoil is sandy, gravelly,
or rocky, and where it is not considered
essential to use the walks immediately after
rain, drains of the box or barrel kind may be dispensed with, and common
rubble drains formed by filling up a trench with round stones, to within a
few inches of the surface, as in fig. 79., and terminating
it by a somewhat coarser portion of the common gravel
used in forming the walk, through which the water
will percolate, throughout the whole length of the
drain. In flower-gardens, and indeed in extensive
shrubberies, brick traps of the kind described above
may be dispensed with, and the bell-trap represented
in fig. 73., or some other trap of the kind, may be
made use of; but, in this case, these traps must be
cleaned out after every shower of rain.
252. Drainage map.–In all extensive establishments, and even in small
ones, where the drainage is in any degree intricate, it is desirable to have a
map exclusively devoted to the under-drains, which should be accurately laid
down on it, and accompanied by sections and dimensions, taken in different
parts of the course of the drains, and projected on the plan alongside of the
points where they were taken. Every successive addition and alteration should
be introduced in the plan when made, and accompanied by the date. The
use of such a plan is twofold: 1. to show the precise situation of the drains
already existing, when any new drain is to be made; and, 2., as a guide when
any drain becomes stopped up, and the point of stoppage is uncertain. By
penetrating into the suspected drains at different distances, though only with
a boring auger, or even in some cases with a crowbar, an immense deal of
labour may be saved in detecting the seat of the evil; especially in cases
where the principal servants have been changed since the drains were last
opened.
253. The pleasure-grounds, in places of only two or three acres in extent,
may generally be considered as including the whole of the grounds, with the
exception of the space occupied by the house and offices, and by the kitchen-
garden. The number and the direction of the walks through this space will
depend on various circumstances, but chiefly on the taste of the family for
flowers and shrubs, and the annual expense which they are willing to incur
in keeping the grounds in order. In general, the walks should be so far apart,
or so hidden or disguised by undulations of the surface or by planting, that
more than one walk shall never be seen at a time. In irregular surfaces,
therefore, it is obvious that the walks may be much more numerous than in
such as are even or flat; and, in surfaces richly varied by groups of trees or


M 2
164 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
shrubs, the walks may be closer together than where the surface is chiefly in
naked glades of lawn. The cheapest-kept pleasure-ground is, generally, that
in which there are fewest walks, and broadest glades of lawn ; while the most
expensive are those where the surface is full of inequalities, the groups of trees
and shrubs numerous, and the glades of lawn narrow. In general, in proportion
as the surface of the ground is varied, so will be the beauty produced in any
given space; more pictorial effect being found in one acre of undulations, than
in three of level surface, the art and skill displayed being in both cases alike.
254. The direction of the walks should never appear to be forced, or to con-
sist of bends made obviously for the sake of rendering the walk longer, or of
avoiding a straight line. The direction may be straight or curvilinear, accord-
ing as the one or the other may be required on account of the objects at which
the walks are to touch; or apparently occasioned by obstructions on the
ground, either natural or artificial. In curvilinear walks, no bend should ever
be made that has not an obvious cause in the disposition of the flower-beds, or
of the groups of trees and shrubs placed along its margin, or in the inequalities
of the surface of the ground. Thus, if it be thought desirable to have a curved
walk, as shown in fig. 80., flowers
or shrubs should be planted, as
shown by the dotted lines, to give
an apparent reason for the curves.
Straight walks, where they are in-
troduced, should have an obvious reason visible for their being straight;
such as an accompanying wall, a row of trees at regular distances, or a
covering of trellis-work, &c. In large places, the pleasure-ground, and con-
sequently the walks belonging to it, are generally confined to grounds on
one or on two sides of the mansion; while the grounds on the opposite
side are considered in the nature of park scenery; but the grounds of coun-
try villas, such as those under discussion, are, as already observed, gene-
rally considered as consisting wholly of pleasure-ground; and, consequently,
the walks are carried through the scenery on the entrance front, as well as on
the opposite side of the house, or what is called the lawn front. The grounds
on the side next the entrance front, however, being more exposed to strangers
coming along the approach road, have generally fewer walks, and these are
accompanied by groups more frequently of trees and shrubs, than of flowers;
and by scenery, generally in a subordinate style of decoration. As the main
walk through the pleasure-grounds generally requires, on the side of the
entrance front, to cross the approach road, if the surface be much varied, or
expense be not an object, the walk may cross the approach on an archway
thrown over it, or by a tunnel carried under it: in either case, the road being
concealed from the spectator on the walk, and the walk from the spectator on
the road, by planting. The effect of this arrangement is greatly to increase
the apparent extent of the grounds; and, indeed, in places where the surface
is naturally varied, and the subsoil dry, the spectator may be led three or four
times over the whole of the grounds, while, as he every moment enters on new
scenery, he fancies he is traversing a place of three or four times its real extent.
The great art of managing this description of scenery consists in the judicious
use of tunnels, bridges, and raised surfaces in the form of wavy ridges, having
their sides clothed with evergreens, and walks along their summits, and in the
narrow winding valleys between them. Those who have never seen this kind

COUNTRY WILLAS. 1.65
of art applied to garden scenery will searcely credit how easy it is by it to
conceal one walk from another closely adjoining it; and what a magical effect
may be produced in a very small space by this kind of landscape gardening.
255. On varied surfaces, the general principles which we have laid down
for the direction of walks must be taken in connexion with the principle of
displaying to advantage such distant views as are considered good, and dis-
guising or concealing such as are indifferent or bad. The object is, to show
as many handsome landscapes as possible, and to conceal all disagreeable
objects. Thus, the walks which are conducted round any place should, as
already observed, p. 157., conduct to all the fine and striking points of view;
so that, while none of these escape the attention of the spectator, no inhar-
monious or offensive object obtrudes itself on his notice.
256. The breadth of pleasure-ground walks may bear some proportion to the
size of the place; though they should seldom be narrower than 6 ft., and,
except in the immediate neighbourhood of the house, should rarely be broader
than 12 ft. In general, there ought to be a main walk proceeding from the
house, and making, as it were, the tour of the place; and this walk, even in
small residences, may commence at the house in a terrace parallel to the
walks, and 10 ft. or 12 ft., or more, in breadth; and branch out to the right
and left into main walks, commencing of the width of the terrace, or nearly
so, and gradually diminishing, till they are at such a distance from the house
as not to be seen by the eye of the spectator from the terrace, where they
need not exceed the width of 6 ft. or 7 ft.; which width may be continued
throughout the remainder of their length. This is done in the grounds at
Ken Wood, views of which are given in an after part of this work; and the
effect is at once to increase the grandeur of the scenery about the house, and
to add to the apparent grandeur and length of the walks proceeding from it.
The groups of trees and shrubs, or beds which are to be dug and kept planted
with flowers, ought always to be separated from the walk by a verge or margin
of turf; which, for the convenience of mowing, and of always presenting a
healthy green surface, should not be less than 2 ft. in width. This applies to
all the open parts of the pleasure-ground scenery; but, where the walk
proceeds through dark shady woods, the trees and shrubs may be brought
close up to it; and, the ground being clothed with the branches of the latter,
their appearance will leave no room to regret the absence of turf. Even in
open pleasure-ground scenery, a tree or a shrub may sometimes be planted
close to the edge of the walk, and may occasionally project partially over it,
for the sake of variety, and in order to produce particular effects. In this
and every other case of the application of general principles and rules, such
deviations may be made as are justified by the striking nature of the results;
and it often happens that those features which principally distinguish one
place from another, are either the results of fortunate accidents, or unavoidable
deviations from ordinary rules.
257. Grass walks,—Besides gravel walks, there ought, in every case where
there is a lawn of an acre or two in extent, to be either broad margins of turf
to the main walk, running parallel to the gravel, on which persons may walk
abreast with those on the hard surface; or glades in the interior of the
scenery, so contrived as to admit of two or three persons making the tour of
the place on them, instead of doing so on the gravel. In short, it ought never
to be forgotten, that the enjoyment of walking on turf is to most persons much
greater than that of walking on gravel; and that the preference given to the
166 THE WILLA GARDENER.
latter material, for what may be called the every day walks of a place, is
owing to its firmness and dryness in moist weather, or after rain.
258. The approach road, next to the house and offices, is one of the most
important features of a place, not only on account of its uses, but because it is
that by which an impression, favourable or unfavourable, is first made on a
stranger. It is, or ought to be, a walk or road fit for horses or carriages,
from the entrance-gate of the premises, to the entrance-door of the mansion;
formed and kept in a high style of art, corresponding with that displayed in
the other component parts of the residence. It should be as different from a
turnpike-road or public lane as park scenery is from that of a common grass-
field or meadow. As it may be advisable to consider this important feature
somewhat in detail, we shall endeavour to show how a high character of art
may be conferred upon it, in its direction, in the slope or inclination of its
surface, and in its material, margin, and accompanying scenery.
259. The line of direction between the entrance-gate and the mansion, in
places laid out in the geometrical style, is in general straight, in the form of
an avenue; but in places laid out in the modern manner, and more especially
in small residences like those under consideration, it is always more or less
curvilinear. Now, in order to give these curves a character of art, they ought
to have a certain uniformity in their degree of curvature; and the number of
curves ought to be such as to give a character of regularity, or symmetry, to
the whole line of road. To have a character of art, each separate curve ought to
proceed, from its commencement to its termination, in an uniform uninterrupted
degree of curvature; as opposed to the curves of natural paths, carried across
meadows or commons, in which curves are often to be found of so undecided
a character as to present tremulous-looking lines, instead of uniform bends or
curvatures. To constitute regularity among the curves, they ought all to be
nearly of the same length; to preserve unity, they ought to be so united as
not readily to discover where the one curve begins and the other ends; and,
to constitute symmetry in the entire road, the curvatures which form one half
of it ought to be balanced by those of the other half. This may, perhaps, be
more readily explained by lines than by description. In fig. 81., the lower
ºn ..., tººl, ºn
t 81
b &
extremity of each road, indicated by double lines, is supposed to be the
entrance-gate, and its upper extremity the entrance-door of the mansion.
Supposing the space between the gate and the mansion a common grass-field,
with no interruption of trees or ditches, but with some very slight inequalities;
then the track of road which would be formed between these two points by
carts or carriages would probably be somewhat in the manner of the line a,

COUNTRY WILLAS. 167
which is not straight, and yet can scarcely be called curved. To render this
line simply artistical, each curve may be made uniform in its degree of curva-
ture, as shown at b. To produce regularity in the line of curves, they ought
to be all of the same length and curvature, as shown at c ; and this line may
be raised to a higher character, and rendered symmetrical, by forming the
two extremities of two curves of the same size, and by uniting them with
smaller curves, as at d. The proof that this last line is symmetrical is, that if
separated into halves, neither half would form a whole; whereas this would
be the case with the line c. It may be useful to remark with reference to the
first line (a), that all roads or lines formed by the traction of horses, or other
draught animals guided by man, commence, say, after a gate has been gone
through, by being inclined somewhat to the right; and terminate a little
before the next gate, or other obstruction, by being turned somewhat to the
left. This is supposed to be produced by the driver exercising his authority,
by means of the whip and reins, at the beginning and ending of a line more
than he does in the middle of it. Be that as it may, natural roads across
fields, from one gate to another, will generally be found to consist of a short
curve to the right immediately within the entrance-gate, a short turn to the
left immediately within the gate of exit, and a nearly straight or indefinite
line between the two. In ploughed fields, also, in former times, where an
absolutely straight furrow was not, as at present, considered a desideratum,
the direction of the furrow was serpentine, for the same reasons as those just
given. We state these facts here, to show that a curvilinear approach road is
quite natural; though the imitation of it by man, in laying out a place, must,
as in imitating nature artistically in other cases, not be a mere fac-simile
repetition, but a resemblance according to art. In addition to the beauties of
regularity and symmetry in the line of direction of an approach road, expres-
sion, or character, may be added. Thus, the expression of grandeur may be
given by the increased size of the curves, and the general simplicity of the
whole line (as shown at b); that of picturesque beauty, by very sudden
changes in the direction of the curves, and by the partial introduction of
irregularity; while a certain degree of elegance will be produced by gentle
curves, some of which are very much prolonged, so as to be approaching to
straight lines. The kind of artistical beauty least adapted to a curvilinear
approach road, is regularity, as shown in the line c : which consists of a repe-
tition of curves of the same form and magnitude, from one end to the other;
and which, viewed merely as a curved line, and without reference to what
might be effected by the adjoining scenery, if it were carried into execution,
must be allowed to be monotonous. The grand source of character, however,
in the line of direction of an approach road, is produced by the intervention
of objects, natural or artificiai, which set at defiance both regularity and sym-
metry, such as a rock, the base or talus of a hill, a building, a group of old trees,
a stream, a pond, or water in some other form; all of which most commonly
occasion sudden and picturesque deviations from regularity in direction.
260. The inclination of the surface of an approach road is subject to the
same general principles as its line of direction. In a common road across a
field, its surface follows every inequality in that of the pasture, and is, per-
haps, nowhere either regularly sloping or regularly level; but, in the artisti-
cal imitation of such a road, the surface will proceed in a series of regular
slopes, joined with spaces approximating to levels, on exactly the same prin-
168 THE WILLA GARDENER,
ciple as the regular curves, or nearly straight lines, constituting the line of
direction. It will be taken into account, that the general surface of the
ground over which such an approach is to be formed will have pre-
viously been rendered artistical, by the smoothing down of all minor protu-
berances, the filling up of small inequalities, and the obliteration of all minor
elevations and depressions which interfere with the regular flow of outline,
over the entire surface of the park or pleasure-grounds. The inclination of
the surface of an approach ought also to be considered with reference to the
effect which it has on the character, or expression, of the house. Every one
feels that a house which is approached by an ascending road appears a far
more dignified object, than one the road to which is level or descending. In
order to obtain ascent in the direction of the road between the entrance-lodge
and the front of the mansion, the former ought to be placed on a lower level
than the latter; and the ascent should be either regularly distributed over the
whole length of the road, or, what is preferable, it may be very gradual at
first near the entrance-lodge, and increase as it proceeds towards the mansion.
In residences of limited extent, where the approach is necessarily short, the
road can seldom, with propriety, descend from the lodge, and afterwards re-
ascend to the mansion; nevertheless, there are exceptions: such as when a
brook or lake is to be crosssed at no great distance within the lodge, to which
the road may descend, and, having crossed it, may reascend immediately
afterwards, and continue rising till it reaches the house. In approaches of
considerable extent, there may be various ascents and descents between the
entrance-lodge and the mansion, provided none of the points of ascent are as
high as the ground on which the mansion stands; because, in that case, they
would interfere with its dignity. In general, where there is great variety in
the surface of the grounds in the limited space over which the approach road
is to pass, the rises and falls in the inclination of the road will be numerous;
though care must always be taken that the last variation before arriving at
the house is one of ascent, and not of descent. On the other hand, where
the variations on the surface are very gentle or very few, and where, as in all
small places, the approach is not very long, there may be an ascent from the
entrance-gate to the front of the mansion, either regularly distributed
throughout, at the rate of so many inches of rise in a yard or pole of length,
or the rate of inclination may vary in different parts of the road. One of the
finest descriptions of approach road that we can imagine is, where a road of
several miles in extent is made to wind its way through hilly or mountainous
scenery at one uniform rate of ascent, till at last it arrives at an open level
area containing the mansion.
261. The materials of which approach roads are formed, to be artistical,
ought not to be those used in the common roads of the country: for example,
if the common roads are Macadamised with granite, then the approach road
ought to be gravel; or, if the common roads are gravelled, as in most parts of
the neighbourhood of London, then the material of the approach road ought
to be gravel of a finer kind, such as that of Kensington or Bayswater; or
the approach may be Macadamised with granite, flints, blue limestone, or
sandstone. The artistical effect of the materials, whatever they may be, of
approach roads, may be heightened by the use of a heavy roller, so as to
render them perfectly smooth and even; and by keeping them at all times
free from weeds, horse-droppings, and other offensive objects.
COUNTRY WILHAS. 169
262. The margins of an approach road, to be artistical, ought not to be
rough like those of a common road through a field; and, above all things,
they should not have footpaths running parallel to them, with a gutter
between, as in the case of public roads. The surface of the road ought to be
on a level, or nearly so, with that of the lawn or grass on each side: it
ought never to be raised above it, or to be rounded in the middle; nor ought
it to be more than one inch sunk beneath it. The reason why the gravel
ought not to be raised above the grass is, that the appearance produced gives
the idea of the gravel in the road having been carted there, and laid down on
the natural surface; whereas, when it is kept level with, or an inch beneath,
the surface, the expression is conveyed of a proper foundation, or preparation,
having been made for it. The reason why the margin ought to be one smooth,
definite, delicate line is, that such a line is gardenesque, which is more likely
to be the style employed in planting along an approach road through an open
lawn, or through the park scenery of a small place, than the picturesque. If,
however, the picturesque style of planting be employed, then the line of
demarcation between the grass and the gravel may be indefinite, broken, and
irregular, as in the case of walks with picturesque margins.
263. The scenery accompanying an approach road will, in all ordinary cases,
and especially in small places, consist chiefly of groups of trees. Shrubs are
seldom admissible along such a road, because, as its sides are generally
supposed to be pastured by sheep or cattle, the shrubs would require fences
for their protection. In planting along an approach, two objects ought to be
chiefly kept in view: to dispose of the trees in such a way as to account for
the curves of the road, and to arrange them so as to form suitable foregrounds
to the scenery beyond. Subordinate objects are, to prevent two turns of the
road from being seen at the same time; to conceal the house from the
approach road till the spectator is near enough to see it in a bold and striking
point of view; and, above all, to prevent it from being seen from the entrance-
lodge, or from the road immediately within it, as that implies a limited
extent of grounds, destroys the idea of seclusion, and shows the house without
due preparation.
264. The width of approach roads, in very small places, where only a one-
horse carriage is kept by the proprietor, need not be more than 8 ft.; because,
when two such carriages meet, each driver can draw his horse to one side, so
as to have one wheel on the turf, and may thus pass without difficulty. But
where a two-horse carriage is kept, and, indeed, in every case where the
mansion is of a respectable size, however small the grounds may be, the
approach road should not be less in width than 12 ft. Indeed, much of the
dignity and grandeur of every place depends on the walks and roads being
of a good breadth, and always being highly artistical in their material and
keeping.
265. The general surface of the ground, exclusive of what is occupied by
the buildings and the kitchen-garden, requires to be rendered artistical, either
in the geometrical style, by forming it into regular levels or slopes; or in
the modern manner, by merely polishing the surface, by reducing rough-
nesses, protuberances, and petty inequalities, so as to form it everywhere into
flowing lines, consisting of curves of various degrees of curvature and extent,
insensibly gliding into each other, or into levels or slopes. The operations of
levelling and smoothing are most conveniently performed before beginning
170 THE VILLA GARDENER.
to lay out the walks or roads, or to mark off the places for planting, or to
trench the ground.
266. Trenching.—The use of trenching ground which is afterwards to be
covered permanently with grass, or trees and shrubs, is, to enable the roots of
the grass and other plants to reach a greater depth, and thus to be more out
of the reach of drought in summer; also, to increase the capacity of the soil
for retaining water, in order to keep the grass, as well as the trees and shrubs,
green during, the warm season. By trenching also, in connexion with
manuring, draining, irrigating, &c., as already described, the growth of the
trees and shrubs, immediately after being planted, will be much more rapid,
and the final effect desired by the planter much sooner attained. It must
not be forgotten, also, that the effect will be equally astonishing on the
growth of the grass as on that of the trees and shrubs; and thus, not only a
more intense green turf will be produced, but a greater quantity of hay and
pasture for milch cows or sheep. We mention hay and pasture, because in
many places of only two or three acres in extent, and in all places of five
acres and upwards, that are not over-planted, a proportion of the lawn, or
grassy surface, may be mown for hay every year; and portions of surface,
also, may be hurdled off, for being pastured by cows or sheep. By some, no
doubt, this kind of management may be disapproved of, as interfering with
the smoothness and high polish of the lawn; but by others it will be considered
as adding greatly to the value of a country residence, and to the interest and
variety of the operations carried on in one.
267. The boundary fence to small places should, in most cases, be a wall,
as being that which is most impervious to the smaller animals. Close palings
of oak or larch, or of some other kind of wood, Kyanised, may be used; or
a wall about 3 ft. high may be built, and a hedge placed immediately within
it, and cut as it advances in growth, so as to form a continuation of the
height of the wall; which, in this case, would be sufficient to keep out vermin
at the base of the hedge, while the upper part of the fence would answer all
the other purposes of protection and defence. A deep ditch on the outside,
and a thorn hedge inside, will also form a good boundary fence; but, where
the soil is a deep sandy loam, a hedge of holly is the best of all.
268. Planting.—Trees and shrubs are distributed over the grounds of a
residence, because these objects are considered the most effective in producing
the kind of beauty which is desirable in the country. To trees and shrubs
are added flowers, as minor ornaments. The question that we are now to
consider is, the principles to be followed in the distribution of the trees and
shrubs, and of those finishing ornaments, the flowers. The two sources from
which we naturally seek instruction in this matter are, the practice of planters
and landscape-gardeners hitherto; and the mode in which trees, shrubs, and
flowers are distributed in nature. Till within the last two or three centuries,
the number of trees, shrubs, and common garden flowers, in cultivation in
any country, did not amount, in the number of kinds, to one hundredth part
of what are now common to the gardens, not only of Britain, but of the tem-
perate regions of the globe in both hemispheres. The distribution of this
small number of plants, by gardeners, was formerly as simple as their num-
ber was few. All the woods of a place were formed of two or three kinds
of trees, planted in rows or in masses, in the geometrical style, which we need
not here describe; and the flowers were placed in a compartment near the
countRy VILLAs. 171
house, walled or hedged round. The lesson, therefore, to be learned from the
geometrical style is abundantly easy.
269. Trees.—In every country, the plants which are indigenous, and found
there when it is rescued from an uncultivated state, form but a very small
number of those which will grow in it. Hence, with the progress of civilisa-
tion, an immense accesion has been made, both to the useful and ornamental
plants of every country. This, in Britain, has taken place more especially
within the last three centuries; and the mode in which the newly-introduced
plants have been distributed by landscape-gardeners, since the introduction
of the modern style of art about the beginning of the eighteenth century, is
as follows:—The different kinds of trees are distributed over the parks in
scattered groups or clumps, as single trees, or in a belt or strip forming its
boundary. The order in which the kinds are placed with reference to one
another, is considered of little importance; but, till lately, it has generally
been attempted to mix the foreign and the indigenous sorts indiscriminately
together throughout every part of the park. In more conspicuous or favour-
able situations, such as near the house, or along the approach road, some of
the more choice trees were planted singly, and protected with more care than
the others. The single trees and scattered groups, or clumps, were all
guarded from the cattle by fences; and the boundary belt, commonly by a
wall or close paling on the outside, and a hedge and ditch within. The
ground was commonly dug or trenched before planting ; and sometimes it
was dug in the clumps and belts for two or three years afterwards. After
this, the trees were left to themselves; thinning and pruning being more or
less attended to in some cases, and altogether neglected in others. In con-
sequence of the mixture of indigenous and foreign trees, and their after neg-
lect, the indigenous and more vigorous-growing trees choked up, weakened,
and ultimately destroyed the foreign kinds; so that, when the timber in such
plantations arrived at an age to be cut down, there was seldom much which
was good for anything that was not produced by the native trees of the
country. To counteract the ill effects of this indiscriminate mode of planting,
it is best to adopt some regular system of arranging trees in groups; so that
those of the same kind should stand together, and yet a diversity of effect
be produced. Mr. Glendinning has proposed a manner of doing this, which
he described in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. xi., and which is shown in
the diagrams figs. 82. to 85. In fig. 82., d is the English oak; b, the Tur-
key; c, the Lucombe; and d, the scarlet ; and in fig. 83., e is the Fulham oak;
f, the Ilex or evergreen oak; g, the variegated English; and h, the cork tree.
In this manner two clumps are formed of oak trees, so arranged as to pro-
duce a great variety of foliage, and yet to prevent the stronger kinds from
destroying the weaker ones. In the same manner pines and firs may be
planted, as shown in figs. 84. and 85., in which “i i may be the Scotch pine;
k, the larch; l, the spruce fir; m, the stone pine; n, the pinaster; o, the
silver fir; p, the Weymouth pine; and q, the Balm of Gilead fir. Where
houses are built in the midst of romantic scenery,” Mr. Glendinning con-
tinues, “by the sides of rivers or ravines, or on rocky eminences, the opposite
and surrounding scenery may sometimes be much improved, without absolutely
destroying its wild character, by the introduction and grouping of foreign as
well as native plants. Thus, in ſig. 86., oaks may be planted at r, pines or
firs at s, and the beech at t; while for low growths there may be hazel at ti,
172 THE VILLA GARDENER.

COUNTRY WILLAS.
173

174 THE WILLA GARDENER,
yellow broom at v, sloe thorns at w, scarlet thorns at w, rhododendrons at y,
white broom at 2, and the double-flowered furze at &.”
270. The shrubs, since the modern style of gardening has commenced, have
been planted in the pleasure-ground, in the same general style as the trees
were in the park; that is to say, they have been placed singly, or in groups
or clumps, over a lawn two or three acres or more in extent; and around it,
or along one or more of its sides, in strips, which were called shrubberies.
Here, as in the case of the trees, the indigenous and foreign shrubs were
mixed up together in every part of the clumps and shrubbery; and the result,
thirteen or fourteen years after planting, was similar to that which took place
in the plantations in the park; viz. the more delicate and foreign plants
were choked up and destroyed by the vigorous-growing trees; and old plea-
sure grounds, which had, perhaps, been originally planted with above a
hundred kinds of shrubs, fifty years afterwards displayed only huge over-
grown bushes, or low trees, consisting of not more than twenty or thirty
indigenous species.
271. The flowers were distributed in the front of the shrubbery, and in front
of the clumps in the pleasure-ground. Like the shrubs, they consisted of
foreign and indigenous kinds indiscriminately mixed together; and, like
them, the former were destroyed by the latter and by the shrubs. It is only
lately that beds wholly planted with flowers have been introduced on lawns;
and, though what are called flower-gardens (that is, assemblages of beds
wholly devoted to flowers) were to be met with in first-rate places during the
latter half of the eighteenth century, yet, during that period, the principal
places where they were planted were in the shrubbery or in the borders of
the kitchen-garden. With the commencement of the present century, the
practice of forming flower-gardens has increased; and, within the last twenty
years, that of forming beds exclusively devoted to flowers on grass lawns,
either in groups among the scattered shrubs, or by themselves, here and there
along the walks, has become general. The flowers planted in these flower-
gardens and beds were, till lately, mixed together indiscriminately in the
same manner as in planting the shrubs in the shrubbery, or the trees in the
clumps and belts; and, wherever the plants were not taken up and replanted
every two or three years, the same results took place, of the stronger destroy-
ing the weaker. A great improvement has been made in the planting of flower-
beds within the last twenty or thirty years. This consists in planting each bed
with only one kind of flower, by which means a brilliant display of colour is
produced; and in selecting for the flowers to be so planted those from warm
climates, such as pelargoniums and fuchsias from the Cape of Good Hope
and South America, &c., by which means a more brilliant display of colour
is produced; the plants of warm countries far excelling, in this respect, those
of colder climates. Such, in a few words, has been the practice of planters,
landscape-gardeners, and flower-gardeners, in British gardens, up to the
present time. We shall now briefly inquire into the mode in which trees,
shrubs, and flowers are distributed by nature.
272. In the natural scenery of every country, a certain number of plants
will always be found congregated together, to which the soil and local situa-
tion are favourable. The number of species in these assemblages depends
partly on the suitableness of the soil and climate for a great variety of species,
and partly on the number of species naturally inhabiting that locality. In
COUNTRY WILLAS, 175
general, the greater number of species are found in alpine countries, on the
sheltered sides of hills, where the soil is exceedingly various, and also the
temperature, in consequence of the surface of the soil being exposed to the
sun's rays at very different angles; as well as from other causes. The smallest
number will generally be found in plains where the soil is wholly alluvial, and,
perhaps, occasionally overflowed by a river; or in wastes, where the soil is
a drifting sand. Even in the most favourable situations for a considerable
number of species, that number, in a state of nature, and without the care of
man, can never be great; because the stronger species, whether these acquire
their strength from their nature, or from being placed in more favourable
circumstances than other individuals of the same species, will soon weaken or
destroy the others. Hence it is, that, in a natural forest, the number of kinds
of trees, shrubs, and other plants, present in any one place, is comparatively
few. These few will generally be found to consist of a prevailing species of
tree, with perhaps one, two, or three, in a hundred, of some other kind of tree;
a prevailing kind of shrub, with some subordinate undergrowths; and as
generally, a prevailing kind of flowering herbaceous plant, fern, grass, moss,
or even fungus or lichen. It is to be remarked of this mode in which Nature
distributes her plants, that it is much more simple, and at the same time
better calculated to be productive of variety, than the mode which we have
described as being adopted by gardeners. In consequence of one kind of
tree, shrub, plant, &c., always prevailing in one place, the aspect and interest
of that place must necessarily be different from another where the species
which prevail are different. In traversing a natural forest, with a view to
studying the different kinds of trees and shrubs produced in different localities
within it, we shall find the following causes are principally in operation :-
1. Difference in the nature of the soil and the subsoil or rocks. 2. Difference
in the capacity of the soil for retaining water. 3. Inclination of the surface,
by which the water or rains is more or less thrown off. 4. The aspect of the
surface, from which it is more or less heated, according to the direct or indi-
rect influence on it of the sun. 5. The elevation of the surface above the level
of the sea. Hence, the greatest variety of trees, shrubs, and flowers, in any
one country, will be found around the base and on the sides of its highest
mountains.
273. Improved mode of planting the pleasure grounds of country villas,
Having seen the mode of distributing trees and plants adopted by the
majority of gardeners, in the present and in former times, and their natural
distribution in this country, and in every other, it may now be asked what
mode we recommend to be adopted. To which we answer, briefly, an
improvement on the present system, with some innovations, for which a
sufficient reason will be given. Improvements in gardening, as in every
other art, can only be effected by degrees; and it rarely happens that any
individual can do more than make a slight advance before his contempo-
raries. The principles on which we propose to distribute trees, shrubs, and
flowers, in parks and pleasure-grounds, are the following:—
I. Trees and Shrubs. – Choice of Kinds.
1. We would introduce generally in every place, whether large or small, as many different
species and varieties as would thrive in it; in Small places, having no more than a single
plant of each species or variety; but, in larger ones, introducing duplicates, triplicates,
or a greater number, according to the extent of the place, but keeping each kind by itself.
176 THE WILLA GARDENIER.
2. Where the object was ornament, novelty, or variety, we would generally prefer kinds
foreign to the country, or, at all events, to the locality; but, where the object was chiefly
timber, shelter from high winds, coppice-wood, hedges, &c., we would prefer indigenous
species.
3. In places so small as not to admit of even one plant of each species and variety, we
would give the preference to foreign kinds, and would generally exclude such as are indi-
genous, except greatly improved varieties.
4. In general, even where the space would allow of the introduction of the indigenous
species, we would only plant them in Small quantities, and chiefly for the purpose of rendering
the collection of sorts complete, or for harmonising the woods of a residence among them-
selves, or with those of the adjoining residences, or for preserving artistical effect; unless,
indeed, the object were timber, or other useful products, in which case we would plant these
to the exclusion of the others, agreeably to Rule 2.
5. We would give the preference to such kinds as were likely to thrive best in the given
soil and situation.
Trees and Shrubs. – Distribution.
6. We would adopt various modes of distribution, according to the object in view, either
in the entire place, or in different parts of it.
7. In the park scenery, and in larger plantations, trees should prevail, and in the plea-
sure-grounds, and in the lawn near the house, Shrubs: because the former are more grand,
and the latter more beautiful ; and because those in the park require to resist horses, cattle,
&c., while all domestic quadrupeds are excluded from the pleasure-grounds.
8. Near the house, or in what may be considered the more select parts of the grounds, we
would make choice of the more rare and beautiful species or varieties, without reference to
the countries where they are indigenous.
9. Near the house and offices, the prevailing kinds should be evergreens; and these
should be introduced, to a greater or less extent, in almost all the plantations of the
place.
10. Marshy situations are those where evergreens are least natural ; because there are
few kinds that grow in marshes. On the other hand, most evergreens either grow naturally,
or will thrive in sand. Hence, in artificial Scenery, the presence of evergreems always implies
a dry soil and healthy situation.
11. In general, a plantation where the trees are deciduous, should have a portion of the
shrubs introduced among them evergreens; and, on the contrary, where the trees are
chiefly evergreens, a considerable portion of the undergrowth ought to be deciduous.
12. Throughout the greater part of the grounds, where any distribution might be adopted
at pleasure, we would place such together as require the same soil and situation, or are
generally found growing in the same locality in their native country, or are obviously allied
by nature. This would bring together, in some places, trees and shrubs requiring moist
soils, such as the willow, poplar, alder, &c.; in others, such as required peat or bog, or
as thrive best in these soils, as is the case with all the Ericaceae, and with most of the
American trees and shrubs: it would also bring together such natural families as the
Quércinae, the oaks all requiring good soil; and the Comíferae, as all requiring a soil com-
paratively dry and sandy.
13. While we arranged the general masses of the trees and shrubs of a place, so as to
produce broad distinctive features, we would introduce certain species throughout the greater
part of the plantations (though only sparingly), for the sake of harmonising the scenery of
the particular residence with the scenery of the residences or of the country lying round it.
The harmonising plants, in both cases, will be most effective when they are evergreens; but
there ought, also, to be some of deciduous kinds, in order to admit of uniting an evergreen
mass with an adjoining deciduous one.
14. As the species for harmonising the plantations of a residence within itself should not
be of large size, and should be such as are acknowledged to be beautiful, and also known
to general observers, in order that the harmony may be felt by all, the holly, the box, the
laurustinus, and the American thorns are very suitable for this purpose.
15. To harmonise the plantations of a residence with those of the residences around it,
the more conspicuous kinds of trees in the latter require to be introduced (though only
COUNTRY WILLAS. 177
sparingly) in the former. Thus, if in one part of the plantations of the adjoining residences,
near the boundary fence, pines should prevail; then, two or three, or more, of the same
sort of pines should be introduced within the boundary of the central residence; and farther
in the interior there may also be one or two of this species of pine. The same remarks will
apply in the case of exterior plantations of oak or other trees, or of coppice-wood; but
much of the good effect of carrying this idea into execution will depend on the taste and
judgment of the planter. º
16. In general, we would adopt the gardenesque manner of planting trees and shrubs,
especially in the pleasure-ground, and near the house; but, in more distant parts of the
ground, we might adopt the picturesque mode, for the sake of variety and of Saving labour;
and this mode might also become necessary, in Some cases, for harmonising the scenery
within with the extermal scenery.
17. On no account whatever would we introduce nurse plaº, as they are called, or common
sorts, for the sake of covering the surface, in a plantation where ornament was the principal
object in view. Such nurse plants, and common kinds put in to fill up, exhaust the Soil
by their roots; and, by the shade and shelter afforded by their tops, draw up the plants to
be nursed in such a slender, sickly state, that, when the nurses are removed, the principal
plants that remain are weak and unsightly; whereas, had they grown up without the
nurses, they would have been bushy and handsome on every side. After all that has been
experienced and written in favour of introducing nurse plants in plantations, we are very
much inclined to question whether anything is gained by it in the end. It must be recol-
lected, that, at the time when nurses were most strongly recommended by planters, the
importance of exposing as large a surface as possible of the foliage of every plant to the
Sun and air was not understood; and the circumstance that the nurses, from being the
stronger plants, must necessarily draw the greater proportion of the mourishment from the
Soil, and in that respect retard the progress of the plants to be nursed, seems to have been
overlooked. It is not denied that nurses will draw up young plants: but it is a question
whether a plantation, say of oaks, for example, drawn up according to the best practice by
nurses, and another plantation of oaks alone, not drawn up either by nurses or by One
another, would not arrive at the same height in sixty or eighty years after planting; and,
if so, there can be no doubt that the latter would be of greater bulk.
18. The gardenesque manner of planting and managing includes the application of
pruning and thinning, at all future periods of the growth of the trees and shrubs, so as to
keep each plant perfectly distinct from those around it. The picturesque manner of plant-
ing also employs thinning and pruning; but the object of these, in this style of gardening,
is less definite; being for the purpose of throwing the plantation into groups, or to increase
the growth of underwood at some places, or of tall trees at others; and for similar objects
connected with the production of picturesque beauty and shelter, shade, or timber.
19. The proportion of surface, in a park or pleasure-ground, which we would cover with
wood, will depend on the degree of variation in that surface. In flat grounds, a very small
quantity of trees and shrubs is required in proportion to the extent of turf; and the con-
trary is the case in very irregular surfaces.
II. Flowers. — Choice of Kinds.
1. As the kinds of flowers are exceedingly numerous, unless there were a decided taste
or desire for botanical knowledge, we would introduce only the more showy and vigorous-
growing sorts, increasing the number of kinds according to the size of the place.
2. Where it is intended to form a collection, every kind may be procured that will grow
in the given climate.
3. We would select some of each of the different colours, so as to have an equal number
of these colours in bloom for each of the floral months. We would also select these from as
many of the natural orders as practicable, in order to show greater variety in the forms, and
in the botanical differences of the flowers.
Flowers. — Distribution.
4. We would seldom plant flowers among trees, and large-growing shrubs; but either in
beds or groups by themselves, or with an admixture of low-growing flowering shrubs; such
as roses, hydrangeas, helianthemums, &c.
N
178 THE WILLA GARDENER,
5. Almost the only kinds of flowers that we would introduce among large-growing shrubs
are spring flowering bulbs. x.
6. In distributing beds of flowers over a residence, we would limit their range to a portion
of the pleasure-ground adjoining the house; and we would place them along the walks, in
order that they might be near the eye of the spectator.
7. Besides these scattered beds, we would form, in each place, one or more flower
gardens. *
8. In distributing the kinds in the beds, we would aim sometimes at producing splendid
masses of one colour; and, at others, of variegated masses of colours; sometimes we would
have in view a fine display for only one month, to be succeeded by some other flower for
the following month; while in other cases we would plant such a selection as should
exhibit an equal number of plants in flower every month throughout the season.
9. Flowers requiring partidºar Soils, aspects, &c., we would plant together in the same
group or bed. - z
10. Flowers characteristic of particular countries we would frequently plant together;
such as Swiss plants, Highland plants, American plants, or the characteristic flowers of the
flora of any particular country.
11. For the sake of a more brilliant display, we would introduce, in groups by themselves,
beds of exotic flowers, or flowering shrubs, requiring to be brought forward under glass, &c.;
Such as pelargoniums, fuchsias, salvias, celsias, &c.
12. Where there is a taste for botany, and a desire to possess an extensive collection of
hardy herbaceous plants, we would contrive to introduce as many species as might be
thought desirable in a botanic flower-garden, arranged either geographically, that is, each
country by itself; physically, that is, according to soil, aspect, &c., such as alpines, meadow
plants, marsh plants, or aquatics; or systematically, that is, according to some system of
botanical classification. - -
13. When the object of a bed of flowers is to present one unbroken mass of colour, we
Would plant and manage it in the picturesque manner; but, where the object is to exhibit
each plant separately and distinctly, then we would plant and manage the flower-beds
according to the gardenesque mode. - .
14. We would take up, and replant in fresh soil, all perennial flowers whatever, at the
end of one, two, or three, or at most four, years; in order to prevent the stronger from
Overpowering the weaker, and the soil of the bed from becoming exhausted by the abstrac-
tion of nourishment. -
15. Where the picturesque plan of planting the trees and shrubs is adopted, perennial
flowers and bulbs may be planted among them, on the first formation of the plantation, and
left to be choked up and destroyed as the woody plants gradually spread over the surface.
16. The proportion of space, in the pleasure-ground, which should be covered with
flowers, will depend on the taste of the proprietor. If shrubs and breadth of lawn are
preferred, or if there is a separate flower-garden, then the flower-beds need not be nume-
rous, and may consist of a few near the house; but if the taste for flowers is greater than
that for trees and shrubs, then the flower-beds may be increased accordingly.
274. Architectural ornaments.-The number of these about a place depends
on various circumstances, but chiefly on whether the pleasure-ground is plain,
or much decorated in the immediate vicinity of the mansion. If there be a
terrace-walk bordering the house, and leading to the flower-garden, the for-
mer may be enriched with statues, and the latter with vases, agreeably to
principles already laid down in the preceding pages &
of this work. The walks in the pleasure-ground
should, at all events, have seats placed in situa-
tions displaying the best views; which may be of
the most simple description, and formed of the
most common materials, as shown in fig. 82. ; or
there may be covered seats, in the form of different
descriptions of rustic buildings, constructed chiefly

COUNTRY WILLAs. 179
of wood, introduced where they would be useful as places for resting, and
desirable as objects in the landscape. (See fig. 88.) In general, garden
buildings of a purely ornamental description, should either be very few (in
which case they may be built of substantial materials, such as brick or stone);
or, if of frequent occurrence, the materials of which they are constructed
should be temporary, interest and value being given to each by its design.
Expensive garden buildings, such as classical temples, porticoes, colonnades,
&c., containing statues, busts, and sculptures of marble, can seldom be in-
dulged in in small places, and, indeed, are better adapted for the grounds of
hereditary residences. In residences liable to be sold on the death of the
proprietor, ornamental buildings, whether of the permanent or temporary
kind, add little or nothing to the price of the estate; and had Stowe, where
the garden buildings are magnificent, been sold at the death of the Earl
Temple, during whose occupation of that estate they were built, they would
have brought little more than the root-houses at the Leasowes, a contemporary
ornamental residence, did on the death of their architect and proprietor,
Shenstone. Ornamental buildings, therefore, are chiefly to be valued for the
enjoyment they afford the proprietor during his lifetime; and, unless a part
of this enjoyment consists in knowing that these buildings will descend to his
posterity, prudence dictates that they should be built so as not to occasion
great expense. In all that respects the introduction of ornamental buildings,
however, much must be left to the particular taste of the proprietor; and, as
most proprietors take pleasure in having at all times some structure, alter-
ation, or addition, going forward, this is an additional argument in favour of
structures of temporary materials, erected for picturesque effect, and as occa-
sional resting-places; or for affording shelter, and not intended to last longer
than the verdant scenery by which they are surrounded; or, in other words,
to be equally subject to change as the rest of the garden.
275. Rustic vases (as shown in fig. 89.), baskets of rustic work, boxes or

N 2
180 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
beds of flowers cased with fantastic roots, hollow stumps
of trees, rustic arcades, dead trees, and other places for
forming receptacles for low plants, or supports for climb-
ing ones, may all be introduced occasionally; care being º
taken that they are never displayed in such numbers, or ºf
of such magnitude, as to attract more attention than the
flowers to which they are meant to be subservient. To
keep within the happy medium, however, in this kind
of garden ornament, is extremely difficult; since the
proprietor, who has had them constructed under his direc-
tion one after another, is apt to lose sight of the general
effect, in the interest which each separate object has
created in his mind, and which he looks upon with the
fond indulgence of a parent; forgetting that a stranger
judges of them solely by their effects as connected with
the scenery around them.
276. Wirework, in the form of the rims and handles of
baskets, edgings, and various kinds of props for climbers,
may also be occasionally introduced; always, however,
remembering that they are to be subordinate objects to the plants which
they enclose, protect, or sustain. It is customary to paint wirework of this
description green; but, in our opinion, this colour is the very worst that
can be adopted for any kind of 90
structure or utensil to be placed
among the green of nature. A º,
stone-colour, or dull white, or X × D.
greyish black, we think greatly
preferable. Fig. 90, shows a |
mode of forming edgings to
beds in gardens. Fig. 91, shows a wirework edging of a handsome kind, and
on a larger scale.
277. The use of vases, and other garden ornaments of artificial stone, or of
earthenware, is now very fashionable in pleasure-grounds, and more especially
in flower-gardens; but this kind of ornament is very frequently overdone or
misplaced. When they are used, they should, if possible, be placed on a
pedestal corresponding to the vase, as shown in fig. 92.
278. Sculpture in gardens.—Whoever understands the phrase “unity of
expression," and can examine any scene presented to him by the test of its
being or not being, “a harmonious whole,” will be able to determine what
is right and what is wrong in the disposition of sculptural ornaments in gar-
dens. All architectural objects and statuary, being ponderous and intended
for great duration, should be placed on bases obviously secure and durable.
A vase or a statue should never be set down on grass, or on dug ground,
without a decided pedestal, resting, or appearing to rest, on a secure founda-
tion; and it should never be set on anything less obviously durable than
masonry. Where such objects form the predominating features in a scene,
they should always be connected with some kind of building, such as a para-
pet or terrace-wall, or even a stone border to a walk, a bed, or a pond; and,
in default of these, even a paved walk between a row of statues, the pedes-
tals standing on a flagstone, projected from the pavement into the adjoining


Country VILLAs. 181
91
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turf or dug ground (see fig. 93.), will tend
to preserve unity of expression. Even an
area of gravel projected from a gravel walk,
and extending an inch or two all round the
pedestal, will have a tendency to maintain
the secure architectural character which
ought always to accompany architectural
and sculptural objects. Rootwork, rustic
baskets, and other temporary objects or
structures of this kind, should seldom or
never be introduced in the same scene with
vases, statues, or other ornaments of worked
stone. A striking example of the bad effect
of mixing styles may be seen in fig. 94.,
in which a rustic summer-house, a classical
vase, and a Chinese seat are all placed to-
gether.
279. Rockwork, or a collection of frag-
ments of rock, stones, flints, vitrified bricks,
scoriae, and similar objects, to serve as a
nidus for plants, is allowable in particular
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182 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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COUNTRY WILLAS, 183
situations; but no description of garden ornament, unless, perhaps, we
except rustic work of the kind mentioned in the preceding paragraph, is more
frequently misplaced and mismanaged. Collections of stones should never
be heaped up about the roots of trees, at the base of walls, or against a
mansion, hot-houses, &c.; nor should accumulations of fragments of stone
ever be piled up on a level surface of turf, without some preparation or accom-
paniment indicating that they might have been there naturally. Two of the
most remarkable pieces of rockwork in England, are that at the Hoole, near
Chester, constructed from the designs, and under the immediate inspection, of
Lady Broughton, and that at Elvaston Castle, the seat of the Earl of Harring-
ton. There is also a rock garden at Blenheim, one at Chatsworth on a most
magnificent scale, one at Redleaf, and one in front of the magnificent botanical
conservatory at Syon. The rockwork at Redleaf, near Tunbridge (of which
views will be given in an after part of this work), is an excellent example
of the best mode of improving a country naturally rocky. At the Hoole
(a series of views of which will also be given in a subsequent part of this
work), there is a direct imitation of the glaciers of Switzerland, with a level
valley between; and on this valley the mountain scenery projects and retires,
forming a great variety of prominences, recesses, and sinuosities, aided by:
scattered fragments of rock, of different dimensions, and by shrubs and herba-
ceous plants. At Syon, no particular description of rocky scenery is imitated,
and the scene can only be described as a ridge formed by piling up huge
masses of stone, of different kinds; but the base of this ridge is so well united
with the turf, and the whole of the ridge is so disguised by trees, shrubs, and
plants, that the want of natural character scarcely ever occurs to the mind.
Where the base of the ridge joins the level ground, there are at first seen here
and there some slight protuberances of turf, each of which seems to indicate
that there is a stone below, and quite near the surface. A little farther apart,
portions of the stones seem to have burst through some of the protuberances;
and here and there the upper parts of some stones appear quite bare. Near
these, are blocks of stones raised in great part above the surface, and occa-
sionally some entirely so; and, farther on, the grouping becomes conspicuous,
and two or three stones are seen piled on one another. To groups of different
sizes, so formed, is joined the great ridge, rising to the height of upwards of
50 ft. ; and, on climbing up its sides, they are found to be varied by natural-
looking paths among the stones, and a profusion of curious little rock plants,
unseen from below. At Elvaston Castle, the rockwork is placed on the banks
of a long winding lake, and is constructed on a most magnificent scale. The
masses of rock appear scattered in a natural manner through the valley,
sometimes rising into steep precipices intersected by winding walks, which
lead the visitor easily, and almost imperceptibly, to the summit. At Blenheim
the object is to ornament rocky scars on the face of a steep bank, and conse-
quently there is no difficulty in forming ledges and niches for the plants, as
there is abundance of stone of the same kind as the bank in the vicinity.
There is nothing particular in the disposition of the stones; but the stairs
which pass obliquely through the scars, and cement them together, are very
well managed. Each part has a separate nidus, with appropriate soil; and
the stones are covered with mosses and lichens, which, by the richness of their
colouring, produce a very striking effect.
280. Position of rockwork. Rockwork or stones, so disposed as to convey
184 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
the idea that they form a part of, or protrude from below, the foundation of a
building, produce the expression of stability and propriety; but, when they
are heaped up on the surface of the ground against the walls, the idea of
incongruity is excited, by seeing that which ought to be the foundation, and
consequently under the building, piled up against it, and above the surface of
the ground. Not only are the ideas of propriety and stability thus totally
destroyed, but those of disorder and insecurity are produced. Neither, as we
have observed in a preceding page, should roots, decayed trunks, stumps, or
branches of trees, ever be mixed up with stones, on account of their obvious
incongruity in point of durability. Each of these kinds of materials ought to
be kept by itself; and thus we might have receptacles for plants formed
entirely of decayed wood in one place; in another, of fragments of rock; in
a third, of land-stones or of flints; and, in others, of vitrified bricks, of scoriae,
of pieces of hewn stone, of fragments of sculpture, of shells, of corals, of spars,
of petrifactions, &c. When there is nothing in the nature of the surface that
indicates the presence of rock or stone in the soil, and when it is determined,
at all events, to have some rockwork, one of the three following modes may
be adopted to render it natural : viz., the rockwork may be built on a level
surface; an excavation may be made to imitate an old stone quarry ; or a
walk may be carried through rocks. -
281. On a level surface, a preparation may be made, beginning at a short.
distance from where the main body of rockwork is to be placed, by sinking
some fragments of stone into the earth, so deep as to show only, their edges,
or angles, rising above the turf. As the main body is approached, these
stones may become more numerous; larger portions of them may be shown ;
and they may be connected in lines, or ridges, in such a manner as to indicate,
partly by protruding stones, and partly by raised places in the turf, something
like the “cropping out,” or rising to the surface of natural strata. A few
half-sunk stones, of different sizes, may then appear in groups, as if they had
been accidentally separated from these strata; and immediately before the
mass of rockwork, there may be some loose stones, with flat sides, piled irre-
gularly on one another, so as to form subordinate masses to the large mass.
This large or principal mass must be in imitation of some natural character
of rock; and, whatever that character may be, the manner of the preparation
for it which we have been just describing must be of the same kind. The
rock to be imitated may be stratified in various ways, as we see sandstone,
limestone, slatestone, &c., in nature; or it may be in masses, with no appear-
ance of regular strata, but with cracks and fissures, sometimes horizontal or
oblique, and at other times perpendicular; and differing both in the magni-
tude of the clefts or fissures, and also in their numbers, as we often see in
masses of granite, trapstone, &c. In short, having thrown out the idea of
imitating nature, both in the main mass of rockwork, and in the preparations
for it, that alone will be sufficient to guide the artistical gardener, who has.
lived in a hilly or rocky country. It will be seen, from these remarks, that
the kind of rockwork which displays a heap or heaps of stones, however large
some of these may be, all showing themselves above the surface, and to the
same extent over the whole heap, as if it had been merely a mound of earth
dotted over with stones, has no claim whatever to be considered as rockwork
in our sense of the word. It may represent a commonplace or a curious heap
of stones, which may be more or less convenient for the culture of plants;
COUNTRY WILLAS. 185
but it is altogether unfit to be introduced into garden scenery, as an artistical
object. In general, rockwork, to be truly natural, can only show the rock on
one side, or, at most, on two sides; as scars, cliffs, precipices, &c., are seen
in rocky districts. The upper part of the rock should be covered with turf,
and trees, and bushes, and the inclination of the turf should follow the sup-
posed continuation of the rocky strata. This mode is not only natural, but
has the advantage of being convenient; because, by making the angle of
elevation of the strata more or less, according to the extent of the ground,
the covering of turf can, at a greater or less distance, be made to unite with
the level turf of the lawn. Where ferns, or plants requiring shade, are
chiefly to be cultivated as rock plants, the abrupt side or face of the strata
may face the north, and the talus, or sloping side, the south. Where early-
flowering plants are to be cultivated, such as the Californian annuals, the
abrupt side may face the south or south-east. It is almost needless to state
that on the sloping side, which may be called the back part of the rock or
hill, there ought to be no rocks or stones cropping out; but, on the contrary,
the appearance ought to be such as to indicate depth of soil, where the slope
joins the level surface; that being always the case in nature at the base of a
declivity. The covering of the rock, or hill, including the slope, and also a por-
tion of the adjoining lawn, may be planted with trees and shrubs, chiefly in
the picturesque manner; as their appearance in such a situation, and dis-
posed in such a manner, is perfectly natural, powerfully supports the idea of
the truth of the imitation, and serves artistically to unite the hill with the
level surface. To render the imitation of the abrupt side, or face, of the
stratified rock artistical, all that is necessary is, to let the flowering plants
introduced in the clefts, fissures, or shelves (produced by one stratum pro-
jecting farther out than another), be of foreign kinds. Where granite or
basalt is the material used, the stratification, or lines of separation, may be
chiefly vertical ; but, in the case of sandstone or limestone, they should be
chiefly horizontal. The most intractable materials for forming rockwork
which is intended to have any grandeur of effect are, land stones, pebbles
from the sea shore, flints, and chalk-stones; which, indeed, are only fit for
facing an abrupt irregular bank, to be planted with creepers or alpines.
Fig. 95. may be described as a mechanical representation of a piece of
artificial rockwork, in the form of a scar, or precipice, rising from a flat
surface, and consisting of the cropping out of strata that have a considerable
dip, or inclination. In this figure, a b c d show the face of ithe rock on two
sides, in which the lines of the strata, viewed in front, appear nearly hori-
zontal, in different beds; each bed projecting somewhat beyond the one which

186 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
is over it, in order to form ledges (e) for plants. The dotted lines ffshow
the supposed continuation and dip of the strata under the turf. The space
d ig is covered with earth and turf, as is the rock on the opposite side at h;
shows the talus at the back of the scar or cliff, where the soil is always
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COUNTRY WILLAs.
187
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188 THE WILLA GARDENER,
stratified rockwork may be carried up to the surface, and considerably above
it, so as to give some distant resemblance to an old stone quarry, which may
be supposed to have existed there before the spot was turned into pleasure-
grounds. An example of rockwork of this kind is given in fig. 97., and it is
an idea which every gardener of taste will know how to improve and carry
into execution.
283. A walk, or a glade of turf, may be sunk in a level surface, or carried
through a knoll or raised surface; and the sides of the glade or walk may
display scars or precipices of rockwork, more or less stratified, according to
circumstances. On the surface above such rockwork trees may be planted,
which would give the whole an air of truth, stability, and durability; the very
reverse of the effect produced by heaping up fragments of stone about the
roots of trees. An example of this is shown in fig. 98. In general no rock-
work of any kind whatever can be put together in a manner satisfactory to
the man of taste, except by a workman who has the eye of an artist, who can
conceive beforehand the effect which he wishes to produce, who has some idea
of connexion and grouping, and who knows the difference between peculiar
and general nature. Those who attempt rockwork, without possessing one or
more of these qualities of mind, can hardly fail to be unsuccessful; or, if
they produce anything good, it must be by mere accident. They may put
together heaps of stones, larger or smaller, according to the abundance of the
material, or the sum expended; the heaps may be curious, from the variety
of stones, spars, &c., brought together; or ludicrous, from the fantastic shapes
of some of them; or childish, from the position of others; but nothing to
affect the imagination can ever be the result of such accumulations. After
all that has been done, they will still be only heaps of stones. Hence it is,
that all the rockworks in Britain, worth looking at, have been constructed by
workmen who have had a natural genius for this kind of work; or under the
immediate direction of artists. For example, those at Pain's Hill, Wimble-
don House, and Oatlands, were put up by a stonemason, who devoted himself
entirely to this kind of production, and who was eagerly sought for in every
part of the country; that at Hoole, as we have seen, was designed and
executed under the eye of the proprietor, Lady Broughton; that at Redleaf
was also executed under the direction of the late Mr. Wells himself; and the
interesting grottoes and cascades at Wardour Castle, by a mason who was
much employed in that way throughout the country, and who, though he
received nearly a pound a day, when employed, died some years ago, as we
were informed in 1833, in the parish workhouse.
284. Water.—To determine the extent to which water should be intro-
duced, and the character which it ought to assume in small places, is a point
requiring some consideration. In the case of a spring or a running stream
the difficulty is not great; but, where there is only just a sufficient supply of
water to maintain a pond or small lake during the summer season, the skill
required is greater. The difficulty arises, not from any doubt of the effect of
the water, in a picturesque point of view, for that is easily determined; but
with regard to its influence on the salubrity of the atmosphere of the place.
The exhalations, even from pure water, when they are taken up by the atmo-
sphere of any given space to such an extent as to render it moister than that
of the surrounding country, must be considered injurious; and much more
so are exhalations from water rendered impure by the decay of vegetables
COUNTRY WILLAS. 180
along its banks, or by the admixture of impurities from the drains of offices,
&c. Attentive observation, and some experience on this subject, have enabled
us to arrive at the following conclusions, which may be considered as prin-
ciples:–Water should never beintroduced in landscape gardening, unless it
conduces to health, beauty, or picturesque effect.

190 THE WILLA GARDENER.
285. With a view to health, water ought never to be introduced where it will
increase, in any sensible degree, the quantity of moisture that would other-
wise be taken up by the atmosphere of the locality, either in summer or
winter. From this principle the following rules may be deduced:
1. That the surface to be covered with an artificial piece of water should be small, in
proportion as the general surface of the ground is flat; the soil retentive ; the park,
pleasure-ground, or enclosure, Small; and the trees and shrubs numerous.
2. That the most wholesome situations in which artificial water can be introduced, are
those where the general surface of the ground is elevated, and the soil naturally dry, and
not thickly covered with trees and shrubs.
3. That, in flat situations with retentive soils, where the surface is thickly planted with
trees or shrubs, water, even on the most limited scale, should never be introduced, with-
out, at the same time, rendering the surface of the surrounding ground perfectly dry by the
frequent drain system. -
4. That in no description of artificial water ought the decay of vegetables to be allowed
to take place, and more especially along the margin.
5. That the margin of all artificial pieces of water ought to be formed of a considerable
thickness of gravel or small stones, or of blocks of stone, in imitation of rockwork; in order
to diminish the quantity of spongy or marshy matter, by which evaporation never ceases;
and substitute for it a smooth hard surface, from which evaporation will go on with rapidity,
and which will thus soon become quite dry.
Gardeners are in the habit, when they plant out pelargoniums, and other spongy-wooded
green-house plants, on lawns, to reduce them before planting out to single stems, and to free
these from leaves to the height of 3 or 4 inches. After planting, the surface (which forms a
very gentle knoll, about 1 ft. in diameter, and, say, from 1 in. to 2 in. high in the centre,
where the stem is placed) is bedded over with small pebbles, about the size of pigeons' eggs;
and these, by drying rapidly after rains, prevent the damp from lodging about the collars of
the plants, which, without this precaution, would, as it is technically called, damp off. Now,
if gardeners would apply the rationale of this practice to the margins of basins, ponds, lakes,
rivers, and all pieces of water whatever, natural or artificial, in pleasure-grounds, they would
render the evaporation from these pieces of water wholly innoxious. The evaporation from
clear water is simply injurious by increasing the quantity of moisture held in suspension by
the atmosphere; but the evaporation from water containing a mixture of decaying vege-
tables from the park above it, contains, in addition to water, those deleterious gases known
as malaria. As all pieces of water are liable to rise or fall with rains or great droughts, the
breadth and height of the space along their margins, which is gravelled or covered with
stones, ought to be such as that, in the greatest drought of summer, when the water is sunk
to the lowest point, it should not expose any of its earthy bed to the air; and that, in
spring and autumn, when it is raised to its greatest height by rains, it should not touch the
leaves of the plants along its margin. This is the beau ideal mode of treating artificial
water, where the object is to render it wholesome ; and it is gratifying to find that it is as
superior to the common mode of treating the margins of pieces of water, in its accordance
with the principles of picturesque beauty, as it is with the principles of health.
6. That, in distributing the trees and shrubs over a park or pleasure-ground containing a
piece of water, provision should always be made for the exit from the grounds of the vapours
which arise from the watery surface. This is to be done by broad spaces of lawn or turf
without trees, extending from one or from both ends of the piece of water, through the
park or pleasure-ground, to ground on a lower level (see fig. 99.), where the air charged
with vapour will find its way by its own gravity. Where this is neglected, parks in low
moist situations, with trees scattered regularly over their surface, become covered with
what may be described as one general pond of malarian vapour; or with a number of
ponds, in which the vapour is dammed up by trees crossing the course which it would
ºnaturally take along the lowest level. The gardens of the New Palace at Pimlico may be
considered as one immense pond of malarian vapour, confined by the palace and other
buildings at the lower end, and by high walls along the sides; and which is prevented from
being dispersed by winds or the Sun, by the groups of trees, mounds, grassy banks, &c.,
contained in the interior.
COUNTRY WILLAs. 191
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192 THE WILLA GARDENER,
286. With a view to beauty, the distinctive properties of water, as contrasted
with those of ground are, clearness and brilliancy, the power of multiplying
objects, coolness, and motion. These are the principal properties which con-
cern the landscape-gardener; and it is difficult to imagine a situation in which
one or other of them may not be exhibited, and turned to excellent account.
The following rules refer to this principle:
1. Clearness in pieces of water is displayed by allowing them chiefly to reflect the sky;
and brilliancy, by having the situation somewhat elevated, or otherwise so prominent that
the water may catch the rays of the sun, and reflect them directly in the eye of the spectator.
This is a kind of beauty not often desirable in landscape; but it may occasionally be wanted
to contrast with others; and it has this advantage, that it may be introduced in a very
limited space, to which it adds great cheerfulness.
2. The power of multiplying objects by reflection is by far the most valuable property of
water, relatively to landscape-gardening. Forms, shades, and colours may thus be doubled;
and the most forcible contrasts may be produced between water surrounded by trees, build-
ings, or other objects, and open lawn or pleasure-ground. Hence, it is seldom desirable to
form pieces of water without planting trees or shrubs, or both, along its banks. Water,
without wood, may display clearness, and convey the idea of coolness; but it cannot have
that intricacy, variety, richness, and force of effect, which are produced in greater perfection
by the shade, colouring, and forms of trees and shrubs, with the occasional aid of buildings
and animated nature, than by any other means at the command of the gardener.
3. Coolness, as a property of water, is actually produced by evaporation; but its cooling
effect in landscape may be considered as depending on the idea of coolness which we asso-
ciate with water, and which has been originally derived from experience. This property
in water renders it a desirable material for contrasting with gravel, buildings, rocks, or other
objects, which, with reference to their effect in landscape, are considered warm.
4. The motion of water, in the imitation of its more common forms in nature, is displayed
in artificial brooks, rills, springs, &c.; and in the imitation of more extraordinary natural
appearances, in artificial cascades, fountains, and jets. As the motion of water may thus be
displayed on a very small scale; the property of motion, and, as already mentioned, that of
clearness, are, perhaps, of the most universal use in gardening; there being Scarcely any
ground-plot, however small, that will not admit of a fragment of rock, with a drooping
fountain, or of a marble basin, or stone vase, of clear water, to reflect the rays of the Sun,
and tints of the sky.
287. With a view to picturesque effect, water may be introduced into the
grounds of every residence, however limited it may be in extent; and the
effect will depend, not on the magnitude of the piece of water, but on the
character or expression which it is made to assume. Hence the following
rules:
1. That, in very small places of even a few perches in extent, a surface of water, of not
more than a few square feet, sunk in the ground, and with a gravelly, rocky, or stony mar-
gin, by reflecting the objects near it, and the sky, may give an extraordinary interest to
the landscape ; the water being kept clear, and perfectly free from mud and decaying
objects.-(See fig. 100.)
2. That a brook or streamlet, however small, can never be successfully imitated, unless
there be a current of water equal to that which is found in brooks of the same magnitude in
a state of nature. -
3. That the character of a brook being briskness, it should never be imitated by art,
except where there is not only an abundance of water, but a surface having a considerable
slope, in order that the water may run rapidly.
4. That, where a matural brook passes through a park or pleasure-ground, it may be im-
proved in effect by expanding some parts of it into pools; and by the distribution of gravel,
stones, and other rocky materials, along its banks.
5. That a river, which, to be natural, ought to indicate on its banks the progress and
COUNTRY WILLAs. 193
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action of water, can never be imitated in a park or pleasure-ground, except where there
exists naturally a considerable stream. -
6. That a lake may be imitated wherever there is a sufficient extent of nearly level sur-
face to excavate; or where the water may be made to cover an extensive surface, principally
by throwing a dam across a shallow valley.
7. That a prolonged lake, tame river, or even a canal of traffic, is occasionally admissible
in artificial scenery, under particular circumstances; and more especially when it is at such
a distance from the eye, and so far below it, as to render it impossible to detect whether the
water is in motion or stagnant; the water, in this supposed case, being perfectly clear. Thus
a pleasure-ground or park, which occupies the upper part and the sides of a hill, may have
a zone of canal, or tame river, intermediate between the upper part of the hill and the
valley at its bottom; by which means this canal will form an interesting foreground from
the park above it to the country beyond. This is beautifully exemplified in many places
bordering canals; for example, at Offchurch Rectory, near Leamington, in Warwickshire;
and at Wentworth Castle, in Yorkshire.
288. Fishing-houses, and other garden buildings, have often a very pleasing
effect when erected near water, not only from the variety they introduce in
the landscape, but from the pleasing effect of the views which may be
obtained from them, particularly during the heat of summer, when the
appearance of water seen from an ornamental building, like the Chinese
temple (fig. 101.), has a very striking and beautiful effect. A fishing-house
(fig. 102.) is a kind of summer-house, from the windows or balcony of which
persons can fish, or sit to enjoy the cool breeze at their pleasure. The style
of the house shown in fig. 102.is Swiss, and it consists of a circular porch, a in
fig, 103.; a room, 11 ft. in diameter (b), with windows opening, like doors, into
a circular gallery or balcony (c), partly projecting over the water, and sup-
-


194 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
ported on brackets. More than half the balcony is sheltered by the large
projecting roof of the circular room, which is also supported by brackets, as
posts might obstruct the view, and be otherwise inconvenient. on each side
102
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Count RY WILLAs. 19
5
of the circular room are rooms (d and e), each 18 ft. by 11ſt., for refreshments,
&c., the one marked d having a balcony hanging over the water. A boat-
house is another architectural appendage to water, of which there are many
various kinds. Fig. 104, is one of the most simple of these, and it is merely
formed in a bank, overgrown with shrubs and flowering plants. In other
cases, the boat-house is formed under the fishing-house, or built separately,
according to the taste of the proprietor.
289.-The union of all the parts which compose a country residence, so as to
form a harmonious and expressive whole—In the preceding remarks, we neither
pretend to have embraced every part of which a place is composed, nor to
have given all the details which belong to any one of the parts treated of


o 2
196 THE WILLA GARDENER,
Our object has been to give the reader materials for thinking on the different
subjects connected with the formation of a residence where there are a few
acres of ground, in order that he may endeavour to find a reason for every
thing that we may in future propose; and, in short, that he may feel a greater
interest in this work than if it were merely a series of arbitrary directions.
In pursuance of the same object, we shall next consider the residence as a
whole. After all the different parts which enter into the composition of a
country residence have been duly weighed and considered by the proprietor
and his landscape-gardener, and the proportionate extent of each agreed on,
the next step is for the latter to put them together. It is chiefly in doing
this that the artist has an opportunity of showing to what extent he is entitled
to be considered as a man of genius and taste. It is easy to conceive that
all the different component parts of a piece of music, a picture, or a piece of
architecture, may be correctly executed; and yet that the want of due pro-
portion between these parts may be so great, and the whole may be put toge-
ther with so little connexion and harmony, as to form an object wholly
without sentiment or expression,--a body unanimated by a soul. It is this
expression, formed by the due proportion, connexion, and cooperation of all
the parts, that constitutes the main difference between a work of art and one
of mere mechanical skill. Two grand qualities in the artist, with reference
to creating expression, are, the power of viewing every part of the scene
which he is to create, with reference to the effect of the whole; and the power
of foreseeing future effects. It is only by the union of these two qualities in
the mind of the landscape-gardener, that the grounds of a residence can be
formed into a composition, as perfect as a piece of architecture; every
moulding of which, as well as every column and larger member, has refer-
ence to the elevation of the different sides of the building, forms a sort of
index to it, and could not be removed without injury to its effect. Perhaps
these remarks may be better understood by noticing a few of the mot common
defects, or causes of defects, in country residences, than by describing a com-
paratively perfect model. -
290. The entrance lodge is generally the first fauſt of a place that meets the
eye of a stranger. Here the building and gates are very frequently either too
mean, or too much ornamented; too large and substantial, or too small, for
the mansion and its accompaniments. What the happy medium is, it may be
difficult to say, unless a particular case were before us: but, in every age,
there is a sort of conventional agreement among men of taste, as to what is
proper, and what exceeds the bounds of propriety. If every part of a place
should give the spectator some idea of the style of art employed in every other
part, then it is clear that the lodge and gate should be in the same architec-
tural style as that of the mansion; and, hence, where the latter is Grecian or
Italian, the former should neither be Gothic, nor in the ornamented English
cottage style. The boundary fence connected with the lodge should be
modern, where the art employed is modern; but, in the case of Gothic, or
Elizabethan, lodges, walls only are admissible; hedges, as boundary fences,
not being chronologically correct when connected with buildings in either of
these styles. Where the lodge and gates have patches of plantation con-
necting them with the boundary fences, but no scattered trees or groups to
unite them to the mansion and the scenery in the interior, the principle of
connexion is grossly violated, and one of the finest sources of variety in the
COUNTRY VII, LAS. 197
views along the approach road is neglected. A mansion set down in a park or
lawn, without any scenery of an intermediate character, such as an architec-
tural basement, a surrounding terrace, &c., is in opposition to the harmonising
principle of uniting objects so powerfully contrasted as a house and a field,
by scenery of an intermediate kind.
291. The mansion is often seen inclosed in a patch of plantation, which also
includes the domestic offices; but it very frequently wants the connexion,
which groups and small masses of trees would give it, with the general surface
of the park. Sometimes the latter is too much crowded, by the trees being
uniformly distributed over every part of it; and sometimes it presents a bald
appearance, from the want of trees. Indeed, to adjust the proportion of
trees and pasture, or clothed spaces and naked spaces, about a place, is one of
those points of art on which more of the future effect depends than on almost
any other. A residence, of which it may be said that it has just enough of
trees and shrubs, and not too many, will generally be found a highly satis-
factory one.
292. There are certain defects in grounds and buildings, which owe their
existence to errors and omissions on the part of the first builder or planter;
and certain other sins, perhaps of a more heinous nature, which are committed
by the occupiers after the place is finished. The remote cause of these last
errors is, the desire inherent in almost everybody who is in possession of a
house and grounds which he can call his own, of doing something to it;
and the immediate cause is, that this something is usually done solely with
reference to itself, and without any regard to its general effect on the house or
grounds, considered as a whole. Perhaps a new flower-garden is to be formed,
and it must have beds in it, or statues to ornament it, like those at B or C:
without considering that B is a castle, and C a palace, while the scene where
the flower-garden is to be formed is, perhaps, a plain modern villa. The
desire of imitating those above us is thus at once the cause of the spread of
improvement, and of the introduction of much absurdity. The purchase of
articles at sales, because they are good and cheap, or, perhaps, beautiful in
themselves, is also often the means of spoiling the general effect of a residence.
The young family of A., who are growing up, have acquired a taste for plants,
and are desirous of having a green-house, which A. kindly purchases for them
at the sale of the first neighbouring nurseryman who becomes bankrupt. This
shed-like structure is placed against one end of the house, in a conspicuous
situation; and the entrance-front has thus ever after a mean appearance. We
have seen a handsome lawn spoiled by the desire of the lady of the house to
have a piece of rockwork; and we have known the foundations of a house
rendered damp by the occupier having purchased the flints and scoriae of a
rockwork at a sale, and, for want of any better situation, banking up the lawn
front of his house with them.
293. Planting single trees.—Nothing is more common than for gentlemen
of leisure, who have small country residences, to attend nurserymen's sales,
and purchase articles they do not want, merely because they are cheap.
These cheap purchases are often fatal to the general effect of a small place.
Room must be found for the trees and shrubs which have been bought; and,
wherever there is an open space on the lawn, one or more are put down in the
middle of that space. “Surely, Mr. L.,” we have been told a hundred times,
“there can be no harm in putting down a single tree, more especially as we
198 THE VILLA GARDENER,
always plant them in the middle of open spaces, where there are no others
near !” Persons arguing thus, little know that a very few single trees, put
down on this principle of “always placing them in the middle of an open
space, where there are no others near,” would destroy the effect of the finest
place in existence. Single trees, in a park or pleasure-ground, are like the
last touches of an artist in painting a landscape. The bold striking effects of
light, shade, and character are given by the masses; but the expression of
these masses, and the attractions by which the eye is led to enjoy them, are
produced by the last touches. The great general effect of the grounds of a
residence depends on there being open spaces where there are no trees, to
contrast with other spaces which are entirely covered with trees; and the
finish to these grand features of wood and lawn consists in the single trees
and small groups which are distributed along their margins. Soon after Sir
Henry Steuart's Planter's Guide was published, the idea of transplanting large
trees by machinery took possession of many country gentlemen of leisure;
and the breadth of effect of many lawns and parks, and the grouping along
the margins of lawns in others, were destroyed, by always putting down these
large trees in those open spaces where it was thought that they would not
interfere with anything else. A gentleman who possesses one of the hand-
somest small places on the banks of the Thames, between London and
Gravesend, covered almost the entire surface not occupied by old trees, with
young single trees at similar distances, without even employing a gardener to
guide his labourers in planting them. In such a situation as the very
remarkable one to which we allude, before a single tree could be put down
with propriety, its future effect should have been studied from various points
of view; and there is no landscape-gardener who would not consider the
putting down of even one tree, in such a case, a difficult and delicate task.
But profound ignorance of any subject is favourable to courage, and our
planter put them in by hundreds; but, fortunately, as they were planted three
or four times too deep, in a soil consisting, in many places, of strong, clay,
almost the whole of them died the second year.
294. Professional routine.—We shall now go through what may be called
the professional routine of fixing on a situation; making the plans for laying
out a residence; and carrying these plans into execution.
295. Fixing on the situation, eatent, &c.—Fig. 105. may be supposed to
exhibit a portion of country, the greater part of which is to be sold by private
contract, in lots as various in magnitude and form as the size and shape of
the fields; or to be let on building leases. It may be supposed to have all
belonged to the mansion and park a ; but that, owing to death or other causes,
the present owner of that park has determined to limit himself to it, and to
the adjoining fields and farm-yard (b, c, d, and e). All the other fields, there-
fore, are to be sold or let; and we shall suppose them to have been looked
over by a gentleman desirous of forming a country residence, who has fixed
on the fields f, g, h, i, and j, containing in all about ten acres. Here we
must notice what is a common error, often committed in the first step of
forming a country residence; viz. that the party (say a tradesman, a mer-
chant, or a professional man) chooses the situation, and fixes the conditions
of purchase, without consulting a surveyor; or, what is better, some friend
who has a practical knowledge of soils and situations, and of what are really
essential in these to the formation of a comfortable residence. Perhaps the
COUNTRY WILLAS, 1 99
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party who, in his want of knowledge, has rashly ventured to judge for
himself, was too modest to let it be known to his friends that he intended
to purchase land; or, perhaps, by keeping the matter quiet, he expected to
get it somewhat cheaper; or, perhaps, one object was to prevent his friend
and neighbour, Mr. A. B., from getting what he considered one of the most
advantageous of the allotments. At all events, he has chosen these fields
entirely on his own judgment, and, in one point of view, judiciously, because
they lie very compactly in a ring fence. It is proper to mention, however,
that there are situations, where, when the object is to form a country resi-
dence, compactness of outline possesses fewer advantages, and is in fact
much less desirable, than an outline of great irregularity. This depends on
the natural inequalities of the surface, and on the distant prospect: for
example, in the plan before us, had there been a natural ridge proceeding
from f to g, and thence by k to l, terminating in a considerable hill at m,
then we should have preferred these five fields to the five which lie so com-
pactly; notwithstanding the great extent of boundary line which in the
latter case there would have been to keep up, and the circumstance of the
fields h, i, j, n, and o lying, as it were, in the midst of the property. This,
however, would be no disadvantage in an ornamental point of view ; because
we are supposing the ridge f, g, k, l, m to be far higher than the adjoining
fields, and to overlook them entirely. The proprietor of such a ridge might
build his house on the hill (m); have a going approach along one side of the
ridge, and a returning approach along the other; the trees along both




200 THE WILLA GARDEN ER.
approaches being arranged so as to form foregrounds to the distant scenery,
and to exclude near objects in the adjoining properties, which might be con-
sidered as not worth looking at. Along the centre of the ridge, there might
be an irregular-margined avenue of turf, in the manner of the green drives
at Fonthill, Goodwood, Stourhead, &c.
296. Character of the country.—But to return to our choice. The five
fields, f to j, are supposed to contain no great variety of surface; and the
country around to be tame rather than otherwise, and in the same style as that
which lies north of London, along the Edgware Road. The purchaser, we
shall suppose, now employs a landscape-gardener, whose first business is to
procure a plan to be made, such as fig. 106., in which the ring-fence of the
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five fields is shown, enclosing a space thrown into squares by dotted lines.
These dotted lines are, as they ought to be in every working plan of this kind,
in the exact direction of north and south, and east and west, for more con-
venient reference and description, and future use in marking out improve-
ments on the ground. Before the squares are drawn on the plan, they ought
previously to be marked out on the ground, and a small stake placed in every
intersection of the lines; that is, at every corner of each square, as shown in
the figure. The squares may be 50 ft., or 100 ft., or 200 ft., on the side,
according to the extent of the plot, the inequalities of its surface, or the
alterations which are to be made in it. In the case before us, they are sixteen
in number, exclusive of the portions of squares round the boundary; each
square is 150 ft. on the side, and each contains half an acre and 22 poles.


COUNTRY WILLAs.
201
On an estate where the surface is flat, the squares may be large; because,
from the general sameness of the whole surface, the character of the ground
included in one square must be very like that in all the others: but on a very
irregular surface they must be small; because each square may have a dif-
ferent character of surface. By having a stake with a number on it, in the
corner of each square; by having these numbers in regular series from one
side of the plot of ground to the other; and then by having corresponding
numbers on a plan, and a memorandum-book for reference and description,
it is evident that a tolerably correct idea may be conveyed of the soil, sub-
soil, surface, and distant views, even to a person who has not seen the estate.
297. The memorandum, or field-book may have the same numbers on two
opposite pages, as in the specimen below: the one to describe the present
state, and the other the intended alterations or improvements, thus:
Present State of the Five Fields, purchased by
Mr. C., and intended to be laid out as a
Pilla Residence.—The numbers preceding
each paragraph refer to the numbers in the
squares in the plan (fig. 106.).
1. Surface here only about 5 ft. higher
than the public road, towards which it gra-
dually slopes. Soil loamy.
2. Surface still higher.
3. Continuing to rise.
4. About the same height as at 1. Sur-
face apparently wet in winter, judging from
the kinds of grasses growing on it; such as
Carex, Phleum, &c.
5. One of the highest points within the
ring fence, from which, in the direction of
N. E., a tolerable view of the village church
is obtained, backed by a green hill, as in
sketch No. 1. (ſig. 107.). The grasses
chiefly rye-grass and meadow-fescue.
6, 7. Ground flat, but fully as high as at
5. The view from 7 to the s. E. shows a
viaduct thrown over a valley for a railroad.
No. 2. (fig. 108.).
Remarks as to the Improvements which may be
made on the Property purchased by Mr. C.,
&c.
1. This, being the lowest part of the
ground, and also near the public road,
would seem an eligible place for the en-
trance-lodge and the approach.
2, 3, 4. Soil good either for trees or pas-
ture. Little or no distant view; and, there-
fore, this part may, if thought desirable, be
covered with wood.
5. A few yards s. E. from this point pro-
mises to be the best situation for the house,
as the ground falls from it on three sides.
Considering that the country has an equal
claim in point of beauty all round, a square
house seems the most desirable; and a
square is accordingly drawn on the plan, at
a, in ſig. 106.
6, 7. The offices may very properly be
placed in this direction, so that the view
may be obtained from the pleasure-grounds
and the conservatory, which may be placed
against the kitchen-court. There is here a
very fine opportunity of connecting the con-
servatory with the kitchen-garden, by means
of an architectural conservative wall, with
an open or covered walk.




202
WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
THE
8. Even surface, and soil loamy, with a
view, in a direction w, by s., of farmer
Swiney's house and farm-yard. See sketch
No. 3. (fig. 109.).
- -
-
-º-º-º-º-º:
9, 10. Surface even and soil good. From
No. 10., a distant view, in the direction of
s: by E., of a viaduct for the railroad over
the river Colne. See sketch No. 4. (ſig. 110.).
11. Surface undulating; subsoil said to be
stony. White clover.
12, 13. Ground falls from this point to the
boundary, both in a s. and an E. direction.
The view to the N. by E. is of the mansion
belonging to the park (a in fig. 105 in p.
199.), shown in sketch 5. (fig. 111-), and
nearly directly s to the country villa of
Captain B. See sketch No. 6. (fig. 112.).
The view w by N. shows the river Colne,
with an old bridge, as per sketch No. 7.
8. A number of luxuriant docks growing
here; on seeing which Mr C. said that the
soil was undoubtedly bad. Endeavoured to
convince him that docks are never found
growing luxuriantly on bad soil; and, in
short, that they are generally a proof of
good, deep, loamy soil, as was the case here.
9, 10. The ground included in the squares
8, 9. and 16, being good and even, and also
the adjoining squares eastward and west-
ward being of the same description, this
part of the property appears to be a very
favourable situation for the kitchen-garden,
which is accordingly indicated by a paralle-
logram at b, in fig. 106.
11. This ground will requiremore smooth-
ing, in order to produce an artistical surface,
than any which we have yet gone over; but
the effect will be satisfactory.
12, 13. Marks of ridges on the surface,
the ground having been here under corn
three or four years ago. At a short dis-
tance nettles growing; on which Mr. C.
said, ironically, he supposed that these plants
were also an indication of good soil, as well
as the docks. Told him that the nettle was
a domestic plant, and was seldom found
anywhere, except about human habitations;
and that, properly speaking, it could not be
considered as an indication of the natural
state of the soil, but only of the accidental
circumstance of lime rubbish having been
placed there, in consequence of the proxi-
mity of buildings. Mr. C. laughed at this,
as the field was at a considerable distance
from any house. But, on enquiry, we found
that a barn had stood there formerly; on
which Mr. C. observed that the nettle was
not only a domestic plant, but a historical
plant, as it told the previous history of the
ground on which it grew.
A good situation for a summer-house, on
account of the fine views seen from it; and
on the supposition that the pleasure-ground
walk passes this way.









COUNTRY
VILLAS- 203
(ſig. 113.); and direct E., the windmill on
the heath, as per sketch 8, (ſig. 114.).
At 14, 15, and 16, the ground is low, and
the views of the distant scenery not marked
by any particular feature. Near 16, a view
is obtained of an old barn turned into a cot-
tage, in the direction of s. we See sketch
14, 15, and 16. Low, without much exte-
rior view, and may therefore be planted, if
thought desirable. Being at one corner of
the property, this would be a good situation
for an archery-ground, or bowling-green.
On mentioning this, the Misses C. appeared
delighted at the thought of an archery-
ground; but Mr. C. seemed to incline to a
bowling-green. Mrs. C. thought it would
be a good place for the younger children to
learn to ride.
No. 9. (fig. 115.).
The left-hand column above gives a general idea of the surface, and
sufficient indications of the soil and subsoil to enable the landscape-gardener
to assist the architect in determining the best situation for the house and
offices; and the remarks in the opposite column are for the same object, and
also for the sake of indicating, as far as this can be done from incidental
observations dropped from time to time, the taste and wishes of the pro-
prietor and his family. The situation of the house we have indicated on
the plan fig. 106. at a, that of the kitchen-garden at b, and that of the
entrance-lodge at c, and these three points, being fixed on, naturally deter-
mine the situation of the offices, which must be between the house and the
kitchen-garden, and that of the approach, which must be between the lodge
and the house, leaving the remainder of the place to be laid out as pleasure-
ground.
298. Another mode, by which the most interesting views from different points
within the ring-fence may be exhibited, is shown in fig. 116; in which the
estate, and the views from it, are drawn to a scale one half smaller than in
fig 106. and in the views (figs. 107, to 115.) given in the descriptive column.
By the mode shown in fig. 116., all the different distant objects given in the
sketches in the descriptive column, pp. 201, 202, and 203., are shown in the
exact position, and at the relative distances at which they lie from the different



204 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
points; the scenery of the foreground, and that of the middle distance, being,
in this case, as in the descriptive column, taken no notice of
299. A third mode consists in giving a panoramic view of the entire country,
exterior to the ring-fence of the part to be laid out, as in fig. 117. This
panoramic view is supposed to be taken from a temporary platform, erected
in the centre of the exact situation where the mansion is to be placed, and
raised 20 or 30 feet above the natural surface of the ground. The artist,
in taking such a view, changes his position six times, so as to include in
the panorama six connected views, each embracing an angle of 60°. This
mode is calculated to give a very clear idea to a purchaser of the kind of
distant scenery which will be viewed from the windows of his intended
habitation; and it may be very conveniently adopted in a case which some-
times occurs; viz. of an English gentleman engaged in business in South
America, or any distant country, who sends home orders to have grounds
purchased, and a house built, preparatory to his return to England. The
first step, in such a case, previously even to purchasing the land, would be to
send out a ground plan, surrounded by a panoramic view, as in the figure just
referred to.
300. Where the surface of the ground is considerably varied, and where it is
also desired to form a correct idea of the subsoil, and, perhaps, of the mines
and minerals, the kind of sectional plan exhibited in fig. 118. may be adopted.
In this plan, the area is first thrown into squares, by N. and S. and E. and W.
lines, as in giving surface plans. The lowest point on the ground is next fixed
on, as the level of the base line of all the sections; and on this line the rising

COUNTRY WILLAs. 205
of the ground above it, on the four sides of every square, is indicated, as in
the figure. The nature of the subsoil may also be shown in such sectional
plans (for example, whether it is stony, rocky, sandy, or gravelly); and, what
is as useful as a knowledge of the subsoil, the depth and direction of under
drains, the situation of springs, wells, pits, &c., may be accurately delineated.
The levels are obtained in the manner well known to surveyors, along the
lines forming the squares; and the nature of the subsoils, mines, minerals,
&c., is ascertained by digging pits, boring, or trials with an iron probe.
Where the object does not extend beyond those of the cultivator or the land-
scape-gardener, the nature of the subsoil, for 3 or 4 feet below the surface, is
all that is required to be known; and this can be attained with very little
trouble. In fig, 118., a is the lowest point in the ground, from which point
the approach is made to enter; b, is a square including the highest part of the
grounds, on the surface of which the house and offices are placed; e, the
appearance of the section when the subsoil consists of the same earths as
the surface soil; d, the appearance of loose stones; e, sand; f, gravel; g, a
hollow in the surface where there is a pump-well; and h, a hollow from
which brick earth has been dug.
301. The working surface plan—Having, by means of the plans and sec-
tions already described, and of conversations with the proprietor and his
family, acquired a knowledge of what are technically called the data and

06 THE VILLA GARDENER,
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desiderata of the place, the next business of the landscape-gardener is to
form a working plan for laying out the proposed improvements; the situation
of the house, the kitchen-garden, and the entrance-lodge, being already fixed
on, as before indicated. We shall suppose that the numbered sticks at the
angles of the squares still remain on the ground; because it is more conve-
nient to adopt squares of the same dimensions as those already marked on the
ground in the plan on which we are to trace the roads, walks, kitchen-garden,
plantations, &c., in detail. The sides of the squares, also, in this plan, must
(in order to admit of readily indicating objects with reference to the points of
the compass) be directly east and west, and north and south. It will often
happen that the same plan which is used to indicate the levels of the surface,
and the principal points of view, and to afford data for the description given
in p. 201., will serve also for tracing the lines which constitute the working
plan; but, in the present case, the plan (fig. 106., p. 200.) is on so small a scale,
that, if we were to trace the necessary lines upon it, it would become confused,
and unfit for our purpose. Fig. 119., therefore, must be had recourse to; and
we shall go over the different lines in it, and briefly give our reasons for pro-
ducing them.
302. The position of the house (a) and lodge (c) being fired on, the road
between them might either have been made straight or curved. If it had
been straight, it would have been inconsistent with this style of art; and, if
the grand sweep which it takes had been bent to the right instead of to the
left, as at d, it would have interfered with the arrangements connected with
the offices and the kitchen-garden. Before arriving at the entrance-front of the














COUNTRY WILLAS. 207
house, there is a branch road (e) to the stable offices (f), which are connected
on the one hand with the poultry-yard (g) and the kitchen-court (h), and, on
the other, with the reserve ground to the kitchen-garden (?). This branch
road (e) is made narrower than the main approach, in order that it may never
be mistaken for it: it is bent, so that persons either going to the front
entrance of the house, or coming from it, may never see along it as far as the
gates of the stable-court; and it is joined to the main approach in such a
manner, that it may rather invite a person to enter on it, when returning
from the house, than when going to it. The reason of this is, that this branch
road will be principally used by the carriages of visiters going to the stable
offices, after they have set down their company at the front door of the house;
and by the carriage of the family going from the stables to the house, and
back again, after the carriage has been used. For one person, therefore, who
comes out of this branch road and turns towards the entrance-lodge, there
will be at least ten who come out of it, and turn towards the mansion, agree-
ably to the inclination of the road at its junction with the approach. In
short, tradesmen's carts, and carts with provision for the horses and poultry,
with manure and other articles for the garden, and with coal, &c., for the kit-
chen-court, will include every kind of carriage that goes along this branch
road, from the entrance-gate.
303. Instead of a broad mass of gravel for carriages to turn on, imme-
diately before the entrance portico, we have preferred retaining the road there
of its usual width, and carrying it round the large oval of turf (j). This is
not only a much safer mode of turning a carriage, but gives an idea of ample

208 THE WILLA GARDENER.
space; whereas a dilated surface of gravel, immediately in front of a portico,
always conveys the idea of confinement, and of the front or entrance-court to
a town mansion. The width of the approach road is supposed to be 15 ft., in
consequence of which two carriages may pass each other with ease without
going off the gravel; and, in the case of a large party, 50 or 100 carriages
might wait round the oval, and any one of them be called out to take up
company, without the slightest derangement to the others. All that is neces-
sary for this purpose is, that all the carriages in waiting round the oval should
stand along dºne side of the road, leaving the other side free for each carriage,
as it is wanted, to turn out of the line and drive up to the door of the house.
304. The ground plan of the house and of the offices, of the conservatory
(l), and gardener's house (m), we shall leave to be determined on by the
architect, only stipulating that their precise position, as indicated in the plan,
shall not be altered; and that there be the proper drainage to a main sewer,
commenced at the house, and conducted in a right line through the kitchen
and other courts, and through the reserve garden, to the boundary fence, with
manure tanks in the reserve garden (see p. 160.); and that over the stables,
or in some conspicuous part of the offices, there be a handsome turret clock,
the dial of which may be seen from the windows of the kitchen, and from
those of the gardener's living and sleeping-rooms; and from the forcing-
ground.
305. Mode of concealing the offices.—The position of the house (a) and
the kitchen-garden (b) being fixed on, the most convenient situation for the
offices, as we have already observed, is between them; and to disguise these
offices, or, at least, the courts belonging to them in which the business of
each office is carried on, nothing can be more convenient than garden struc-
tures, or garden scenery. In the more ordinary cases, a shrubbery may thus
serve to disguise the offices, and connect the house with the kitchen-garden;
120
| TITITITIIITIII
H |T|TālūT

COUNTRY WIT.L.A.S. 209
but, in cases where more art and expense are employed, like that before uS,
instead of the shrubbery, there may be a conservatory of an architectural
character, to harmonise with the house; and, adjoining that, either a conser-
vative wall, with or without a glazed veranda, or a wall with a common
veranda. The conservative wall is supposed to be covered with the finer
kinds of woody plants, and the supports of the veranda with climbers and
creepers. Through this wall, whether conservative or common, there may be
private entrances for the master and mistress to the stable-court and poultry-
yard, as indicated in fig. 120., which shows the plan of the offices on a larger
scale. In this plan, a is the entrance-portico to the house; b, the drawing-
room, with three windows at one end (opening down to the floor, and serving
also as doors), which look into the conservatory. In this there is a broad
walk down the middle (c), terminating with a door in the centre of a semi-
circular end, outside of which are steps descending to a circular basin and
fountain, beyond which is the walk (e) in front of the conservative wall (ff).
Instead of a basin and fountain, a circular stage of stone steps for containing
greenhouse plants in the summer season, may terminate in the centre in a
sundial, such as fig. 121.; and in that case the
basin and fountain may be transferred to the centre
of the flower-garden. The kind of fountain there
used may resemble fig. 122. This walk terminates
in an archway (i), which forms the main entrance
to the kitchen-garden; and in the angle at the
right is the flower-garden (l), which is also shown
in the same position at k, in fig. 119. There is a
walk at k, in fig. 120., communicating with the
other parts of the pleasure-ground. There is an
open loggia with a seat, opposite the fountain; and
on each side of this loggia is a small door, the one
forming an entrance for the mistress to the poultry-
yard, and the other an entrance for the master to
the stables: here are also summer water-closets.
In the reserve garden, the hot-houses and pits are
shown at m ; and the open area for composts,
manure, &c., at n : o is the gardener's kitchen ;
p, his living-room; and q his private garden, near
which are a fuel-shed and a privy : r is the
entrance to the stable-court, in which, at t, there
is the private entrance, mentioned above, from the
loggia. The stables, the two coach-houses, and a
privy for the men-servants, are shown to the right and left of h. Here also
is the fireplace to the flues in the conservative wall. The poultry-court is
shown at s; and at u, the private entrance to it from the loggia. The poultry-
yard is supplied with water from the overflowing of the basin and fountain,
carried to it under ground. The poultry have access to the stable-court through
a small opening in the wall, that can be closed at pleasure; and to the open
lawn and the kitchen-court, through other similar openings. The entrance
to the kitchen-garden is shown at ; ; and there is also a servants’ entrance
from the approach. Part of the branch road leading to the stables is shown at
w; part of the approach, at a ; and part of the sweep round the oval, at y,
P

210 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R. -
306. The conservative wall (ff) should not be a common erection, pre-
senting only a flat perpendicular surface and a horizontal line at top; it may
have piers at regular distances, terminating in caps surmounted by vases,
above the height of the wall, but arranged in form and proportion, so as to
harmonise with the conservatory and the house. In the case of a Gothic or an
Elizabethan building, these piers and their terminating ornaments should, of
course, vary accordingly. Instead of piers, the face of the wall might be
broken by arched recesses; and, while a more delicate kind of plant was
trained against that part of the wall which formed the back of each recess, a
more hardy sort might be trained against the projections between them. We
have seen a wall of this sort at Genoa, on which all the recesses were covered
with roses, and the piers with ivy; the effect of which was beautiful, as the
roses continued in flower throughout the year. The same effect might be
produced in England, by having the wall flued, and protected by matting

o COUNTRY WILLAS. 211
during severe weather. Where the style was Gothic, the wall might be
covered with a series of piers and intersecting arches; and, if the piers and
imposts of the arches were covered with ivy, and the rest of the wall with
deciduous plants, the effect, more particularly in winter, would be very strik-
ing. An excellent plan for varying such a wall is, to form the ground plan
in a zigzag line, with piers at the angles; in which case, the length of each
angle may be 10 ft., and the deviation from a straight line from 2 ft. to 3 ft.
In going along the walk in front of such a wall, one series of angles would
meet the eye; and in returning, another series. Another plan is, to have the
wall straight, and a temporary or permanent roof projecting from it. In this
case, if the roof were permanent, it ought to be composed of glazed sashes,
which might be taken off in the summer season, and used for growing melons,
leaving the pillars and rafters which supported the sashes, as fixtures; and
these might be covered with rapidly-growing climbing plants. Such a roof
ought to extend over the walk, in order that the latter may be used during
rainy weather in summer; and that, during the most severe frosts in winter,
it may afford a somewhat more temperate place for taking exercise than in
the open air. The most complete glazed veranda of this kind would be one
where the whole of the skeleton framework, as well as the sashes, might be
removed in summer, without leaving any marks to disfigure the scene, and
replaced every autumn. A temporary veranda, in which the framework is to
be covered with hurdles clothed with thatch, or with canvas fixed to frame-
work or oiled paper, forms a very good protection for plants while in their
dormant state; but requires to be removed much sooner in spring when they
begin to grow, than a glass roof; because, when the plants begin to grow
under an opaque roof, they become etiolated and blanched for want of light.
In general, conservative walls should be flued, in order to give the gardener
the power of assisting the ripening of the wood in autumn; and, in this case,
the fireplace might be conveniently situated behind the wall, as indicated in
the plan fig. 120., at g, where it is placed in the corner of the stable build-
ings. A conservative wall may often form one of the sides of a range of
office buildings; and this is the case with a part of the wall we are now
describing, which forms the side wall to the stable (t) and coach-house (h).
307. The conservatory, it will be observed, has a south-east aspect; while
the conservative wall, and the forcing structures (m) in the reserve garden,
front directly to the south. By turning to the plans figs. 107. to 116., it will be
seen that the distant views from the lawn front of the house, and from the
walk in front of the conservative wall, are equal to any obtained from other
parts of the grounds. Several designs for conservatories will be given in an
after part of this work.
308. The situation of the circular flower-garden at k in fig. 119, and l in
fig. 120., is good in every point of view. It is completely sheltered from the
north and east by the conservative wall and the kitchen-garden wall; and the
side next the south is open for the free admission of the sun and air through-
out the year. The walk from the flower-garden along three sides of the kit-
chen-garden, and leading to the point n, is made straight, and parallel to the
walls; being, as we consider it, governed in direction by the latter. The
space between the wall and the walk is a border, which may either be devoted
to ornamental shrubs and flowers, the wall being covered with half-hardy
ligneous plants; or it may be planted with culinary vegetables, and the wall
P 2
212 THE WILLA GARDENER. sº
covered with fruit-trees. In either case, the exterior space is supposed to be
turf, varied with trees and shrubs. The subdivision of the kitchen-garden
into compartments, by walks 6 ft. broad, is so obvious an arrangement as to
require no remark. The walls we shall suppose to be of brick, 12 ft. high,
and built hollow. The two walls which form the ends, having each one side
facing the south, may be flued. At 0 is a rustic building of an architectural
character, so as to be ornamental, which serves as 'a shed in which various
articles may be kept, that are required in the pleasure-ground, and partly also
in the kitchen-garden. Among these are hurdles for dividing the lawn, or
hurdling off portions to be fed by sheep; portable racks, mangers, &c., for
feeding sheep and lambs in winter and spring; trees which have been
thinned out, and are to be cut up at a convenient season, for poles, or sticks
for peas, and other uses; reed-hurdles, canvas and oiled-paper frames, &c., for
protecting fruit-trees, and the plants on the conservative wall; and, in short,
all articles required in the garden, which are too bulky or numerous to be
kept in the reserve ground.
309. The pleasure-ground walk, from the point n to p in fig. 119., is to be
lowered by forming an artificial winding hollow, or valley, and placing the
walk in the bottom of it. At p, this hollow is supposed to be so much below
the level of the approach road as to admit of the walk in it being carried
under the road through a tunnel. Both sides of this artificial hollow are
intended to be densely clothed with evergreens, to prevent any person on the
walk from seeing any object on the approach, or discovering that he is at all
near it; and also to prevent the sunk wall from being seen by persons driving
along the approach. The direction of the tunnel under the road must be
perfectly straight, in order that the light may penetrate freely through it;
for, if bent so as to obstruct the direct passage of the light, it would appear
dark and gloomy while entering from either end. The arch may be of brick
or stone, set in cement; and it may be covered with a coating of clay, or of
asphaltic mastic, so as to prevent the surface water from sinking into it. The
interior of the arch, if built of stone, may have open irregular joints, in the
rustic manner; and something of the same sort may be effected in brickwork,
if the arch be first built in the usual manner, but with an extra half brick in
thickness, and the soffit afterwards blocked out with the aid of cement so as
to resemble large stones, and weather-stained so as to imitate an arch of
great antiquity beginning to decay; or the bricks which form the soffit of the
arch may remain of their natural colour, but be broken and stained in such a
manner as to imitate great age. Both extremities of the arch may terminate
in irregular masses of stone, or with vitrified brick, placed according to art,
as a finish: but great taste and judgment are required, not to overdo this
part of the structure. Above all things, in tunnels of this description, let no
attempt ever be made to communicate a grotto-like character, by lining the
arch with spars, shells, stalactites, &c., as if it were intended for a place to
linger in, and contemplate these, and other grotto-like or hermitage-like
objects. In short, no attempt ought to be made to give the tunnel the appear-
ance of being anything else than what it is (that is, an archway thrown over a
sunk walk), except with reference to age. The older such an arch appears.
to be, provided there be no indication of insecurity or rapid decay, the less
objection is likely to be made to its use, by a stranger, as a place for a walk
to pass through. Whatever is very old, and at the same time very strong
coustRY VILLAs. 213
and secure, commands so much respect on account of these qualities, that
other points are not thought of: we cannot hesitate to use a passage that has
apparently been so often traversed by others before us; and that we may
fancy has been only made for the convenience of exploring what lies beyond.
Were such a tunnel to appear to be constructed of raw brick, or stone newly
dug from the quarry, the question would arise in the mind of a stranger, why
it had become necessary; and suspicions might arise as to some trick or
deception about to be played off; or that some advantage had been taken in
the way of making the place appear larger or better than it really is.
310. Supposing the subsoil to be very wet, and incapable of being drained to
any great depth, then, instead of conducting the walk under the approach in
a tunnel, we would carry it over the road on a bridge. In this case, the
approach road should be placed in the bottom of a hollow, and the bridge
should be sufficiently wide to allow of a plantation being made on each side
of the road over it, so as to conceal the approach from the spectator on the
walk. In short, the approach should appear rather to pass through a short
tunnel than under a bridge; and the same remarks as to age, dryness, light,
strength, &c., will apply, as in the case of the sunk tunnel for the walk.
Many persons, in such a case as this, would propose to carry the walk over
the approach road, on some kind of iron bridge; perhaps even one on the
suspension principle; but such bridges, though excellent in themselves, and
admirably adapted for useful purposes, are the very reverse of rural or pic-
turesque. Their lightness does not at all harmonise with the forms of trees
and shrubs, and of the rough surface of their trunks and stems; and the asso-
ciations connected with iron and its manufacture are much more at variance
with rural life than those which arise from the works of the builder or car-
penter, to which mankind have been accustomed from the most remote ages.
Where it is desired that the grounds of a residence should appear truly rural
and picturesque, we would allow of no iron gates, iron hurdles, or wire fences;
much less of tree guards of iron, iron seats and benches, iron trelliswork, iron
stakes for plants, &c. Where, however, a high degree of elegance and finish
was to be joined to the picturesque, such as near the house, we would allow
of a wire fence, to separate the lawn from the park, paddock, or sheep walk;
and, for grand mansions, castles, and palaces, we would admit of highly
wrought entrance gates; but this is as far as we could go. Of course, we do
not object to iron in the construction of verandas, glazed structures, &c.,
where it assumes an architectural character, and is, besides, disguised, so as
to appear like wood. Our principle is, that we object to iron, where, from
the form of the article, the material of which it is composed is obvious to the
eye of every spectator; and, consequently, its use interferes with rural and
picturesque beauty.
311. A rustic seat.—From q in fig. 119. p. 207., where the walk emerges
from the tunnel, it gradually rises till we arrive at the seat r. From this seat,
which may be a rustic thatched structure, in the manner of fig. 123., with a
wall behind, and open arches in front supported on rustic pillars, a good view
of the entrance front of the house is obtained, which will have a somewhat
striking effect upon a stranger, his last view of it having been the very oppo-
site side, viz. the conservatory front. The construction of this seat is as
follows:—The whole of the ground on which it stands, being dug out to the
depth of 2 ft., is filled in, to within 6 in. of the surface, with concrete; or with
214 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
chalk and flints, or gravel, rammed hard, and finished with a level surface.
On this are raised the bases of the rustic pillars which support the roof, which
bases should each consist of a single stone; or, if it is wished to be economical,
of brickwork, which will reach as high as the intended surface of the floor,
and be there covered with a square or an octagonal paving-tile. On these
123
plinths the rustic columns are placed, and connected temporarily at top by
strips of deal nailed to their sides. The columns, or props, for the back part
of the structure, will be placed upon projecting plinths, from one continued
plinth: because they are not intended to be seen on the inside, and to appear
detached only an inch or two from the wall on the outside. Standards must
now be raised, so as to form the skeleton for the solid part of the back wall;
and this skeleton must first be covered with thin boards on both sides. This
being done, the columns all round the structure are to have caps placed on
them, consisting of squared blocks of wood, somewhat longer than the nine-
inch tile which formed the plinth below, but of the same width. On these,
skeleton arches are to be constructed, and afterwards a skeleton roof. The
roof, on the inside, is to be clothed with thin boards, so as to form the interior
of a cone; and on the outside with laths, so as to render the exterior of the
same shape. The next step is to clothe the exterior of the cone with reeds or
thatch, as in the figure. The interior being now secured from rain, the floor
may be paved with pebbles, or with sections of the trunks of trees placed
endwise, or with brick-bats placed on end; and the interior of the back wall
may be covered with strips of wood, of such kinds as have a thin bark, such
as hazel, birch, &c., disposed as in the figure. The exterior of this wall may
be clothed with rough bark, such as that of the oak, covered with lichens,
moss, &c. The soffits of the arches should also be covered with strips
of smooth-barked trees, with the bark on ; as should the whole of the interior
of the cone, which forms the ceiling. There remains only to fix the seat,
which is a simple bench, attached to the wall behind, and with supports in
front.

COUNTRY WILLAs. 215
Fig. 124 is another de-
sign for a rustic seat of the
same general character, but
on a smaller scale, and more
elaborately finished. The
lower part of the bonnet
roof, instead of being of
thatch, is of strips of wood
with the bark on, closely
joined, so as to exclude
rain. The seat is also more
elaborately finished.
312. Doric Temple. –
From r, infig. 119., p. 207.,
the walk proceeds along an
uniform surface to sº; where
there may be constructed
in stone, or brick covered
with cement, a Doric temple, or any other building that the proprietor
may think desirable. We have mentioned a Doric temple, because that
order requires less ornament than any other, and because it admits of the
interior being fitted up as a good room. This room might be a billiard-room,
or a place for occasionally drinking tea or dining in; or for a children's party,
or a dance; or for stationing a band of music in, on extraordinary occasions;
or it might be a place for statues, minerals, models, or other objects in which
the proprietor was curious. Instead of one large room, there might be two
open porticoes, back to back, with a small room between them communicating
with both ; in which case, the portico of the end next the house would make
a good object to be seen from the windows; while from a seat in it would be
obtained an excellent view of the conservatory front of the house; and the
seat in the other portico, at the back, would command the interesting distant
prospects indicated in figs. 111. to 114., p. 202, 203.
313. The walk is continued from s, in fig. 119., p. 207., till it joins that
round the kitchen-garden at t, thus completing the tour of the place. It
would have been easy to increase the number of walks, and to conceal them
from one another by strips of evergreens in some places, and by raised mounds
of turf in others; but we have preferred a comparatively simple style for
laying out this place, and have indicated no more walks than what are likely,
under common management, to be kept in good order. We have carefully
avoided laying down any branch walks from the circumferential walk parst,
towards the approach, the house, or the flower-garden; not only because we
wished to preserve the breadth of effect of the lawn (which we consider, when
combined with the concealment of the boundaries by planting, as the best
means of giving dignity and extent to a place), but also because we wished
to keep an uninterrupted glade of turf from d to w, by u, v, and w, for those
to take exercise in who prefer turf to gravel for walking on; and also as a
place where children may learn to ride. (See the open spaces among the
trees in the plan fig. 125.) We have shown no walk from y to 2, leaving that
situation as a fit place for an archery-ground, should one be thought
desirable.
314. The width of all the walks in the pleasure-ground we propose to be

216 THE WILLA GARDENER,
6ft.; and we have already given directions for their execution in the best
manner. (See p. 53., and Garden Operations.)
315. Planting.—The general disposition of the trees and shrubs is exhibited
in the plan fig. 125. ; but it remains for us to indicate the distribution of the
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leading genera. The first point which deserves to be noticed is, that, in
order to harmonise the wood within the ring-fence with the trees in the
hedgerows or strips beyond it, a few trees should be planted within, of the
same kinds as those without. For example, in fig. 125., there are elms in
two narrow slips beyond the boundary at a ; and, therefore, there must be a
few elms of the same kind scattered among the other trees within. At b,
there are some Lombardy poplars in the foreground of the exterior scene; and,
therefore, two or three of the same species are planted within the boundary.
At c, there are some sweet chestnuts without; and, consequently, some are
planted in the interior. From d to e, there is an extensive plantation of
larches in the exterior scenery; and, therefore, to appropriate this plantation
to the newly-formed residence, a good many larches must be planted
in the enclosed grounds. At f, the exterior plantation is a natural oak
wood; and, therefore, Quércus pedunculata and Q. sessiliflóra are the pre-
vailing trees in the interior. In some cases, it may not only be desirable
to have the same sorts of trees on both sides of the ring-fence, but
even to allow portions of the old hedgerows, with the trees in them,
to remain in the improved grounds, in order to harmonise what is within
with what is without; but this kind of treatment should never be attempted,
except where its effect in appropriating the adjoining grounds, as well as
in harmonising the general landscape as a whole, will be such as to silence
























COUNTRY WILLAS. 217
all objections. All the trees introduced for the purpose of harmonising the
interior of the ring-fence with the scenery without, in such a case as that
before us, need not exceed 50 or 60; and it will most commonly happen that
these may already exist in the condemned hedgerows, or in scattered groups
in the fields, as is the case, to a considerable extent, in the plan fig. 105.,
p. 199. The trees in the old hedgerows which it may be thought advisable
to save, will only want to be freed from the thorns and other hedge plants
(except a few left to group with them), and to have the ground about them
levelled down and smoothed. The groups already existing may either be
thinned out or added to, as may be found requisite.
316. It may be here observed, that, in the geometric style of laying out
grounds, the mode of harmonising a residence with the surrounding country
was, by the projection into it of a continuation of those avenues and lines of
trees which formed part of the residence. This implied the possession of the
grounds beyond the park fence; and, when this is the case in the modern
style, a few groups without the boundary fence, of the same kind of trees as
those within, will effect the same object. This used to be frequently done
when a park or parks were surrounded by a common: and Hounslow Heath was
formerly chumped, for the sake of the adjoining country seats of Syon, Syon
Hill, &c.; as Cobham Common was, to appropriate it, in the eye of exclusive
taste, to Claremont and Esher.
317. All the foreign trees and shrubs that are to be introduced in order to
complete this residence, we intend to plant without fences, and to place at
such distances as that they will not require any thinning for at least ten
years. The ground on which these are to be planted is supposed to be
thoroughly trenched and drained, and even, where necessary, manured,
before planting it; so that the trees and shrubs cannot fail to thrive rapidly.
During the growth of these trees, we would not allow any grass or weeds to
grow within several feet of their stems; but, at the same time, we would not
dig the surface, but only hoe it, to destroy the weeds, and fork up the soil to
the depth of three or four inches, to render it a conductor of heat and
moisture, and to admit air to the fibrous roots which rise up near the surface.
We would not, during the same period, prune off any of the side branches,
except such as had begun to decay, leaving each tree and shrub to assume its
natural shape.
318. Some will imagine that a plantation in which the trees are at such a
distance apart will appear thin ; and this, we allow, will be the case for two or
three years at first; but in the fourth year, in consequence of the lateral
branches extending themselves, there will be an appearance of richness and
massiveness in such a plantation, which plantations as thick as they are
generally made never acquire at any age. There is not a greater mistake,
nor one more commonly made by practical gardeners, no less than by
amateurs, than that of planting thick, with a view to producing a dense mass
of foliage that shall not be seen through; and which shall thus become a
screen to objects which it is desired to conceal. On the contrary, the true
and only mode of producing a dense mass of trees or shrubs is, to plant so
thinly as to admit of each tree or shrub becoming clothed with branches from
the ground upwards. A plantation of this kind, of only two trees or shrubs
in depth (the plants being inserted alternately), will, as soon as their branches
touch, form an effectual screen; whereas a plantation of scores of trees in
218 THE WILLA GARDENER.
depth, if the plants are so close together as to draw one another up, and leave
the stems without side branches, will be everywhere seen through. Any one
may have a proof of this in the strips of plantations along road-sides, made to
shut out the public road from gentlemen's parks or pleasure-grounds. At the
distance at which the house is placed, the road is concealed from its windows
by the heads of the trees; but the spectator riding along the road sees
through between their stems without any difficulty. The immense masses of
wood in Kensington Gardens being without undergrowth, and never having
been thinned, are seen through in every direction, though some of them are
a thousand feet in depth; and thus (now that the old yew hedges planted by
London and Wise have been cut down) there is not a single space on which
the imagination can rest throughout the whole of these extensive grounds.
A plantation which is thinly planted has this other great advantage; viz. that,
while it cannot be seen through, it can be seen into : its margin, instead of
being a line of naked stems, forms a succession of prominences and recesses,
each varied more or less in form, and in light and shade; and thus constituting
a rich and varied boundary, instead of a meagre and monotonous one. There
is scarcely any point which we are more anxious to impress on the minds of
our readers, than the necessity of planting trees and shrubs thinly, and of
thinning out afterwards, as the trees advance in growth, so as, in general, to
keep them clothed from the ground upwards; and always to do so when the
object is concealment. As, however, in spite of all that can be said on the
subject, many persons have an insurmountable objection to the appearance of
a thinly-planted plantation, it may be avoided, by planting trees between
those which are to remain, not as nurses, but of a smaller size than the others,
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the appearance of bareness is avoided, and yet the trees are kept at the
necessary distance asunder.
319. With respect to the distribution of the kinds of trees, setting out from
the natural oak wood (f in fig. 125. in p. 216), we would introduce, from
that point to the entrance lodge, and along both sides of the approach road
from the entrance lodge to the house, all the different species and varieties of
Quércus that would grow freely in the given locality. All the evergreen
varieties of Quércus Cérris we would make use of over the tunnel, and on
both sides of the hollow of which the tunnel walk forms the bottom ; and all
the other evergreen oaks, such as Quércus I'lex, the cork tree, &c., we would
introduce next the house; partly because these species will not grow so high
as to overpower it, and partly to vary the appearance of the domestic offices.
As secondary trees, we would introduce along the approach the maples and
sycamores, which will contrast well with the oaks with which they are
mingled, from the earliness of their foliage and flowers, and from the interest-
ing nature of both in many species. Along with the oaks and acers, we would
also plant a few spring-flowering trees, such as the ornamental crab trees,
laburnums, and amelanchiers, to add to the gaiety of the scene at that season;
some summer-flowering trees, such as the different kinds of horse chestnut,
pavias, and robinias, to give beauty during summer; and some of the autumn
showy fruit-bearing kinds, such as the large-fruited thorns, Pyrus Sörbus, Pyrus
hybrida, &c.; so as to produce a rich appearance at that season. We would
introduce no shrubs along this approach, except such as the holly, the yew,
and the box, which, as they grow up, take the character of low trees. The
box trees should be most numerous near the house; and the hollies and yews




































































































220 THE WILLA GARD ENER,
over the tunnel and along the banks of the sunk walk. None of these trees
and shrubs should be planted nearer to one another, or to the road, than from
10 ft. to 15 ft.; but the common and Turkey oaks may be as much as 20 or
30 feet apart at planting; and no nurse trees whatever ought to be planted
along with them, however bleak the situation, for the following reasons, and
others already given in. p. 177. The ground being trenched and in good
heart, and having neither weeds nor nurses to extract the nourishment from
the soil, the trees will grow with extraordinary vigour; and, being exposed to
the light, air, and wind, on every side, will become bushy vigorous plants,
capable of resisting violent winds, from whatever direction they may come.
If drawn up by nurses, they will attain a given height in a shorter period;
but, being deprived by the nurse of a great part of the nutriment contained
in the soil, and also precluded by the same false friend from enjoying the
light and air on the sides, they will be without lateral strength or beauty.
Hence, a long period of stagnation occurs in all plantations that have been
forced forward by nurses, as soon as these are withdrawn, and the trees are
left to be weaned by time and the weather.
320. In the south-east angle, where accident has placed a number of larches,
we would introduce all the species of the pine and fir tribe that could be
admitted in a place of this extent; distributing them along the southern
boundary, among a few deciduous trees and shrubs, for the sake of harmony,
and also along the eastern boundary, in the same manner, and for the same
reason. The trees that are scattered on the lawn we would have chiefly of
the low or middling-sized kinds, in order that they might not interfere with
the dignity of the house. Among these we would include all the species and
varieties of tree thorns, all the crabs, a number of fruit trees of the kinds most
ornamental in blossom and in fruit; and, in short, all the trees belonging to
the order Rosâceae. In this way, we would, in this residence of ten acres,
include every species and variety of tree and shrub that would endure the
open air in the given climate; being careful to admit only a few of such kinds
as grow very rapidly, or to a great height; such as some species of poplar
and willow, and some varieties of the English elm. Of these very rapid-
growing lofty trees, there are about a score which it might, perhaps, be as
well to omit altogether in a place like this, of small extent and nearly flat.
With respect to the distribution of all the other trees, we have already
(p. 176.) laid down the general principles; and it ought to be the business of
the landscape-gardener, in a case like the present, to mark the situation of
every particular tree and shrub, with its name, on a ground plan; but such a
plan (of which a specimen is given in fig. 42., in p. 96.) would obviously, in
the present case, be much too large for our pages. We cannot, however, too
strongly impress it on the mind of the reader, that a working-plan, indicating
the precise situation of every tree and shrub, is essential in every small place,
where the object is to lay it out to the greatest advantage. Even an expe-
rienced landscape-gardener, when laying out a small villa, without such a
guide, will be liable to err, by admitting too many of one species or variety,
and too few, perhaps, of another; by omitting some altogether, and by plant-
ing others in wrong situations. In short, the mature consideration which is
required for the landscape-gardener, before he can make a proper working
plan for the plantations, is one of the greatest securities, not only to the pro-
prietor, but to the artist himself, for the maintenance of due proportion
º,
COUNTRY WILLAS. 221
among the kinds of trees employed, and for the general taste of the place, as
far as trees are concerned. Another advantage of having the situation of
every particular tree and shrub marked on the plan, with a corresponding
list of their names, is, that no nurseryman or jobbing gardener, who may be
employed to execute the planting, can have any pretence for sending in more
trees, or trees and shrubs of other sorts, than are indicated in the plan;
unless, indeed, as is often the case, the nurseryman or jobbing gardener pre-
tends to improve the plan of the landscape-gardener, and having, by dint of
perseverance and talking, got the ear of his employer, the latter is prevailed
on, for quiet's sake, to yield to the proposed alterations, and to admit trees
and shrubs in such quantities as, in some cases, entirely to destroy the effect
which the landscape-gardener intended to produce. It is well known that,
in all new plantations, especially in those made in the grounds of small
country residences, the plants are now generally put in so thick as almost to
touch each other, or at the rate of six or eight thousand plants per acre, even
of trees alone; whereas, according to the mode of planting which we recom-
mend, the number per acre, when trees alone are employed, will scarcely ever
amount to a thousand; and, when shrubs alone are planted, to not more than
between two and three thousand, according to the small or large size which
the kinds will attain when fully grown, or the rapidity of their growth when
young. Another advantage of this mode of wide planting is, that no thinning
will be required for several years afterwards: and every landscape-gardener
knows that the effect of the plantations, in nine tenths of newly-made places,
is most materially injured by the neglect which generally takes place in thin-
ning. When thinning is neglected after the branches of the trees touch each
other, the plants are drawn up as if they were in a nursery. In a few years
the more tender kinds are choked; and the coarser kinds, filling up the space
thus left, are, in their turn, drawn up; so that, at the end of fifteen or twenty
years, the whole presents a mass of naked stems, with diminutive tops; and,
if thinning is then had recourse to, the results are hideous, at first, in regard
to effect; and, after one or two seasons, from the wind and weather being
admitted where they never were before, they are destructive to the trees;
which either gradually decay, and at last die standing, or are blown down
by the first violent storm of wind.
321.—The planting of the kitchen-garden with fruit trees and shrubs may
be considered as having been treated of in preceding pages; particularly in
p. 75, to which we now refer the reader.
322. Execution.—All that we have said hitherto may be considered as only
committed to paper in the form of plans, and a report, for the consideration
of the proprietor and his family. When these are approved of the next step
is to carry them into execution. This is sometimes done by contract, and
sometimes by the proprietor employing his own workmen, under the direction
of a competent manager; but, most frequently, partly in one way and partly
in the other. The house, offices, lodge, garden walls, and, in general, all
that belongs to architecture, may be done by contract; provided a respectable
and responsible builder is engaged as the contractor, and not beaten down to
the lowest price by competition. The architect who designed the buildings
should, of course, have the general inspection of the work as it is going on; and
there should be a clause in the agreement between the contractor and the pro-
prietor, that alterations or deviations from the plan may be made according to
222 THE WILLA GARDENER,
separate and specific agreements, without invalidating the general contract
entered into at first. Many persons, from good motives, or from a view to
economy, employ a carpenter or builder in a small way, whom they wish to en-
courage, to carry buildings into execution; but there cannot be a greater error.
Tradesmen in a small way of business are generally deficient in capital; and,
not having a stock of seasoned materials by them, they never can do justice
to the work. The charges of such persons are, also, very frequently higher
than those of first-rate builders. We could give the history of many houses
in the neighbourhood of London, which have cost from 500l. to between
30,000l. and 40,000l., and have been built in this manner; and for doing which
the owners have bitterly repented ever afterwards. We know one gentleman
who, on his own judgment, aided by that of his carpenter and bricklayer,
laid out upwards of 40,000l. in endeavouring to execute a plan for a mansion,
received from a first-rate architect; but, in doing this, not thoroughly under-
standing the construction of a certain dome over a saloon, it has become
depressed at one part of the sides, and admits rain at the haunches of the
arch. Another gentleman commenced the building of a house on the day-
work system, which, if it be ever completed, will cost him three times more
than he ever contemplated laying out. B., a wealthy merchant about to
retire, employed, to build a country house, a very worthy carpenter, who had
married his wife's maid, and also had become a master in a small way: but,
whether from not having supplied him regularly with ready money, or
from some other cause with which we are unacquainted, certain it is, that
unseasoned timber was used in the partitions, roof, and floors; and a very
warm summer, that of 1826, happening soon after the house was finished
and taken possession of the whole of the partitions shrank and twisted to
such a degree, as to produce large rents in the plaster. The carpenter endea-
voured to persuade his employer that the foundations of the walls had given
way; but this was too palpable an absurdity to be credited by any one. The
rents in the plaster of the partitions were filled up with putty in some places,
and with stucco in others; but they are still conspicuous, and must necessa-
rily remain so till the lath and plaster are stripped off, and the stud-work
reclothed. The whole of the boarded floors in this house shrank so much,
that they were obliged to be twice taken up and relaid; and all the ceilings
are cracked. Another merchant in a smaller way, a few years ago, built a
house in the country, which cost him 2000l., and employed a very respectable
jobbing carpenter that he had confidence in, from having been long accus-
tomed to employ him in petty jobs in town; but confidence is often the result
of habit, want of inquiry, or indolence; and this confidence may be deserved
by an individual in one point, or in several, and yet not be applicable to all
that that individual will, or is even entitled to, undertake. In this case, the
London carpenter and joiner, who could procure whatever credit was want-
ing for the execution of little jobs that he executed from time to time, under
the immediate eye, it may be said, of his timber-merchant, could not so
readily do this in the case of a more extensive contract for an erection in the
country, where he had never before been employed; and where, as his timber-
merchant well knew, if his employer did not, he had to purchase his experience,
and that necessarily at the expense of others, from having himself nothing
to lose. Whatever may have been the cause or causes, chalk lime, instead of
stone lime, was employed for the outside walls, and unseasoned timber for the
COUNTRY WILLAS. 223
carpentry of the house, as well as for the joinery. The joints of the brick-
work were soon obliged to be raked out, and filled in with tuck and puck ;
and there is not a single door in the house that has not shrunk and twisted;
nor a window-sash that does not rattle in the frames with the slightest breeze.
It is true there is no want of ventilation in this house, and there is not a
single chimney that does not draw well; but the causes which produce these
effects render the rooms so cold in winter, that they cannot be thoroughly
heated by the largest fires. In all the larger windows, the panes have been
cracked by the twisting of the sash-bars; and it is needless to say that the par-
titions and the floors are warped and rent, as in the preceding case. To employ
first-rate workmen, and supply them with ready money for purchasing all the
materials, is a mode often resorted to, under the idea of economy; but, how-
ever excellent and honest the workmen employed may be, and however well
they may be acquainted with the various details of house-building, they must
necessarily be without the experience of the master-builder, who has built
several houses of different sizes; and thus be liable to be wrong in judging of
what will suit. The persons selling the materials will also naturally keep their
best articles for their best customers; and thus the purchaser of small quantities
will not be able to get his materials either so good or so cheap. We acknow-
ledge that it seems hard to lay down rules which are calculated to prevent the
mechanic or tradesman who has no capital from ever bettering his condition;
but we cannot help it. We merely state facts, and the opinions which we have
formed on them. In another house, built under somewhat similar circum-
stances, in addition to these evils, more or less aggravated or alleviated, in
consequence of employing an ignorant plumber, all the lead on the roof of
the house, which was too thin, and was, consequently, raised, cracked, and
twisted by the heat of the sun, was obliged to be removed, and replaced by
lead of a thicker quality at the end of the third summer; and all the water-
closets were obliged to be altered. One of these, a self-acting patent one,
which cost double the usual expense, was rendered useless by the plumber's
attempting to improve its construction, while setting it up. On inquiry into
the history of this plumber, it was found that he had never been regularly
brought up to the business, but that, having failed in a totally different trade,
in another part of London, he had set up as a plumber on the faith of public
ignorance. In this manner many persons about the metropolis set up as petty
masters in businesses which they have never been regularly taught. Every
one knows that the occupations of coal-merchant, wine-merchant, publican,
and coffee-house-keeper, are universal resources to persons not regularly
brought up to any trade; but those of petty builders, plumbers, glaziers,
bricklayers, upholsterers, and a great variety of other trades and professions,
are also the resources of persons who have been unsuccessful in their original
pursuits. To these examples of bungled houses, we could add hundreds of
other cases, some of which would hardly be credited by our readers, which
have come under our observation during a period of nearly forty years,
all which time our attention has been constantly directed to the subjects
of building, planting, and gardening. We shall only add, that our decided
opinion is, that, whether a shed or a mansion is to be erected, the cheapest
mode, as well as the best, is to employ a first-rate builder.
323. The principal planting about the place, including the trenching and
levelling of the ground, the formation of the approach and walks, and also
224 THE VILLA GARDENER,
the laying out of the kitchen-garden, may be executed by contract, by
a respectable nurseryman. In general, however, whether in small or large
places, the work will be more carefully done, and not at much more expense,
by employing a first-rate head gardener, who is to be continued afterwards,
to manage the garden; and allowing him to execute the work, partly by let-
ting it out in small jobs, and partly by daywork. Trenching, digging drains,
excavating for roads or walks, and even smoothing and levelling, may all be
done by the job; and, wherever work can be thus executed, it is by far the
cheapest and best mode for the proprietor, and the most agreeable to the
workmen. Much, however, in this case, depends on the knowledge and
experience of the head gardener in letting out the work; and his attention in
seeing it properly executed.
324. Whether the buildings or the plantations ought to be commenced first,
is a question which admits of being variously answered, according to circum-
stances. Where the place is extensive, and much planting, wholly detached
from buildings, is required, all the plantations may be commenced two or
three years before the buildings; but, in the case of a place like that before
us, where the principal part of the planting is connected with the house and
offices, or the kitchen-garden, or borders the approach road, all the buildings
ought to be completed, at least exteriorly, before even the ground is levelled
or trenched for planting: even the cartage of materials to the house along
the approach road will endanger young trees bordering on it; and, therefore,
it is much better not to plant them till the road is made.
325. The first actual step in executing the buildings, more particularly the
house and offices, is to erect a temporary shed for the use of the carpenter and
other workmen, both as a place for working in, and to enable them to lock up
their tools, &c.; the next is to mark out the foundations, and to have them
excavated; and the third, which ought to go on at the same time as the first
and second, is the procuring and laying down materials. It may be worthy
of notice, that the first and the last workman connected with erecting any
building is the carpenter. He is required to construct skeleton squares or
triangles, before the ground is broken for the foundations, or a single brick
or stone can be laid, in order that the angles of the foundations may be truly
correct; and, as the building proceeds, he is employed in preparing and
placing the flooring, roofing, doors, windows, and interior fittings, to the last
step in joinery, viz., that of putting the finger-plates on the doors, after the
painting and papering have been finished. Hence it is that carpenters
(including under this term joiners) know more about the detail of executing
buildings than any other person connected with them, not even excepting the
architect; and hence, also, the carpenter, other circumstances being the same,
will invariably be found the most intelligent mechanic on an estate, as con-
nected with construction; as the gardener will generally be found the most
intelligent, as connected with cultivation. If the proprietor of a country
residence, therefore, find himself reduced so as to be only able to keep two
men to look after it, these two should be the carpenter and the gardener.
Remarks of this kind may, perhaps, be considered by some out of place;
but, this book being intended for those who have little or no previous know-
ledge of the subjects of which it treats, we think them likely to be useful;
and it is consistent with our plan to introduce them incidentally rather than
systematically.
SMALL COUNTRY WILLAS. 225
326. The walks, the situation of the trees, &c., are easily marked out on the
ground, by driving stakes or pins in the direction of the lines representing then
in the plan.—This is rendered easy by the squares already marked out and
indicated on the ground, and by stakes, with numbers on them, having been
driven in at the angles formed by the intersecting lines of the squares. If
these squares should not have been formed, or if the stakes indicating them
should have been taken up, or partly misplaced, then the squares ought to be
laid out afresh, remembering to keep the imaginary lines which form their
sides correctly north and south, and east and west.
SECTION II.
DESIGN's Foſt count RY VILLAs; witH THEIR PLANTING, culture,
AND RENOVATION.
327. Counrty villas may be divided into two classes, viz. small country
villas, which have no farm attached; and large country villas, which have a
small farm attached to them, or, at any rate, a paddock for feeding a cow or
a couple of horses. Of the first kind we shall give three or four imaginary
designs by Mr. Rutger, many years land-steward to Sir John St. Aubyn; and
one or two by Mr. Lamb, a well-known architect: after which we shall give
one or two designs of places actually in existence. Of the larger villas we
shall give very few examples which have not been actually executed.
Subsection I.--Small Country Villas.
328. Small country villas which have no fields attached to them, have
seldom very extensive pleasure-grounds; and therefore the principal differ-
ence between them consists in the various ways that may be adopted of laying
out their flower-gardens; for all kitchen-gardens must be very nearly alike,
and the shrubbery in a small place is nearly always only a belt. A very few
designs will, therefore, be sufficient to show the general style of villas of this
kind.
DESIGN XV.--To lay out a piece of ground, of a regular form, and two
acres in eatent, as a small country villa.
329. Ground plan.—Though this villa, figs. 128. and 129., is bounded by
straight lines, and, being rectangular, might form a portion of ground along
any road, yet the manner in which the buildings are disposed prevents it from
being considered as belonging to the class of suburban villas. The design is
by Mr. Rutger, and, like all that gentleman's ground plans, is remarkable for
convenience of arrangement.
“The ornamental part of this design,” Mr. Rutger observes, “may be
considered as in a mixed style, partly geometrical and partly irregular. The
approach is by a lodge entrance; and it passes on from the entrance door of
the house to the stable-yard, and out again into the public road. On the left
of the house are a conservatory and its fireplace, &c., hidden at the back by a
shrubbery. The wing on the right, also hidden by shrubs, is for the kitchen
offices. There are two private entrances from the main road, that on the left
Q
226 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
(a) for the family, and that on the right (c) for the domestics, with a private
walk to the latter from the kitchen offices. On the right of these offices is a
poultry-court (e), with entrances for the family at l, and for the domestics at
q, adjoining to which are the laundry and drying-ground (f), where a brew-
house or cider-house may also be constructed if required. The forcing garden
and reserve ground lie at the back of the stables, and may be entered from
the stable-yard, for the convenience of dung, &c., as well as from the kitchen-
garden and the gardener's house. The erections at the north of the reserve
ground are, a potting-shed, a cellar for mushrooms, &c., with fruit-rooms over,
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SMALL COUNTRY WILLAS. 227
and the gardener's house. The range for two forcing-houses, with a green-
house between, is placed against the wall on the south side of the kitchen-
garden, and approached in front by a walk from the lawn or pleasure-ground.
On the western front of the house is a colonnade, in front of which a terrace
walk extends on each side of the extremity of the lawn; on the verge of which
are small clumps and vases, or other ornamental devices, in alternate succes-
sion. On the farther side of the lawn are a pond with a fountain, and a
summer-house or billiard-room behind it. The small circles in the shrubbery
on each side of the summer-house, at r r, are intended for statues, or some
kind of ornamental structure.” See the isometrical view, fig. 129.
Mr. Rutger continues: “I beg here to observe, that, as a general principle,
I would not admit of walks crossing each other at right angles, or nearly so,
where it can possibly be avoided; and that, where it cannot, I should conceal
the angles formed by their intersections with shrubs, planted as closely as
possible to the walks. In the ground plan (fig. 128.), it will be perceived
that, on three sides or corners of the walks which cross each other at ss, this
principle is attended to; and that on the fourth side I have indicated a vase,
or something of that kind, for the sake of variety, though I think that shrubs
would be better.”
a, Carriage entrance from the Brighton road.
b, Private foot entrance for the family.
c, Private foot entrance for the domestics.
d, Stable-court, with coachman's lodgings over the harness-room; a three-stalled stable,
double coach-house, &c.
e, Poultry-yard, with a private entrance for the master and mistress at l, and an entrance
for domestics at q.
f, Laundry and drying-ground, in which there may be a brewhouse and a cider-mill, if
thought requisite.
g, Forcing and reserve ground, the range of building on the north side including the gar-
dener's house, mushroom-shed, and tool-house.
h, Peach-house and vinery, having a greenhouse between them, and behind the kitchen-
garden, in which are the sheds and furnaces.
i, Summer-house. k, Conservatory.
l, The family's private entrance to the poultry-yard; and through it to the laundry (f), or
to the stable-court (d).
m, Furnace-shed and potting shed for the conservatory; behind which is a water-closet;
the whole concealed from the entrance approach by evergreens. The water-closet is
entered by a concealed door in the back wall of the conservatory, and it has also another
door on the outside; SO that no person need come out by the same door by which he
went in.
n, Gardener's house, with an entrance from the public road, and another from the reserve-
ground.
o, Mushroom-cellar, with fruit-room over it. In this cellar may also be forced rhubarb,
chicory, &c.
p, Tool-house and poultry-shed..
The ice is supposed to be kept in one of the cellars under the right wing of the house.
330. Remarks.-There is scarcely a single point in this design that we
would wish to alter, with the exception of the termination of the terrace walk
at t in fig. 128. We would have this walk terminate either in an alcove, and
give up altogether the entrance in that quarter to the kitchen-garden; or we
would carry it on to the kitchen-garden wall, and terminate it there in an
archway, which should form an entrance to the kitchen-garden. The oppo-
Q 2
228 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
site end of the terrace walk, which, in the ground plan, is concealed by trees,
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has an architectural character harmonising with the house and conservatory.
Wherever straight walks are used in laying out grounds, one of the main
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230 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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SMALL COUNTRY WILLAS. 231
of art which is essential to this style of design. This rule is founded on the
principle of a sufficient reason; for why should a walk be continued along in
a straight line, unless it be for the purpose of arriving at some point or object
that it is desirable to go and see? The windings of walks also depend, or
ought to depend, on the same principle, viz. the recurrence of obstacles,
either natural or artificial, which prevent them from being made straight.
We go along a straight walk, in order to come at the object which is at the
end of it; and along a winding one, for the sake of observing the objects that
gradually develope themselves as one turn succeeds another. The straight
walk approaches its object in a direct and grand manner; the winding one
in a manner which is varied and graceful.
DESIGN XVI.-A villa of three acres in eatent, with a nearly regular outline.
331. Ground Plan.—In this design (figs. 130. and 131.), Mr. Rutger informs
us, “the house is approached by a lodge entrance (a), and the area in front
presents an oval: the carriage road to the stables (b) is from the road at the
north-east corner (c). At the north end of the house are the yards and build-
ings for the different offices, to be appropriated as it may be found expedient;
all of which may be entered from the road c, which leads from the main road
to the stables. On the west of the stables is a range of forcing-houses (d),
with potting-shed, &c., and gardener's room. At the back, and farther on,
is the frame-ground (e), from which the kitchen-garden (f) is entered; where
there is a pond, and also a cross wall, to give more room for fruit trees. It
will be observed that there is access to all these departments, from the stable-
yard (b), for the convenience of carting in dung, &c.; and, also, that the
offices and yards appertaining to them are all shut out of view from the house
by shrubs. On turning to the right from the west front of the house, a walk
(g) is opened to the stable-yard; and, farther on, a walk (h) leads into the
forcing-house department (d). The principal entrance to the kitchen-garden
(i) is in the centre, at the west end of the shrubbery. There is a pond with
a fountain (k) on the lawn, and, opposite to it, a summer-house (l). On the
south there is a side walk, which leads to a small flower-garden (m), enclosed
by a shrubbery, with a reading-room (n); and, on the north, nearly opposite,
is a conservatory (o), and an oval clump at its front on the lawn, with a walk
to communicate from the carriage entrance.”
DESIGN XVII.-For laying out a villa of three acres and a half, on a level
surface, with a first-rate house.
332. Ground plan.—For this design (figs. 132. and 133.) we are also
indebted to Mr. Rutger. “The house is approached from the south-west by
a lodge entrance (a), and, as the road indicates, the carriage returns to the
stables on the north-east of the premises. The coach-house (b), in this design,
is detached from the stables, at the back of which is a yard (c), which may
be made available for the dung, and, also, for compost for the frame and
forcing departments. In the frame-ground (d), adjoining to the stable-yard,
is a row of sheds, for the gardener's room and other purposes. The forcing-
houses (e) are at the back of the frames, separated by a yew hedge (f), which
also divides the frame-ground from the kitchen-garden (g), which is walled
on three sides, with an irregular slip (h) round as far as the walls and forcing-
houses extend. The offices (i) are placed at the south end of the house, and
hidden by a shrubbery, through which there are a back entrance (k), and also
a walk (l) to communicate with the out-door offices, such as the laundry (m),
THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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SMALL COUNTRY WILLAs. 235

234 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
poultry-court (n), brewhouse, &c. (o), of all of which the view is supposed to
be hidden from the house by the shrubs which form the boundary of the oval
area at the east front. The north end of the building (p) is supposed to be
the drawing-room, from which a covered way (q) leads to a conservatory (r),
in front of which is a flower garden, which may be entered either from the
covered way, or from the conservatory. From the covered way, on the right,
a walk (s) leads out to an aviary (t), and to a compartment for fancy fowls,
ducks, &c. (u), in which there is a building (v) to be appropriated according
to the wishes of the proprietor. On leaving the flower-garden, and turning
to the right, the walk leads through a covered way (w), wherein is a seat, and
opposite to it a piece of water. Proceeding onward, a summer-house (a) is
approached, situated so as to have a view of the whole length of the narrow
lawn at its front.”
333. The conservatory.—The ingenious manner in which the conservatory
is made to front the south, and is, at the same time, connected with the house
by the covered way, is worthy of notice. This covered way might be greatly
increased in interest, if the roof were glazed, and moveable sashes were
adapted to the spaces between the supports in front. These sashes might be
taken out, and those of the roof taken off, in the summer time, and used for
covering beds of cucumbers and melons. A part of the floor of this covered
way, next the back wall, should then be formed into a bed for plants, and
might contain a very fine assemblage of such of the Australian and Chinese
or Japan shrubs as bloom during winter or in early spring, or Cape heaths.
The pathway need not, in such a narrow building, be above 3 ft. broad; and
it should be carried along the front of the structure, in order that the eye
may look on the best side of the plants, which is always the side next the
light. Against each support, in front, a creeper may be planted, and trained
up it and across the rafter to the back wall. A long, narrow, and not very
high, conservatory of this kind is, doubtless, less grand and imposing than
one of larger dimensions, a view down the middle of which is seen from one
of the living-rooms; but it is calculated to afford much more enjoyment to
the lover of plants, as well as much more variety to the general observer;
because each plant is, as it were, passed before him in succession. The dif-
ference in the enjoyment produced by a long, narrow, and comparatively
low, winding green-house or conservatory, like the covered way shown in the
isometrical view (fig. 133.), and that produced by a rectangular one of large
dimensions, such as those commonly appended to first-rate mansions, does
not appear to us to be at all understood; or, at least, not to be sufficiently
impressed on the minds of proprietors of villa residences. The object
with such persons, when they propose to construct a green-house or conser-
vatory, is to have one which shall be considered large; and, hence, the fear
of the expense often deters them from enjoying this innocent luxury. Now,
a large conservatory, if it is architectural, forms a very handsome appendage
to a house; but, if it is not architectural, it injures the effect of the house,
by its resemblance to the common shed-like forcing-houses of the kitchen-
garden or of a nursery. This last kind of conservatory or green-house
attached to a house is, therefore, a deformity rather than a beauty; while
the other, though it is a grand architectural appendage, is only adapted to
first-rate mansions. On the other hand, a long narrow conservatory, such as
we have described, is equally adapted to the cottage and to the mansion ; and
SMALL COUNTRY WILLAs. 235
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236 THE WILLA GARDENER,
it costs much less in proportion to the space enclosed than the large structure;
while the plants, being nearer to the light, arrive at greater perfection; and,
being nearer to the eye of the spectator, are seen to greater advantage. An-
other advantage of a long narrow conservatory is, that it does not interfere
with the windows of the house; because, being narrow, it requires but a
small portion of wall for it to abut against, and may proceed from any door
or living-room window that may be convenient.
334. Remarks.-The apparent extent of this place might be greatly increased
by connecting the walk at y with that at z by a tunnel; but the practicability
and expediency of this will depend very much on the dryness of the subsoil.
The extent of the walks might, also, be considerably increased, by conducting
one from a , over or under the approach road near the entrance, and leading
it round the kitchen-garden on a glade of turf properly furnished with trees
and shrubs, and so in a tunnel, under the road to the offices, to z. Of course,
this arrangement would diminish the extent, and vary the position, of the
kitchen-garden; and it would require such an arrangement to be made at
i, k, and l, as not to have a tunnel longer than three or four yards. All this,
and many other arrangements of the kind, might be effected with the greatest
ease, and produce a very striking result, provided the subsoil were thoroughly
dry, and a little extra expense not objected to. In short, it may be held
as an axiom, in laying out villa gardens of from a quarter of an acre to
twenty acres and upwards, that their apparent extent to the stranger walking
through them may be doubled or trebled by judicious tunneling in some
places, and carrying the road or walk over bridges, through a ruin or rock-
work, or under an arcade or trellis-work, in others. Improvements of this
kind cannot be shown with much effect on paper; but in reality, when judi-
ciously executed, they have the effect of enchantment.
DESIGN XVIII.-For laying out a villa of four acres, with a regular outline.
335. Ground plan.—This villa (figs. 134. and 135.) is also by Mr. Rutger.
“The lodge entrance (a) is at the north-east corner: the road forms a sweep
to the house, and passes on to the stables, at the south-east corner. The
stable-yard (b) contains the stables, coach-house, and brewhouse; at the
north of which is placed the laundry, with its drying-yard (c). At the back
of the stable-court is a yard, in which are a place for the dung (d), a piggery
(e), and a mushroom-shed (f). The portion of the yard which contains the
mushroom-shed may be parted off at pleasure in a line with the coach-house,
as indicated by the dotted line g, and may, at the same time, form a place for
compost, or for mixing and turning dung. In the yard adjoining, south of
the frame-ground (h), is the gardener's room (i), which may be available,
also, if made large enough, for a fruit, seed, and onion-room. The melon-
ground (h) is supposed to contain three ranges of frames and a pit (j), and
also a forcing-house (k) at the back. There is another forcing-house in the
kitchen-garden, contiguous to the frame-ground, at l. The kitchen-garden
(m) has a wall all round it, and slips on both sides and at one end. The walk
at n, on entering the premises, immediately on the left of the lodge entrance,
is intended for the domestics, and communicates with the laundry and stables,
and it is also meant as a back entrance to the house. On the lawn of the
entrance front is a piece of water, with a walk round, communicating at each
end with the coach road. Proceeding from the western front to the right,
you may enter the flower-garden (o), in which there is a conservatory (p);
SMALL COUNTRY WILLAS. 237
or, by leaving the flower-garden on the right, you are led on by different
walks, as represented in the figure. At the north-west corner are a piece of
water (q) and a summer-house (r). In the centre, on the west, is a seat (s);
and at the south-west angle of the pleasure-ground is another structure (t),
in front of which there is an oval (u), intended either for a small bowling-
green, or for any other purpose. Proceeding onwards, you come to the prin-
cipal entrance to the kitchen-garden on the right (v); and on the left is a
bridge (w), leading over a piece of water to the oval (w) at the western front,
in the centre of which is a circle (y), for a fountain, statue, or large vase. In
a place of this extent, a good collection of choice trees and shrubs might be
introduced in such a way as that the whole might almost be considered as an
arboretum ; and the line of shrubs, which is placed to hide the kitchen-
garden, might be converted into an American border.”
336. Remarks applicable to the preceding designs.—The surface of the
ground, in all these designs, is supposed to be even, and for the most part
flat; in consequence of which, there can be no difficulty in laying out the
roads and walks in any direction which the designer may think suitable. It
may be asked, then, by what leading circumstance the designer is influenced
in tracing the lines for the roads and walks, as shown in these plans? Is it
arbitrary, depending on his particular taste; or is it guided by some circum-
stance in the situation, the wants of the proprietor, and the means which he
places at the disposal of the artist? To these questions we answer, that all the
main features, in laying out a place, are indicated by certain circumstances, either
peculiar to the situation, or peculiar to the wants and means of the intended
occupier. For example, the situation of the entrance lodge is determined by the
point or side of the estate on which it touches the public road. If the road
touches on only one point, there is, of course, no choice; but, if it borders the
estate on one or more sides, then a point is chosen for the entrance which it is
considered may be most convenient for use, and may show the place off to
visiters entering by it to the greatest advantage. The distance at which the
house is placed from the public road, and its position relatively to the
boundary fence on every side, depend chiefly, where the surface is even, on
the extent of the ground, but partly also on its form; whether it extends in
length or breadth, and whether the boundary is very irregular, or tolerably
regular. Something, also, depends on the style in which the occupant
intends to live. Where there are no horses or carriages, and but few servants
are kept, labour is saved by having the house near the road; but, even in this
case, if the family had but few visiters, and were devoted to their garden,
placing the house in the interior of the property would be more suitable.
The situation of the house is also influenced by the room which requires to be
found for the offices and kitchen-garden; and, also, by the proper aspect
which the fronts of the house ought to have; that for the garden or living-room
front being generally the south-east or south-west. The number and direc-
tion of the walks are in a great measure determined by the outline of the
ground. In all small places, it is desirable to have as long a walk as can
be got, for the sake of recreation; and the longest walk is necessarily that
which follows the boundary. Hence, almost every place, whether large or
small, has a walk round it. The walks in the interior depend on the
extent of the place. In the smallest residence, one is required from the
house to the kitchen-garden; and a walk round the outside of the latter is
238 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
º







SMALI, COUNTRY WILLAS. 239
found convenient for culture, as well as an agreeable place for recreation.
Any other walks than one round the boundary, and another round the
kitchen-garden, and connected with the out-door offices, must depend on
circumstances peculiar to the situation or the occupier. If there are great
natural inequalities of surface, a piece of natural rock or natural water, a
walk may be conducted so as to show them to advantage; and, if the occupier
is wealthy, and disposed to make the most of the situation, he may create
hills, hollows, and other inequalities, form rocks and water, and erect build-
ings at pleasure; to all which objects walks are either required, or may be
legitimately introduced.
337. The plantations necessary to form a small residence are, in the same
manner, guided by reason in all that relates to general effect; and in detail
they depend on the taste and means of the intended occupier. Trees are
wanted throughout the grounds to connect one object with another; to unite
the house with the offices, and partially to conceal the latter; and to unite
the place as a whole with other places in the neighbourhood, or with the
adjoining scenery. Trees are also required for shade, and for shelter.
Shrubs are, in this sense, to be considered as included under trees. They
are wanted for thickening masses and screens so that they may not be seen
through ; and also for sheltering, and, in some cases, shading, herbaceous
plants; and, in the form of hedges, they serve for subdividing compart-
ments. So far the use of trees and shrubs is guided by common sense;
the next point is, to determine the choice of species and varieties, which
is in part determined by common sense, and in part by the particular
taste and means of the occupier. It is natural that the finer or more choice
kinds of trees and shrubs should be placed near the house, as the centre of
art and refinement; and, also, that evergreens should abound there, as being
in our climate indicative of culture and taste. In a small place, trees of
small size will naturally be preferred to those which soon attain a very large
size, such as some of the elms and poplars. Trees with showy flowers or
fruit will be selected, in preference to those which have the flowers and fruit
inconspicuous. In exposed situations, hardy trees which endure the blast
will be preferred to such as are more tender; and, where objects are to be
concealed, evergreens will always be preferred to trees and shrubs which are
deciduous. These general principles are applicable to all small places. The
further pursuance of the subject belongs to the particular taste and means of
the individual. One person may choose to render his place a complete arbo-
retum; another may limit himself to a few species of the more showy trees
and shrubs; a third may prefer large rapid-growing trees, that he may soon
have the pleasure of pruning or thinning them for profit; while a fourth may
give a preference to fruit-trees, and so on. There is, in short, no end to the
variations that may be introduced in the planting of trees and shrubs, inde-
pendently altogether of those beauties which all trees and shrubs produce,
viz. individual expression and character as pictorial objects, variety and
intricacy in combination, and botanical interest.
338. The pieces of water, in all these designs, are liable to objections ; but
these are partly owing to the particular manner in which the ground plans
are drawn, and their very small scale. If these pieces of water and the
adjoining scenery are considered as being in the picturesque style, then the
pieces of water would require a considerable addition of trees and shrubs to
240 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.

SMAI.L COUNTRY WILLAS. 241
conceal and vary their boundaries, to connect them with the general scenery,
and to disguise their poverty of shape. If, on the other hand, they are con-
sidered as gardenesque pieces of water, to be planted in the gardenesque
manner, then the shapes of the ponds or miniature lakes ought to be hand-
somer in themselves than they now are, so as to produce an agreeable effect,
even without any trees and shrubs whatever as accompaniments. At the
same time we do not say that gardenesque pieces of water ought to be with-
out trees and shrubs; on the contrary, they require this addition to display
them to advantage, no less than picturesque pieces of water; all the differ-
ence being, that in the former case they must be added in a gardenesque
manner. The pieces of water in these designs are not sufficiently handsome
to be admired as gardenesque, and not sufficiently disguised by trees and
shrubs to be decidedly picturesque; but this, as we have before observed,
arises in a great measure from the smallness of the scale, and the fear of
crowding the places with too many trees and shrubs.
Design XIX.—To lay out a villa residence of two acres, within a regular
boundary, in the geometrical style.
339. Ground plan, &c.—The object in this case is to produce a splendid
effect at a moderate expense of annual keeping, but with no regard to profit.
The general form of the ground is that of a parallelogram, and its disposition
is so clearly shown in the isometrical view (fig. 136.), that it will require little
or no description. The entrance is through a straight avenue to a flight of
steps, which leads to a raised platform on which the house stands. To the
right and left of the avenue are double rows of trees, which may be fruit-
bearing kinds, such as the apple, pear, cherry, and plum. Beyond these, on
each side, are two small kitchen-gardens, intended for gooseberries, straw-
berries, and other small fruits, and for potherbs, tart rhubarb, spinach, kidney-
beans, and a few such vegetables as are desirable to have always at hand.
The house and these kitchen-gardens occupy about half the entire residence.
The other half is laid out in the form of a sunk flower-garden, consisting of
a variety of curvilinear beds, bordered by a kerb of stone, and surrounded by
turf. From the terrace walks there are four descents to this garden, each
consisting of a double flight of steps. Each bed is supposed to be planted
with one kind of herbaceous plant, so as to produce large masses of colour.
The mode of selecting plants for this purpose, as well as lists of suitable
plants, have been already given (p. 69. and p. 123.), and further resources
will be found in the lists given in the after part of this work. The sloping
border between the sunk area and the flower-garden may either be planted
with low evergreen shrubs, with roses kept low, or it may be in turf, or in
rockwork: in the latter case, it may be covered with a collection of rock
plants. Perhaps the most appropriate disposition of this sloping border
would be to vary it with ornaments of box, on a ground of turf, so as to give
it the appearance of an architectural moulding. In the centre there is a foun-
tain. In situations where so much turf was not desirable, the walks between
the beds might be of gravel or paved; but they will produce the best effect
in turf. Instead of a raised terrace-walk surrounding this flower-garden,
there might be in its place a narrow conservatory, such as that remarked on
in p. 234. ; in front of this conservatory, a narrow border for Cape and other
half-hardy bulbs; then a terrace-walk, two steps lower than the level of that
within the conservatory, with another narrow border, and beyond that a low
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SMALL COUNTRY WILLAS, 243
parapet wall, ornamented with vases. This terrace-walk, though not so high
as that rèresented in the figure, should still be at least 5 ft. above the level
of the flower-garden, in order that the spectator may look down on it in such
a manner as to see the shapes of the beds. We have observed, in a preced-
ing page, that wherever the figures forming a flower-garden are regular or
symmetrical, to be seen in their full beauty, the eye should be so elevated, as,
when looking down on them, to be able to comprehend the entire shape of
each bed. What the height of the eye ought to be, to do this, may always
be determined beforehand, by ascertaining the width of the flower-garden
or symmetrical figure, the distance between the beds, and the position of the
spectator. In general, the angle made by a line drawn from the farther
edge of the most distant bed to the eye of the spectator, should not be less
than 15°; and hence, taking the height of the human eye at 5 ft., a square
or circular symmetrical flower-garden, of 40 ft. in diameter, ought to be
surrounded by a walk raised to the height of at least 43 feet above its
level; while a flower-garden of double the size ought to be surrounded
by a walk 9 ft. high. When a parterre of symmetrical beds is to be planted
with low shrubs, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, kalmias, &c., the surround-
ing walk ought to be made higher, in proportion to the anticipated growth of
the plants. These rules, the correctness of which no person of any expe-
rience will, we think, dispute, show that, when very large spaces are to be
laid out as flower-gardens, symmetrical figures need not be attempted, except
near the walk, where they will be immediately under the eye, unless they are
so situated as to be seen from different heights. Hence, in very extensive
designs, such as fig. 137., two systems of symmetrical figures are adopted;
one near the margin of the walk, to be seen from the terrace immediately
adjoining; and the other in the centre, to be seen from more elevated and
distant points of view. If the reader will always bear in mind, that, to see
any figure distinctly, the rays of light reflected from the most distant points
of it must meet the eye of the spectator at an angle of 15°; and that this
angle will not be obtained by an individual, whose eye is 5 ft. from the
ground, at a greater distance than 20 ft., he will never be at a loss.
Fig. 138. shows the different heights which a terrace-walk requires to be
above the level of the flower-garden, according to the size of the garden.

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340. A rosarium might easily be formed in the sunk garden shown in fig.
137., by planting the dwarf roses in the beds nearest the walks; and the
standard roses in the beds in the centre; arranging the others by planting
trees of different heights, so as to give the clumps a sloping appearance, with
the highest plants in the centre. The plants may be selected from the lists of
roses to be given in an after part of this work.
R 2
244 THE WILLA GARDENER.
Design XX-Plan of the grounds of Chester Holme Cottage, laid out by
Mr. Harland.
341. General observations—This cottage (see fig. 139) was the residence
of the late Rev. Anthony Hedley. It is situated in a most romantic spot, at
the head or opening of a deep rocky glen, which runs southward, and the
bottom of which is washed by the Chinely Burn, a small stream which falls
into the River Tyne. The Burn runs for some time in a southerly direction;
when, suddenly turning eastward, it approaches the house, and, just opposite
to it, forms a beautiful natural cascade, which is seen to great advantage from
some of the principal windows. It here turns at right angles, and runs south-
ward, down the west side of the grounds, over a complete bed of shelving
rocks, and under a rustic bridge at the south extremity; and, a short way
below, it is turned aside westward by a very high rock, which is crowned with
hanging woods. On the east, south-east, and west, rise gently-swelling hills,
beautifully covered with wood.
342. Ground plan, &c.—From the elevated situation of the house a in
fig. 140., and the quick descent from it, it became necessary to make a con-
siderable terrace (b) on the south side, to give ease and facility to the approach
and walk round the house; and which terrace is continued quite through to
the east side, where it turns into the walk. Below this is another terrace (c),
which also leads into the same walk, and upon which are clumps of American
plants (d). This is divided from the kitchen-garden by a narrow belt of
shrubs; from which a border (e) has a considerable inclination to the walk.
The garden (f) inclines rapidly to the southern extremity, and is only intended
to produce common vegetables, and the commoner fruits. This garden,
placed where it is, must be allowed to be the worst part of the plan; and it is
but justice to mention that it was not so designed originally. “If the garden
had been placed where I first proposed it, at g,” says Mr. Harland, “with a
good wall at the north extremity, which would have served both as a fruit-

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246 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
wall and a boundary, the present garden would have made an interesting
addition to the pleasure-grounds. I had proposed to unite this part of the
grounds to the woods of the adjoining hill to the eastward, by pulling down a
side wall, and by thinning out, and varying the outline at the margin of the
wood, and facing it with ornamental trees and shrubs, with a winding walk
leading to the rustic bridge (h), from the west side of which the walk might
have been led by an easy curve to another bridge (i), where it would reunite
with the pleasure-grounds.” Various conveniences, including a subterraneous
passage, are indicated on the plan from k to n. The approach-road (o) is
10 ft. wide, and the walks (p) are 4 ft. wide. The flower-borders are at q,
the stables, &c., at r, and there is a vista at s, showing the ruins of a Roman
station.
343. Planting.—The ornamental trees used in planting this place were the
scarlet maple, the Norway maple, the scarlethorse-chestnut, the yellow horse-
chestnut, or buckeye, the cut-leaved alder, the sweet chestnut, the purple
beech, the common beech, the flowering ash, the larch, the Weymouth pine,
the Cembra pine, and some other ornamental kinds; various kinds of poplar,
the scarlet oak, the evergreen oak, and the American lime-tree. The shrubs
and low trees were laurels, Portugal laurels, hollies, laurustinus, box, arbor
vitae, juniper, red cedar, aucuba, alaternus, arbutus, sweet bay, laburnum,
lilacs, spindle-tree, dogwood, guelder rose, garden syringa, bird cherry, snow-
berry, Irish yew, and various kinds of rhododendrons, kalmias, and azaleas.
Near the Burn were planted two weeping willows, a weeping elm, and a
weeping ash. It is remarkable that no kind of crataegus is mentioned in this
list, though the situation appears remarkably well adapted for plants of that
genus.
Design XXI-Descriptive notice of Bedford Lodge, the villa of Her
Grace the Duchess Dowager of Bedford, at Campden Hill, near London.

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248 THE VILLA GARDENER.
344. Ground plan, &c.–Fig. 141. is a view of the south-front of the house,
showing the verandas, the flower-beds, and the scattered trees and shrubs on the
lawn; with an ivied arbour on the right, and a large arbutus, clipped into a
hemispherical form, on the left. This tree has since been cut down.
Fig. 142. shows the general plan of the entire place, and the following are
references to it:
a, Entrance gates. b. Entrance court. c. Mansion.
d, Lawn on the south front, which is entered from a veranda extending the whole length
of that front. e, Flower-garden on the west front.
f, Orchard. g, Porter's lodge. h, Groom's room.
i, Cistern for supplying the offices. º, Coach-house. l, Stable.
m, Stable-yard. n, Wood and coal-shed. o, Servants' privy.
p, Larder. º, Dust-bin. r, Sunk area. s, Tool-house.
it, Gardener's working-sheds, &c. u, Green-house, in three divisions.
v, Rustic seat, at the back of which is a green-house, and beyond that a frame-ground, for
bringing forward plants for the flower-garden.
w, Marble basin and fountain, in the centre of the flower-garden, covered with a bower of
trellis-work and climbers, a view of which is shown infig. 143.
º, Potting-shed and compost-ground.
º, Cistern for supplying the fountain at wº 2, Rockwork.
º, Arcade of climbing roses, seen from the house
a tº Public lane, which separates the grounds of Bedford Lodge from those of Holland House.

snia LL COUNTRY WILLAs. 249
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Fig. 144, shows the dwarf or terrace-wall in the flower-garden; the west
front, and part of the entrance front of the house; the basket near ºr, infº.
142... and the central arbour (w) in the same figure, and shown, also, in
---
ſig. 143.






250 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
145
Fig. 145, is a view from the flower-garden, showing the arbutus, a front
view of the ivied arbour, and part of the veranda.
Fig. 146, is a plan of the flower-garden on a larger scale, and the following
are references to it:
a, Grand drawing-room. b, Veranda. c, Green-house.
d, Fountain and arbour. ee, Pedestals and vases,
f, Dwarf or terrace-wall, surmounted by vases, as shown infig. 144.
gg, Flower baskets. h, Potting-shed and reserve ground.
i, Shrubbery. º, Entrance from the lane.
l, Lawn sloping from the veranda. m, Part of the entrance court.
1, Rockwork, on which are planted alyssums, arabises, iberises, cheiranthuses, aubrietias,
campanulas, cardamines, achilleas, sedums, antirrhinums, gilias, memophilas, lasthenias,
violas, saxifrages, verbenas, mierembergias, geraniums, scillas, anagallises, helianthe-
mums, cistuses, and pentstemons.
2, A basket filled with Provins roses, pegged on the ground, and China roses; and with
iron rods from each of the angles to the centre, forming a crown, on which Convolvulus
major is trained.
3, Anemone horténsis, purplish; Heliánthemum roseum, pink; and Füchsia globosa
scarlet.
4, Wall, in front of which are planted summer and autumn-flowering roses, as well as
green-house creepers, which are trained against it. Many of the autumn-flowering roses
require to be protected from frost; but some of these were preserved throughout the
severe winter of 1837-8, without protection, by having hardy roses budded on their
extreme shoots; as, for example, the Brennus or Brutus rose, on the Lamarque rose. In
this case, the Brennus rose (rich crimson) flowered first, luxuriantly; and was followed
by the Lamarque (a pale yellow rose), which also flowered well; though the Lamarque

SMALL COUNTRY VILLAS. 251
rose, in all cases where the shoots were not budded, was killed back by the frost. It thus
appears that the vigorous growth of the Scion had thrown the Lamarque stock into a
state of vigorous growth, at a time at which the Lamarque would otherwise have been
quite dormant.
5, A. border, formed into compartments, from the plants in it being arranged in masses, so
that the flowers of the one may tend to show those of the others to the greatest ad-
vantage. The following list of plants will show more clearly the effect that is meant
to be produced, by their being arranged in the list, in the same order as they were
planted in the border. The first effect produced was from the following Californian
annuals:—Nemóphila insignis, blue; Platystèmon califórnicus, cream colour; Collinsia
grandiflora, purple; Collomia coccinea, scarlet ; Eschschóltzia crocea, deep yellow ;
Gília tricolor, lilac, white, and black; and G. achilleafolia, purple. These are all
annuals, and were sown about January in the compartments, where they come into
flower about the beginning of May, and continue flowering till the end of June or

252 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
beginning of July, when the greater part of them should be cleared away, in order that
they may not draw up, and weaken the plants which are to succeed them, and produce
the second effect. The flowers for this second exhibition are all perennials, and consist of
GEmothèra macrocárpa, yellow, for the first compartment, which remains there as a per-
manent plant, the seeds of the Neméphila having been sown amongst it in January, as
above. The next compartments contain Verbèna. Tweedieæna, crimson ; V. Lambertiàma,
purple; Calceolaria angustifolia, yellow ; Petània violacea, purple; scarlet geraniums,
and Verbèna Drummond. These are all half-hardy perennials, which are kept in pits
during the winter, and planted out as soon as there is no danger to be apprehended from
frost.
6, The dwarf or terrace-wall, before mentioned, on which vases of different shapes and
colours are arranged and filled with plants; those plants being chosen, the colours of
the flowers of which will produce the greatest contrast with the colour of the vases in
which they are planted. Different kinds of nasturtiums have been planted at the foot
of this wall, on which they climb and hang over. On the south side of this wall are
Scotch roses, and on the north crimson perpetual roses; the former having a border in
front of it filled with the Campánula spéculum (Venus's looking-glass), and the latter
with Convallaria majâlis (the lily of the valley). These borders relieve the eye, when
contrasted with the green of the roses which they are in immediate connexion with.
7, A basket corresponding with that at 2, in which Calceolaria angustifolia, yellow, occu-
pies the whole space, with the exception of a plant of Maurándya Barclayāna, blue,
which is planted in the centre of the group of calceolarias, and trained over a rod and
wires in the centre, as shown in fig. 144. This basket is shown in the right-hand
corner of fig. 144.
8, Rosarium, which is planted with summer and autumn-flowering roses. Those the
flowering of which is of short duration may, in some cases, have it prolonged, by leaving
several of the shoots their whole length, and pegging them down. When thus treated,
the part next the root will grow luxuriantly, and consequently be late before it comes
into flower; while the extreme end, becoming comparatively stunted, will come sooner
into blossom. In the following list, the first-named plant in each bed comes into
flower in May and June, and the other plant or plants, in succession, in June, July,
and August. There is an equal number of plants of both the early and late flowering
kinds in each bed; and, as the latter come into flower before the former have done
flowering, there is a constant display from May to September, which is the whole period
that the family reside at, or visit, the residence. When the first set of plants begin to
go out of flower, they are cleared away to make room for the second set, which are
encouraged by stirring the soil and watering; and any blanks that may occur are
filled up from the reserve garden. Most of the plants which come first into flower are
annuals or bulbs, sown or planted in the autumn : the others are mostly half-hardy
Species, such as verbenas, petumias, lobelias, &c.; and they are preserved through the
winter in pits.
9, Neméphila insignis, blue; and Verbèna Arraniana, purplish crimson.
10, Lasthènia califórnica, bright yellow; and Verbèma chamaedrifolia latifolia, brilliant
scarlet.
11, Erythronium Déns canis (dog's tooth violet), Gília tricolor, and Verbèna pulchélla, pink.
12, Collèmia coccinea, and Lotus microphylla, dark yellow.
13, Scilla amoena, blue ; Platystèmon califórnicus, cream-coloured; and Lantana Sellowii,
pink.
14, Scilla praecox, rich dark blue; Gilia achilleafolia, and Sálvia chamaedryöides, blue.
15, Scilla hyacinthöides, blue; Cheiránthus alpinus, pale yellow ; and Verbèma Tweediedma.
16, Narcissus minor, yellow ; and Neméphila atomaria, and Nierembérgia grácilis, both
white.
17, Anemone apennina, blue; Collinsia grandiflora, purple; and Verbèna Sabini, purple.
18, Anemone memorosa, white; Limnánthes Douglasii, white and yellow ; and Verbena
chamaedrifolia, scarlet.
19, Erythronium lanceolatum, Leptosiphon androsaceus, pinkish; and Verbèna pulchélla álba.
20, Muscari botryöides, grape hyacinth, purple; Eutoca Menzièsii, lilac ; and Werbena
chamaedrifolia.
SMALL COUNTRY WILLAS.
2
53
21, Fritillaria lutea, yellow ; Collèmia lateritia, pinkish ; and Nierembérgia intermedia,
purple,
22, Galánthus plicatus, plaited Snowdrop; Saponaria ocymöides, pale pink; and Verbèna.
radicans, pinkish.
23, Hyacinthus amethystinus, Lasthènia glabrata, yellow; and Lobélia litea.
24, Bulbocodium vernum, whitish ; Gília tricolor alba, and Nierembérgia calycina.
25, Anemone pavonia, Scarlet; Verbèma incisa, pinkish ; and Eutoca Menzièsii, lilac.
26, Anemone Pulsatilla and Campánula carpática, blue.
27, Primula vulgaris plèna atropurpurea, and Anagállis grandiflora, Scarlet.
28, Primula vulgaris plèna violacea, and Amagállis Phillipsii, blue.
29, Collinsia bicolor, pinkish lilac and white; and Alonsoa linearis, Scarlet.
30, Achillèa moschata, and Verbèna, pulchélla álba, white.
31, Ibèris carnosa, and Verbèna sulphürea.
32, Lupinus manus, blue ; Füchsia globosa and F. comica.
33, Gilia tricolor, and OEmothera macrocárpa.
34, Neméphila atomaria, Petiania phoenicea, and Verbèna. Tweedieana.
35, Neméphila insignis, and Verbèna pulchélla álba.
36, Nierembérgia grácilis. 40, Verbèna pulchélla álba.
37, Lobèlia lútea, 41, Lobèlia litea, yellow.
38, Verbèna Sabini. 42, Lobèlia grácilis, blue.
39, Verbèna chamaedrifolia 43, Verbèna chamaedrifolia latifolia.
44 Is in two compartments; one of which is planted with Gilia achilleaefolia and Verbèma
Tweediedma, and the other with hyacinths, Neméphila insignis, and OEnothèra macro-
cárpa.
45, Collínsia bicolor, and carnations. 46, Calceolaria picta, lightish.
47, Anemone memorosa plena, and Lysimachia Nummularia (moneywort), yellow.
48, HeartSease.
49, Anemone apennina, blue; and Vinca herbacea (periwinkle), lilac.
50, Calceolaria integrifolia, yellow. 51, Verbèna pulchélla.
52 Is in compartments; one of which is planted with Calceolaria rugosa, yellow ; and the
other with a variety of that species, both pegged down on the ground, in order to make
the plants cover the whole space of the bed.
53, CEnothèra macrocárpa.
54, Neméphila insignis, and Verbèna. Tweedieńna. 55, Isétoma axillaris.
56, Senècio Élegans, purple. 57, Nierembérgia grácilis.
58, Gilia tricolor, and Nierembérgia calycina.
59, Lasthènia glabrata, and Verbèna chamaedrifolia.
60, Gilia achilleaefolia, and Lotus microphylla.
61, Crucianélla stylosa, pinkish.
62, Neméphila insignis, and Verbèna chamaedrifolia latifolia.
63, Nemophila atomaria, and Verbèma pulchélla álba.
64, Eutoca Menzièsii, and Verbèna radicans.
65, Collèmia coccinea, and Nierembérgia filicatilis, whitish.
66, White ten-week stocks, and Verbèna. Tweediedma.
67, Cheiránthus alpinus, and Eschschöltzia cröcea, orange.
68, Purple ten-week stocks, and Eutoca viscida, bright dark blue.
69, Alyssum saxátile, yellow; and GEmothèra macrocárpa.
70, Polemonium sibiricum, yellow ; and Agatha'a coeléstis, blue.
71, Ibèris saxátilis, white; and the Frogmore Scarlet pelargoniums.
72, Cheiránthus ochroleiicus, and OEmothera missouriénsis.
73, Scarlet ten-week stocks, and Phlóx Drummóndii.
74, Verbèna. Drummondii, light lilac. 77, Petània erubéscens, whitish.
75, Scarlet pelargoniums. 78, Scarlet pelargoniums.
76, Indian chief calceolaria. 79, Verbèna venosa, purple.
80, Clárkia pulchélla, purple; and Melittis grandiflora, whitish.
81, Lupinus nootkatēnsis, blue ; and Verbèna sulphürea, yellow.
82, Lysimachia verticillata, yellow.
83, Delphinium grandiflorum, and carnations.
254 THE VILLA GARDENER,
84, Petània, supérba, brilliant dark reddish purple.
85, Purple calceolarias. 87, Petània nyctaginiflora, white.
86, Calceolaria integrifolia. 88, Calceolarias of all sorts.
89, Lupinus polyphyllus, and Stenáctis speciosa, bluish.
90, Lupinus polyphyllus, blue; and Málope grandiflora, dark crimson.
91, CEnothèra speciosa, white.
92, Gêum coccineum, and Linaria dalmática, yellow.
93, Antirrhinum pictum, crimson and white.
94, Mimulus cardinalis, and Cored psis tinctoria.
95, Gília capitata älba. 96, Lysimachia quadriflöra, yellow.
97, Lupinus polyphyllus ālbus, and GEnothèra speciosa.
98, Chelone barbata, and Sálvia fälgens, Scarlet.
99, Asclepias tuberosa, Orange. 100, Borders for plants of sorts.
In the compartments next the beds are sweet peas, larkspurs, candytuft, dahlias, China
pink, Stocks, &c.
The following references are to the general plan (fig. 142.):
101, Heartseases of different colours, and Maurándya Barclayāna, blue and white; Tro-
paeolum peregrinum, yellow ; Sóllya heterophylla, bright blue; Tropae'olum penta-
phyllum, red and yellow; Eccremocárpus scaber, orange; Lophospérmum scándens
and L. erubéscens, red, trained on wirework.
102, Alyssum saxátile, and Indian chief calceolaria, yellow ochre.
102 bis, Ibèris sempervirens, and Frogmore scarlet pelargoniums.
103, Stocks of Sorts. 104, Phlox Drummondú.
105, Lupinus polyphyllus, blue ; and Lysimachia verticillata, yellow.
106, Lupinus mootkatēnsis and L. nanus, with a border enclosing it of Achillèa tomentosa,
yellow. 107, Calceolarias of sorts.
108, Wallflowers, iberises, and alyssums; clarkias, collinsias, and Antirrhinum caryo-
phyllöides.
109, Wallflowers and scarlet pelargoniums.
110, Cheiránthus alpinus, and clarkias, eutocas, gilias, memophilas, and petunias.
111, Geraniums of sorts.
112, Ibèris saxátilis, and scarlet pelargoniums.
113, Nemóphila insignis, and Verbèna. Tweedieana.
114, Alyssum saxátilis, and Calceolaria angustifolia.
115, Noisette roses.
116, Groups round trees, consisting of alyssum, aubrietia, cheiranthus, and heartsease of
SOrts.
117, Ibèris saxâtilis, and Gília tricolor.
118, Alyssum saxátile, and dwarf masturtium.
119, Aubriëtia purpurea, and Neméphila insignis.
120, Collèmia coccinea, and Füchsia globosa.
The basket in the centre of the compartment is planted with Lobélia grácilis, in the
middle of which is a plant of Füchsia globösa.
121, Small garden, with rockwork, planted with alpine plants, similar to those enumerated
for the rockwork 1, in fig. 146.
In the description given of this place by Mr. Caie, gardener to Her Grace,
he says: “Little difficulty will arise in procuring and preserving the plants
enumerated in the foregoing list. Many of them are hardy perennial her-
baceous plants; and most of the others, which are annual, will, if allowed to
stand to ripen their seeds, sow themselves. The kinds which will require
most practical knowledge are those which are generally termed green-house
plants; but which are so hardy as to produce as splendid a show in our
flower-gardens during the summer months, as they would do if they were in
their native countries. As it is with this latter class of plants that we have
SMALI, COUNTRY WILLAS, 255
most to do in filling flower-gardens during summer, it will here be my object
to show how they may be preserved during winter, without the aid of green-
houses. The pits in which such plants should be kept, will require to have their
walls of 14-inch brickwork, and pigeon-holed; with tiles half an inch thick,
set on edge, 2 inches from the wall inside, to be carried as high as the pigeon-
holes; in which small apertures may be left, in order that a little steam may
be admitted into the pit, from dung linings or dead leaves, if necessary: but
no heat from dung linings will be required, except in the most severe weather,
and then only just sufficient to keep out the frost. The heat of the dung or
leaves, applied to the outside of the walls, will readily penetrate into the pit,
having nothing to oppose it but the thin tiles set on edge. September will be
quite soon enough to begin putting in cuttings. The soil in which they are
to be inserted should consist of equal portions of peat earth and silver sand;
and those of them that are subject to damp off may have a greater proportion
of the sand. The pots or pans in which the cuttings are put should be well
drained.”
SUBSECT. 2.-Culture of small country villas.
345. The culture of the gardens of small country villas differs materially
from that of suburban villas; as the plants are more healthy, and require less
general care. The distance at which plants of this kind grow from the
smoky atmosphere of a town, prevents their leaves from becoming choked up
with the soot, and the glutinous matters deposited by the smoke, which are so
difficult to wash off, and which require such constant syringing. The leaves
of country trees are, it is true, sometimes covered with dust, particularly if
they grow near a road; but the dust is easily washed off by a slight shower,
and it is not very injurious if it is suffered to remain on ; besides it is only the
trees near the road which are liable to be covered with dust, and these are
seldom of any choice kinds.
346. Raising new plants is an important part of garden culture in the country,
as the men who carry plants from door to door in the suburbs of London,
and sell them at very low prices, are no longer to be met with ; and plants
procured in a nursery are generally too dear for planting out in beds in the
open ground. It, therefore, becomes necessary for the gardener of a country
villa to have hot-beds for raising seeds and striking cuttings, and pits and
green-houses for keeping his plants in during winter, the directions for form-
ing and managing which will be found in the latter part of this work; where
also will be found details respecting the making of cuttings and sowing of
seeds, &c., to which we refer our readers.
Subsect. 3.-Renovation of small country villas.
347. When the grounds of a small country villa have been neglected, .
almost all the trees and shrubs will have become overgrown and shapeless,
and will require to be either cut in or cut down, or even, perhaps, rooted
Out. -
348. In cutting down trees and shrubs, regard must always be had to
whether the plants so cut have the property of springing up again from the
stool or root; or, as the technical term is, whether they stole. It often
happens that trees and shrubs which have become naked below, and very un-
sightly, when cut down within an inch of the ground, will spring up with
great vigour; and, in an incredibly short time, will form splendid bushes, or,
256 'THE VII.LA GARDENER,
if trained to a single stem, handsome trees. This most sorts of trees and
shrubs will do when cut down, in less than one fourth of the time that would
be requisite for the attainment of the same result from young trees. Before,
however, the operator ventures to cut down trees or shrubs to the ground, he
ought to inform himself of two particulars respecting them. First, whether
they are of kinds that stole, and, secondly, whether or not they have been
grafted. To cut down a tree or shrub that does not stole, or that stoles im-
perfectly, such as the spruce fir, the holly, or the juniper, is, in effect, to
remove it altogether; and to cut down a grafted tree or shrub below the graft,
even if it should stole, is to substitute one kind for another. For example,
if a medlar, which is generally grafted on a thorn, and an almond, which is
commonly grafted on a plum, were cut down, there would shoot up in their
stead a common hawthorn and a wild plum ; while, if they were cut above
the graft, we should have the medlar and almond re-produced. Some of the
finest trees that are introduced into pleasure-grounds are different species and
varieties of crabs, cherries, thorns, plums, maples, variegated sycamores,
oaks, elms, to which we might add a host of others, all of which are grafted
on the common and free-growing species of their respective genera; some a
few inches above the surface of the ground, and many at heights varying from
5 or 6 inches to 5 or 6 feet. If, then, these trees were cut down close to the
ground, we should have nothing but the commonest kinds coming up to succeed
them. In some cases, indeed, where a stock has been used which does not stole,
as in the case of all the resinous tribe which are grafted, there would be no
succession at all, which is still worse. There are also a number of trees and
shrubs which stole freely when young, but which scarcely stole at all if not cut
down till they have attained their full size. Among these are the beech, horn-
beam, Scotch elm, birch, privet, philly rea, arbutus, and a number of others,
all of which will be found indicated in the Hortus Britannicus. By neglecting
to attend to cutting above the graft, we have known a tolerable collection of
trees and shrubs reduced to a mass of the commonest kinds, which it was
necessary to have re-grafted, or rooted out, to give place to fresh plants; and
we know a large camellia-house in Kent, in which a collection of the finest
kinds of camellias having lost their leaves by insects and disease, and having
been ordered by the head gardener to be cut down, in order to renovate
them, were cut by an ignorant journeyman so low, that all the shoots from
the stools proved to be the single red. When a gardener of skill, and some
taste, has the renovating of an old place, he will generally be able to produce,
by cutting in and cutting down, very striking effects in a short time, from the
great rapidity of the growth of shoots from stools, the number which are
thrown up, and the immense bush, or tree, which is formed by them. We
have known the stool of a common laurel throw up shoots 6 ft. high in one
season, and a tree 20ft. high raised from the stool of an Acer Pseudo-Plá-
tanus in five years. The stools of the locust (Robinia Pseud-Acacia), in
suitable soils, will produce a considerable tree in three years, all the suckers
being removed but one.
349. If the person who has purchased or taken a lease of a residence which
requires renovating be much attached to gardening pursuits, and can afford
the expense, his best mode will often be to root out every tree and shrub on
the premises, except specimens of decided beauty, variety, singularity, or use-
fulness. By specimens of decided usefulness are meant such trees as shelter the
SMALL country VILLAs." 257
house, or some object within the boundaries of the residence; such as conceal
objects which it is not desirable to see either within the boundaries or beyond
them; and such as produce shade, say for a seat or walk, during the heat of
summer. The condemned trees and shrubs having been rooted out, the
ground should be thoroughly trenched to the depth of 3 or 4 feet, and mixed
with manure; the drains, walks, walls, and all the buildings, being attended
to, and put in repair, according to the mode suggested in p. 150., &c. If the
ground be trenched 3 or 4 feet deep, it should remain at least six months
before it is planted, in order that it may be consolidated by rains. For this
reason, the best time for deep trenching is early in autumn, in order that the
rains of that season may equalise the sinking of the soil. In many, and per-
haps in most, cases of renovating a villa garden, the situation of some
of the main features, such as the flower-garden, the kitchen-garden, the con-
servatory, some of the ornamental structures, &c., will require to be changed;
and this is another argument in favour of the rooting out of the greater num-
ber of the trees and shrubs. It may also be thought advisable to make some
undulations or other inequalities on the surface of the lawn ; or to enlarge
the apparent extent of the place, by carrying some of the walks under others
in tunnels, or over them on bridges; and this cannot be done without the
removal of all the trees and shrubs in such situations. In changing the situ-
ation of the kitchen-garden, regard must be had to a proper communication
between it and the stable-yard, for dung; because, if the garden has been
properly placed at first, it will, in general, be immediately adjoining the stable-
court; and, consequently, if its situation be changed, it can only be to some
spot more or less distant from it, which will hence be more or less inconvenient.
350. Where the occupier only contemplates a temporary residence, it will
probably be advisable to give only a temporary repair; and, when this hap-
pens, thinning and pruning applied to the trees and shrubs, and washing over
with cement to the walls and out-buildings, will be the leading points of
renovation. The lawn, in such places, will generally be more or less worn
out, and particularly on those spots which have been covered with the trees
or bushes removed. The whole of the lawn ought to have the coarser weeds,
such as dandelion, &c., removed, and the inequalities levelled with soil of
the same kind as that on which it is laid, in order that, when it is consoli-
dated, it may form a similar surface in point of texture; after which, the
whole ought to have a top-dressing of rich compost; and all the places
not completely covered with grass ought to be sown thickly with the following
mixture:—Agróstis vulgăris var. tenuifolia, Festica duritiscula, F. ovina,
Cynoslarus cristātus, Póa praténsis, Avēna flavéscens, and Trifolium minus.
These seeds should be mixed together in equal portions, and sown at the rate
of from 4 to 6 bushels per acre. The gravel walks, instead of being taken up
and relaid entirely with fresh gravel, may be stirred, and a thin layer of gravel
laid on the top, and afterwards firmly rolled. Where the gravel is loose, it
ought to be mixed with gravel of an adhesive nature, newly taken from the
pit; or, if this cannot be procured, with Roman cement in a state of powder.
The proportion of cement should be very small; not more than at the rate of
half a pint of cement to one bushel of gravel. The gravel and cement ought
to be intimately and rapidly mixed before laying them on the walk, and
heavily rolled as soon after as possible. Where a yellow ferruginous clay can
be procured, and where it is taken fresh from the pit, and instantly mixed
S
258 THE VILLA GARD ENE1R,
with the gravel, it will answer the same purpose as the cement; but, if it be
exposed to the air for a day or two, it will be of little or no use. A mixture
of clay and sand, or of brick-dust and lime, is sometimes used instead of ferru-
ginous clay, but it is much less effective. In general, ferruginous gravels
(such as the Kensington), when laid down fresh from the pit, and heavily
rolled, become almost immediately as solid as a mass of plum-pudding
stone; but if exposed to the air for a few days, so as to lose their moisture
before they are laid down, the oxydised surfaces become so dry, that they will
no longer form a conglomerate union, and consequently such gravel can
only be held together mechanically, viz. by rolling. This, indeed, is the case
with most gravels as at present treated.
351. To render a place comfortable, even for a temporary residence, three
things are essential : first, that the house, and every building connected with
it, should be put in thorough repair; secondly, that the drainage of the
grounds, including the walks, lawns, and plantations, both under and above
the surface, should be effective; and, thirdly, that the trees and shrubs should
neither be so thick, nor in such quantities, as to prevent sufficient ventilation;
nor so thin, nor so few, as not to produce sufficient shelter and shade. These
points kept in view will serve as a guide at once to the intending purchaser of
an old villa residence, and to the improver of one already in his possession.
352. Renovating the kitchen-garden.—Where the occupier has only a tem-
porary interest in a residence, say of seven or eight years, though he may not
think it worth his while to undertake substantial repairs, he will naturally
require a supply of fruits and vegetables from the kitchen garden. Where
the soil of the part devoted to vegetables is worn out, it will not answer his
purpose to renew it, by taking out the old, and carting in fresh, soil; but he
may restore it, by allowing it to rest for a year, or for two years in succession,
without any kind of crop whatever: and, though it would be unreasonable to
expect that he should purchase new fruit trees, yet he may graft the newest
and best sorts on the branches of such as are already there. Fruit shrubs,
such as the gooseberry, currant, raspberry, &c., he may renew either by cut-
tings, or by procuring young plants from the nurseries. It may be useful
here to introduce, as a general remark, that the simplest, most effectual, and
least expensive mode of renovating worn out soil of every kind is, to allow it
to remain a certain period without any plants growing on it. This period
may vary from six months to three years, according to the state in which the
soil is; that in which there is most inert vegetable matter, and most seeds of
weeds and eggs of insects, requiring the longest period of rest. During the
resting period, all weeds should be destroyed while they are in the seed-leaf;
and, in order to bring the greater number of the seeds of weeds into a vege-
tative state, as well as to admit air to the interior of the soil, it ought to be
dug over, or trenched, three or four times a year, each digging being of a
different depth from that which preceded it, in order to expose a fresh surface
to the influence of the atmosphere, and thus occasion the germination of the
seeds which the soil may contain. The manner in which worn out soil is
benefited by resting is, by.the admission of air to the interior of the soil; by
the decomposition of the roots and other organised matters which it contains,
from heat and the alternate action of dryness and moisture; and by the ger-
mination of the seeds of weeds, and the destruction of the eggs and larvae
of insects, snails, and worms, or their complete developement, and migration
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 259
from the spot, because no kind of animal can live where there are no vegeta-
bles to support it.
Subsect. IV.-General observations on laying out, planting, and managing
large Country Villas.
353. Large country villas differ from those we have called small country
villas, in having a paddock and dairy; and from country mansions, in not
having a park and farm. The extent of these large villa residences may vary
from four acres (three being, in most situations, the least quantity that will
serve for keeping a cow, and one the least that will suffice for a suitable house,
pleasure-ground, and kitchen-garden) to eight or ten acres, and upwards.
The characteristics of this kind of residence being the paddock and dairy, we
shall confine our introductory observations chiefly to them.
354. The dairy.—A cow, to a person with a family, is one of the principal
sources of comfort derivable from a country residence. A cow, it is true, may
be kept in town as well as in the country, and may occupy a stall in a
stable, in the same manner as a horse; hay and straw being purchased for
feeding and littering the one as well as the other. The cow, however, not
being worked in the saddle, or in harness, like the horse, and not having
either a large yard or a field to take exercise in, soon suffers in her health,
and must, in that state, produce unwholesome milk. It is true there are
some exceptions, where cows kept in gentlemen's stables in the metropolis
are regularly exercised by driving them to some public park, where the pas-
turage is let out (such as Hyde Park, or the Regent's Park), and bringing
them back again after they have remained there an hour or two; but this
mode, besides being expensive, is too troublesome ever to become general;
not to mention the injury which the cow sustains in being driven through
crowded streets. Notwithstanding the evils attending want of exercise, it is
a fact, though not generally known, that cows in some of the London dairies
are kept stall-fed, and so treated as to give milk for two years in succession,
without having a second calf. There are instances of such cows never having
been once untied, from the day they were put up, till the day, two years after-
wards, when they were sold to be fattened for the butcher. The confined
places (frequently dark cellars) in which cows are lodged, and the state of
filth from want of litter and drainage, and of closeness from want of ventila-
tion, in which they are kept in the crowded parts of the metropolis, such as
St. Giles's, Saffron Hill, Liquorpond Street, &c., are disgusting in idea; and,
in reality, must be highly injurious to the health of those who use the milk
as an article of food. Even the milk from cows kept a year or two without
exercise, however cleanly and suitable the treatment may be for their condi-
tion, cannot, we should imagine, be so wholesome as that produced by cows
that have abundance of exercise and air. Hence it is that the better-informed
inhabitants of the metropolis, and all the higher classes, have their milk from
suburban establishments to which grass fields are attached; and where the
cows, though highly fed in the house, are yet turned out into these fields
for a certain portion of every day throughout the year, except when the
weather is of an extraordinary degree of severity.
355. The cow-house should be of ample size, with complete drainage and
thorough ventilation; and the cow should be carefully cleaned every day
with a currycomb and brush, in the same manner as a horse. When there is
S 2
260 THE WILLA GARDENER,
only one cow, some other animal, the food for which will not be expensive,
such as a pet lamb or a goat, ought to be kept in the cow-house; and this
lamb, or a donkey, should be turned out with the cow into the field. The
cow soon becomes attached to her companion, and this attachment is useful
in keeping her quiet: for it is well known that restlessness and anxiety not
only impair the quality of her milk, but considerably decrease its quantity. If
two cows have been kept together for some time in the same pasture, and one
is sold or taken away, the other will immediately begin to fall off in her milk
(which will become thin and poor), and her uneasiness will be so obvious as
to occasion pain to every one who sees her in the field. The dairy should
be cool and well ventilated; but the construction of this building, and also
that of the cow-house, will be found in our Encyc. of Villa Architecture.
356. The breed of cows used for large public dairies is generally unsuitable
for private dairies; the object in the former case being quantity of milk, and
in the latter, chiefly quality. The Ayrshire breed is, perhaps, on the whole,
the best adapted for a private dairy; but, where the main objects are butter
and cream, the Guernsey or Alderney cows are preferable. In order to have
a supply of milk and butter from one's own dairy throughout the year, it is
necessary to have at least two cows; that one may continue to give milk
during the month or six weeks which the other is dry before calving; but, in
situations where dairy produce can be purchased for that period, then one cow
may suffice for a small family. Whoever keeps either cows or horses, must
occasionally send to market, either as a purchaser or a seller; and this is
commonly the part of the business in which there is most risk of being
deceived. To endeavour to instruct the reader on the subject is out of the
question in a work like the present; nor would it be worth any man’s while
to attend to instructions of this kind, even if we were to give them, unless he
contemplated becoming a professional dealer or a farmer. All that we can
say, that is likely to be useful, is, consult your neighbours, and employ such
professional dealers to buy and sell, as you find are generally considered in the
neighbourhood to be respectable. In all cases, the well-known maxim should
be kept in view, viz. always to employ a man who has a character to lose.
357. The paddock in which the cow is to pasture, and take her exercise,
may either be barely sufficient for the latter purpose, or it may be of such an
extent as not only to afford pasture for the summer, but hay for winter. In
the neighbourhood of London, a small cow, of either the Guernsey or Ayr-
shire breeds, may be kept on two acres of ground; on the supposition that
the soil is good, and that for every crop of hay taken off, a dressing of manure
is put on. In ordinary soils, and with less careful treatment, three acres of
meadow are necessary. Whatever may be the quantity devoted to the cow,
one-half of it requires to be separated from the other by a hurdle, or other
fence, and mown for hay; and the portion mown, and the portion pastured,
should alternate with each other. Two tons of hay, with little or no pasture
or other food, will, it is calculated, keep an ordinary-sized cow a year; and,
therefore, if as much mowing-ground be set apart as will produce one ton and
a half of hay, there will be no want of food, even if the pasture should not be
very abundant. Straw for litter, of course, must be purchased. In the case
of residences where a part of the ground is under the plough, or where field
crops, such as clover, lucerne, mangold wurtzel, carrots, &c., are raised by
spade culture, a small cow may be kept very well on one acre of highly culti-
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 261
vated and thoroughly manured ground; a part of the clover, lucerne, or saint-
foin grown on it being used green, and the remainder made into hay. In
this case, also, litter must, in general, be purchased, unless the cow be accus-
tomed to do without it; which is practicable, as was proved in the Harleyan
dairy at Glasgow, though it is not, in our opinion, congenial to the animal.
A substitute for straw litter may sometimes be found in gardens, in the haulm
of peas and beans, and other stems and leaves which have borne crops; and
in some kinds of prunings, such as the clippings of hedges, which may be
dried in the summer time, and stacked for the purpose. In many gentle-
men's places in the country, the leaves of the trees in the plantations are
swept up when dry, and kept in an open shed for use as litter; and they not
only afford a soft and elastic bed for the cow, but the best of all manure for
the flower-garden. Market-gardeners and others, who are obliged to be
careful of everything, save from the rot-heap all that can be dried and turned
into litter, for both their horse and cow, and often do not require to purchase
straw at any period of the year. It sometimes happens that the kitchen-
garden belonging to a residence is too large for the present occupant; in
which case the ground to spare cannot be more profitably occupied than with
lucerne, to be cut green as summer food for the cow, and with carrots or
mangold wurtzel for her winter food. Whichever way the food and litter for
the cow may be produced, a paddock for her exercise may be considered
essential. The size of this enclosure, when exercise is the main object, will
depend chiefly on its shape. A square, roundish, or compact form, of limited
extent, affords little temptation to the cow to reach the boundary; because
it is everywhere near to her, and comparatively equidistant. If the paddock
is to be square or round, therefore, it must be large. A long narrow paddock,
on the contrary, in which there is a turn, or in which trees are scattered in
such a manner as to conceal the farther end, may be small, as the conceal-
ment of its termination will induce the cow, every time she is turned out, to
find her way thither; and this she will be the more inclined to do, if there
should be a pond or a shed at the farther extremity.
358. The soil of the paddock, if not naturally dry, ought to be rendered
thoroughly so, by both surface and under draining. Where the surface is
flat, and the soil is a strong clay, such as that common in the north of
London, underground drains should be introduced at regular distances all
over the field; and however extravagant it may seem, they ought not to be
farther apart, in many cases, than 5 or 6 feet. These drains need not be
either broad or deep; and, if stones or bricks cannot be conveniently pro-
cured, they may be filled with faggot-wood from the thorn hedges. No
money laid out on a wet clayey soil will pay better than that expended in
forming drains. Where the soil is a clay, and not thoroughly drained, the
feet of the cow will sink into it during winter, which they do much more
deeply than the feet of the horse; not only because they are much smaller in
proportion to the size of the animal, but from their being cloven; while the
feet of the horse, being entire and larger, rest upon a greater breadth of
surface. This treading on a wet surface produces what is called poaching ;
and, when this is the case, all that part of the surface which sinks down under
the animal's feet is rendered unproductive, and the remaining part has its
productiveness greatly diminished. Wherever a cow, therefore, is kept, and
the field in which she is turned out to take exercise is not dry, either naturally
262 THE WILLA GARDENER,
or artificially, during winter, it is better at that season to exercise the cow by
driving her gently along a lane or quiet road; and in warm weather, by
allowing her, in addition to this, to remain for some hours every day in the
open yard attached to the cowhouse.
359. Manure will always repay an occupant, even if he should have only a
single crop after it; but in this case he should take care that the manure is
thoroughly decomposed, and equally and thinly distributed over the ground,
so that the greater part of its nutriment may be imbibed by the plants the
first season. Liquid manure is the best for this purpose; and next soot, and
those manures or composts which are sold in a state of powder. Wherever a
part of a residence is under grass which is to be made into hay, or even
pastured by sheep or cattle, there is, in general, no mode in which the pos-
sessor can lay out money on his land to such advantage as in thickly coating
the surface with stable manure. It rarely happens that the culture of arable
land by a proprietor will pay its own expenses; but we know various
instances, in the neighbourhood of London, where, by richly manuring grass
land, and selling the growing crop every year by auction, the proprietor has
obtained a good profit. - -
360. The paddock may always be harmonised with the pleasure-ground of
the place, and rendered ornamental, by scattering a few trees over it; by
introducing a shelter for the cow in the form of an open shed, in a proper
situation; and by the judicious disposal and planting of the drinking-pond.
It sometimes happens that a pond cannot be conveniently formed in a pad-
dock, from the want of springs, or from the porosity of the surface soil being
such that the rain-water cannot be collected by gutters in sufficient quantities
to fill it. In this case, the usual substitute for a pond is a pump with a
cistern, in some convenient part of the paddock, which may be partially con-
cealed by bushes, or rendered ornamental as an architectural object.
361. The trees for a paddock may either be of the ornamental kind, or
they may be the more robust-growing fruit-trees. If ornamental trees, they
ought to be of such sorts as will grow freely, and soon be in a state not to
require fencing; and, whether merely ornamental trees, or fruit-trees, or both
are employed, they should neither be introduced in such numbers as to injure
the pasture by their shade and drip, nor crowded round the drinking pond in
such a manner as to discolour the water in autumn by their falling leaves. A
few trees may be considered as advantageous, for affording the cow shelter
and shade during rains or very hot sunshine; but, beyond a certain point,
they must be considered injurious to the grass, and only allowable on account
of their ornamental effect, or of the fruit that they produce. Where good
healthy pasturage is the object, from half-a-dozen to a dozen trees per acre
ought on no account to be exceeded; because grasses and clovers, like all other
plants, to attain their greatest nutrimental value, require to have their foliage
fully exposed to the direct influence of the sun, and to the free circulation of
the air.
362. Ornamental trees.—The trees for a paddock ought to be of small size,
even when fully grown; but they ought to be such as grow rapidly when
young, so as to be soon out of the reach of cattle. The following kinds pos-
sess these advantages, and are, besides, ornamental in appearance :—
A cer Pseudo-Plátanus, the common syca- A. macrophyllum, the Californian maple.
Ilore, A. rubrum, the red maple.
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS.
263
A. eriocărpum, Sir Charles Wager's maple.
Megåndo fraxinifolium, the ash-leaved box
elder.
ZE'sculus rubictinda, the scarlet horsechest-
nut.
Cytisus alpinus, the Scotch laburnum.
Robinia. Pseud-Acacia, the common false
acacia, or American locust.
Gleditschia triacánthos, the honey locust,
or thorny acacia.
Crataeguskoccinea, punctata, Crüs-gälli, Arö-
nia, tanacetifolia, and orientalis, different
kinds of thorns.
Amelánchier vulgaris, the common amelan-
chier.
A. Botryāpium, the Snowy mespilus.
Méspilus germánica and M. Smithii, medlars.
Pyrus spectábilis, Chinese crab.
P. A\ria, P. vestita, P. pinnatifida, white
beam trees.
P. aucuparia, the mountain ash.
863. Fruit Trees.—The following selection has been made with the appro-
bation of Mr. Thompson, of the Horticultural Society's Garden, as ornamental
in the shape of the tree, and of vigorous growth as standards:
Apples and Crabs.
The Red Astracham. The tree is middle-
sized, with a branchy head; the fruit is of
a bright red, with a fine bloom, like that of
a plum.
The White Astrachan, or Transparent Crab
of Moscow. The tree resembles the pre-
ceding sort, but has the branches tending
upwards when young, and afterwards be-
coming pendulous. The fruit is of a wax
colour, with a fine bloom on it, and is
almost transparent. It is known in English
nurseries under the name of transparent
crab.
The Lincolnshire Holland Pippin is remark-
able for the large size and high colour of
its blossoms. Its fruit keeps till February.
The Tulip Apple is a great bearer of very
bright red fruit.
The Violet Apple has fruit of a violet colour,
Pears.
Beurré Diel. Leaves large and flowers
very large. A hardy tree, somewhat fasti-
giate in its shape; a great bearer, and de-
serving of extensive cultivation on account
of its fruit, independently altogether of its
handsome shape and large flowers.
Beurré de Ranz (not Beurré rance, as
commonly written, which means rank or
rancid). Branches spreading or pendulous,
P. Sörbus, the true service.
Tília europaea alba, the Hungarian lime.
O'rnus europaea, the flowering ash.
Quércus Cérris Lucombeana, the Lucombe
Oak.
Q, I'lex, the evergreen oak.
Plátanus orientalis, the Eastern plane tree.
Salix ālba, Russelliana, Vitellina, amygda-
lina, and frágilis, tree willows.
Pópulus nigra, monilifera, and canadénsis.
4'lnus glutinosa laciniata, cut-leaved alder.
A. cordifolia, heart-leaved alder.
4, incana, the hoary-leaved alder.
Taxodium distichum, the deciduous cypress.
Bétula álba and B. migra, birches, &c.
The last fourteen trees, to which may be
added the weeping willow, are adapted for
planting in the neighbourhood of the drink-
ing pond. -
If any pines and firs are desired, the
Pinaster and Pinus Laricio are the best.
covered with a bloom, like that of the
plum.
The Cherry Crab is a subvariety of the
Siberian crab. The tree is spreading, with
drooping branches ; and the fruit is nume-
rous, and about the size and colour of a
cherry. -
The Supreme Crab has larger fruit than the
cherry crab. The tree is of robust growth,
and the branches are somewhat erect.
Biggs's Everlasting Crab is a vigorous-grow-
ing tree, with pendulous branches, and
abundance of fruit, which, in form and cha-
racter, are intermediate between the plum-
leaved Siberian crab, and the common Sibe-
rian crab, and which remain on the trees
long after Christmas. In sheltered situa-
tions, and mild winters, this tree appears
almost a subevergreen.
The best very late pear yet known. It
bears very well as a standard.
Nelis d’Hiver. Branches slender and some-
what wavy. Flowers very abundant. Leaves
narrow-elliptic, more so perhaps than in
any other cultivated variety of the pear; and
they make so little appearance when un-
folding, that the whiteness of the blossom is
almost untinged by them.
264
THE VILLA GARD ENER.
Glout Morceau. Branches spreading. Head
pyramidal. A hardy tree, and a great bearer;
the fruit of most excellent flavour, and
hanging late on the tree. A tree in our
garden at Bayswater, the trunk of which is
covered with ivy, is loaded with fruit almost
every year, without any care or attention
whatever being bestowed upon it
.Napoleon. Leaves broad and Shining.
Blossoms large The tree vigorous, and a
good bearer. The fruit excellent.
Swan's Egg. A handsome pyramidal tree,
and an excellent bearer; the fruit roundish
or obovate. This is one of the commonest
pear-trees in the market-gardens about Lon-
dom; and we have introduced the name here
from having ourselves observed the hand-
some shapes taken by the trees. The fruit,
however, as compared with that of the sorts
above recommended by Mr. Thompson, is
Cherries.—Those recommended by Mr. Thompson are:
The Bigareau, a tree of vigorous growth,
with large pale green leaves, and stout di-
vergent branches.
Büttner’s Yellow, a vigorous-growing tree,
like the preceding, but with golden-coloured
fruit.
The Kentish Cherry is a round-headed tree,
with slender shoots, Somewhat pendulous.
The May Duke is a middle-sized tree, with
an erect fastigiate head.
Plums.-The handsomest-growing trees, Mr. Thompson considers to be :
The Red Magnum Bonwm, which has a
fastigiate habit of growth, and a trunk suf-
ficiently vigorous to bear the rubbing of
cattle without injury.
The Washington, a vigorous-growing tree,
with a pyramidal head; and a great bearer
of fruit of excellent quality.
The Green Gage, in the climate of London,
forms a handsome tree ; and, at a certain
age, becomes a great bearer.
The Orleans is a vigorous-growing, hand-
Walnuts and Sweet Chestnuts.
The paddock would seem a very appro-
priate place for walnut-trees; and every
residence ought to contain one or two of
these trees, for the sake of their green fruit
for pickling, and their ripe fruit for the
dessert; but more than two or three should
not be planted in a paddock, unless it be
very large ; because their leaves, when eaten
not worth cultivating; though, in the months
of November and December, it is more abun-
dant in the London markets than that of
any other variety. -
The following Scotch Pears are recom-
mended by Mr. Gorrie, as forms adapted
for landscape scenery; but little can be said
in favour of their fruit, as compared with
that of the new Flemish varieties:—
The Benvie, the Golden Knap, and the Elcho
take fastigiate forms; the latter, more espe-
cially, Mr. Gorrie says, may be called the
Lombardy poplar of the pear tribe. These
trees generally attain the height of from
45 ft. to 50 ft. in as many years, in the
Carse of Gowrie, in Perthshire.
The Busked Lady and Pow Meg take spread-
ing orbiculate forms, such as will assort with
the Acer Pseudo-Plátanus, and may be
called the oaks and elms of the pear family.
The Morello is a low tree, with a spread-
ing head, Somewhat pendulous; most pro-
lific in flowers and fruit, the latter ripens
very late ; and, from not being so readily
eaten by birds as most other sorts, hangs on
the trees a long time. In this last respect,
however, it is now exceeded by Büttner's
October Morello.
Some, spreading tree, producing very excel-
lent fruit.
The Wheat Plum is a very ornamental
tree when in fruit, that being of a bright
fiery red colour.
The Damson, and the Wine Sour Plum are
vigorous-growing trees, quite hardy, very
prolific both of flowers and fruit, which fruit
is particularly well adapted for all culinary
purposes.
by cows, give a bad taste to the milk, and,
when they drop into the pond, make the
water bitter. The same objection does not
apply to chestnut-trees, one or two of which
may be introduced for their fruit. The
Downton and the Madeira chestnuts are
recommended by Mr. Thompson; the latter
has a large oblong nut.
364. Staking and protecting single trees in paddocks,—Plants should be selected
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 265
which have clear stems, at least 6 ft. in height: they should be planted on
little hillocks, if the ground is at all damp; and staked and protected from
the rubbing of the cow. One of the best modes of doing this is that invented
by Charles Lawrence, Esq., and explained in figs. 147. to 149. The advan-
tages which this guard has over all others, Mr. Lawrence finds to be, “free
motion to the tree, without producing any friction on the bark; perfect secu-
rity against the attacks of cattle; durability, cheapness, and neatness in
appearance.” Those guards which confine the tree are objectionable from
preventing the motion of its stem, which is essential to its health and growth;
and those which stand at a distance from the tree, consisting of three or four
posts connected by horizontal spars, are very injurious to the bark in high
winds, and are, besides, very expensive and unsightly. The following are
Mr. Lawrence's directions for preparing and putting up his tree-guard:—
Mr. Lawrence's tree-guard against horned cattle.—“Procure stakes of ash or larch, or, in
default of these, of any other straight-growing tree, when thinning young plantations, or
cutting down coppice. These stakes should be 6 ft. in length, or more if requisite, and
about 2 in. in diameter at the thickest end; and they should have holes drilled through
them at the top and bottom, about 1 ft. from each end. Get a
similar hole drilled 2 or 3 inches up the centre of a stake, and then
saw off the length which has had the hole drilled through it, and
which will give a piece that, when the string or wire is drawn
through it, will resemble b in fig. 147. Repeat the operation till as
many pieces are drilled and sawn off as may be wanted. Pass a
strong piece of copper, or Rowland's metallic wire, or thick tarred
string, through one stake by the hole at the top, and then through
one of the 2-inch pieces, then through another stake, and so on,
separating each stake at top and bottom by one of the 2-inch pieces
of wood, until you have enough to surround your tree loosely, leaving plenty of space for
growth. When this is done, the appearance of the guard, before being put on, will be as in
fig. 148. Place the guard thus formed round the tree, and fasten the ends of the wire or
string. The guard is much the same as the cradle
ſ ſ ſ ſ ſ put round the neck of a blistered horse, to prevent
HH
ſ his gnawing the irritated part. The ends of the
stakes merely rest on the ground, and they should
be cut quite flat at the bottom, to prevent their
sticking in it. At the upper end, they should have
a sharp slanting cut with a bill-hook, to throw off
the rain. The motion of the tree will not be in any
degree impeded ; and the bark cannot be injured,
let the wind blow as it may, for the guard moves
freely with the tree in every direction. If a tree is
growing rapidly, it will want room before the guard
requires renewing ; in which case it is only necessary
to untie the string or wire at the top and bottom,
lengthen the string or wire by tying a piece to it,
and introduce an extra rod, and two extra sepa-
-
-
º
148
§
ſº F. F = H + \ rating pieces. As a principal feature in this guard
i-
ſº
is that the tree is left quite at liberty to be blown
J U U U J; u about by the wind in every direction, of course it
does not obviate the necessity of staking a newly
planted tree until it becomes fairly rooted.”
“I can vouch,” says Mr. Lawrence, “for this guard affording perfect protection against
cattle; for I had two cows, the most determined barkers of trees I ever met with, in a
paddock in which there were several single trees. They had, sooner or later, contrived to
get at my trees, and ruin them; and I was about to fatten them off, and condemn them to
death for their offences, when I hit upon the mode of protection just described. My men
and myself were curious to see the impression that would be made on the cows by the new

266 THE WILLA GARDENER,
guards when they were first turned into the paddock. They very soon proceeded to the
trees, examined the cradles round them, and made several attempts with their mouths.
Finding these unsuccessful, they made an attack with their horns; but, as the fence yielded
with every blow, and merely turned round, they made no progress that way. Thereupon
they began stamping with their feet, and, as we thought, from sheer vexation and disap-
pointment.
Be this as it may, they were completely defeated, and my trees have now
continued several years in perfect security, though these identical cows have remained
amongst them till this day. One man can fence in this way a great many trees in a day;
and the cost of stakes, if purchased, would not exceed that of one of the posts necessary
upon the ordinary plan.” (Gard. Mag., xiii., p. 167.)
Fig. 149. shows, on a larger scale, the ground plan, or
|
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adopted in the public parks
about the metropolis. The
| branches are tied on with copper
wire, and are loosened or re-
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mewed every two or three years.
Protecting trees against Sheep.
A mode of protecting the stems
of trees somewhat similar to
that of Mr. Lawrence, and which
has been long practised in Scot.
land, consists in tying plasterer's
laths, set on end, and touching
each other at their edges, round
the trunks or stems; but this
mode is better adapted for pro-
tecting trees from sheep than
from hormed cattle. Where
Sheep Only are grazed, no mode
can be cheaper, or, after the
rather horizontal section 1 ft. from the ground, and a
ſº. portion of the elevation of a tree so fenced. In this
\ º figure the wire or string is shown passing through the
A.Y. º upright rods and horizontal short pieces, from c by d to e :
º º but, from c by f to e, the wires are only shown passing
º \| through the upright rods; the short pieces being seen
º 㺠in vertical profile, as they are in nature.
Nºminicſ
Protecting by Thorns.—The mode of protecting trees
º from horned cattle which we consider next best to that
of Mr. Lawrence is, to clothe their stems with thorn
bushes, as shown in fig. 150. ; a mode very generally
aths have been exposed to the air for a year, less conspicuous,
unless we were to substitute for the laths, oak, birch, or willow
bark, with the epidermis outwards.
thin boards are used, they, and also the string by which they
are tied on, might be rendered of great durability by being
previously Kyanised, or steeped in Margary's composition, which
is said to cost only one-tenth of Kyan's process, and to be
equally efficacious both on wood and cordage.
Fig. 151. Shows the horizontal section, and elevation of a tree
thus protected, in which a represents
the stem of the tree, b the wire
which ties on the laths, and c the
Where laths or strips of
152
lower ends of the laths.
tected in this manner may be easily
named by nailing on the laths a
label with the name of the tree, and
the date of planting it, as shown in
fig. 152.
Trees pro-
uércus Cérris.
1850.















LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 267
Staking trees to protect them against the wind.—When single trees are planted which have
large heads in proportion to their roots; or, when the situation in which they are placed
is very much exposed, they are in danger of being blown off the perpendicular, or even
thrown down, by high winds. This is more especially the case when the trees are planted,
as we recommend, on little hillocks; and this is one reason why planters have been led to
deep planting, or, at all events, to prefer a flat surface to a raised one. To retain a tree fast
in its place that has but few ramose roots, fix previously in an upright position, in the
bottom of the pit, a stake of such a length that it may be rendered firm by ramming, &c.,
below the level of the soil which is to contain the roots of the tree, and that it may reach
3 or 4 feet up the stem above ground ; afterwards tie the stem of the tree to this stake, as
shown in fig. 153.; or, notch two short pieces of wood into each other, so as to form a cross;
and at one of the angles of intersection fix a stake, to which the tree is to be tied, as in
fig. 154. No wind whatever will blow down a tree thus supported, provided the arms of
the cross are long and strong. In order to give additional strength, the arms of the cross
may be pegged down with hooked sticks. Another mode consists in tying the tree to two
stakes in contact with the trunk, and deeply inserted in the soil, as shown in fig. 155. ; and
153 154
the third mode we shall here mention, consists in strengthening the ramose roots of a tree
by tying them to pieces of branches laid on them, and in close contact with them, through-
out their length, as shown in fig. 156. ; thus pro-
ducing, in effect, large, strong, and powerful roots,
to act as levers to keep the trunk in its place. After
one of these methods of fixing the tree has been
adopted, it may be protected from cattle or sheep
by Mr. Lawrence's mode, by clothing with thorns,
or by a covering of laths, as already described.
Mr. Taylor's mode of securing trees from the effects
of wind.—Mr. Samuel Taylor, of Whittington, Stoke
Ferry, finding that all his newly planted trees, from
their great exposure to a strong westerly wind, bent their heads in a contrary direction, as
shown in fig. 157., to keep them upright, he tried stakes and haybands, which, though firm
at first, he soon found of no avail ; and becoming soon, as he says, “as much chaſed as his
trees,” he had recourse to cords, by which he tied the head of the tree to the stakes, as
shown in fig. 158. These cords answered so well that, afterwards, he dispensed with the
expensive apparatus of stakes, and tied the head down by cords only attached to pieces
of wood driven into the ground, as shown in jig. 159.


268
THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.

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270
THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
Design XXIL-Plan and Description of the Pilla formerly occupied by
Mrs. Lawrence at Drayton Green.
365. Ground plan, &c.—Fig. 160 shows the general arrangement of the
house and grounds; and the following are the details:
d, Village lane.
e, Entrance to the house under a covered
way; at the end of which, on each side
of the hall door, is a niche, with a
statue.
f. Entrance lobby.
9, Hall and staircase.
h, Drawing-room, opening under averanda
to the lawn.
º, Dining-room, opening into the garden
walk.
º, Boudoir, or morning room.
l, Breakfast-room and library, one of the
m, French wine cellar, entered through the
ale and spirit cellar; from which there
are stairs leading to the wine-cellar
below.
o, Kitchen. p, Butler's pantry.
q, Back kitchen, serving also as a scullery
to the dairy.
r, Dairy.
s, Housekeeper's room.
t, Dust-bin.
u, Cinder-bin.
º, Bin for refuse which cannot be burned or
turned into manure.
w, Coal-house.
windows opening to the front garden,
which is ornamented with a border, and
beds of low-growing peat-earth shrubs,
intermixed with spring-flowering bulbs
and standard roses.
m, Store closet under the staircase.
366. General observations.—This villa may be said to occupy in all about
twenty-eight acres. The house, stable offices, and decorated grounds, stand
on about two acres; and at the distance of about two or three hundred yards,
across the road, are the kitchen-garden, poultry-houses, and piggeries, occu-
pying nearly two acres; and two pasture fields, containing twenty-four acres.
The ornamented grounds have an even surface, which has the disadvantage of
rising somewhat from the house to the further extremity of the lawn. It is
bounded on the south by another villa of the same kind; and on the north and
east by grass fields. The disadvantage of the ground sloping to the house is
counteracted, by lowering the walk that crosses immediately in front of the
house, and sloping the ground from the drawing-room veranda to that walk;
beyond which the lawn rises gently and gradually, till, at the cross walk at the
farther extremity, it is probably 6 ft. higher than the level of the drawing-
room floor. Though, when the lawn rises in this manner from the house, it
detracts from the expression of dignity, considering the villa as a whole, yet,
viewing the lawn as an arena for the display of plants, statues, and other
interesting objects, from the windows of the draw-
ing-room, it has an advantage in that point of view
over a falling surface: it is also well sometimes to
have alawn of this kind, in order to produce variety.
367. Description of the grounds,-
Entering the lawn from the drawing-room (h), we find a
gentle descent from the veranda to the walk. Turning to
the right, at the angle at 1, we observe the foliated vase
fg. 161.. the base of which is concealed by a plant of tree
ivy; proceeding onwards towards 2, and 4, we pass two
ornamental pedestals and vases. We are now at a sufficient
º, Lumber-house for bottles, hampers, &c.
º, Knife-house; adjoining which is a privy
for the family
2. Wood-house, adjoining which is a privy
for the servants.
º º distance from the garden front of the house, to see it to
º º: º advantage by turning round; and, if we step on the lawn
º º -------
-º- to the point 4, we shall find the view fig. 162., to the left





1-R-E COUNTRY WILLAs. 271
of which will be observed the ivy vase, and a basket containing a pyramid of roses; and
to the right an elevated rustic basket of pelargoniums. The large window on the left is
that of the dining-room.
The margin of plantation on the right is composed partly of evergreen trees and shrubs
and partly of deciduous flowering kinds. The groups on the left hand are, in part of more
rare sorts, and contain a great many fine hybrid rhododendrons and azaleas. All these
plantations and groups are treated in the picturesque manner; there being scarcely anything
in these grounds, except the single plants, such as the standard roses, and some rhododen-
drons and other shrubs, which can be considered as treated in the gardenesque style of
culture.
163



272 The villa gannexiºn.
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At 5, there is a fine specimen of double-blossomed furze, and at 6, a vase on an elevated
pedestal. The walk from 5 to 7 is several feet higher than the floor of the veranda in the
front of the drawing-room; and hence the views towards the house, being along a descent,
are less interesting than they otherwise would be. The view into the paddock, to the right,
consists of a plain grassfield, grazed by some fine Alderney cows, and planted with two or
three scattered elms, oaks, and aspens and other poplars.
The next scene of interest is the Italian walk (see fig. 93, in p. 182.), arrived at the point
8, in which, and looking back towards the paddock, we have, as a termination to one end of
that walk, the rustic arch and vase fig, 163. From the point 9, we have the view of the
Italian walk, with a span-roofed green-house as the termination at the farther end, and a
fountain on the right hand. The border on the left is planted with the most choice herba-
ceous flowers, interspersed with standard roses at regular distances; and the wall is devoted
º
º


Lange country villas. 273
in part to the finer fruits, but principally to climbing roses, and other climbing or twining
shrubs of fragrance or beauty. At the point 10, there is a rustic archway of rockwork on
the right, from which an interesting view across the lawn is obtained. At the point 11,
there is a walk across the border to the bath-house, adjoining which is a camellia-house 12,
(see fig. 169. in p. 27.4.3) and beyond that two long sheds, 13, 14 (see fig. 169.), for tools,
pots, &c. At 15 there is a fountain, and at 16 astone cistern filled with water by a forcing-
pump in the stable-yard. At 17 there is a span-roofed green-house (fig. 164), and at 18, the
French parterre shown in fig. 165. -
Proceeding towards the house, a view of a handsome weeping ash (20) is obtained from
the point at 19, and, at the farther ex-
tremity of the walk, the vases placed at
1, 2, 3 on the plan have an excellent
effect, backed by the marginal plantation
of evergreens. Leaving the walk at 19,
and passing the weeping ash at 20, if
we advance on the lawn to 21, and look
towards the south, we have the pollard
vistafg. 166.5 and changing the position
to 22, we have a view of some rock-
work, with a statue of Fame, &c.
On the right and left of 23 are two
groups of rockwork, with concealed
springs, which drop from rock to rock,
and from stone to stone, and form
curious little moist places for aquatic
plants. Advancing to 24, and looking
northwards, we have the statue of
Mercury in the foreground, and behind
it the camellia-house, the wall on each
side of which is heightened with trellis-
work for creepers, as shown infig. 167.
At 25, we have the view of the foun-
tain and arch behind, shown infig. 91. in
p. 181. In the basin are nymphaeas and
other aquatics; and on one side is a
Napoleon willow.


























2
7
4.
The Wii.I.A. GARDENER.
At 26, we have the view of the rustic 169
arch and Cupid, shown infig. 168.; and, -
at 27, a tent is frequently pitched in the in
summer time. -
At 28, there is a bed of Rosa indica, in -
the centre of which is a large plant of
Yácca gloriosa; and, proceeding across T 12
the lawn to 29, we have a view of a
flower-garden; and, at 30, we have a
fountain, surrounded by baskets of flow-
ers, with the two guardian nymphs. - 13.
We shall now suppose that the spec- _
tator walks across the lawn, and, passing L-
the span-roofed green-house, enters the 87 || -
court of offices by the door at 30. In
this court (fig. 169.) he finds:–
31. A large pit for plants.
32. A small pit. º -1
33. Dung-pit for the stable.
34. Rubbish-pit, and rot-heap for the |--
garden.
35. Pit for heaths.
36. Green-house.
37. Dry stove.
38. Shed for flower-pots.
39. Rubbish-shed.
40. Four-stalled stable, with hay-bin
at the farther end.
41. Coach-houses, harness-room, and
sleeping-room for coachman.
42. Place for plants in pots that have
done flowering.
43. Carriage entrance from lane.
º
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I,ARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 275
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368. The kitchen-garden, the gardener's house, the stove, and the poultry-
houses, grass fields, and cow-shed, are situated on the other side of the lane,
and at the distance of 100 yards from it. These are shown in the plan fig. 170.,
and an explanation of the references is given in pp. 277. and 278.
369. Kitchen garden, and reserve ground.—The references to the plan, fig.
170., are given in pp. 277. and 278.




T 2
276
THE VILLA GARDENER.
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LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 277
172
[References to fig. 170. in p. 275.]
a, Entrance gates.
b, Entrance to the gardener's house.
c, Entrance to the cow-field, in which the cow-shed is placed.
d, Kitchen.
e, Wash-house, or back kitchen.
f; Gardener's sitting-room.
g, Apartment divided into two bedrooms.
h, Stove, heated by hot water.


278 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
3, Orchidaceous house, with miniature rockworks and artificial hillocks, for terrestrial
Orchideae; and small basins and fountains, formed of shellwork, for aquatics.
j, Beds of reserve flowers.
k, Cold-pit. '
l, Span-roofed green-house.
m m, Children's gardens.
ol, Situation for a hot-bed, surrounded by a privet hedge, 18 in. high.
o, Compost and frame ground. § 3.
p, Two pigsties.
q, Poultry-house, with pigeon-house over. This house has a span roof, with a gable end
over the door; and the triangular part of the gable end has four rows of holes for the
pigeons, the rows having narrow shelves in front for the pigeons to rest on, and an
enclosed space behind, 3 ft. in depth, for the nests.
r, Two other pigsties.
s, Rabbit-house.
t, Tool-house, in which, also, the ducks are kept.
w, Frame-ground.
v, Asparagus-beds.
w, Circle of grass where a tent may be fixed, for eating fruit in during the summer season.
a: a, Open drains, the Soil of the garden being a retentive clay.
gy, Pond.
2, Fruit trees and fruit shrubs. ,
370. Remarks.-The principal feature in this place, while it was in the occu-
pation of Mrs. Lawrence, was its profusion of ornament; and its principal
fault, its total want of repose. In the summer season especially, the brilliancy
of the flowers, the immense number of statues and vases, and the sparkling
waters of the various cascades, produced an effect perfectly dazzling.
DESIGN XXIII.-Plan and Description of Fortis Green, Muswell Hill, with
a small Sheep-farm attached.
371. Ground plan, &c.—This villa, which was laid out, planted, and formerly
occupied by W. A. Nesfield, Esq., landscape gardener, is in a more retired
situation than is generally to be met with in the neighbourhood of London.
Figs. 171. and 172. (pp. 276., 277.) show the ground plan, of which the
following are the details:
1, Entrance by a close gate, 6 ft. 6 in. high.
2, Avenue of sycamores, bounded on each side by a laurel hedge cut nearly perpendicular,
like a clipped hedge, and allowed to be high enough to screen the kitchen-garden, &c.
There are other laurel hedges in the kitchen-garden marked l.
3, Boundary, consisting of a quick fence and ditch.
4, Entrance front of the house.
5, Lawn, which descends very rapidly to the flat surface upon which is placed the house. In
consequence of the frontage being so long and narrow, it was impossible to place the house
upon the level (i. e. where the lawn is separated from the kitchen-garden), because the
south view, which is extremely desirable, would have been contracted to nearly half the
width which is now seen ; and, as the kitchen-garden and other requisites would have
destroyed the character of the view from the south, which now in itself assumes the
appearance of a park-like field, there was no alternative, but that of adopting the different
sites indicated on the plan, for the flower-garden, kitchen-garden, &c.; particularly as there
is no view northwards. The objection, therefore, of descending to the carriage-sweep in
front of the house, is accounted for.
6, Dug ground, containing a variety of ornamental trees and shrubs: the margins are devoted
to low flowering shrubs, &c.
7, Flower-garden, upon two levels.
8, Walk connecting the kitchen-garden with the flower-garden, along a row of lime trees,
LARGE COUNTRY VILLAS. 279
9, Kitchen-garden, having a holly hedge from the gardener's entrance (a) to the yew hedge
near the corner of the house (b); the remaining hedges are all common laurel.
10, Melon-ground and pond.
11, Orchard, and potato and mangold wurzel ground, &c.
12, Belt of spruce and Scotch firs.
13, Gardener's communication with the public road, when manure and other materials for
the gardens are wanted to be brought in.
14, Approach to the stable-yard. te
15, Grass drying-ground, on a lower level than the approach, and Screened by a dense mass
of evergreens, &c.
h, House-yard. 8, Stable-yard.
16, in figs. 171. and 172, Boundary plantation, fenced towards the field with furze (kept
clipped), concealing from the flower-garden a sheep-hut and little stack-yard (ac).
17, in fig. 172., Groups of thorns and other trees.
The frontage of the villa adjoining Mr. Nesfield's
at c in fig. 173. is the same size as his own ; and, as
both places were built by the same architect (A.
Salvin, Esq., Mr. Nesfield's brother-in-law), and laid
out at the same time, care was taken that where the
ground was planted thickly in one villa, it was
planted thinly in the other, and vice versá; so that
each villa might aid the other in producing its general
effect, and in sacrificing as little ground as possible in
planting. The field belonging to Mr. Nesfield em-
braces the frontage of both houses; and the land
attached to both, being 8% acres, is subdivided as
shown in fig. 173. In this figure, a b show the land
occupied by Mr. Nesfield, and containing in all 44
acres, a being that part which comprises the house,
kitchen-garden, &c., and b being the grass field; c
is the house and garden of the adjoining occupier;
and d his grass field, to which he has access by the
road e ; f is the public road, and g g are the entrance-
gates to the two houses. This arrangement (on pur-gº g
chasing the land) was made in order that each house f
might enjoy the effect of space as much as possible, and, by dividing the
ground with the wire fence (h), which is scarcely visible from either house,
the breadth of effect is not cut up, as it would have been, had the division
been made longitudinally. The boundary hedge (i) winds considerably, and
there are several very fine trees in it, which, in consequence of the winding,
group most admirably, as shown in the view, fig. 174. The wood at k, in
jig. 173., belongs to the Earl of Mansfield's grounds, at Kenwood, and,
together with the spire of Highgate church, adds greatly to the beauty of
the landscape, as shown in the view above referred to (fig. 174.)
Fig. 175., p. 282, is a ground plan of Mr. Nesfield's house and flower-garden
on a larger scale.
a, Drawing-room. aa, Green-house. b, Dining-room.
C, Passage. d, Staircase. e, Porch. j, Closet.
g, Way to cellar, from kitchen and glass closet. h, Kitchen.
i, Scullery. k, Stairs to servants' rooms. l, Laundry.
m, Store-room. n, Tool-house, at the end of which is the stoke-hole to the green-
house. o, Passage to the yard. p, Larder. g, Coal-hole.

280
THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
174
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LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 281
7, Wash-house. s, Pump. t, Yard. 7t, Stable.
ww, Dung-pit. v, Walk from the entrance-front to the flower-garden.
w, Walk connecting the kitchen-garden with the flower-garden.
a', Gate in the wire fence which separates the flower-garden from the field.
gy, Entrance to the field, from a small paddock communicating with the stable-yard.
z, Shrubbery, and boundary fence.
1, Steps from the drawing-room. 2, Beds for low flowers, on gravel, and edged
with box. 3, Aloe-tub.
4, A mound, raised 18 in., having its interior slope as steep as it will stand (that is, with a
base of 2 ft.). Upon the top is a hedge of dwarf China roses, jasmines, and sweetbriars,
kept 18 in. high, and terminating in each end in a small circle, out of the centre of which
rises a standard rose tree. The exterior slope, as indicated by the shading, is long,
and gradually diminishes, like a glacis, till it imperceptibly unites with the common
level.
5, Beds for groups of dahlias on grass, the highest plants being in the middle of the beds.
6, Dug border, in front of a plantation of evergreens and low deciduous flowering trees, for
high and low perennials, and annual flowers.
7, Dug borders for perennials, annuals, &c., and plants out of the green-house.
8, Dug borders for low flowers, all upon grass. The two comical trees shown at the steps,
are arbor vitaes.
9, Dug borders, on grass, for high flowers, &c. Next to the palings are various deciduous
trees and evergreen shrubs; and the palings are covered with common laurels, trained
like fruit trees. This paling is of common Baltic deal, Kyanised, but not painted, and it
appears to stand very well.
10, Mulberry tree.
11, Yew hedge, to separate the flower-garden from the entrance front. -
12, Sloping bank of turf, having a rise of 3 ft. on a base of 7 ft. This slope was formed
in consequence of the house standing on an inclined plane. The house now has the
effect of standing on a horizontal platform.
13, Steps leading from the lower to the upper flower-gardem.
14, Wall to the offices, which, containing no windows, is covered with peach, mectarine, and
apricot trees. Flowering creepers might be substituted; or it might be treated as a
conservative wall, and covered with myrtles, camellias, oleanders, fuchsias, &c.
Fig. 176., p. 284., is a view of the entrance-front of this villa.
372. Management of the grass field.—The total quantity of land at Fortis
Green is 4} acres, of which 14 acre is occupied by the house, pleasure
ground, kitchen-garden, shrubberies, &c., and 3 acres are exclusively
devoted to sheep.
373. There are two modes of stocking a farm with sheep upon a small scale.
—First method.—Buy in September, or in the beginning of October, three
ewes in lamb, per acre, at 25s, each, which will, on an average, produce four
lambs an acre, in February (though there are frequently five or six). These
lambs will be fat in May, or early in June, and will sell for 27s. each. The
fleece of each ewe will weigh about 4lbs., and will sell for 1s. per lb.; and,
nine or ten weeks after the lambs are gone, the ewes themselves will sell for
30s. each. This is a fair average, if the season is mild; but, as that cannot
always be reckoned upon, it is prudent to grow mangold wurzel or Swedish
turnips in some corner of the garden, which, with a truss of hay (rowens) to
each sheep, will provide for the winter, when the ground is covered with
snow; and thus the ewes will be kept in good condition, and be better pre-
pared to afford milk for the lambing season. Spare Brussels sprouts and
Scotch kale are very useful to give to the ewes after lambing, as they are
extremely productive of milk, but too much is apt to induce rot, therefore
caution is required.
282 THE VILIA GARDENER,
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LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 283
The account on this first mode will, therefore, run thus:
36 s. d
Four lambs, at 278 each . º - e º º e . 5 8 0
Wool of three ewes, 4s. each fleece . e • º e , 0 12 0
Profit upon three ewes, at 58. each . e º º º . 0 15 0
ſ' ——— 6 15 0
Deduct
Clipping and washing, 6d. per head . e y e º . 0 1 6
Hay, one truss per head, at 28. 6d. . e - & e . 0 7 6
Salesman's commission and driving, 7d. per head e e 0 1 9
0 10 9
Clear profit per acre º - 6 4 3
Acres 3
#18 12 9
Second method.—This is rather more profitable, with less risk in lambing,
and also with less consumption of winter food. It consists in buying in
autumn, as above, only two ewes per acre. The fair way, however, of reck-
oning upon this plan will be best made upon the three acres, because six ewes
will, upon the average, produce eight lambs, which are not divisible by three,
without a fraction. Then, in March, buy eight tegs (that is the last year's
late lambs), at 25s. each, the wool of which is more valuable than that of
ewes by 3s. per fleece. The tegs will sell in autumn for 36s. per head.
The account upon this second method runs thus:
& S. d.
Eight lambs, at 27s. each tº e - º e ... 10 16 0
Wool of six eves, at 48. each . º º - te e . 1 4 0
Profit upon the six eves, at 58. 1 10 0
Wool of eight tegs, at 6s. per fleece . 2 8 0
Profit upon eight tegs, at 11s. . º e 4 8 0
——— 20 6 0
Deduct
Hay for six eves, at 2s. 6d. º * e 0 15 0
Clipping for 14 ewes and tegs, 6d. . º • . . 0 7 0
Salesman's commission and driving, 7d. per head for 14 0 8 2
-** =s*- 1 10 2
Clear profit upon three acres & - e © o . .818 15 10
Of course an inexperienced person should employ a respectable salesman
in Smithfield, who will always be able to supply, when wanted, at about the
above prices, though sometimes ewes are bought for 23s. each ; and, if not
convenient to the owner of the land to sell to his own butcher, the same
salesman will sell them at 6d. per head commission, which is not deducted in
the above accounts, because it can seldom happen that a butcher who is dealt
with the year round will refuse to buy and give credit against his account.
374. The above modes of stocking apply only to good land in the neigh-
bourhood of London, particularly if it is dry and has sweet herbage. In the
spring, when there is a prospect of a very abundant supply of grass, the
three acres may carry nine tegs, if the ewes and lambs are in capital condi-
tion; overstocking, however, even with one head, is hazardous. On a small
284 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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scale, like that in question, it is very desirable to divide the land by hurdles,
so that the stock may be changed every ten days; since nothing advances
sheep more rapidly than a “fresh bite,” and the grass by this means is also
less wasted. Sometimes six eves in eight will have twins; and an instance
even more prolific than this occurred in the year 1838 in a paddock on Muswell


LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 285
Hill, where four Leicester ewes produced eight lambs, which sold for 27s.
each.
£ 3, d.
Hence, eight lambs, at 278. 10 16 0
Wool of four ewes, at 48. 0 16 0
Profit on four eves, at 58. 1 0 0
— 12 12 0
Deduct
Hay, 2s. 6d. 0 1 0 0
Clipping, &c., 6d. 0 2 0
Commission, &c., 7d. 0 2 4
0 14 4
Clear profit from 4 ewes - - g e º - . 3611 17 8
Should there be more mangold wurzel or Swedes grown than are wanted,
the overplus is always extremely saleable to cow-keepers, the former from 21.
to 31. per ton, according to the abundance or scarcity of turnips.
375. Remarks.-Sheep are kept at Fortis Green, in preference to a cow,
because the family is small, and, the neighbourhood abounding in farms, the
supply of milk and butter is cheaper than were it the produce of the three
acres, considering the constant attendance, risk, and trouble, incidental to
cow-keeping; whereas sheep are very ornamental, and give no trouble worth
naming. -
Design XXIV.-A villa of four acres.
376. General observations.—The occupier of the villa, the plan of which is
shown in fig. 177., took a long lease of seven or eight acres of ground in the
parish of Hammersmith. He took about four acres into his own possession,
and the remaining part, lying along the public road, he let off in portions of
a quarter of an acre each, for the purpose of being laid out and ‘built on.
This gentleman's own portion extends along the public road, from a to b in
the figure. On the left, it is bounded by a brook (b c), beyond which are the
grounds of a handsome villa, the two grounds serving mutually to set off
each other. On the east, it is bordered by the boundary belt of a gentleman's
park; and it extends behind the portion of ground allotted off, in the form of
a paddock of upwards of two acres. This portion of the residence, which
extends behind the frontage allotments, is kept in pasture, for the purpose of
grazing a horse and cow; and, as the soil is rich, and moist rather than dry
below, it produces a great abundance of nutritive herbage, and is a source of
much comfort and enjoyment to the occupier. The quantity of grass pro-
duced is greatly increased by dividing the field by hurdles into three equal
portions, and by only grazing one portion at a time. This practice might
even be improved on, by dividing it into four equal portions, keeping the cow
and the horse always separate, and making one animal always follow the
other. The reason why this is advantageous is, that the droppings from
horses produce a rank growth, which is not objected to by cows, though it is
by horses; and the same thing takes place in respect to cows.
377. Description, &c.—The surface of the ground of this villa is perfectly
flat, but fortunately elevated 2 or 3 feet above the level of the brook (b c).
There is a carriage entrance near a, and a private door for domestics near b.
The house consists of two parlours (de), a kitchen (f), and the usual offices,
286 THE WILLA GARDENER.
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I.ARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 287
shown at k. The beds of flowers along the pleasure-ground walk, in this
design, require no explanation; and the kitchen-garden is evident from its
rectangular form. It is surrounded by a holly hedge, and, therefore, requires
very little effort on the part of the planter of the pleasure-ground to conceal
it. From the turn of the pleasure-ground walk at the principal entrance to
the kitchen-garden, it is obvious that this garden is not intended as a place to
walk in. In short, a kitchen-garden without walls is too like an arable field
anywhere, and, in London, too like a market-garden, to be much resorted to
as a place of recreation. This is more particularly the case where the plan is
a square of limited extent, as in the enclosure before us. The square form
and limited extent give the idea of confinement; whereas a long narrow slip,
even though bounded by hedges, has more in it to amuse: on entering the
strip at one end, something may be hoped for before we reach the other; but,
in the case of a small square, the whole is seen at once the moment of enter-
ing; and, all the walks being equally short, and all the boundary fences
equally exposed to the eye, there is no desire to proceed farther. These
remarks as to the kitchen-garden apply chiefly in the case of a visiter walking
round the place for the first or second time: to the occupant, the crops and
the cropping are sources of particular interest. The conclusion that we wish
to be drawn in the way of principle is, that, for interesting the imagination,
and for picturesque effect, a small spot of ground, whether a plot of two or
three perches, or a residence of five or six acres, should extend in one of its
directions much more than in another: it should be much longer than it is
broad, and the direction of its length should be crooked rather than straight.
Design XXV.-A villa of seven acres, contained in a space nearly square.
378. Ground plan, &c.—This design, of which fig. 178. is a ground plan,
is contributed by Mr. Glendinning, landscape-gardener, Turnham-green. The
form or outline of the ground, Mr. Glendinning observes, is the most un-
favourable for forming a place, of any that can be devised, for producing
effect; but it is chosen as being the one which most frequently occurs in the
neighbourhood of towns, and particularly in the neighbourhood of new
towns, such as those of America and Australia. The plants mentioned are
those which would suit a moderately warm climate. The surface is supposed
to be even, but with an inclination from the house towards the pond and the
paddock. This pond is supplied with water from certain fountains in the
pleasure-ground, and these are supplied from a spring or brook, supposed to
be exterior to the property. The level of the kitchen-garden is considered as
being about 20 ft. above the level of the pond in the paddock; and the house
stands on a platform, supposed to be 6 or 8 feet above the level of the kitchen-
garden. The paddock is supposed to be grazed by cows and a few sheep.
The edges of the pond Mr. Glendinning would plant with abundance of
Arándo Dönax, Phôrmium tenax, cannas, and hedychiums. The pond
should also, he says, swarm with fish; and should have some wild ducks, a
couple of swans, the bernacle goose (Anas erythropus L.), the Egyptian
goose (Anas aegyptiaca L.), &c. The boundary fence to this residence, whe-
ther wooden pales or a stone or brick wall, should be such as to resist every
description of cattle; and within it a row of evergreen Lucombe oaks are
supposed to be planted at 20 ft. distance from the boundary, and the same
distance from one another. Within these, there should be a row of the ilex
oak, and a third row of hollies, yews, and Portugal laurels alternately. This
288
THE WILLA GARDENER,
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LARGE COUNTRY WIT,LAS, 289
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290 THE VII, LA GARDENER.
will completely shelter the grounds within, and exclude all objects in the
immediate vicinity of the residence. In the pleasure-ground there is a ter-
race-wall (s), within which there is a border sufficient for 500 herbaceous
plants; and the rockwork (c to F) will afford room for 500 additional species,
including the cistus and helianthemum families. The narrow border in front
of the botanic hot-houses (l, m, n) will afford ample room for a collection of
ixias, watsonias, gladioluses, amaryllises, oxalises, and similar Cape bulbs and
tubers; so that a very creditable collection of every kind of garden plant,
whether ligneous or herbaceous, may be found in even a small place of this
extent. This will be rendered more obvious after perusing the list of trees
and shrubs given for planting the boundary plantation. The following expla-
nations refer to fig. 178.
a, The house. b, Entrance from the public road. c, Stable-court.
d, Drying-ground ; a part of the circular building enclosing the stable-court being a laundry,
opening to the drying-ground; a part of it a brewhouse, opening to the west; and a
part of it a poultry-house, opening to the south-east.
e, Pit for the stable dung, with a movable roof to prevent evaporation.
J. Place for hay-ricks, stacks of wood, and various other matters required for the stable-
court and kitchen-garden.
g g, Two marble fountains, rising from Octagonal basins.
h h, Sarcophagi, elevated on angular balls of stone, filled with pelargoniums, Salvias, &c.,
in summer; and with rhododendrons in winter.
i i, Beds for florists' flowers, with stone kerbing 8 im. high, and with an awning to fit over
them when requisite. After the florists' flowers, such as tulips, hyacinths, &c., have
been removed, their place is supplied with showy annual flowers, brought forward in
the reserve-ground.
k k k k, Circular beds, lined inside with brick, with stone kerbing, for bulbs in spring,
and the best kinds of dahlias in summer and autumn.
l, Green-house for a miscellaneous collection. m, Stove.
7, House for Cape heaths. o, Back sheds to the range of botanical hot-houses.
p p, Conservative walls. q, Aviary.
º, Flower-beds, with glass frames to fit over them; being chiefly used for growing hya-
cinths.
8, Terrace wall, with ornamental vases, immediately within which is a border for choice
herbaceous plants.
t, Terrace walk. w u, Lawm. v, Scattered shrubs.
w, Groups of variegated plants.
a’, Lawn, varied by groups of shrubs, baskets of flowers, standard roses, &c.
3/, Flower baskets. 2, A Sun-dial, placed against a conservative wall.
A, Rosarium. B, Covered seat, with a basket of flowers in front. -
C, D, E, F, Rockwork, rustic seat, grotto, and rocky fountain ; the whole varied by rock-
plants and climbers; the grotto consisting of two stories, the upper one serving as a
prospect tower.
G, A pond, or artificial lake, the shape being such as to be wholly seen from every point of
View, and therefore not calculated for picturesque effect so much as brilliancy, and
the display of aquatic plants along its margin.
H. H., Wire fence, separating the paddock, which is to be pastured, from the lawn, shrubbery,
and arboretum, which are to be mown. *
I, A covered seat, and in front of it a basket of Californian annuals; beyond which are a
pedestal and vase (K), to the memory of Douglas the botanist.
L, Reserve-ground to the kitchen-garden, and liquid manure tank, with a pump, for receiving
the drainage from the stables, &c., communicating with
M, The botanic frame-ground, placed in this situation to be near e, for stable dung.
N, Reserve-ground, and rot heap for the botanic hot-houses.
o, Compost-ground, liquid manure tank with cover, and rot heap for the kitchen-garden.
P, Gardener's house, and private court.
LARGF.
291
COUNTRY WILLAS.
Q, Kitchen-garden, of which fig. 179. is a working-plan.
R, Pine-stove in the centre; the one wing being a vinery, and the other a peach-house.
S, Rubbish-heap.
T, Orchard.
U U U U, Situation of the four rows of trees intended to surround the whole, for the purposes
of shelter and seclusion.
V,
Lawn, bordered by shrubbery, chiefly evergreens, treated in the picturesque manner.
W, Back road to the stables, kitchen-garden, and house.
X, Back entrance to the house.
Y,
Forcing-pits to the botanic stoves, with two small basins of water, as a place of reserve
for bringing forward aquatic plants for the pond (G).
Z,
Pine-pits and forcing-pits for the kitchen-garden.
References to the numbers in fig. 178., indicating the kinds of trees that
are to be planted round the paddock. The names are Mr. Glendinning's,
and all the plants may be obtained by them in the nurseries.
I, Magnolia grandiflöra.
2, fuscata.
3, g. exoniénsis.
4, pümila.
5, auriculata.
6, obovata.
7, caudata.
8, acuminata.
9, grácilis.
10, glaſſica.
11, Thompsoniana.
12, Araucaria excelsa (to be protected in
Winter).
13, brasiliana.
14, imbricata.
15, Cunninghamia lanceolata.
16, Ribes speciosum.
17, sanguineum.
18, níveum.
19, Liriodéndron Tulipifera.
20, integrifolia.
21, 22, Hybrid rhododendrons,
23, Bárberis aristāta.
24, dilcis.
25, floriblinda.
26, dealbäta.
27, Mahönia fasciculāris.
28, Aquifolium.
29, nervosa.
30, rèpens.
31, Ribes malvaceum.
32, glutinosum.
33, Kölreutéria paniculāta.
34, T'ilia argéntea.
35, parvifolia adrea.
36, heterophylla.
37, laciniata.
38, rubra.
39, Ailántus glandulösa.
40, Aristotelia Mácqui.
41, variegata.
42, Paliurus aculeatus,
43, Alcer striatum,
44, rubrum. .
45, platančides laciniatum.
46, sacchärinum.
47, dasycárpum.
48, macrophyllum.
49, créticum.
50, O'palus.
51, japónicum pendulum.
52, Ptélea trifoliata.
53, Photínia serrulata.
54, Xanthéxylum fraxineum.
55, nítidum.
56, Zizyphus Lötus.
Euénymus latifolius.
americanus.
Pittösporum Tobira.
Ceanothus americanus.
62, 63, I'lex Aquifolium, three varieties.
Rhámnus Alatérnus.
Arbutus procêra.
U \nedo.
andrachnóides hybrida.
andrachnóides.
Andráchne.
Büxus baleárica.
57,
58,
59,
60,
61,
64,
65,
66,
67,
68,
69,
70,
71, Æ'sculus rubictinda.
72, Pavia americana.
73, cárnea.
74, flava.
75, macrostachya.
76, Virgília lútea.
77, Gleditschia monospérma.
78, horrida.
79, triacánthos.
80, brachycarpa.
81, macrántha.
82, Cytisus Labürnum pendulum.
83, purpureus.
84, Diospyros virginiana.
85, Negåndo fraxinifolium.
86, Plámera Richárdi.
292
GARDENER,
THE WILLA
87,
88,
89,
90,
91,
92,
93,
94,
95,
96,
97,
98,
Fráxinus parviflora.
viridis.
argéntea.
Gymnácladus canadénsis.
Robinia Pseild-Acacia tomentosa.
imérmis.
yiscosa.
hispida rosea.
Caragāna arboréscens.
Halimodéndron argénteum.
Thea Bohèa.
viridis.
Caméllia, white.
99,
100,
101,
102,
103,
104,
105,
106,
107,
108,
109,
110,
111,
112,
113,
114,
115,
116,
117,
118,
119,
120,
121,
122,
123,
124,
125,
126,
127,
striped.
Warratah.
Cèdrus Libâni.
Pópulus heterophylla.
Pinus halepénsis.
Cámbra.
Acacia Julibríssim.
dealbata.
Cércis Siliquástrum.
Crataegus Azarölus.
Cérasus lusitánica.
Padus.
Prümus insititia.
cerasifera.
Spártium monospérmum.
Crataegus migra.
Spártium jūnceum.
Crataegus grandiflora.
Salix vitellina.
babylonica.
pentándra.
Crataegus Douglasii.
Ulex europaea flore plèno.
Crataegus orientalis.
tanacetifolia.
Crataegus coccinea indentata.
punctata aúrea.
Pinus palástris.
128, Pöpulus balsamífera.
129, Pinus sylvéstris.
130, Abies Clanbrasiliana.
131, Pöpulus ālba.
132, Crataegus pyrifolia.
133, macrántha.
134, Crüs-gälli pyracanthifolia.
135, Quércus pedunculata.
136, Phéllos.
137, Süber.
138, virens.
139, I'lex.
140, JBallota.
141, fastigiata.
142, Röbur.
143, Taſzin.
144, AEgilops.
145,
146,
147,
148,
149,
150,
151,
152,
153,
154,
155,
156,
157,
158,
159,
160,
161,
162,
163,
164,
165,
166,
167,
168,
169,
Quércus Cérris.
Plátanus cuneata.
orientalis.
Salisbüria adiantifolia.
Liquidambar Styracíflua.
Céltis orientalis
Tournefórtič.
Escallonia rübra.
bifida.
Fagus americana purpürea.
ferruginea.
Salix babylonica.
Bétula papyrifera.
Broussonètia papyrifera.
Macliura aurantiaca.
Hamamélis virginica.
Primos glabra.
verticillata.
Amelánchier Botryapium.
Sanguineum.
Catálpa syringoefolia.
U’lmus crispa.
rübra péndula.
Cèdrus Libâni.
A’lnus cordifolia.
170, Jüglans nigra.
171, O'strya virginica.
172, Laürus mábilis.
173, Castamea vésca.
174, Pópulus ālba.
175, Nyssa tomentosa.
176, Hippéphae Rhamněides.
177, Halèsia tetráptera.
178, Philadélphus grandiflorus.
179, Leptospérmum emarginatum.
180, Aralia spinosa.
181, Latărus Benzöin.
182, Plámera Richárdi.
183, Gmèlini.
184, Pistàcia Terebinthus.
185, Morus nigra.
186, Cydonia sinénsis.
187, Liriodéndron obtusíloba.
188, Edwórdsia microphylla.
189, Pinus uncimata. -
190, ponderösa.
191, Abies Douglasii.
192, Pinus Sabiniana.
193, Cèdrus Deodara.
194, Abies Menzièsii.
195, Deûtzia scabra.
196, Taxodium dístichum.
197, Benthamia fragifera.
198, Eriobótrya japonica.
199, Larix péndula.
200, Mèlia Azedarāch.
201, Cupréssus sempervirens horizontalis.
202, Thija orientalis.
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 293
203, Cupréssus lusitánica. 211, Chimománthus fragrams.
204, Pinus Pinea. 212, Cupréssus sempervirens stricta.
205, Juniperus repánda. 213, Fráximus excelsior péndula.
206, suécica 214, Pópulus trémula.
207, Pópulus trépida. 215, Fagus sylvática péndula.
208, Edwardsia chrysophylla. 216, Phillyrea péndula.
209, Juníperus recirva. - 217, Juníperus phoenicea péndula.
210, Quércus pedunculata variegata. 218, Cèdrus Libâni.
A few of the species above enumerated will not stand in the open air with-
out protection, in the neighbourhood of London, but in the south of England,
where Mr. Glendinning formerly resided, the case is different. Camellias
there stand in the open air, and grow with the greatest luxuriance; and
Araucaria brasiliana, Pittösporum Tobira, Théa Bohèa and T. viridis, Acacia
Julibrissin, and several of the Australian Acacias, the Edwardsias, Eriobótrya
japónica, and Mèlia Azedarách, are nearly hardy, though they all require
protection in the climate of London.
379. The kitchen-garden (fig. 179.).—Though the extent of this garden is
but small, being only 1% acres, Mr. Glendinning observes that the accom-
panying list will show its capacity for containing fruit trees. The borders are
proposed to be uncropped, or, at the most, to have only a row of strawberries
near the edge of the walk. For the ground lost in this way in the inside of
the garden, the space contained in the slip in the outside will be an ample
compensation. The apples and pears to be trained on the espalier rails
should be worked on quince and paradise stocks.
The following are the references to the plan :
A, Tank of pure water.
a, Entrance from the pleasure-ground.
b, Back Sheds, fireplaces, coal-bins, working-shed (including a place for making baskets,
preparing and painting labels, &c.), potting-shed, mushroom house, and fruit-room.
c, Pine-stove. d, Vinery. e, Peach-house.
f. Entrance from the frame ground.
g g, Departments for early vegetables.
1, Apple, Borovitsky. 23, Pear, Délices d'Hardenpont.
2, Dutch mignonne. 24, Doyenne, white.
3, Ribston pippin. 25, Duchesse d’Angoulême.
4, Golden pippin. 26, Famenga.
5, Summer golden pippin. 27, Figue de Naples.
6, Pear, Bellissime d'hiver. 28, Apple, Gloria mundi.
7, Beurré d’Aremberg. 29, Coe's golden drop.
8, Beurré d'automne. 30, Golden Harvey.
9, Beurré de Capiaumont. 31, Hawthornden.
10, Beurré Diel. 32, Hicks's fancy.
11, Bon Chrétien fondant. 33, Juneating, white.
12, Beurré, Easter. 34, Pear, Flemish beauty.
13, Beurré de Ranz. 35, Fondante d'automne.
14, Beurré Spence. 36, Fondante du bois.
15, Catillac. 37, Franc réal, summer.
16, Chaptal. 38, Gendeseim.
17, Chaumontel. 39, Glout morceau.
18, Citron des Carmes. 40, Henri Quatre.
19, Colmar, automne. 41, Hessel.
20, Comte de Lamy. 42, Incomparable, Hacon's.
21, Crassane, Althorp. 43, Sucre vert.
2
:
s Crassane, winter.
44, Marie-Louise.
294
THE WILLA GARDENER.
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LARGE
COUNTRY WILLAS. 295
45, Pear, Monarch, Knight's.
46, Napoleon.
47, Nelis, winter.
48, Ne plus meuris.
49, Passe-Colmar.
50, . Rouse Lench.
51, Seckle.
52, St. Germain, Uvedale's.
53, Louise bonne (Jersey).
54, Beurré, Easter.
55, Reurré de Ranz.
56, Apple, Margaret, early red.
57, Nonpareil, Braddick's
58, Syke House russet.
59, Reinette du Canada.
60, Russet, Boston.
61, 62, 63, Cherry, Morello.
64, Pear, Marie-Louise.
65, |Beurré, brown.
66, Glout morceau.
67, Incomparable, Hacon's.
68, Plum, Morocco.
69, Coe's golden drop.
70, Drap d'or.
71, Cherry, Elton.
72, Downton.
73, May duke.
74, Peach, Late admirable.
6, 75, Colonel Ansley's.
76, Nectarine, Murrey.
77, Cherry, May duke.
78, Grape-vine, Willmot's muscat.
79, Espérione.
80, Royal muscadine.
81, Paramata cluster.
S2, Grove End Sweetwater.
83, White cluster.
83 (l, Pitmaston white cluster.
84, Fig, Figue blanche.
85, Genoa, large white.
86, Ischia, yellow.
87, Marseilles.
88, Pregussata.
89, Brown Turkey.
90, Apricot, Moor Park.
91, Nectarine, Elruge.
92, Violette hātive.
93, Peach, Barrington.
94, Plum, Green gage.
95, Reine Claude violette.
96, Pear, Beurré, Easter. -
97, Beurré de Ranz. ,
98, Gansel's bergamot.
99, Colmar. -
100, Plum, Magnum bonum, white,
101, Magnum bonum, red.
102, Apricot, Turkey.
103, Cherry, Griotte de rataſia.
104, 105, 106, Morello.
107, Peach, Bellegarde.
108, Royal George.
109, Nectarine, Violette hātive.
110, Apricot, Royal.
111, Hemskirke.
112, Cherry, May duke.
I 13, Elton.
114, Bigarreau Napoléon.
115, Pear, Easter beurré.
116, Beurré de Ranz.
117 to 126, Currants, white and red,
127, Pear, Chaumontel.
128, Passe-Colmar.
129 to 135, Currants, red and white.
136, Plum, Orleans.
137, Washington.
138, Mirabelle.
139, 140, 141, Green gage.
142, 143, 144, Apricot, Moor Park.
145, 146, 147, Cherry, Morello.
148, Plum, Drap d'or.
149, Green gage.
150, Apricot, Red masculine.
151, Royal.
152, Nectarine, Hunt's Fanny.
153, Elruge.
I54, Peach, Noblesse.
155, Grosse mignonne.
380. Remarks.--This design is very valuable on account of the list of trees
with which it is accompanied, and the indications by figures in the plan of the
kitchen-garden (fig. 179.), and in that of the shrubbery (fig. 178.), of the
situations in which they are to be planted. All the fruit trees enumerated in
the former list have been fruited by Mr. Glendinning, and he can therefore
speak confidently of their merits.
The arrangements immediately connected
with the kitchen-garden, such as the melon-ground, &c., seem also very good;
and those for saving all the liquid manure, excellent. Considering that the
surface of the ground is nearly flat, or, at all events, that the difference of
level between the highest and the lowest points is not more than 30 or 40 feet,
and that the whole is surrounded by a belt of Lucombe oaks, which will
296 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
completely exclude all ex-
terior view, this residence
will depend for its interest
entirely on its interior
beauties; and hence the
propriety of introducing as
great a variety of trees and
shrubs as can be grown in
the gardenesque manner in
so limited a spot. The
close plantations near the
house, it will be observed,
are planted thick in the pic-
turesque style, which will
serve by contrast to set off
the gardenesque plantations
to advantage.
Design XXVI. – Plan
and Description of the
Grounds at Fairfield
Cot, by Mr. Parkins.
381. General observa-
tions.—This design is taken
from a work entitled Sia:
Designs for Laying out
Grounds, published by Mr.
Parkins in 1793. The
situation is secluded, and
there are only five acres of
pasture land. The house is
erected on the upper part
of a gently rising ascent,
commanding the “most
luxuriant views of hill,
dale, wood, and water.”
The offices and the kitchen
garden are concealed by a
shrubbery.
382. Description, &c. –
The following description
is given in Mr. Parkins's
own words: “The orchard,
4 placed at an extremity,
º gives variety, and hides the
-
-
bounds, where ºtherwise
they would, by being seen,
defeat the deception of extent; and likewise confines the view, which,
but for such management, would be considerably too extensive. The
remainder of the ground is again subdivided by a hedge, decked with
roses, honeysuckles, and other wild shrubs, and irregularly planted, partly
".




LARGE COUNTRY WILLAs.
297
i
-
º
º
º
º
º:
º
º
º

298 THE WILLA GARDENER.
to allow the walk to take an easy bend betwixt the two inclosures,
and partly to give internal variety; a circumstance which never fails to
cheer the imagination, and relieve the eye. Having thus noticed the
general disposition, it will be necessary to observe, that the walk, in no
instance, has been suffered to approach too near the bounds. From the
shrubbery, after passing a seat under a few trees (e, fig. 182.), it leads down
the side of the hill to a copse overhanging a purling stream. A bridge,
adjoining to a root-house (f), crosses the rill, the path accompanying its
meandering course, till a rustic plank (g), thrown over the same, again unites
it with the lawn. Everything here is simple and unadormed: to load with
ornament a scene dedicated to contemplation and repose, would destroy the
effect which a sequestered situation ever has upon a congenial mind. Pursuing
the walk, a sunk fence on the right admits the country. Clumps of trees in
the adjacent pastures unite it with the distance. A little gate, on gaining the
summit, leads to the temple of Concord (h). From the window is seen to
peculiar advantage the view, purposely hid by the orchard from the house.
This circumstance renders the temple much more interesting than it otherwise
would be, and increases the variety of the whole. From this place the walk
waves to the left. Entering a small shrubbery, with a seat in a sequestered
situation (i), it soon opens on the green, and terminates at the cottage.”
a, House.
b, Stable, cow-house, piggeries, &c., hidden from the grounds by a plantation, and approached
by a road overshadowed with tall trees.
c, Kitchen-garden, screened in the same manner. An opening in the shrubbery, however,
admits a view down the principal walk, on each side of which the beds are arranged.
d, Orchard. This, from the cottage, has an interesting appearance; it was placed there to
hide the extremity, and to confine the eye to a ruined tower, to a river meandering
through the vale below, and to distant mountains, seen from the house across the lawn.
e, A seat, composed of rude materials, situated under trees. From this spot is seen an
extensive distant country, adorned with water, hanging woods, &c. *'
J. Root-house, built of roots of trees, and thatched; the inside lined with moss. Ivy creeps
over the door, along with the honeysuckle and jasmine. A table and two rustic
benches constitute its furniture; on the former there is an appropriate inscription.
g, A bridge. A few large stones, supporting a plank or two, with a rail on one side,
will generally be found sufficient for such a situation. It accords with simplicity, and is
therefore infinitely more attractive than a formal structure.
h, Temple of Concord. A small square building, the walls emblematically painted in
fresco. From the windows, a most extensive view, particularly of objects in the distance,
Screened from the house by the orchard.
i. A seat in a sequestered situation. On the opposite side of the walk, under cypress and
flowering shrubs, an urn, dedicated to Friendship,
A B, First sectional line. Seefig. 181. C D, Second line. Seefig. 183.
183
º
º §
§ § w T...sº - w § §N § sº § s: §
E F, Line for first sectional geometrical view, giving the general appearance of the lawn
rising to its Summit; the woods, the house, Temple of Concord, and distant country.
See fig. 180.
G H, Line for second sectional geometrical view. In this are shown the cottage surrounded
with trees; the lawn ; the fence bounding the same ; a bend of the Serpentine walk,
with part of the orchard, and the distant country. See fig. 184. -


LARGE COUNTRY - L.A.S. 299
383. Remarks—The sections and sectional geometrical views in this design
would answer exceedingly well for giving a general idea of the effect of
improvements; but they would not serve instead of a working plan. Such
designs were commonly given, when modern landscape-gardening was in its
infancy, by Kent, Brown, Wright, and others, and executed by contract with
alterations almost at pleasure, by a contractor under the name of a new ground
workman; or sometimes in the ordinary routine, under the direction of the
gardener. All the details of execution, and the choice of the trees and shrubs
planted, were passed over in the general design of the artist, and left to be
supplied according to the taste, knowledge, or means, of the contractor or the
gardener. It does not appear that, in the infancy of landscape-gardening,
any great value was set upon having a variety of trees and shrubs in planta-
tions; and, accordingly, in the first laid out places in the modern style, with
the exception of Pain's Hill, and one or two others, the trees and shrubs are
all of the common kind. At present, however, the taste is decidedly different,
and there is a laudable desire on the part of proprietors, and especially on
that of the females of their families, to render garden scenery botanically as
well as pictorially interesting. The subject of the kinds of trees is scarcely at
all mentioned by Mr. Parkins in the description of any one of his designs: he
looks on garden scenery entirely with the eye of a painter and a poet, while
the modern artist adds to these the eye of the botanist and the cultivator.
Design XXVII. Plan and Description of Redleaf, at Penshurst, near
Tonbridge, the seat of the late William Wells, Esq.
384. General observations.—The estate of Redleaf, near Penshurst, lies
along the north side and in the bottom of a valley distinguished by the bold-
ness of its undulations, the large proportion of the surface which is under
wood and in pasture, the fortunate existence of a fine river, and the cropping
out of some rocky strata. The whole surface of this part of the country
appears, at no distant period, to have been native forest, or, at all events,
under coppice-wood; and hence, in many of the fields, and in all the hedge-
rows, there are groups of oak trees, aged thorns, maples, and hollies, which
give the face of the country the woody appearance of a park. That portion
of the estate which Mr. Wells laid out as a residence, occupies a steep
undulating bank, facing the south-east, with a deep broad valley at one end,
lying in the direction of north and south, and joining the valley of the
Eden, a river which afterwards takes the name of the Medway, and joins the
Thames at Sheerness.
385. The bold and varied undulations of the grounds at Redleaf, the fortu-
nate disposition of the wood, and especially of the single trees and small
groups, left very little for art to do upon a large scale. In some places, a
field, or a part of a field, might require to be planted, in order to form, add
to, or connect, masses of wood; and, in others, a coppice might require to be

300
THE
WILLA
GARDENER.
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mºri ºſſ?
ſu mºſa
those
orming
ty for f
i
But nature or accident had
that it became altogether
and hence there was no necess
and added to the park
to pasture,
1n
heavy clumps by which so many places in every part of the country are dis-
everywhere furnished so many trees in groups,
unnecessary to plant
thrown


LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 301
figured. Another advantage of Redleaf is, that there is no marked boundary
to the property; the mixture of wood, pasture, corn-field, hill, and dale, being
so much alike in general feature, in every part of the country, that it is utterly
impossible for a stranger to tell where any man's estate begins or ends. Hence,
there was no temptation to perpetrate that deformity which so often accom-
panies the clump, viz. the belt; a most unsocial plantation in a moral point
of view, as shutting out all one's neighbours, whether poor or rich, and one
which, as it regards pictorial beauty, generally destroys all harmonious con-
nexion of the residence with the surrounding country. Mr. Wells's operations
on the park scenery of Redleaf were therefore comparatively few, and not
such as in any degree tended to alter the character of the place. He widened
the river in one situation, and altered its direction in another, in order that it
might be better seen from the windows of the house (see fig. 185.); he re-
moved hedgerows, and laid down arable lands in pasture, so as to give extent
and unity to the park or lawn; he added to or diminished the masses of
wood, for the same purpose; and he formed a walk, so as to enable a stranger
to make a general circuit of the place. These were the great features of im-
provement; and they have been executed with so much success, that a stranger,
when he arrives at the house, and looks at the views from its windows, is so
struck with the beauty and natural appearance of the scenery, that he cannot
conceive that anything more is wanting to render the place perfect of its kind.
But the most beautiful scenery in the world, whether the work of nature
alone, or the result of nature aided by art, will soon cease to please, unless it
bears marks of its appropriation to man, or can raise up associations of that
kind. Hence, the tourist, who admires natural scenery in travelling through
a beautiful country, endeavours to make it his own, and to let others know
that he has done so, either by describing it in words which he can read to his
friends, or which he can print, and thus publish to the world (thereby show-
ing that he has as fully enjoyed the beauties of the scenery as if it were his
own); or he commits the scenery to paper by a sketch, by which he seems
also to appropriate it to himself. The purchaser of a portion of the finest
scenery in the world never rests satisfied until he has done something to it;
and it is not enough to do something, however great a change that something
may have produced, unless it be such as to be recognised by the rest of man-
kind. It is absolutely necessary that what is done should be discoverable as
a work of art and taste. Hence, among purely natural scenery, some work
of art must be introduced. Building is the common resource: but even a
gravel walk, to show off the natural beauties of the scene, with seats or rest-
ing-places formed along it at proper points of view, will suffice. Admitting
this principle to be founded in nature, it was not to be supposed that Mr. Wells,
after having improved the general scenery of Redleaf, would rest satisfied
with admiring what he had done : on the contrary, having improved the
natural beauties of the place, he immediately set about adding to them the
beauties of art, by the formation of what may be strictly called garden scenery.
Now, the great merit of Mr. Wells as an amateur artist was, that, while he
heightened and improved the natural beauties of Redleaf, he had been con-
stantly employed, for nearly thirty years, in creating artificial beauties there,
which do not, in the slightest degree, interfere with the great leading natural
features of the place. There are very few other proprietors who would not,
while improving such a place as Redleaf, have done violence to the natural
character of the place, by the evident intrusion of art.
302 THE VILLA GARDENER,
386. Object in view.—Mr. Wells had obviously
been guided by two principles; viz. first, that,
in the views from the house, the natural charac-
ter and expression of the surrounding country
should be preserved; and, secondly, that all the
garden scenes should be kept subordinate, or
as episodes to the main features of the place.
In order to preserve the general character of
the country in the views from the house, it was
necessary that the same character should pre-
vail in the foreground which existed in the dif-
ferent distant parts of the scene; and, hence,"
no flower-beds were introduced immediately
before the windows of the living-rooms. Some-
thing of this kind might, no doubt, have been
done, though in a sparing manner, had Mr.
Wells rebuilt the house, and surrounded it by
an architectural terrace or basement; but,
without such a medium for uniting the house
with the grounds, flowers in the foreground,
Mr. Wells judged, and in our opinion most
justly, would have too powerfully attracted the
eye.
387. Flower-garden.—We must confess that
it is sometimes a matter of difficulty to deter-
mine when a flower-garden should be laid out
immediately in front of a house, so as to form a
foreground to the distant scenery, and when it
ought to be concealed or disguised. In general,
this must be determined from the natural ex-
pression of the situation, and the views. When
these are of a decidedly marked character, and
make a strong and elevating impression on the
mind, the introduction of a flower-garden in
the foreground will interfere with this impres-
sion, and ought therefore to be avoided, or
introduced in such a manner as to be altogether
subordinate to the natural features; but, on the
other hand, when these features are bad or
tame, and comparatively uninteresting, a
flower-garden judiciously introduced will create
an interest which was naturally wanting. For
example, when the foreground is a flat or even
surface, with little to vary it except trees and
shrubs, and when there is no strongly marked
feature in the middle distance, then beds of
flowers, and flowering shrubs, form a valuable
resource, and may render a naturally dull place
gay and interesting. This is very well exem-
plified at Chevening near Sevenoaks, the seat
of Earl Stanhope, where the foreground on the
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304
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lawn front is an ex-
tensive flower-gar-
den on an even sur-
face, with a consider-
able piece of water
bordered by lawn and
trees in the middle
distance; and where
the background is
scenery of the same
description, without
the appearance of
hills, or any marked
feature, natural or
artificial. At East-
well Park im Kent,
the seat of the Earl
of Winchelsea, where
the whole of the sur-
face seen from the
lawn front is flat and
uninteresting, an ex-
tensive flower-garden
is very properly in-
troduced ; without
which the views from
the windows of that
side of the house
would have very little
beauty. On the other
hand, the lawn front
at Linton Place in
Kent, the seat of
Earl Cornwallis,
looking down on
a steep descent, at
the foot of which
is a stream winding
through a fertile val-
ley, beyond which is
an extensive and
somewhat varied dis-
tance, flowers in the
foreground would
here escape notice;
or, if extensively dis-
played, would inter-
fere with the strongly
marked natural cha-
racter of the scene.
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306 THE WILLA GARDENER,
dered as rules generally applicable, because they are founded on the funda-
mental law of the necessity of unity of expression to complete enjoyment;
and this fundamental principle evidently influenced the decision of Mr.
Wells at Redleaf; but, as taste should be free, allowance must be made for
that of individuals who may prefer having a peculiar and conspicuous feature
in a scene, to its picturesque beauty and unity of expression as a whole. In
analysing the beauties or defects of every place, it is always instructive to be
able to separate what is peculiar to the situation, or the taste of the indi-
vidual, from what is general, or founded on universal principles.
388. The garden scenery at Redleaf consists of a kitchen-garden, an orchard,
an English flower-garden, a Dutch flower-garden, and an anomalous descrip-
tion of flower-garden, which may be called the rock-garden. This last
garden constitutes by far the most singular feature of the artificial scenery of
the place, and is totally different from anything else of the kind in England.
The idea of forming it seems to have arisen from the existence of a ledge of
rocks in another part of the grounds, and from the abundance of rock, of a
kind easily quarried (red sandstone), under most parts of the surface. This
part of the grounds at Redleaf is so original in character, that it is difficult to
convey a correct idea of it without larger engravings than this work admits
of; but we shall nevertheless make the attempt.
389. General description, &c.—On comparing the plan shown in figs. 186.
and 187., with that shown in figs. 188. and 189., the principal alterations made
by Mr. Wells appear obvious at first sight. One of these, essential to the
beauty of the place, is the plantation made in the direction of a b c, in fig.
189, parallel to the approach from Penshurst. Without this plantation,
which is chiefly of evergreens, the eye of the stranger arriving from Penshurst
would have seen all the natural beauties of the ground before entering the
house; because the ground slopes from that line of approach on the left
towards the valley, and rises on the right towards the public road. The
same thing would happen to a stranger arriving by the London approach,
were not the trees disposed along it in the direction d, e, f, which shuts out
the great north-western valley, except near the entrance approach; where
the eye may detect between the trunks of some large trees just as much of
the commencement of the valley as to set the imagination at work to guess its
extent. As the wood is now disposed, the stranger, whether he arrives from
London by Seven Oaks, or from Tonbridge Wells by Penshurst, drives up to
the house, admiring the finely scattered groups of oaks, thorns, and hollies,
on the rising grounds on one side of the approach, without being aware of
what is concealed by the plantation on the other side. Entering the house,
from the bay of the drawing-room at g, he is struck with astonishment at the
extent of the prospect, and at the fine reach of the river at h; beyond which,
up the valley, he can see nearly as far as Godstone, where some trees on the
summit of a hill above that town mark its situation. If, from the centre
window, he turns his head to look through the window on his right hand, he
sees the whole range of the Redleaf rocks; and if he turns to the left-hand
window, he sees another reach of the river appearing beyond a wood. The
surface of the water of the river is probably 200 ft. below the level of the
drawing-room floor from which it is seen; the chain or causeway of rocks, i i,
100 ft. below it, and the cottage l, and wood m, rather lower. The effect of
the woodman's cottage at l, which may be described as one of the aboriginal
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAs. 307
cottages of the country, is exceedingly good, as seen from the drawing-room,
by the strong contrast which its humble appearance and the associations con-
nected with it, afford to the richness and high art displayed in the house.
In this extensive view, no gentleman's house is to be seen, no church, and
scarcely a farm-house or cottage, so completely are almost all the objects of
art concealed by the hedge-row trees. In winter, after the leaves drop, are
to be seen some human dwellings, and two or three churches. From the plan
figs. 188, 189., as compared with that shown in figs. 186,187, it will be seen
that the corn field q, in the latter figure, is planted, and the coppice-wood at r
removed; but the most important features of improvement are, the widening
of the river at s, and the altering of its bed at t as indicated by the dotted
lines in fig. 186. Fig. 191, shows a plan of the lawn and flower-gardens at
Redleaf, on a larger scale.
190
.
-
Penshurst Entrance Lodge and Gate.
º, A portion of the house.
b, Walk from the house to the garden scenery.
c, Summer-house in the English garden. This structure, of which a view is shown in fig.
193., is placed on a ledge of rock, which, before the garden was made, formed one side of
a stone quarry; hence, immediately beneath this summer-house there is a very consider-
able hollow. The rest of the flower-garden has an undulating surface, and the beds are
chiefly oval or circular. Among the single low trees are two specimens of the common
berberry, which, trained to single stems, form very handsome objects. They are pro-
fusely covered with bloom in spring, and, in autumn, so completely clothed with their
long red fruit, as to resemble, at a short distance, gigantic specimens of scarlet fuchsia.
The rustic structure is curiously and exquisitely executed of different kinds of wood,
but chiefly of oak with the bark removed, and of hazel. The floor is paved with oak
chumps; and there is a table inlaid with different kinds ºf native woods; and chairs, as
well as a bench, chiefly formed of hazel rods.
d, Continuation of the walk b, on the top of a ledge of rock still higher than the walk
which passes through the summer house (c). The walk d conducts us to the Dutch
garden, the buildings in which are an orangery and a rustic billiard-room.
e. An orangery constructed of oak, placed on a basement of rustic masonry, and thatched



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LARGE COUNTRY WILLAs. 309
with reeds, of which fig. 192, is a view. It is placed in the north side of the Dutch
garden, some of the rhomboidal beds of which may be seen in the engraving. In this
orangery there is a space in the centre, which is occupied as a sitting-room, and is fur-
nished with chairs, tables, &c., for eating fruit or taking tea. From this scene there is a
door to a Chinese dairy, richly fitted up with Chinese porcelain, many of the specimens
of great size, and exquisitely painted. Amongst the flowers, we observed the blue tree

310 THE WILLA GARDENER.
poeony, which was long supposed to be an imaginary variety of the Chinese, but which
is now said really to exist; like the yellow Camellia, which has lately been seen by
Mr. Fortune. Corresponding with the dairy is a small room over the stoke-hole,
with a fire-place, The dairy is not used as such, but is merely to be considered as a
collection of Chinese dairy porcelain. This conservatory, having a thatched roof, and
being in a situation sheltered from high winds, requires very little artificial heat, even in
the most severe winters. It is used to protect orange-trees, large myrtles, and such
green-house plants as are in a comparatively dormant state during our winters. In sum-
mer, most of the plants are turned out, and others brought from the green-houses and
forcing-houses, as they come into flower; it being found that in this comparatively cool
and shaded house the bloom is retained much longer in perfection than it otherwise
would be. We remarked here some orange-trees, lemon-leaved myrtles, and camel-
lias, which had not been turned out into the open air for several years; and, though the
young shoots were etiolated to a considerable extent, yet the intensely dark green of their
leaves appeared to show that shade was more favourable to them than sunshine. The
thatch, being of reeds, has a handsome appearance. An old cottage or barn might
easily be turned into an orangery of this description.
f. A billiard-room, with a rustic veranda, also placed in the Dutch garden. It is raised on
a rustic stone basement; and the veranda, which is returned at the angles, is paved with
oak chumps, and forms a most convenient place for taking exercise in during rainy wea-
ther; an use which harmonises well with that of the billiard-table, which, to an amateur
gardener, is chiefly valuable as affording him salutary exercise when he cannot be at
work out of doors.
All the walks in the Dutch garden are paved with white brick, and edged with stone;
and, as they have all a gentle inclination so as to throw off the rain rapidly, they are
better adapted than any other description of path for walking on after rain; thus
permitting a lover of plants to examine them in one of the most interesting states in
which they can be seen in spring and summer, that is, when just revived by a shower,
and while yet covered with drops of rain. The beds are planted with a very choice
selection of herbaceous plants, perhaps unequalled in the country for combining com-
pactness and meatness of growth with beauty and rarity. The walks are 2% ft. wide, and
the beds 6 ft. wide; so that any person can reach from the margin of the bed to the
middle without putting a foot on it. The space beyond the circumferential walk is
planted with a collection of all the best azaleas; not crowded together in one mass, as
collections of this shrub and rhododendrons commonly are, but in distinct bushes, so that
each is covered with flowers from the ground to the summit on every side. To insure
this gardenesque appearance, the plants are taken up, reduced, and replanted in fresh
peat soil, as soon as ever they begin to grow out of bounds.
g, An aquarium, on the margin of a bank of rockwork, of which fig. 97. in p. 187. is a view,
which extends from the English garden nearly to the Dutch garden. The walk connect-
ing these two gardens, and also a branch from it to the conservatory and kitchen-garden,
are covered with an arcade of creeping shrubs, sufficiently open on the sides to admit a
view of the bordering plants, which are all of the more rare and beautiful kinds. There
are here, also, various Sanctums, and minor compartments for small plants, not shown in
the plan ; and also a large space for setting out the green-house plants during summer.
h, Experimental garden. Here seedlings of various ornamental plants, such as dahlias,
heartseases, herbaceous calceolarias, picotees, polyanthuses, &c., are reared till they come
into flower; when the more beautiful sorts are selected, and the rest thrown away. It
was in this garden that the first dwarf dahlias were raised by Mr. Joseph Wells, the late
Mr. Wells's gardener, in the year 1825.
i, Gardener's house, which serves, also, as a lodge to the Penshurst entrance, of which fig.
190, p. 307., is a view.
k k, Borders of azaleas, rhododendrons, and other American flowering shrubs.
l, Kitchen-garden.
m m, Conservatories and green-houses. In one of the conservatories, there are some remark-
ably large and luxuriant specimens, particularly of Wistăria sinénsis, the Madras citron,
Cliánthus puniceus, and Enkiánthus quinqueflorus. In an adjoining conservatory, the
back wall is covered with camellias, which are not trained in close to the wall, like fruit.
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAs.
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312 THE VILLA GARDENER.
trees, but have their young shoots projecting out like a camellia hedge; and the intensely
dark green of their leaves, and the profusion of flowers which they produce under this
treatment, show how well it is adapted to them. In general, it may be observed that
these conservatories exhibit the true kind of beauty which a conservatory ought to pro-
duce; viz. free, luxuriant, and seemingly uncontrolled growth ; presenting everywhere
a picturesque appearance, and directly opposed to the beauty of the green-house, in
which the plants are kept in pots on stages, and in which trimness, neatness, and the
close training of climbers (in a word, the gardenesque), ought everywhere to prevail. It
may be useful, both to amateurs and to gardeners, to bear in mind these distinctive
characters of the conservatory and the green-house. The orangery presents an aspect
somewhat different; because the plants, instead of being in small pots on stages, are in
large pots, boxes, or tubs, and, for the most part, placed on the floor: but still the
arrangement of the interior is everywhere guided by the principles of the gardenesque.
o, Winery and plant stove,
pp p, Rock-walk, giving a general view of the rockwork garden.
q q &c., Beds of prepared earth, raised above the surface, and supported by large blocks
of stome, forming an irregular rocky margin to each bed. ©
r, A well, or basin, supplied by a spring, and furnishing abundance of water for watering
the plants. -
a's, Direction of an excavation of 8 or 10 feet, forming an irregular precipice on the side
mext the house, with a bottom sloping in the opposite direction, from which all the rock
was obtained for paving the rocky walk, and enclosing the raised beds. In the views
from the windows of the house, none of this rockwork appears; the ground at t t t being
sufficiently high to carry the eye over it to u. The plants in the rocky beds are partly
half-hardy; such as fuchsias, myrtles, and other shrubs generally planted against conser-
vative walls; magnolias; a fine collection of azaleas and rhododendrons, particularly on
the rocky precipices; Bérberis, Mahônia, Gárrya, and, in short, all the finer shrubs that
are rather tender, and some of the more rare trees. There are also some fine specimens
of perfectly hardy shrubs; such as of Cotoneåster Uva-úrsi and Juniperus Sabina
rèpens; the latter covers an entire bed. Among the more rare trees in the rocky lawn,
fig, 194., was one of Pinus sinénsis, raised by Mr. Wells from seeds imported from China
in 1829, and which had attained the height of 16 ft., and produced cones, before it was
killed by the severe winter of 1837-8. Araucaria imbricata is here quite hardy; and
Picea Webbiána has attained a considerable size, though much injured by the same
winter. There are also remarkably fine specimens of Abies Douglasii, and of various
other species of pines and firs. There are some remarkably fine young cedars, which, in
1837, when measured for the Arboretum Britannicum, were from 36 ft. to 52 ft. in height.
One of these, which had been raised from seed exactly twenty years before, the come
having been purchased in a London seed-shop in 1816, was, in 1836, 36 ft. high, and the
girth of the trunk, at 3 ft. from the ground, was 4ft. 6 in. Another, 27 years planted, was
52 ft. high, with a trunk of 5 ft. 6 in. in circumference at 3 ft. from the ground. Among
the herbaceous plants were most of the Californian annuals and heartseases, and all the
finer half-hardy plants, such as petunias, lobelias, &c., and a great variety of pelargoniums,
In short, if the reader imagine all the plants introduced into this country that it is desir-
able to cultivate in a flower-garden, or against a conservative wall, and in a select
shrubbery, he will form a good general idea of what were planted on the rocky lawn at
Redleaf.
v, Engine-house, fixed over a pond, for throwing up water to the house.
w w, Wood, in which many species of exotic trees and shrubs are introduced among the
native kinds. -
a 2, Wire fence, which separates the mown lawn from the pasture lawn.
gy, Pasture lawn; the surface of which is beautifully undulated, and finely varied by groups
of oaks, thorns, and other trees. The thorns are, in some instances, of great age, and are
often covered with a profusion of mistletoe, which in the winter season gives them the
appearance of evergreen trees, and in spring interferes with that general covering of
blossom, which, from its uniformity and whiteness, sometimes gives a large hawthorn the
appearance of an immense cauliflower, or gives a spotty appearance to the landscape.
We may observe, here, that there are various scarlet thorns distributed through these
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAs.
3.
3.
194
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3.14 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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grounds; that two of them, in front of the Penshurst Lodge, are of an intensely dark red;
and that others, which are seedlings of these, present different shades of colour, some
being only a pale pink.
390. Remarks.-The most original feature at Redleaf, as we have already
observed, is the rocky lawn; and respecting it there are several points which

LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 315
require to be noticed. In the first place, a slight scar, or protruding rock,
which appeared above the surface before any of the improvements were com-
menced, indicated that the same rock was abundant beneath the surface;
secondly, the general slope of the grounds admitted of making a large exca-
vation at this scar, and yet preserving the surface perfectly dry; thirdly, this
excavation enabled Mr. Wells to get an extensive flower-garden near the
house, which, at the same time, should not be seen from it; and, fourthly,
this lawn was in harmony with the rocky bank in the English garden, and
with the ledge or causeway in the rocky valley (fig. 195.); which ledge may
be said to form, as it were, the key-note to the place. The suitableness of
the stone walk to this rocky garden is worthy of notice; not only does the
material harmonise with the margins of the beds, and the rocky bank, better
than gravel would have done, but, being on a steep slope, it is not liable to
be washed away, as that material would have been, by every shower of rain.
The walk is formed by flat laminae of the sandstone, from six inches to a foot
in thickness, not very even on the surface, and joined together in the most
irregular forms, like the lava pavements in Portici, and other towns in Italy.
The stones rise from 3 in. to 9 in. above the surface of the grass; the width
averages from 4 ft. to 5 ft.; but sometimes, where very large stones occur, the
walk is double that height. We are, however, inclined to think that, if this
rocky walk only rose an inch or two above the surface, instead of 6 or 8 inches,
the effect would be better, and the walk would have the appearance of being
more solid and secure, and it would also be less conspicuous at a distance.
One practice which is adopted at Redleaf is, that, in every part of the garden
scenery where the slope is considerable, the walks are paved with brick, and
have brick or stone edgings. Some great advantages result from this prac-
tice. The walks are never injured by rain, but rather improved by being
washed clean ; and, as no weeds can grow in them, nor can they get soft with
rain, nor powdery with dry weather, they never require rolling. Gravel
walks must be turned or partially renewed every two or three years; and the
box, which is annually clipped, should also be taken up and replanted, some-
times every six or seven years. Brick or flagstone walks, or walks of asphalte,
however, with brick or stone edgings, if properly laid at first on a solid foun-
dation, and with such drainage as will admit of no water stagnating beneath
the bricks, will last ten or twelve years, without any repairs whatever.
DESIGN XXVIII. Plan and Description of the Grounds at Hoole House,
near Chester, occupied by Lady Broughton.
391. General observations.—Hoole is situated about two miles from the city
of Chester, on the road to Liverpool. The extent of the place is between
twenty and thirty acres; and it is arranged as a farm, a lawn, a kitchen-
garden, and a flower and rock-garden, the latter being one of the most
remarkable specimens of the kind in England.
392. Description, &c.—The surface of the ground at Hoole is flat, and the
soil a rich loam. In the extreme distance, in one direction, are seen the
Welsh mountains; in another, the Peckforton Hills and Beeston Castle. The
general plan of that part of the ground which lies round the house is shown
in fig. 196., to which the following letters refer:—
a, The house, of which the elevation is given in fig. 197.
b, A conservatory forming the front entrance, as shown on a larger scale in fig. 197.
c, Camellia house, of which a ground plan is shown in fig, 199, an elevation in fig. 198.
316 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 31.7
and a plan of the roof in fig. 200. In the ground plan (fig. 199.), a is the entrance
from the veranda ; b b, shelf for plants; c, stage for plants; d d d, veranda ; and e, the
drawing-room.
d (in fig. 196.), Drawing-room window, which looks on the flower-garden.
e, Geranium house; the communication between which and the camellia-house is by the
veranda d, in fig. 199.
f, Flower-garden, the view of which, from the drawing-room window, is shown in fig. 201.
g g, The rockwork surrounding the flower-garden.
h, Walk midway up the rockwork, but concealed from the eye below by the rocks between
it and the flower-beds.
i, Stable. j, Stable-yard. k, Kitchen-garden. l, Reserve-garden.
m, Grass field. 7, Gardener’s office and green-house. -
o, Under gardener's room. p, Back entrance to the stable-yard.
g, Soil yard. r r, Back shed and other conveniences. 8, Coal-house.
t, Ice-house. ºw, Pond. v, Bee-house.
w w, Flower-baskets on the lawn. ac, Road to Chester.
y, Entrance-gate to the approach-road. 2, Back approach.
1, Back approach to the garden.
2, Archway between the rock and the stables.
3, Back entrance to the flower-garden. 4, Pavement under the Veranda.
5, Back door to the rockwork and flower-garden. 6, Cow-house.
7 7, Coach houses. 8, Harness-room. 9, Shrubbery.
Fig. 202. is a view of the highest part of the rockwork, from the centre of
the flower-garden. The highest point is in the south-east angle, where it is
34 ft. above the level of the lawn,
Fig. 203. is a view of the rockwork, the lawn, and the camellia-house, from
the rock-walk in the north-east angle.
393. Remarks.-The striking effect produced by the flowersgarden at
Hoole depends on the contrast between the smooth flat surface of the lawn,
with the uniformity of the circular beds, and the great irregularity of the
surrounding rockwork. The length of the flower-garden, within the rocky
boundary, is 60 yards, and the breadth 34 yards. The baskets, twenty-seven
in number, are in five straight rows, and each basket is a circle of 9 ft. 5 in.
in diameter. They are made of wire, worked on an iron rod, the rod being
placed upon small pegs, to keep the basket to the level &f the grass; and they
are painted a yellow stone colour, to harmonise with the rocks and the veranda.
They stand 8 in. above the ground, the grass coming close to the iron rod.
The distance between each, across the garden, is 4 ft., and down the garden,
8 ft. 10 in. They are planted with spring, summer, and autumn flowers
mingled together; and the spaces left, when those aré over, are filled with
green-house plants, viz. geraniums, verbenas, &c., German stocks, and tender
annuals, which keep up the colour until the frosts destroy them : the hardy
perennials remain for the next season.
394. The design of the rockwork was taken from a small model representing
the mountains of Savoy, with the valley of Chamouni: it has been the work
of many years to complete it, the difficulty being to make it stand against
the weather. Rain washed away the soil, and frost swelled the stones:
several times the main wall failed from the weight put upon it. The walls
and the foundation are built of the red sandstone of the country; and the
other materials have been collected from various quarters, chiefly from Wales;
but it is now so generally covered with creeping and alpine plants, that it all
mingles together in one mass. The outline, however, is carefully preserved;
3.18 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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and the part of the model that represents “La Mer de Glace” is worked with
grey limestone, quartz, and spar. It has no cells for plants: the spaces are
filled up with broken fragments of white marble, to look like snow; and the

LARGE COUNTRY WII, LAS.
3.19
spar is intended for the
glacier. On the small scale
of our engravings, and with-
out the aid of colour, it
is altogether impossible to
give an adequate idea of
the singularity and beauty
of this rocky boundary;
and we may add that it is
equally impossible to create
anything like it by mere
mechanical means. There
must be the eye of the artist
presiding over every step;
and that artist must not
only have formed an idea
of the previous effect of
198
the whole in his own mind, but must be capable of judging of every part of
the work as it advances, with reference to that whole.
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320 THE WILLA GARDENER.
rockwork, Lady Brough-
ton was her own artist;
and the work which she
has produced evinces
the most exquisite taste
for this description of
scenery. It is true it
must have occupied great
part of her time for six
or eight years; but the
occupation must have
been interesting, and the
result, as it now stands,
must give her Ladyship
the highest satisfaction.
395. The rockwork is
planted with a selection
of the most rare and beautiful alpines, particularly with all the close-growing
kinds; each placed in a midus of suitable soil, and the surface protected from
the weather by broken fragments of stone, clean-washed river gravel, the debris
of decaying rock, moss, or other suitable substances, according as the object
was to retain moisture; to evaporate moisture, in order to prevent the plants
from damping off; to increase the heat, in which case dark fragments of stone
are used; or to diminish it, which is effected by the employment of white
pebbles, which, by reflecting the light and heat, keep the ground cool. The
following is a list of the principal genera:—Saxifrages, sedums, Cistus, pansies,
rock pinks, anemones, Dryas, Myosótis, heaths, violas, Lychnis alpina,
Erinus, Frankènia laevis, campanulas, ajugas, alyssums, anemones, O'xalis,
hepaticas, antirrhinums, aquilegias, A'rabis, aretias, asters, Astrágalus, ,
armerias, Anagállis, Cheiránthus alpinus, Cerástium, claytonias, Convallària
bifolia, Cóptis trifolia, Córnus canadénsis, Cortúsa Matthioli, cyclamens,
Calceolāria Fothergilli, drabas, erodiums, Galium graecum, Gaulthèria pro- ſº
cúmbens, globularias, crane’s-bills, gypsophilas, gentians, hieraciums, hype-
ricums, Hippocrèpis, Jeffersönia diphylla, Láthyrus, Lötus, Leóntodon
aúreum, linums, mitellas, Moehringia muscósa, menziesias, Ornithopus durus,
Onönis, Onósma, O'robus, pinguiculas, phyteumas, pyrolas, potentillas,
primulas, Pisum marítimum, Polygala Chamaebixus, Rübus ārcticus,
Aubriëtia purpărea, Saponaria ocymoides, Sálvia pyrenaica, statices, silenes,
soldanellas, Solidago minuta, Béllis minuta, Teucrium pyrenaicum, Tiarélla
cordifolia, Mitélla diphylla, Trientālis, Thymus córsica, dwarf veronicas.
The evergreens are chiefly yews, privets, laurels, arbutus, rhododendrons,
brooms, cedars, box, daphnes, laurustinus, &c.; to which are added azaleas
of every kind, and various other low-growing shrubs.
. Design XXIX. Plan and Description of Dunchurch Vicarage, Warwick-
shire, the residence of the Rev. J. Sandford.
396. General observations.—The vicarage grounds lie along the churchyard,
from which they are separated by an open fence, so that the churchyard forms,
as it were, a part of the pleasure-ground. The general surface, both of the
vicarage and churchyard, is flat, but the soil is excellent, and there is an
agreeable declivity from the lawn front of the house to the boundary of the

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LARGE COUNTRY WILLAs. 323
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slight alterations in the position of the entrance gates, and in the direction of
the approach; and suggested the idea of forming a circular kitchen-garden;
the circle being the largest geometrical figure that could be introduced into
the particular spot where it was placed. As the situation of this kitchen-
garden is at no great distance from the front of the house, in order to prevent
the intrusion of a garden wall so near the eye, we proposed having that half

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PARSONAGES. 325
of the kitchen-garden boundary which is next to the lawn an open iron railing,
which, being partially covered with fruit trees, and disguised by the shrubs
which intervene between it and the house, would neither give the idea of
nearness to the eye, which a wall would have done, nor of confinement.
Some difficulty occurs in carrying a walk round the boundary of a churchyard,
in consequence of the numerous gravestones which would come in its way;
but the most likely way to get over it appears to be, the expanding of the
walk on both sides of the regular line, on the principle recommended in a
preceding page. The house has been improved under Mr. Sandford's own
direction, and is now a most commodious and comfortable residence, as the
ground plan will show; and a very handsome school has been erected
adjoining the churchyard at Mr. Sand-
ford's own expense.
397. Ground plan, &c.—Figs. 204. and
206. represent the general ground plan of
the buildings and grounds, and fig. 206. is
205 an isometrical view. In the ground plan,
it will be seen that all the effect produced
by the trees is the result of single trees
and small groups; that these are most
abundant on each side of the approach
on the entrance front of the house, and
in the churchyard; and that the groups
on the lawn are chiefly shrubs and
flowers. With respect to the kinds of
trees, those in the entrance front are
in great part fruit trees; those in the
churchyard, trees of the third rank, with
regard to size, some of which have been
already enumerated in a preceding page;
and those on the lawn, and around the
kitchen-garden, embrace so great a
variety, both of trees and shrubs, as to
constitute a tolerably good collection.
*
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a, Carriage entrance and lodge ; the trees on
each side being chiefly fruit-bearing kinds,
and ornamental trees, such as thorns, &c., of
moderate size.
b, Entrance to the Offices.
c, Walk from the vicarage to the church.
d, Walk across the churchyard to the School.
e, School and school gardens. J. Paddock.
g, Church; the details of the plan within the walls are imaginary.
h, Flower-garden on the lawn. i, Kitchen-garden.
k l m, Open espalier railing for fruit-trees; the remainder of the
boundary-fence to the kitchen-garden is a fruit-wall of brick,
which faces the South-east, and is, therefore, suitable for the finer
fruits.
o, Circular walk bounding an outside border to the fence of the
kitchen garden. p p, Beds of low flowering shrubs.
q, Entrance-hall of the house. r, Dining-room.
s, Drawing-room, with a window opening to the lawn.



326 THE WILLA GARD ENER.
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PARSONAGES. 327
t, Library and study. w, Gentlemen's room. v, Kitchen.
w, Butler's pantry. gy, Larder, and cold meat safe. 2, Scullery. dé, Dairy.
1, Stable. 2, Best privy, approached under trelliswork, from the lawn front. 3, Ser-
vants' privy, with a screen wall, which completely protects the entrance door from being
seen from any part of the kitchen-court.
4, Coach-house. 5, Coal-house. 6, Entrance to the garden for workmen, and for the
convenience of wheeling the stable dung to the kitchen-garden by the side-road, o.
7, Situation of the dung-pit, and liquid manure tank. 8, Open court, containing wood-
stack, pump, &c. 9, Boys' School, 33 ft. by 20 ft. 10, Girls' school, 28 ft. by 18 ft.
11 11, School gardens, intended to contain a collection of the more common English plants,
especially those of the locality, and also a collection of the more dangerous poisonous
plants; the whole carefully named.
12, Boys’ yard with conveniences. 13, Girls’ yard with conveniences.
Design XXX. — Plan and views of the garden and grounds at Hendon Rectory,
with the mode of planting them.
398. General observations.—This residence is selected in order to show
what may be effected on a very small spot by the choice-of trees and shrubs
of a superior description, by the distribution of green-house plants in tubs
and pots, and also by combining the gardenesque with the picturesque.
There is nothing remarkable in the art or taste displayed in laying out this
place; that having been done before the present occupier, the Rev. Theodore
Williams, had acquired a taste for botany and gardening. On the other
hand, the selection of the plants grown in pots, boxes, and vases, and their
disposition on the lawn; the kinds of trees and shrubs planted in the masses
and groups; and the manner in which these are managed; display the
greatest taste, and a degree of care and high keeping in the management,
which is very rarely to be met with in either small or large gardens. Mr.
Williams, considering that, in all works of art, and in all natural objects
which are to be examined singly, one of the greatest beauties is symmetry,
has those trees and shrubs which he manages in a gardenesque manner
brought into the most perfectly symmetrical forms, by tying the branches up
or down, inwards or outwards, as may be necessary, with small, almost invi-
sible, copper wire; by which means, not only every plant in a tub or a pot is
perfectly symmetrical, whatsoever be its form, but those trees and shrubs
which stand singly on the lawn, or compose gardenesque masses, are indivi-
dually so treated; and, standing as they do a few inches apart from each
other, the separate shape of each plant is seen by the spectator. The same
care is bestowed on the dahlias, which are here grown in large quantities, and
of sorts most of which were raised under the direction of Mr. Williams, from
seeds saved in his own garden. That which renders Hendon Rectory altoge-
ther unique in a gardening point of view is, a collection of Coniferae in pots.
These Coniferae are in part set out on the lawn in the summer season, and in
part kept under glass; and all of them are trained into the most beautifully
symmetrical shapes that are anywhere to be seen. As the pine and fir tribe
is liable to be attacked by insects in the summer season, it is the business of
one gardener to attend entirely to them and to the Cupréssinae; in other
words, to the pines, firs, cedars, araucarias, dammaras, cypresses, dacrydiums,
junipers, and arbor vitaes, in pots. They are thus kept regularly watered,
accurately tied into shape, and perfectly free from insects. Some of the
plants of this kind at Hendon Rectory are of great value; one, a dacrydium,
in particular, is matchless for its size, beauty, and rarity. The same plan of
328 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
dividing the labour of the place is adopted with reference to the dahlias,
which, from the day they are planted out till the time the roots are taken out
of the ground, are constantly under the care of one individual. Another
man is solely occupied in propagating by cuttings or otherwise; and one is
kept as a man of all work, to assist the others, and to look after the walks.
The duty of the head gardener is to see that the rest perform the several
works assigned to them, and, in general, to be careful that the whole is kept
in perfect health and order.
The fence which separates the grounds of Hendon Rectory from the road
which leads from Hendon to Mill-hill, is of oak pales; and the main entrance
is through a door, also of oak. Besides the garden, the property consists of
a grass field, of 3 or 4 acres, surrounded by an irregular hedge with oaks
and elms, which harmonises so well with the adjoining fields similarly
enclosed, that the limits of the property are no way discernible. The details
of the plan (fig. 208.) are as follow:
a, Principal entrance. To the left is shown a small path in an ogee direction, leading to a
door, opening into the court of offices (m).
b. A point, from which the view fig. 207, is obtained.
207
View at Hendon Rectory.
c. A point, where the spectator, having his back to the house, sees before him a narrow strip
of lawn, with handsome symmetrical plants of the following kinds:–Next the entrance
door, Taxodium distichum.; then Sophora japonica péndula; next, Pinus Mºghus, Dahlia,
Taxodium distichum nutans, Dahlia, Pinus rigida, Taxodium distichum patens. Beyond
this, there is a row of dwarf hybrid rhododendrons, as a margin to a bank of common
laurel, cut smooth above, with standard roses, and other trees, all cut into symmetrical

PAHSONAGES.
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330
THE WILLA GARD ENER.
roundish forms, rising through it, as seen in fig. 207., which forms a very singular phalanx
of objects, and serves to occupy the mind of the spectator, and prevent his recollecting
that he is so very near the boundary and the public road. Turning round, with the face
towards the house, a number of rare and beautiful plants are displayed on a rockwork
composed entirely of crystallised spar.
The walk turns round to the entrance to the
house; which circumstance corresponds well with its cottage and unobtrusive character,
and is, in reality, as we think, in better taste than if the walk had been conducted to the
main entrance, with a sweep like that of a carriage approach.
d, The entrance lobby of the house.
e, The diming-room.
j, The library, which opens into the dining-room with folding doors; both rooms being
intended for books.
h, Study. i, Kitchen.
g, The drawing-room.
j, Back-kitchen.
k, Pantry. l, Dairy.
m, Court, common to the kitchen and stables, with folding gates to the public road.
m, Justice-room. 0, Coach-house.
q, Harness-room.
p, Two-stalled stable.
7", Dust-hole.
s, Servants' privy, entering from a winding walk, which passes from the stable court to the
garden.
t, Situation where there is a handsome Gothic aviary partially concealed by bushes, and
containing a good collection of birds; Mr. Theodore Williams, jun., being much attached
to the study of ornithology.
w, A point round which there is a constellation of rare and beautiful trees and shrubs in
pots, besides various statuary and sculpturesque objects.
Among the hardy trees are,
Photinia Serrulata and Pinus Pallasiana; and among the green-house plants, in pots
and Vases, are, Oranges, myrtles, fuchsias, tree rhododendrons, &c.
The view from this
spot, looking towards v, is indicated in fig. 209.
v, A gardenesque plantation, in which every tree and shrub is kept distinct, and, every one
trained into a symmetrical shape.
The mass gradually rises from the height of 2 ft.
round the margin, to the middle, which is 7 or 8 feet high. Among the plants in this
gardenesque mass are the following:
Magnoliaceae.
Magnolia tripétala, 12 ft. high, and 6 ft. in
diameter.
M obovata.
M. acuminata, 9 ft. high, and 8 ft. in dia-
meter; in bog soil and silver sand.
M. glauca, 7 ft. high, and 3% ft. in diameter;
in bog and loam.
M. macrophylla, 5% ft. high, and 1% ft. in
diameter; in bog and loam.
M. Thompsoniana, 14 ft. high, and 6 ft.
in diameter; in loam, bog, and silver
sand.
M. exoniénsis, 5% ft. high, and 3% ft. in
diameter; in bog, loam, and sand.
Winteraceae.
Illicium floridanum, 3% ft. high, and half a
foot in diameter; in bog and silver sand.
Berberàceae.
Bérberis fascicularis, 3 ft. high, and 2 ft.
wide; in loam, bog, and silver sand.
Pittosporâceae.
Pittósporum Tobira, 3 ft. high, and 3% ft.
wide; in loam, bog, and sand.
Termströmiaceae.
Caméllia japónica quadrangularis, 6% ft.
high, and 3% ft. in diameter ; soil half
loam, and half bog and silver Sand.
C., double red, 5% ft. high, and 4 ft. wide;
half loam, and half bog and silver Sand.
C., double white, 3% ft. high, and 2% ft. wide;
soil half loam, and half bog and silver
Sand.
C, single, 5 ft. high. and 4 ft. wide, in loam,
dung, and grit.
Thea viridis, 1% ft. high, and 2% ft. wide.
AEsculaceae.
Pavia rubra, 15 ft. high, and 9 ft. wide; in
loam, dung, and grit.
Aquifoliaceae.
I\lex, yellow painted holly, 5% ft. high, and
3% ft. wide; in loam, dung, and grit.
I, white-margined holly, 5 ft. high, and 5 ft.
wide ; in loam.
I. Cassāne, 5 ft. high, and 4ft. wide; in loam
and grit.
I., milkmaid holly, 6 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide;
in loam, dung, and grit.
I. angustifolia, 7 ft. high, and 3% ft. wide;
and I. a. scótica, 6% ft. high, and 3% ft.
wide ; in loam, bog, and silver Sand.
I. Daho&n, 7 ft. high, and 3% ft. wide; in
loam, bog, and silver sand.
I. Perädo, 6% ft. high, and 3 ft. wide; in
loam, bog, and silver Sand.
PARSONAGES. 3.31
-

332
GARDENER,
THE WILLA
Rhammâcede.
Rhámnus Alatérnus foliis argénteis, 7 ft.
high, and 4 ft. wide; in loam, bog, and
silver Sand.
Leguminösa.
Cytisus pygmaea, 6% ft. high, and 1% ft.
wide; in loam and bog.
Halimodéndron argénteum, 7% ft. high, and
84 ft. wide; in loam and bog.
Rosâceae.
Photinia serrulata, 12% ft. high, and 5% ft.
wide; in loam, bog, and silver Sand.
Sapotaceae.
Bumelia tênax, 4% ft. high, and 3% ft. wide.
Lawrāceae.
Latirus nôbilis, 3 varieties, 5% ft. high, and
4 ft. wide; in loam, bog, and Sand.
Euphorbiaceae.
Búxus baleárica, 5% ft. high, and 2 ft. wide;
in loam and silver Sand.
Araliàceae.
Hédera arboréscens, 4% ft. high, and 4 ft.
wide; in loam and dung. e
Cornăceae.
Viburnum Timus, 6 ft. high, and 4 ft. wide.
V. T. lucida, shining-leaved, 5% ft. high, and
5 ft. wide.
Loranthāceae.
Aácuba japonica, 5% ft. high, and 4 ft. wide;
in loam, bog, and Sand.
Ericaceae.
Arbutus hybrida, 7 ft. high, and 4 ft. wide;
in loam and silver sand.
A., Pince's hybrid, 4 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide;
in loam, silver Sand, and bog.
A. procera, 4 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide; in
loam, silver Sand, and bog.
A., scarlet, 6 ft. high, and 5% ft. wide; in
loam, silver sand, and bog.
Rhododendron, scarlet hybrid, 4% ft. high,
and 4% ft. wide; in bog and silver sand.
R. azaleóides, 6% ft. high, and 4 ft. wide; in
bog.
R., white, 4% ft. high, and 4% ft. wide; in
bog.
E. altaclerénse, 5 ft. high, and 5 ft. wide; in
bog and silver Sand.
R, caucásicum, 6% ft. high, and 2 ft. wide;
in bog and silver sand.
R., yellow variety, 3% ft. high, and 3 ft. wide,
in ditto; and 16 other hybrid varieties,
the greater part Scarlet flowered.
Vaccinium Arctostáphylos, 6 ft. high, and
Coryläceae.
Quércus Süber, 5% ft. high, and 3 ft. Wide ;
in loam, bog, and Sand.
Q. gramūntia, 6 ft. high, and 4 ft. wide; in
loam, bog, and Sand.
Q. I\lex, 2 varieties, 7 ft. high. and 2% ft.
wide; in loam and road grit.
Oleåceae.
Olea europaea, 7% ft. high, and 1% ft. wide;
in loam, bog, and Sand.
Chionánthus virginica, 11 ft. high, and 6 ft.
wide; in loam, bog, and silver Sand.
- Taacăceae.
Táxus baccata, 7% ft. high, and 3% ft. wide;
in bog and silver sand.
T. b. hibérmica, 7% ft. high, and 3% ft. Wide ;
in loam, bog, and silver Sand.
Comíferoe, § Abiétinae.
Pinus Cémbra, 6% ft. high, and 4 ft. wide;
in bog and silver Sand.
P. ponderösa, 5% ft. high, and 3 ft. wide;
in bog and silver sand.
A\bies Clanbrasiliana, 5 ft. high, and 2% ft.
wide; in bog and silver sand.
Picea Fraseri, 5% ft. high, and 4% ft. wide;
in loam, bog, and sand.
Cedrus Libâni, 2 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide, 20
years old, and shaped like a bee-hive.
Coméfèroe, $ Cupréssinae.
Thūja plicata, 6% ft. high, and 3 ft. wide; in
loam and bog.
Taxodium pendulum, 10 ft. high, and 3 ft.
wide; in loam, bog, and sand.
Juniperus chinénsis, 8 ft. high, and 3 ft.
wide ; in loam, bog, and Sand.
J. Suécica, 5% ft. high, and 1% ft. wide; in
4% ft. wide; in bog. loam, bog, and Sand. w
The spectator, standing at v, with his back to the mass, sees the house on two sides to
the greatest advantage, as in fig. 210. ; looking towards a, he sees a fine display of plants in
pots and vases, backed by a dense wood, of which some idea may be obtained from fig. 211. ;
and, looking towards w, he has also a great variety of rich and interesting objects. Among
the plants in the lawn, in front of v, are, Brugmánsia suaveolens, Magnolia conspicua, Abies
Douglasii, Taxodium distichum mutans, and various others, which will be found in a list
given below.
w. Here are two baskets of pelargoniums, with elaborately worked handles, and between
them a vase, supported on an elegant shaft, as seen in fig. 211., and filled with Verbèna
chamaedrifolia. Between this vase and the walk are, a fine specimen of Magnolia conspicua,
and one of Robinia Pseud-Acacia tortuosa.
PARSONAGES.
210
Hendon Rectory.
----
ºr, A bay, ornamented with a series of standard fuchsias, with some choice plants, and
elegant vases in front of them. Among these plants are, Kálmia latifolia, Rhododendron
arboreum hybridum, and a standard Rhododendron pánticum.
with Pethnia phoenicea.
A handsome vase is filled
The fuchsias and myrtles grown in tubs and pots, and set out on the lawn
during summer, are splendid specimens of the following kinds:
Füchsia grâcilis, 8+ ft. high, head 62 ft.
wide; tub 2 ft. wide, and 1 ft. 10 in.
high.
Another specimen, 8 ft. 9 in high, head
6+ ft. in diameter, with a clear stem of
44ft., and 6 in. in circumference; grown
in a tub 2 ft. wide, and 1 ft. 10 in high.
Another specimen, total height 10% ft., with
a clear stem of 7 ft., the head 5 ft. in
diameter; grown in a tub 1 ft. 9in, wide,
and 1 ft. 4 in. high.
Another specimen, in all respects the same
as the last, except that it has a clear stem
of 7 ft. 10 in.
Füchsia conica, total height 64 ft., clear
stem 5 ft., width of the head 5 ft. 9 in. :
grown in a tub 1 ft. 5 in. wide, and 1 ft.
3 in. high.
Füchsia globosa major, total height 6 ft.,
clear stem 34 ft.; grown in a pot 1 ft.
wide, and 1 ft. high.
Füchsia tenélla, grown in a pot 1 ft. 9 in.
wide, and of the same height, forms a
regular come 10 ft. 6 in high, and 5 ft. in
diameter at the base.
Myrtus communis flore pleno, the common
double-blossomed myrtle, total height 6+
ft., with a clear stem of 2+ ft., the head
4 ft. in diameter; grown in a tub 2 ft.
wide, and 1 ft. 9 in high.
Two handsome standard common myrtles,
3 ft. 3 in. high; grown in pots 10 in.
wide, and 10 in high.
Two standard double-flowered myrtles, of
the same dimensions; grown in pots of
the same size.
The more remarkable of the trees and shrubs planted on the lawn are the
following:
Ranunculºcene.
Clématis, several species. conspicua.
- obovata.
* Berberaceae.
Magnolia grandidora. Bérberis fascicularis,
g- lanceolata. vulgaris.
glaſica. ---
g. Thompsoniana. Termströmiaceae.
umbrella. Camélia viridis.
acuminata. japonica semidiplex.
auriculata. j. rubro pleno.
M. macrophylla.
C. j. albo pleno.
j. quadrangularis.
Stuartia Malachodéndron.
Aceraceae.
Acer créticum, 8 ft. high.
AEsculºcene.
ºsculus rubictinda.
cárnea.
pallida.


334
THE
WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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PARSONAGES.
335
Pavia discolor and P. fláva,
3 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide;
in loam and bog.
P, hilmilis.
Sapindăceae.
Kölreuteria paniculata.
Vitaceae.
Witis vulpina.
Celastraceae.
Curtisia faginea.
Euánymus europaeus foliis
variegatis.
Aquifoliaceae.
I'lex Aquifolium.
A. heterophyllum.
. crassifolium.
. fêrox.
. echinatum.
flavum.
. Senéscens.
. atro-marginatum.
. ālbo-pictum.
aúreo-pictum.
. Scóticum.
... recirvum.
baleårica.
Perado.
opaca.
Daho&n.
Cassine.
myrtifolia.
lavigata.
a beautiful unknown
kind.
Rhamnaceae.
Rhámnus Alatérnus.
latifolius.
baleåricus.
vulgaris.
glaber.
integrifolius.
aureus.
Leguminosae.
Sophora japénica péndula,
6% ft. high, and 5 ft. wide;
in loam and bog.
S. japonica, 10 ft. high, and
6 ft. wide; in loam and
grit. .
Cércis canadénsis, 8 ft. high,
and 3 ft. wide; in bog.
Genista virgata.
Pistacia Terebinthus.
Cytisus Labūrnum.
L. variegatum album.
woolgáricus.
U"lex europaea flöre pléno.
Edwardsia microphylla.
grandiflora.
Gleditschia hörrida.
Gymnácladus canadénsis.
Acacia armata.
A. Julibrissin.
Rosaceae.
Cérasus avium milltiplex.
Cotoneéster microphylla.
Photinia serrulata.
Pyrus spectábilis.
Crataegus Oxyacántha.
O. praecox.
O. coccinea.
O. airea.
Rösa, 100 dwarf standards
of the very best sorts.
Calycanthaceae.
Calycánthus fléridus.
Granatāceae.
Punica Granātum.
Philadelphâceae.
Philadélphus coronarius.
Myrtaceae.
Myrtus communis.
c romana.
c. miltiplex.
Eucalyptus, a beautiful pen- -
dulous species, with oval
glaucous leaves, growing
2 or 3 feet in one season.
Passifloraceae.
Passiflora caerûlea.
GroSSulāceae,
Ribes alpinum, 3 ft. high,
and 4 ft. wide; in dung,
loam, and bog.
R. alpinum var.
R. sanguineum.
Araliacea.
Hédera arboréscens.
canariénsis.
Helix.
H. albo variegata.
H. flavo variegata.
Hamamelidaceae.
Hamamèlis virginica.
Doranthaceae.
A ſcuba japónica.
Ericaceae.
Rhododendron mäximum.
ălbum. -
purpureum.
variegatum foliisatireis.
azaleóides.
hybridum.
Smithii.
arboreum.
campanulatum.
catawbiénse.
barbatum.
dāüricum.
ferrugineum.
hirsutum.
caucásicum.
Russellianum.
R., with larger foliage
and flowers.
anticulénse (?).
magnolia folium; and
about 50 scarlet vari-
eties, hybrids, &c.
Azalea indica.
i. alba.
punicea.
purpürea.
calendulacea.
c. chrysolécta.
c. ignéscens.
Andrómeda floribinda.
arborea.
A'rbutus U'nedo.
rübra.
crispa.
canaričnsis.
hybrida.
Andráchne.
procèra.
Pince's hybrid.
Vaccinium nitidum.
Arctostăphylos.
Myrsineae.
Myrsine retiisa.
Oleåceae.
Philly rea, of sorts.
Olea europaea.
buxifolia.
Syringa vulgaris.
v. Alba.
pérsica.
... p. Alba.
Chionánthus virginica.
336 THE WILLA GARDENER,
Fráxinus, variegated white- Betulaceae. Quércus T.ucombedna nova.
leaved. A'lnus incisa. fern-leaved.
F., curled-leaved. se viridis.
Lauraceae. Coryläceae, or Cupulíferoe. fulhaménsis, or dentata.
. “. . . Quércus gramūntia. Fagus sylvática filicifolia,
Latirus Benzoin, 6 ft. high, I\lex. the fern-leaved beech,
and 4 ft. wide ; in loam I. integrifolia.
and bog. I. serrata. Balsam, imâceae.
Thymelaceae. I. oblºnga. Liquidámbar Styracíflua.
JDáphne Laurèola. I. f.agifolia.
póntica. I: crispa. Taacăceae.
collina. : Podocárpus nuciferus.
neapolitana. º: era.
& & llr Ilert. Comíferoe.
Aristolochiaceae. bícolor. * * if
Aristolochia sipho. . tinctoria. Pinus PináSter.
• *. g Pinea.
Euphorbiaceae. COCC1rlea. gº
* tºp * & 18. palustris. A\bies Douglasii; 10 ft. high,
Búxus baleårica. AE'gilops. and 6 ft. in diameter ;
sempervirens arborés- pedunculata planted in a tub sunk into
CellS. g
s. a. argéntea p. foliis variegatis. the ground and concealed.
, a. arg * fastigiata. Cèdrus Libâni, 20 ft. high.
S. 3., all ſea,
lyrata. * -
Urticaceae. Cérris. Smilăceae.
Ficus Cárica. Lucombedna. Rúscus racemosus.
y, A cedar of Lebanon; and to the right and left are two beds of select dwarf dahlias.
Beyond the beds of dahlias are two rustic baskets of pelargoniums; and there is a
shell filled with mesembryanthemums. The other plants are select species of pines,
firs, and Cupréssinae.
2, A strip of lawn, bounded on the south by a wire fence, which separates it from a
paddock, and varied with beds of dahlias, pelargoniums, and other showy flowers.
On the north of this strip of lawn is an oblong pond, well stocked with water lilies
and gold fish.
&, Shed for cows or horses.
1, Reserve ground for proving seedling dahlias.
2, House for hurdles for dividing the paddock.
3, Compartment entirely devoted to dahlias, which are planted in beds 3 ft. wide, with
alleys 2 ft. wide between. The collection amounted, in the year 1837, to upwards of
400 sorts, which, according to Mr. Lawrence, were among the best then in existence.
4, 4, Kitchen-garden, chiefly planted with gooseberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries,
potherbs, asparagus, tart rhubarb, sea-kale, and several articles not so readily procured
from the market-gardens in the neighbourhood. A
5, Tool-house, including a potting-shed.
6, Border for choice flowers; the wall covered with half-hardy shrubs.
7, 7, Two green-houses entirely devoted to Coniferae in pots. The following list includes
those species which constituted the collection in November, 1837;
Taacaceae. P. Banksiana, 3% ft. high, and 2 ft. in dia-
Dacrydium cupréssinum, 6 ft. 9 in. high, and meter; in a pot 10 in, wide, and 10 in.
5 ft. wide; in a pot 17 in. wide, and 18 in. deep.
deep: by far the largest and handsomest P. inops, 5ft. high, and 3% ft. wide; in a pot
plant of this species ever seen in England. 17 in. wide, and 1 }. in. deep.
* * * * * P. mitis. . plingens.
Coniferae, $ Abiétinae. P. Laricio, 4 ft. high, and 18 in. wide; in a
Pinus sylvéstris. pot 10 in. wide, and 10 in. deep.
P. S. rigénsis, 4 ft. high, and 2 ft. wide; in P. austriaca, 1 ft. high, and 9 in. wide; in a
a pot 9 in. wide, and 9 in. deep. pot 6 in. wide, and 6 in deep.
P. pumilio. P. p. Maghus. P. Pallasińna, 2 ft. 3 in. high, and 2 ft, in
PARSONAGES. 337
diameter; in a pot 13 in. wide, and wide; in a pot 10 in. wide, and 10 in.
13 in. deep. deep.
P. resinösa. A. e. Clanbrasiliana, 18 in. high, and 2% ft.
P. Pináster. wide.
P. P. var. helénica, from St. Helena, 7 ft.
high, and 4 ft. in diameter, grafted on
Pinus sylvéstris.
P. P. var. nova zaelândica Lodd., from New
Zealand.
P.S.P. escarèna, 6 ft. high, and 4 ft. wide;
in a pot 13 in. wide, and 13 in. deep.
P. Pinea, 3% ft. high, and 2 ft. in diameter,
in a pot 12 in. wide, and 12 in. deep.
P. halepénsis, 4 ft. 3 in. high, and 2 ft. 3 in.
in diameter; in a pot 10 in. wide, and
12 in. deep.
P. Taeda, 3 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide; in a
pot 8 in, wide, and 8 in. deep.
P. rigida, 6 ft. 2 in. high, and 4% ft. in dia-
meter; in a pot 2 ft. wide, and 2 ft.
deep.
P. serótina. P. ponderösa.
P. Sabiniana, 4 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide; in
a pot 19 in. wide, and 17 in. deep : and
another, 7 ft. high, and 5 ft. wide; in
a pot 15 in, wide, and 10 in. deep.
P. Cotilteri (macrocárpa Lindl.), 4 ft. high,
and 3 ft. wide ; in a pot 13 in. wide,
and 13 in. deep.
P. longifolia, 5% ft. high, and 3 ft. wide; in
a pot 13 in. wide, and 13 in. deep.
P. Gerardiana.
P. australis, 3% ft. high, and 18 in. in dia-
meter; in a pot 17 in. wide, and 17 in.
deep.
P. canariénsis.
P. sinénsis, 3% ft. high, and 3 ft. in diame-
ter; in a pot 12 in. wide, and 12 in.
deep.
P. insignis, 5% ft. high, and 2 ft. wide; in a
pot 13 in. wide, and 14 in. deep: ano-
ther is 3 ft. high, and 1% ft. wide.
P. Teocote, 13 in. high, and 9 in. wide; in a
pot 7 in. wide, and 7 in. deep.
P. leiophylla.
P. Llaveana, 2 ft. high, and 13 in. wide, 6
years old.
P. Cémbra, 4 ft. high, and 4 ft. in diameter;
in a pot 16 in. wide, and 16 in. deep.
P. Ströbus.
P. excelsa, 1 ft. 7 in. high, and 13 in. in
diameter; in a pot 7 in. wide, and 7 in.
deep.
P. Lambertiàna.
P. monticola, 1 ft. high, and 9 in. in dia-
meter; in a pot 9 in. wide, and 9 in.
deep.
Abies excélsa var., 2% ft, high, and 1% ft.
A. e. pygmaea, 13 in. high, and 13 in. wide,
20 years old.
A. nigra, 5 ft. high, and 6 ft. in diameter;
in a pot 18 in. wide, and 18 in, deep.
A. rubra, 6% ft. high, and 5% ft. wide.
A. Smithiana, 2 ft. high, and 1% ft. wide;
in a pot 10 in. wide, and 9 in. deep :
another, 3% ft. high, and 3% ft. wide.
A. Douglasii, 4 ft. 3 in. high, and 3% ft. in
diameter; in a pot 1 in, wide, and 12
in. deep. The plant on the lawn,
which is 10 ft. high, is also in a tub,
plunged, and the brim covered.
A. Menzièsii, 3 ft. high, and 2% ft. wide; in
a pot 13 in. wide by 13 in. deep.
A. canadénsis.
A. cephalonica, 3 ft. 9 in. high, and 5 ft.
wide; in a pot 18 in. wide, and 21 in.
deep : two plants of these dimensions,
and three others of smaller size.
Picea pectinata.
P. balsamea.
P. b. Fraseri, 2 ft. high, and 20 in. wide ;
in a pot 9 in. wide, and 9 in. deep,
P. Pichta, 1% ft. high, and 1% ft. in diameter;
in a pot 11 in. wide, and 11 in. deep.
P. Webbiana, 3 ft. high, and 3. ft. wide; in
a pot 18 in, wide, and 16 in. deep.
P. grändis, 3 ft. high, and 2 ft. wide; in a
pot 12 in. wide, and 13 in. deep.
P. nábilis, 1% ft. high, and 2% ft. wide; in
a pot 13 in. wide, and 13 in. deep.
Larix europaea.
L. microcárpa.
Cèdrus Libâni. - .
C. Deodara, 3% ft. high, and 4 ft. wide; in
a pot 14 in, wide, and 18 in. deep : ano-
ther, 5 ft. high, and 4 ft. wide.
Araucaria imbricata, 3% ft. high, and 3 ft.
wide; in a pot 16 in. wide, and 17 in.
deep.
A. brasiliana, 6 ft. high, and 4 ft. in diame-
ter; in a pot 18 in. wide, and 18 in. deep.
A. excélsa, 5% ft. high, and 3% ft. wide; in
a pot 13 in. wide, and 10 in. deep.
A. Cunninghamii.
Cunninghamia simensis, 6 ft. high, and 5 ft.
wide; in a pot 13 in. wide, and 13 in.
deep.
Coniferae, S Cupréssince. *
Thūja orientalis.
T. plicata, 6 ft. high, and 3 ft. wide.
T. articulata, 7 ft. high, and 2% feet wide;
in a pot 9 in, wide, and 10 in. deep.
338 THE WILLA GARDENER.
Cállitris pyramidalis, 2 ft. high, and 1 ft. J. from Gossainthan, 2 ft. high, and 1 ft.
wide; in a pot 7 in. wide, and 6 in. wide; in a pot 8 in wide, and 8 in. deep.
deep. ; J. australis, 1 ft. 9 in. high, and 1% ft. wide;
Cupréssus Tournefórtii, 17 in. high, and 8 in a pot 6 in. wide, and 6 in. deep.
in. wide; in a pot 5 in. wide, and 5 in. J. excelsa, 3 ft. high, and 15 in. wide ; in a
deep. pot 9 in. wide, and 10 in. deep.
C. lusitánica, 3 ft. high, and 2 ft, wide; in J. bermudiana, 2 ft. 10 in. high, and 15 in.
a pot 8 in. wide, and 8 in. deep. wide ; in a pot 9 in. wide, and 9 in deep.
Juniperus phoenicea, 4 ft. high, and 18 in. J. rectirva, 4% ft. high, and 2% ft. wide ; in
wide; in a pot 8 in. wide, and 8 in. deep. a pot 13 in, wide, and 13 in. deep. "
8, 8, 8, Hot-beds for striking and bringing forward pelargoniums and other flowers, for the
beds, baskets, vases, &c.
9, Potting-shed.
10, Large pits for preserving fuchsias, Orange-trees, brugmansias, camellias, and other large
plants, in tubs, through the winter.
11, Working-shed, with store-room over, and containing, also, the furnaces for heating the
green-houses and the pits.
399. Remarks.-The practice adopted by Mr. Williams, of growing in pots
pines which will endure the open air (we make an exception in favour of
those that will not, such as P. longifolia, P. leiophylla, &c.), and keeping them
in a green-house both in summer and winter, cannot be recommended; be-
cause, though the plants, when taken so much care of as at Hendon Rectory,
will look remarkably well for five or six years, yet, for want of room, they
must ultimately become stunted and die; or, if they are turned out into the
free soil, after being six or seven years in pots, even with all the care that can
be bestowed in unwinding their roots from the balls, and spreading them out,
their chance of living is very doubtful. The only plants, in our opinion, that
can be legitimately grown in green-houses and hot-houses, are such as can be
brought to as great a degree of perfection there, as they would attain in the
open air in their native countries. Of these there are thousands of species
which can be brought to greater perfection under glass in Britain, than they
are ever seen to attain in their native countries, in the open air. This will
apply to almost all the shrubs, and all the herbaceous plants, of warm cli-
mates. The trees of warm climates have, in general, a miserable appearance
under glass, for want of room.
Subsect. W. The Culture and Management of Large Country Villas.
400. The culture of the gardens of large country villas only differs from that
of smaller ones in being on a larger scale; and neither possess any features to
distinguish them from the general culture of gardens, the details of which will
be given briefly in the after part of this work. The green-house plants used
for bedding out must be raised from cuttings, and kept through the winter;
and the kitchen garden and orchard must contain a sufficient quantity of
vegetables and fruit to supply the wants of the family. -
401. The management of the pleasure-grounds and shrubbery differs, however,
when a horse or cow is kept, in requiring more care. Both cows and horses
are very fond of tearing branches off trees when they can reach them; and
hence, nothing is more common in fields where horses or cows have grazed,
than to see what is called the browsing line; that is, all the trees look as
though their lower branches had been sheared or cut off, at exactly the same
distance from the ground. Nothing can have a more harsh and disagreeable
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 339
appearance than this line, and yet it is very difficult to prevent it; the only
way, indeed, is to surround the trees with guards (see p. 264. to p. 267.); but
even these are not always efficacious, and they are not at all ornamental.
Many persons, to avoid this unpleasant appearance, plant no trees in the
paddock where the horse or cow is to graze, and separate it from the shrub-
bery by an iron fence. Others do not suffer their cows to graze at all, but
keep them constantly in the cow-house, and feed them with cut grass, grains,
and hay.
402. The management of cows, when kept in the field, is very simple; as
they require scarcely any other care than milking at regular times, and taking
care that they have an abundant supply of water. Cows are very particular
in having clean water; and where there is a pond, they generally go into the
deepest part before they attempt to drink. They like to chew the cud in the
shade; and if there are no trees in the paddock where they graze, they should
have an open shed to afford them shelter during the hottest part of the day.
A cow is seldom healthy if she is kept always in the same field, as she is very
delicate in her appetite, and does not like grass that has been trodden down
or lain upon, till it has quite recovered itself. She also requires long grass,
as she twists the grass round her tongue before she bites it, instead of nibbling
it like sheep and horses. The cow dung should also be spread with a fork;
as, unless this is done, strong, common grass will spring up from every place
where a patch of cow dung has lain, and this grass no cow will eat. Cows
kept in a field, should not be put in a cow-house at night; as they are very
apt to take cold if kept in a warm cow-house all night, and turned out about
sun-rise. They are peculiarly sensible to all changes of temperature, espe-
cially from heat to cold. They also give less milk when kept in the cow-
house all night, and turned out in the morning; as they will seldom eat dry
food when they have been used to grass. It is also a well-known fact that
grass about sun-rise, when the dew is just evaporating, is very unwholesome
for cows, and very apt to make them what is called hoven, or blown. Before
sun-rise, while the dew is on the grass, it is not unwholesome; and hence
cows which sleep in the field are always found by the dairy-maid, when she
goes to milk them at sun-rise, to have finished their morning meal, and to be
standing, chewing the cud. When, on the contrary, they are turned out at
sun-rise, they are too hungry to wait, and they begin to eat the grass
immediately.
403. Management of cows kept constantly in a cow-house.—Unnatural as it
may seem, it does not appear that constant confinement has any bad effect
upon the health of the cow, or occasions any diminution of her milk. We
have already mentioned (§ 354. in p. 259.) that in some of the large London
dairies cows have been kept for two years in the same stall without being
once untied ; and in some country places the same plan is adopted, partly
from motives of economy, and partly to prevent any injury being done to
the shrubberies. That this plan is most economical, is evident from the fact,
that three acres of grass land is generally allowed to each cow, by persons
calculating how much stock a farm will maintain; while one acre is sufficient
for a stall-fed cow, if only one-half be kept in pasture, and the other sown
with beans and carrots. The cow should be fed four times a day, in summer
alternately with grass and lucern, and in winter alternately with hay and
carrots. The grass should be given fresh; but the lucern should be allowed
Z 2
340 THE WILLA GARD ENER.
to remain twelve hours after it is cut before it is given to the cow, as, if given
fresh, the milk will not only have an unpleasant flavour, but the cow is liable
to become hoven, or blown. here economy is not a paramount object, it is
best to feed the cow entirely on grass during the summer. The carrots for
winter consumption should be cut like turnips; and the hay should be
chopped by a straw-cutting machine, if practicable.
404. When a cow is milked, care should be taken to drain every drop of
milk from her udder, as if some is left every day, the cow will gradually
become dry. Cows are generally milked at intervals of twelve hours; that is,
about five in the morning, and about five in the afternoon; but, as they always
produce least milk during the twelve hours of night, in some places they are
milked three times a day; that is, at sun-rise, at three in the afternoon, and
at seven in the evening.
SUBSECT. VI.-Renovation of Large Country Willas.
405. Renovating the gardens of large country villas.-Nothing can be added
on this head to what has been already said respecting the gardens of small
country villas; except what relates to the plant-houses, which will form a
separate division of this work. º -
406. Renovating the grass land of large country villas.-It very frequently
happens, in neglected residences, where there is only pasture sufficient to
keep one or two cows, that the grass has become deteriorated in quality, in
consequence of its being mixed with many of the grosser weeds, such as
docks, thistles, crowfoot, &c.; and with the coarser grasses, such as carexes,
cock's-foot, Avēna elätior, &c. A pasture in this state will not be productive
of one-half, or even one-third, of the quantity of milk and butter which it ought
to yield; and, though we have no doubt the fact will be doubted by many, yet
we can assert, from our own knowledge, that this is the case with the pastures
of one-half the villa residences in the neighbourhood of London. The reason
is, that persons who have not an intimate knowledge of country affairs are not
aware that there are different qualities of grasses, and think that one green
field, which can be mown for hay, is just as good as another. They are not
aware that grasses may, and indeed should, be cultivated like any other plant;
and that there are many kinds of grasses, even in our best pasture fields,
which can only be considered as weeds, and which ought to be eradicated.
The kinds of these weed-like grasses are different in different soils, and their
number increases in proportion as the soil is neglected. Every grass field
contains several different species of grass, some of which are deserving of
culture, and others are mere weeds; and, in proportion as the field is kept in
“good heart” and properly managed, or neglected and impoverished, will
the one kind or the other acquire the ascendency. To the superficial observer,
however, all grass-fields are alike; and, hence, the same routine, as far as
respects management, is applied, whatever may be the nature of the soil, and
whether the prevailing grasses be wholesome or injurious. The field is shut
up in April, in order to produce a crop of hay; and when this is removed in
July or August, the cows are turned in every day, except in the most severe
weather, till the return of the shutting-up season. Not to speak of the neglect
of draining and manuring, a positive evil resulting from turning the cows
out on a clayey undrained soil during winter is, that the ground gets poached,
in consequence of which weeds and bad grasses, such as thistles, docks,
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS, 34 l
crowfoot, carexes, oat-grass, brome-grass, &c., make their appearance; and,
by degrees, choke the clovers and good grasses, such as white clover, rye-
grass, fescue, &c. Among the weeds, one of the most abundant is the com-
mon meadow crowfoot, or yellow buttercup (Itantinculus àcris L.), remarkable
for its acrid juice, which, it is alleged, blisters the mouths and stomachs of
cows, and injures the quality of their milk and butter. To say nothing of its
injurious effects, the proportionate space which this weed occupies in green
herbage or in hay is a sufficient reason for wishing to get rid of it; though,
from its abundance, not only in bad soils, but in good soils which have
been neglected or mismanaged, this is a work requiring some time, and
depending on some knowledge of the nature of plants. The crowfoot, as the
name Ranđnculus (from rana, a frog, alluding to the moist places where most
of the species grow) implies, naturally loves moist soil, which rye-grass and
the other good grasses as naturally dislike. Hence, the first process to get
rid of the crowfoot is thorough under-draining by shallow drains, which need
not be, in general, more than 1 ft. 6 in. deep, and placed not farther apart
than from 8 ft. to 15 ft. The next thing is to apply manure liberally; and the
third (without which success would not be complete) is, to pasture the surface
at least till the beginning of July, with sheep, if not with cows or horses,
before shutting it up to be mown for hay. When the pasture is shut up for
mowing, in April or the beginning of May, the leaves and flower-stems of
the crowfoot shoot up uninjured along with the grass; and thus the roots of
the crowfoot areynourished and invigorated for the following season : but, on
the other hand, when the surface is pastured till the beginning of July, the
leaves and flower-stems of the crowfoot are cropped by the pasturing animals;
the root is weakened in consequence of not deriving as much nourishment
from the leaves as it otherwise would do; and, as the crowfoot is one of those
plants that scarcely produce any leaves after midsummer, it is in a great
measure suffocated by the growth of the grasses in August and September.
If this course be pursued for three years in succession with a field overrun
with crowfoot (draining and manuring having been properly attended to the
first season), the number of these weeds will be found to have greatly dimin-
ished, and the clover and good grasses to have increased. To increase the
number of the latter plants, some white clover and rye-grass seeds may be
scattered over the surface the first year, early in spring. It may be thought
that the eating down of the herbage in the beginning of summer, instead of
shutting it up for mowing, while it destroys the crowfoot, would also have a
tendency to destroy the clover. This will, no doubt, be the case to a certain
extent; but the clover has the advantage of being a much more vivacious
plant, it having creeping stems, which throw up numerous leaves, and continue
growing the whole summer. The meadow crowfoot, on the other hand, is a
stationary plant, which increases but slowly except by seed, which throws up
only one set of leaves in spring, and which does not renew these in the course
of the season. Even the creeping crowfoot, which, however, is more com-
monly found in arable fields than in meadows, throws up but few leaves when
compared with the clover; and is much more easily choked or killed by crop-
ping these leaves early in the season.
407. Destroying docks and thistles.—The same practice as that recommended
for getting rid of the crowfoot will apply in the case of all broad-leaved
weeds; but, as docks and thistles are not so readily eaten by cattle, they may
342 THE WILLA GARDENER.
be either rooted up, or, what is a much more simple and economical mode, and
yet quite as effectual, the incipient leaves may be kept constantly cut over
close by the surface of the ground as soon as they appear. As the health,
and even life, of the root of a plant depend upon the nourishment which it
receives from the leaves, so, by removing the incipient leaves or buds from
any plant the moment they appear, and continually doing this as long as any
leaves or buds are produced, all plants whatever, and consequently all weeds,
will ultimately be killed. In this way ferns, which are so injurious to pastures
in some sandy soils, may with more certainty be destroyed than by any other
mode; for their roots, or rather underground shoots, are so numerous and
brittle, that it is scarcely possible to eradicate them by digging them out. It
is a common practice to mow weeds and ferns for the purpose of destroying
them; but, as this mowing never takes place till the leaves have expanded, a
considerable portion of nourishment has been already sent down to the root,
and thus the object of the operation is in a great measure defeated. Our
readers, therefore, will bear in mind, as a general principle, that all plants,
from the loftiest tree to the humblest herb, depend not only for their growth,
but for their continued existence, on the leaves which they produce; and
that, as we before observed, by removing these leaves before they are fully
expanded, all plants whatever, and consequently all weeds, may be destroyed.
408. Mosses frequently abound in pastures, and occupy a great part of the
space that ought to contain plants of grass or clover. Where pastures are
open and fully exposed to the influence of the sun and air, the appearance of
moss in them is a symptom of extreme poverty in the soil; as in the case of
lawns in the fronts of mansions, which have been mown for many years toge-
ther without being pastured or manured. When moss is abundant in pastures
which have been fed or mown, it indicates moisture, shade, and want of air
and sunshine, accompanied, most generally, by want of manure. The remedy
in this last case is sufficiently obvious : some of the trees must be removed,
or the hedges cut in and kept low, while the soil is sufficiently drained, and
manured and pastured one or two seasons, without being mown. The reason
why we recommend pasturing without mowing, is founded on the fact that
all other plants are more injured by being deprived of their leaves than grasses;
consequently, pasturing a surface, by eating down all the leaves close to the
ground, must be more injurious to all other plants, whether weeds or clovers,
than it is to the grasses, and must have a tendency to give the latter an advan-
tage over the former. Sorrel is very abundant in some soils, and is almost
always indicative of an excess of ferruginous earths. The remedy in these
cases is the application of quicklime, which neutralises the ferruginous matter.
The lime may be given as a top-dressing on the surface of the pasture; but
it is most effective when applied after the soil has been broken up, and kept
under corn crops a year or two, and then the lime applied when the soil is
in a dry and powdery state like itself. Ant-hills are also very common in
some pastures. They may be destroyed by breaking open the hills, and scat-
tering them abroad, repeating the operation whenever the hills begin to reap-
pear; because the principle on which success depends is, the interruption of
the insect's labours in hatching its young, and in laying up its food for the
winter. If the interruption be continued, the ants will in a short time be
dispersed and die. The naked spaces from which the nests have been pared
off should be sown down with grass and clover seeds. Ants seldom appear
LARGE COUNTRY WILLAS. 343
except in worn-out grass lands; and the most effective mode of getting rid of
them in this case, at least on a large scale, is, to break up the land, and to
keep it three or four years under the plough, before it is laid down again.
We can hardly recommend this practice, however, in the case of a paddock
of a few acres; because, among other reasons, the loss of two or three years'
pasture would be a very serious drawback to the comforts of the family. For
so small an extent, therefore, we recommend draining, frequent top-dressings
with manure or compost; and scattering in the seeds of rye-grass, fescue,
and white clover, wherever the grass appears thin. This ought to be done
early in the spring; or in September, after a crop of hay is taken; and the
ground ought afterwards to be thoroughly harrowed and rolled.
409. In order that the draining of permanent pasture may not appear a
more formidable business than it really is, we shall here describe some of the
cheapest and best modes of performing it, premising that the object is not to
drain the subsoil of water arising from springs, but to collect what rain-water
would otherwise stagnate on the surface, or soak into the ground, and be
retained there longer than is beneficial for the health of the plants, or to such
an extent as to render the soil unfit for the tread of heavy animals. The first
thing to determine is the direction of the drains; the next thing, their distance
from one another; and the third, their form and the materials with which
they are to be filled. If the surface of the land has been formed into ridges
before it was laid down in grass, it will, in general, be found sufficient to make
one drain in the bottom of each furrow; because we may fairly presume that
the ridges were laid out in the direction best adapted for carrying off the
water, and that they were formed of such a width as to leave their furrows
sufficiently near one another for that purpose. If the land should not have
been laid out in ridges, and the surface should be nearly level, then, after
having discovered the lowest side of the field (because there is no such thing
in nature as a perfectly level field), drains ought to be made at 10 ft. or 15 ft.
apart, and parallel to each other, from the highest side of the field to the
lowest. If the field be very steep, however, then the drains ought to be made
more or less obliquely across the declivity, so as to intercept the surface
water, and, at the same time, not to carry it off with such a degree of rapi-
dity as to wear out the bottom of the drains. Where the surface slopes in
various directions, and consists of a series of eminences and hollows, then
drains must be conducted in such a manner round the eminences as to inter-
cept the water everywhere, especially near the bottoms of the declivities, and
to carry it off to the boundary of the field, or to some general outlet or
public drain. In strong clayey soils, having a moderate declivity, the distance
of 15 ft. between the drains may be sufficient; in loamy soils, it may be
more; and where the soil is a strong clay, and the surface quite flat, it ought
to be less. Under the last circumstances, we should not hesitate to recom-
mend putting in drains every 6 ft. or 8 ft., and filling up these drains to
within an inch of the surface with gravel, if it could be obtained, or with
small stones (in the manner we have already described in p. 163.), or with
turf and soil.
410. With respect to the dimensions of the drains, as the surface is not to
be ploughed, they need not be deep ; and any greater width than may be
required for attaining the depth fixed on is unnecessary. In general, from
15 in. to 18 in. in depth, and from 8 in. to 10 in. in width at the surface, and
344 THE WILLA GARDENER.
from 3 in. to 4 in. in width at the bottom, will be sufficient; except in parti-
cular parts of the field, where the drain may have to cross a slight rise in the
surface, and where it should be deeper in order to maintain a sufficient slope
at the bottom to give currency to the water. The drain, being dug out, may
be filled two-thirds of its depth with small stones, brickbats, or very coarse
gravel; or with thorn branches, straw ropes, exhausted tanner's bark, car-
penter's shavings, or any refuse vegetable matter that will partially or wholly
rot, and leave a vacuity for the passage of water. In Essex, the material
most commonly employed is straw twisted into a rope 3 or 4 inches in
diameter. Reeds tied in cylindrical bundles of a few inches in diameter,
are also employed in the same county, as willows are in Huntingdon-
shire, furze in Warwickshire, broom in Nottinghamshire, the spray of the
larch in Wales, and heath in the north of Scotland. The most convenient
materials in clayey districts, which are never productive of either gravel or
rock, are the branches procured by cutting down
thorn hedges. These branches, including the
spray, may be laid lengthwise in the drain, and
firmly trodden in ; covered with soil, and again
firmly trodden in ; and, finally, the surface turf b C-T->
replaced. In order to make allowance for the
sinking of the materials of the drain, this surface
turf should be kept two or three inches higher
than the adjoining surface, its edges being beaten
down so as to form a small semicircular ridge in
the direction of the drain. In the digging out of
these drains, two kinds of spade are used : the
first (fig. 212. c), 8 in. broad at the tread, is for
taking out the surface-spit; and the second (b),
which is 5 in. wide at the tread, for digging out
the remainder. Afterwards a sort of hoe, or scoop,
is used (fig. 212. a), for clearing out the loose
particles and small lumps of soil from the bottom of the drain.
A simple and not an expensive mode of forming drains in strong clayey
pastures, is to take off the surface-spit 9 or 10 inches in width; and, a gutter
having been formed in the subsoil, 18 or 20 inches in depth, the surface-spit
is replaced. This mode of draining is most effective where the surface is
naturally tolerably even; but, where inequalities are to be passed over, the
gutter beneath requires to be cut down to such a depth, that its sides are apt
to crumble in. - º
There are several kinds of draining ploughs, and one, the mole plough,
forms a cylindrical furrow drain; but none of these machines can be recom-.
mended for using in a villa paddock; and, indeed, from their original cost,
and the great power required to draw them, it is very doubtful to us whether
they pay anywhere.
411. Wherever it is determined to break up old pasture land, on a wet or
retentive soil, a different kind of underground drain is required to what was
sufficient when it was under pasture. Though not quite so numerous as in
grass lands, yet these drains require to be much deeper, and are consequently
more expensive; nor will they altogether supersede the use of frequent shal-
low drains, after the ground is laid down again for permanent pasture.


COUNTRY MANSIONS. 345
412. Remarks.—We have dwelt longer on the subject of renovating the
paddock than those will think necessary who are not aware how much the
difference of produce depends on management. Our wish is to see the pad-
dock in as high order and keeping, in its way, as any part of the pleasure-
ground or the kitchen-garden; and, well knowing how much of the comfort
of a villa residence depends on the abundance and excellence of the milk and
butter it produces, we feel that we can scarcely sufficiently impress our
readers with the importance of bringing their grass fields into the highest
state of cultivation, and afterwards keeping them in the highest order.
413. In renovating the kitchen-garden, the reader should bear in mind the
importance of not having the roots of the trees too deep in the soil, and that,
should this be the case, he must either take up and replant, or renew ; unless,
which is very rarely the case, he can reduce the surface of the garden so as
to leave all the main roots of the trees at a proper distance beneath it. The
soil of the kitchen-garden may, as before observed, be restored by rest, with-
out any crop whatever; by the substitution of a lage portion of fresh soil; or
by the application of animal manure, such as good stable dung or night soil.
CHAPTER III.
C O U N T R Y M A N S I O N S.
414. Country mansions differ from country villas, even of the largest size,
in having a park and a farm attached, and in their size, as the extent of such
a residence can scarcely be less than from fifty to a hundred acres. There
are also many adjuncts, without which a country mansion cannot be considered
complete, which would be quite out of place in a country residence of smaller
size. We shall here say a few words on some of these points, and on some
others which are of more consequence in a large place than in a small
one, beginning with the latter; after which we shall give two or three
designs for residences of this kind.
S E CT I O N I.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON COUNTRY MANSIONS.
415. Among the points which are of more consequence in a large country
residence than in a small one may be mentioned, the situation of the domestic
and stable offices; the farm and farm buildings; the fish-ponds; the ice-
house; the scenery of the park; the entrance-lodge, &c.
416. A bath-room, for the use of the gentlemen of the family, may be on
the ground-floor, either attached to the house or not, as may be most con-
venient. The advantage of having the bath-room on the ground-floor is, that
hot water may be more conveniently supplied to the bath from the cistern at
the back of the kitchen fire-place, or heated by the same fire as a hot-house or
green-house, as may be most suitable. Fig. 213. shows a bath-room placed
behind a conservatory, the bath being heated by the same fire, but not from
the same boiler. In this plan, a is the dining-room; b the drawing-room, from
346 THE WILLA GARDENER,
213
%
which there is a glass door into the conservatory (c); and d is the bath-room,
between which and the conservatory there is a passage connecting it with
the boiler-room (e). The entrance porch of the dwelling-house is shown at
f. The boiler is placed in the room e, on a level with the bath as it stands
in the bath-room; and the bath is heated by a coil of pipes at one end. The
water of the bath might have been heated in a simpler and less expensive
manner by causing it to circulate directly through the boiler; but, as the
water in a boiler which is in constant use for heating a conservatory, or other
building or apartment, generally contains a good deal of sediment, it is not
fit for using as a bath.
417. The size of the bath-room need not be large, because it is not under-
stood to contain a swimming-bath, but only one for immersion. For this
purpose, as the bath need not be larger than 8 ft. in length and 3 ft. in
breadth, a room 8 ft. by 10 ft. in the clear might suffice, the bath being
along the narrowest end, the fire-place on one side, a window on that oppo-
site, and a door on the side opposite the bath. A room 10 ft, or 12 ft. square,
however, will be more convenient; and if it is to contain a vapour-bath and
a shower-bath, as well as a common water-bath, it should be somewhat
larger. The height of the room, if it is to contain a shower-bath, should not
be less than 10 ft.; but, for a common bath or vapour-bath, 7 ft. or 8 ft. will
be sufficient; and in this case the bath-room may be placed as a mezzanine,
or half-floor room, like the entresol of the French. Adjoining the bath-room,
and as an anteroom to it, there should be a dressing-room with a fire-place,
and this fire-place may be so arranged as to heat the water in the bath-room.
There should be a bell in the dressing-room, communicating with a bell-pull,
suspended from the wall on one side of the bath, near the head; it may also
be convenient to have a bell appropriate to the bath-room hung along with
the other house bells, because it sometimes happens that invalids are seized
with cramp while in the bath, and find it necessary to ring for assistance.
418. The bath, or vessel for containing the water, is generally half or a
quarter sunk in the floor; or, if the floor does not admit of this, there is a step
raised to half the height of the bath in front, in order to facilitate getting in
and out. The dimensions of the bath are from 6 ft. to 8 ft. in length, from
1 ft. 8 in. to 3 ft. in breadth, and from 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. 6 in. in depth. It
is commonly formed of inch boards, lined with copper or sheet-lead, and
painted in imitation of white marble; but sometimes, when the bath is on the
ground-floor, the sides are formed of brickwork, and lined with glazed tiles.
Sometimes, also, they are formed of polished stone or marble, or slabs of

COUNTRY MANSIONS, 347
slate. The sides of the bath are generally made perpendicular, or nearly so,
or somewhat wider at top than at the bottom ; the end for the head generally
slopes at an angle of from 45° to 50°, but the foot is commonly perpendicular,
slightly sloped, like the sides. One pipe from the boiler or other source of
hot water, and another from the cistern or other source of cold water, are
introduced at the back of the bath, but so as not to project into it, the cocks
being placed against the wall, with their nozzles turned outwards, so as barely
to come over one of the sides of the bath. A plate should be fixed in the
wall beside each cock, the one inscribed with the word “hot,” and the other
with the word “cold; ” and the distance of the cocks from the head of the
bath should be such, as to allow a person while seated in the water to reach
them without inconvenience. In the bottom of the bath, at the foot end,
there must be a waste-pipe for emptying the bath, which may either be
stopped with a plug, having a grating beneath to prevent the escape of any
matters which would choke up the pipe; or the waste-pipe may terminate
under a grating or plate pierced with holes in the floor of the bath, near
which there may be a stop-cock, concealed by a small trap-door, by turning
which the water may be let off at pleasure; or, what is preferable, if the
situation admits of it, the opening of the stop-cock may be in the floor of the
room at the foot of the bath.
419. The simplest form of a vapour-bath is to have an open boiler with a
fire beneath, and over the boiler a grated platform, on which a chair is placed
for the bather to sit upon, while a large cloth or sheet is thrown round him in
such a manner as to inclose the whole of the grated platform, and every part
of his body except his head. The water being kept in a boiling state, the
steam ascends under the cloth, raising the temperature of the bather to a high
degree. If thought advisable, herbs may be thrown into the boiler, which
will communicate their odour to the vapour.
420. A shower-bath is always of cold water; and, as it produces no steam,
when of the common portable kind, it may be used in any room that is most
convenient. When fixed, there may be a supply-pipe, with a stop-cock above
it, from some adequate source. When this is the case, the shower-cistern
may be placed over the middle of the common bath, and the discharge-pull
may hang down close by the wall.
421. Situation of the offices.—In country houses built twenty or thirty
years ago, and subjected to various repairs and additions, nothing is more
common than to find the offices placed at the wrong end of the house, or
perhaps partly at one end, and partly at the other. There is a positive loss of
the labour of the domestics in this arrangement; nor can they, when this is
the case, be considered as under the full command of the master and mistress,
because they cannot be expected to hear the bells, when the offices are divided,
unless there were two sets, one on each side; while there is a constant passing
and repassing of the entrance front, or probably of the lawn front, by persons
having business in the kitchen or stable-court. The seclusion of the lawn
front, in cases of this kind, is totally destroyed; and neither the living-rooms
of the house, nor the walks in the pleasure-grounds, can be said to possess
that complete privacy which is generally considered to be one of the greatest
luxuries of a residence in the country. An example of this kind of house was
noted by us, some years ago, in the neighbourhood of Chertsey, at Lyme
Grove; and, as we were on a visit for upwards of a fortnight to the family
348 A. THE WILLA GARDENER,
who at that time occupied it, we had ample opportunity of studying its incon-
veniences. The house is beautifully situated in the midst of grounds much
diversified by nature, not badly planted, and extending so far on every side,
that the boundary is nowhere seen ; but the house, though it contains some
spacious rooms, has great faults: the store-room and bath-room (a, b, fig. 214.)
can only be entered through the dining-room (c) or drawing-room (d); while
the offices (e), by being at the wrong end, occasion the road to the kitchen-
court (f) to pass across the lawn before the garden front (g). Had the general
arrangement been reversed, as shown in fig. 215., and the bath-room and
store-room been put on the side next the offices, the latter might have been
conveniently entered without coming within sight of the house; and the
privacy of the lawn front would thus have been complete. Among the petty
evils of a mal-arrangement of this kind are, the number of gates, and the
extent of fencing which it requires; and, though these make little appearance


UOIJNTRY MANSIONS, 349
in the description of a place, or in its plan on paper, yet, in its actual working
(so to speak) by the occupier, they are important items. The difference
between a bad arrangement of fences and walks, and a good one, may
occasion the opening of a gate or gates fifty times a day, instead of five times;
increasing the risk of admitting cattle, pigs, or poultry, where they ought not
to be admitted, in a corresponding ratio. -
422. The kitchen offices when detached from the house.—In designing these,
it is of more importance to bear in mind general principles, than to adhere to
particular forms and dimensions. Security from vermin is an essential requi-
site in the construction of the floor and walls of every part of a house, and more
particularly of those parts where provisions are kept. The power of thorough
ventilation of the atmosphere of every apartment, even of the cellars, when
requisite, is another desideratum. Light is more or less essential to every
office, except the cellars for wines and liquors; and it is in an eminent degree
required for the kitchen, and all those places where food is prepared for the
table. A larder, if thoroughly ventilated, may preserve meat without much
light; but a pantry requires abundance of light, to insure cleanliness. Light,
in the case of meat kept in safes, or in other situations, is unfavourable for the
preservation of the meat, as it collects together flies, which are never found
in an active state in the dark; and in such cases it ought to be under
command; but, in general, it is much more desirable to have light in excess,
than to have a deficiency of it. A command of the temperature is a desidera-
tum in the offices of every dwelling, no less than in the living-rooms. Among
the first requisites to this are, that of having all the walls, floors, and ceilings
made of non-conducting materials; and that of having the ground on which
the building stands rendered thoroughly dry by underground drainage, and
by a vacuity all round the outside of the foundation walls.
423. The stable offices.—In designing these, a recurrence to first principles
is of equal importance as in arranging the kitchen offices. The ground on
which a stable or coach-house is built ought to be dry, either naturally or by
drainage; and the walls ought to be of sufficient thickness to exclude the
extremes of heat in summer, and of cold in winter. There ought to be
abundance of light admitted, as well for cheerfulness as for cleanliness; and,
independently of the doors and windows, there ought to be suitable openings
for ventilation. In the stable there
ought to be a wooden tube, at least 7° 216
6 in. square, placed over every stall, 2ſs
and reaching from the under surface
of the ceiling to the ridge of the roof,
with a cap on the outside to exclude
rain; and a slide in the ceiling, at # Res N
the lower end of the tube, to regulate . *~
the quantity of air admitted, so as to *
keep the atmosphere of the stable at 2
about 50° in winter, and from 60° to #
65° in summer. This flue will do for, *
the stable of the horse, what the ſ ſ 1ſ q
chimney-flue does for the dwelling-

room of the human being. To give —e=U |
a palpable idea of this mode of ven- [ ] S | |
S
350 THE WILLA GARDENER.
tilating, we may refer to fig. 216. ; in which the ventilating tube, with its
protecting cover, is shown at r r; q is a corn-bin, placed under one of
the windows; s is the drain under the floor of each stall, which leads to
a main drain under the gutter behind the horses; these drains having
grated openings, each with a bell-trap, to prevent the ascent of bad
smells; t is the cast-iron manger; u, the bull’s eye cast-iron rack, the hay
to which is let down from the loft above, through the open space behind.
The mode of keeping hay in lofts over the horses, and letting it down
through a space over the racks, which is continually open, is very properly
objected to, as contaminating the hay by the breath of the horse; but, when
there is a raised ceiling with a ventilator, as in the section before us, the
breath of the horse rises to the ventilator, and does the hay no injury what-
ever. At the bottom of the rack there is, in the space behind, a grated floor,
which retains the hay, while it allows the dust and seeds to drop down into
the space (v), whence they can be taken out at convenience, by an opening
under each stall. There is a cast-iron ramped cap (w) to the boarded partition
between the stalls; and a cast-iron sill (a.); both cap and sill having grooves
for receiving the ends of the boards which form the partition. The partition-
post (y) is also of cast-iron. That part of the floor of the stable on which a
horse stands should always be made perfectly level, with a grating and bell-
trap under it, in the centre, for drainage. In general, the floor of the stalls
should never be covered with litter in the daytime, or when the horse is not
expected to lie down; because the litter retains moisture, harbours insects,
and produces an unequal surface for the horse to stand on. Stables, as they
are commonly kept, contain an atmosphere charged with ammoniacal gas from
the urine, and carbonic acid gas from the lungs, of the horse, which, with
moisture from the floor, and other ačriform matters, are extremely disagree-
able to man; but, if the stables were properly constructed, ventilated, and
drained, kept free from litter during the day, and amply lighted, in the
manner we have recommended, they would be as wholesome for a human
being to enter, and to remain in, as the living-rooms of a dwelling-house. For
various modes of constructing stables, and all their details on the best prin-
ciples, we must refer the reader to our Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and
Villa Architecture, p. 373 to p. 383.
424. The coach-house should not only be dry, and well ventilated, from its
situation and construction, but there should be a fireplace in it, or, rather, a
flue for a stove; because it must be recollected, that a coach is composed of
wood, iron, cloth, stuffing, &c., and is as liable to be injured by changes in
the temperature, or by moisture, as chairs, tables, sofas, beds, or any other
articles of furniture in the dwelling-house. Nobody would think for a moment
of sitting or lying on a sofa which had been standing for some time in a damp
out-house without fire; and yet, if there be any difference between the
quantity of damp likely to be imbibed by a sofa and a coach, it would
undoubtedly be greater in the latter. The lining, stuffing of the back, and
cushions, all act as sponges, and become charged with moisture; which, when
the coach is used, is drawn forth by the animal warmth of the persons it
contains. Hence, the unknown cause of colds, inflammations of the lungs,
and many other diseases, with which those who keep close carriages are often
attacked.
425. The harness-room should have the walls battened and plastered inside,
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 351
and lined with boards in those parts where the harness is to be hung,
and should have a fireplace or stove, with ample means of ventilation and
lighting; as damp is destructive to harness.
426. The groom's or coachman's room is very properly placed over, or
adjoining to, the stable for the horses; because the latter are liable to various
kinds of accidents in the night-time. There should be a stove (one of
Arnott's, for example) in the stable sleeping-room, for use during the most
severe, weather of winter; because such rooms are, in general, close under
the roof, and liable to be very cold; but, by a little arrangement, it might be
so contrived that the flue from the fireplace of the harness-room might give
all the heat to the coachman's bed-room that was requisite; and, indeed,
when the harness-room is placed, as it ought to be, between the stable and
the coach-house, with doors communicating with each, all that is necessary is
to place the coachman's room over it. By opening the door of this room,
which must necessarily be placed near the stoves, the heated air of the har-
ness-room may be admitted to ascend to it at pleasure.
427. The farm.—Every one is aware that farming by a proprietor or an
amateur is, for the most part, attended by loss in a pecuniary point of view,
and that money would be saved by letting the lands to a professional farmer,
and purchasing corn, straw, and such other farm produce as might be
required for the carriage and saddle-horses of the proprietor. Farming,
however, is a great source of recreation and interest to a resident in the
country; and without some knowledge of the practices of the art in the
district where a country gentleman resides, it will be difficult for him to keep
up a proper degree of social intercourse with his neighbours. Farming and
the weather, are topics which every countryman can discuss, from the
humblest labourer to the most wealthy proprietor. If there are any excep-
tions, such persons must be out of the pale of general country society. Since,
then, every person living in the country must, of necessity, take some
interest in farming, it would seem worth while for those who can afford to do
so, and have an opportunity, to increase that interest by farming themselves.
If we inquire into the habits of our greatest landed proprietors, while they
reside in the country, we shall find that a considerable portion of the timé of
each individual is devoted to the inspection of his farm, and to giving direc-
tions to his bailiff, hearing a relation of his market transactions, and auditing
his accounts. When a landed proprietor has left his country residence to
reside in town, or is gone on a visit to some distant part of the country or
abroad, the weekly receipt of his bailiff's journal (of which there are regular
printed forms, on separate sheets, to be sent by post, and which, when bound
at the end of the year, form a volume) constitutes no inconsiderable part of
his enjoyment. During the late war, accounts of this kind, not only from
bailiffs, but from head gardeners, foresters, and land-stewards, were trans-
mitted to such of the heads of families as held commissions in the army,
even while they were on the field of action; and answers and directions
were regularly returned by the greatest generals.
428. Pleasures of farming.—To a citizen who has altogether retired from
a commercial or manufacturing concern, the cares of a farm must form an
agreeable contrast to those of the counting-house, and will amuse and recreate,
without fatiguing ; for no mistake can be greater, than to suppose that there
352 THE WILLA GARDENER.
is any enjoyment in retiring to the country and doing nothing there. Every
retired man of business, who wishes to be as happy in the country as he was
in town, must betake himself, if his residence be on a small scale, to garden-
ing; and, if it be on a large scale, to farming and planting. Some of the
operations of farming may be recommended to a country gentleman, as a
substitute for hunting and shooting. We particularly allude to the occasional
holding of the plough; an operation which calls into moderate exercise every
part of the body, and which also engages the mind in keeping the furrow
straight. We speak from experience, when we say that we consider this the
most agreeable of all farming operations, and one by which a maximum of
exercise may be obtained with a minimum of fatigue. The handles of the
plough, draw, as it were, the operator after it, and the necessity of keeping
his eye on two points, seen through between the pair of horses, occupies his
attention. This attention, however, is only kept alive in ploughing with a
plough in which the horses are yoked abreast; for in those cases in which
they are yoked in a line, the straightness of the furrow does not depend on
the holder of the plough, but on the driver of the horses. The holder of the
plough, in this latter case, is little better than a machine, and the operation,
as he performs it, can no more be compared to holding a plough and pair, as
practised in Northumberland, Berwickshire, &c., than the wooden plough in
Middlesex can be compared to the iron plough of Mid-Lothian. In short, the
occupation of ploughing with two horses is a fit exercise for a gentleman and
a philosopher; and we can readily conceive the country gentlemen of
Britain, at some future time, substituting this, and other agricultural labours,
for the sports of the field. We have known several gentlemen in Scotland,
of independent fortunes, follow the plough a portion of every day, when
they were not otherwise engaged, and the weather would permit. There can
be no doubt, also, that emigrants take pleasure in this exercise; and we can
readily imagine that the sons of some of our landed proprietors, who now
cultivate their own grounds in Australia or North America, are far happier
in labouring in their fields with their own hands, than they would have been
had they remained at home, and been compelled to seek for occupation in
mère amusement.
429. Moral influence of farming.—It has generally been thought that the
habit of labouring with animals, or looking after them, has a tendency to
brutalise, or at least to render coarse, rather than refined, farmers and their
servants. This is, no doubt, to a certain extent true, where farming is pur-
sued on the old system, and where all the animals of the farm are managed
by main force; but, on the modern system of farming and managing animals,
the whip and the goad are no longer employed; and horses, instead of being
broken in by main force, undergo a similar treatment to human beings, com-
mencing with their earliest years, on a system analogous to that of the infant
schools. It is easy to conceive that this mode of managing animals must
require quite a different kind of masters from what they have hitherto had ;
and that, by reaction, the gentleness and humane treatment which the man
is compelled to show the animal, cannot fail to have a corresponding effect in
humanising himself. This mode of treatment was first published by William
Skirving, Esq., of Strathruddy, but it has only been lately adopted as a
system, by some of the best Scotch agriculturists, and by the trainers of
COUNTRY MANSIONS, 353
cavalry horses.* When we take this into consideration, and also the benefits
which agriculture is capable of receiving from its operators possessing some
knowledge of natural philosophy, natural history, and chemistry, our readers
will, we think, readily allow that farming, in all its branches, is likely soon to
become as little debasing a pursuit as gardening. The essential reason why
the English ploughmen are, as a body, so very far inferior to the labouring
mechanics is, that the ploughman, while he enjoys exuberant health and
vigour of body, has comparatively no mental exercise, either during his work
or during his hours of leisure; the mechanic, on the other hand, requires
much more intellect even to exercise his business; and, in his leisure hours,
from his mind being comparatively cultivated, he can amuse himself with
books. His mind, in fact, gets so strong from constant exercise, that it is
continually craving for food. We have made this digression in favour of
farming, because the pursuit ranks high, in our estimation, as a source of
useful occupation to emigrants, and to proprietors who farm their own lands;
and also as a source of healthful recreation and rational interest to the
retired citizen who possesses what we have called a country mansion and
farm.
430. Situation of the farm.—The part of a large country villa residence
which is to be cultivated as a farm, will be most conveniently situated when
it adjoins the park on one side, and when the farm buildings are placed cen-
trally to the lands, and, at the same time, not far from the mansion and
offices. However, in amateur farming, when on a small scale, there is no
great objection to the fields which are subjected to the plough lying round
the park, or, perhaps, at a short distance from it. In many cases, particu-
larly where the park is large, and the soil a loam that admits of being
readily converted from arable land to pasture, and the contrary, a part of
the park may be kept under the plough. This part should lie towards the
confines of the park, and it should be changed from time to time, by breaking
up a fresh surface, and laying down in pasture what had been for some few
years under the plough. In short, all the park, except twenty or thirty
acres adjoining the house, pleasure-grounds, domestic offices, kitchen-garden,
&c., may be subjected, in turn, to the convertible husbandry; and, in our
opinion, should be so wherever the soil will permit, and the object is to
create as great an interest as possible within the park. Some inconvenience
may result from the single trees and small groups scattered over the park,
impeding the operation of ploughing, harrowing, &c., when that portion of
the park is in aration; but these inconveniences are unavoidable: and it must
be recollected that the object of this kind of farming is not mere profit, but
recreation, combined with useful produce, as well as with picturesque beauty.
* “The principal object in the treatment of young horses is, to render them docile; and
the same gentle means are now used for that purpose, which are found to answer best in
the treatment of children. They are rendered quiet and tractable by frequently patting,
handling, and rubbing them, and taking up their feet. They are led about the barrack-
yard to accustom them to the sight of mounted horses, and to the glitter of arms; and, in
the course of four or five months afterwards, they are transferred to the riding-school to be
trained. The good old plan, like that preferred by our ancestors for teaching boys Latin
and Greek, was, to whip all fear and shyness out of them ; but kindness and common
Sense have at last gained the ascendency, to the great delight of the organs of sensation,
both in boys and horses.” (Education. &c., of Cavalry Horses in Britain; by Mr. Marshall,
Assistant Surgeon to the 7th Dragoon Guards: in the Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, for 1838).
2 A
354 THE VILLA GARDENER.
In order neither to injure the trees, nor to cultivate any portion of the sur-
face that will not produce an abundant crop, it is advisable to leave,
untouched by the plough, a circle of turf round each tree or small group, of
a diameter three or four feet greater than the spread of the branches. Round
the margin of larger masses, and also along the margin of the boundary
plantation, there ought to be a border of turf ten or twelve feet wide, that is,
sufficiently broad to admit of driving a carriage along it; which will at once
be convenient for farm operations, such as carting out manure, carting home
produce, &c., and serve as a drive, or a place for riding in, for the proprietor
and his family, to survey the farm. It is the existence of green drives of this
kind round the fields, and ornamental trees and shrubs in the hedges, and in
groups and masses, which constitute what is called a ferme ornée; and, when
these margins are mown, and the hedges and plantations that accompany
them are planted or varied with rare or ornamental trees and shrubs, the
interest and enjoyment produced by a farm may be considered as carried to
the highest pitch. -
431. The kind of farming, or of field culture, that will be commonly
adopted in the villa park farm, will, for the most part, be of the ordinary
description, such as raising oats for the carriage-horses, and straw for littering
them and the cows; raising clover, lucerne, saintfoin, or tares, according to
the soil and subsoil, for the cows and the farm horses; raising carrots,
potatoes, and other root crops, for the cows and sheep, and partly for use in
the house; and sometimes raising buckwheat, for the nourishment of game,
&c. It may sometimes happen, however, where the object is chiefly recrea-
tion, that some of the kinds of farming peculiar to different districts of
country may be adopted, to increase the interest of a ferme ornée. For
example, where the soil and climate were suitable, the hop culture might be
adopted; or apple, pear, cherry, walnut, or filbert orchards might be intro-
duced. A willow-ground would be suitable for some situations; and a cop-
pice of ash-trees for walking-sticks, crate-ware, or hop-poles for others, and
so on. Near large towns, the raising of garden-crops and small fruits, such
as currants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, &c., will form a source of
interest for the cultivator of the ferme ornée, and one which, in some cases,
may afford a little profit. In other parts of the country, peculiar crops may
be grown, such as madder, woad, and other plants for dyeing; liquorice,
rhubarb, poppy, and other plants for druggists and apothecaries; and a very
general source of interest, and occasionally of profit, is the raising of seeds for
the field, such as those of mangold-wurtzel, turnip, &c.; or for the garden,
such as those of peas and other pulse, carrots, onions, &c. We mention these
crops to show the endless source of interest, and the constant occupation,
which a ferme ornée is calculated to afford to an amateur who will devote his
chief energies to it; but, at the same time, we consider it proper to state
that, where only a little attention can be given, and where farming is not
wanted as a profitable occupation, the commonest kind of produce in the given
neighbourhood is the best, as it can be raised with least trouble, and may be
entirely directed by a local bailiff, or, if very small, by a single ploughman.
432. The farm buildings for a villa or park farm, or for a ferme ornée,
should, if possible, be situated at no great distance from the stable-court of
the mansion; partly in order that the latter may be readily supplied with
hay, corn, &c., from the former; and partly that they may be more readily
CO UNTRY MANSIONS, 355
inspected by the master. The buildings which are to compose the farmery
will depend on the kind of farming to be carried on ; but as, in almost every
case, there must be a portion of the farm devoted to the growth of corn, for
the sake of the straw for litter, so, in every home farmery, a barn will be
required. Where the extent of the lands under the plough at any one time
does not exceed twenty or thirty acres, a threshing-machine is scarcely
necessary; but, above that quantity, it will be found a source of both conve-
nience and profit. The barn should generally form the main feature of the
farm-yard; and, if threshing with the flail be adopted, it should be at least
20 ft. wide, and 40 ft. long, with the side walls 10 or 12 feet high, and open
to the roof. Where a threshing-machine is introduced, the side walls require
to be higher. The stable and cow-houses may be arranged to the right and
left of the barn; and there may be a cart-shed on one side, with a granary
over, and piggeries on the other, which, with a root-house, and a boiling-
house for preparing food, may complete three sides of a square, or parallelo-
gram, which should be open to the south. It is not, however, intended in
this work to enter into the details of farm buildings; and we must therefore
refer the reader, who may wish to know more on the subject, to our Encyclo-
padia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture. The farm buildings which
are of most interest in a villa residence, are, the cow-house, dairy, piggery,
poultry-houses, and rabbit-house; and with these we may also very pro-
perly include the aviary, the apiary, fishponds, &c.; not of course attempt-
ing to give any lengthened details on the subject, but merely offering a
few general remarks.
433. The cow-house, in Britain, is a rude neglected building, compared
with what it is on the Continent, among proprietors who take a pleasure in
having fine cows. In Holland, the cow-houses, even of the common farmers,
are kept in a very superior degree of cleanliness, and are lighted and venti-
lated in a much better manner than the cow-houses of villa residences are
in England, though the greatest attention be paid to the dairies. One reason
of this may be, that, in many parts of England, the winter is so mild, that
the cows are kept during that season in open yards, having sheds attached,
in which they are left to take shelter at pleasure; thus no skill is required for
constructing the cow-house, and no art for its proper management. In Ger-
many, however, from the severity of the climate, the milch cows are obliged
to be kept in closed houses half the year; and hence the greater attention
that has been paid in that country to the construction of cow-houses. It may
also be observed, that, as the pastures in most parts of Germany are of a very
thin and inferior description, the cows kept by proprietors who pay much
attention to this subject are generally stall-fed throughout the year. We
cannot, however, recommend this practice for England; since cows so treated
can never be in so healthy a state as those which are allowed to take free
exercise in the open air, at least a portion of every fine day. When only two
or three cows are kept, instead of tying them up, we would allow them to run
at large in a yard which had a proper cow-house attached to it, for them to
shelter in ; and we would only tie them up when they were being milked, or
in extremely severe weather, when it might be necessary to shut them up in
the cow-house. As a few points which deserve particular attention in the
construction of cow-houses, we may mention the following. The floor on
which the cow stands should be perfectly level; and behind the stall there
2 A 2
356 THE WILLA GARDENER,
may be either an open gutter, or, what is preferable, one covered with an oak
board pierced with holes, or with an iron grating, the holes of which are not
larger than an inch across. Through this grating, or pierced plank, all the
urine and recent dung will easily drop into the gutter, more especially with
the occasional assistance of a broom; and the gutter may be either cleaned
out once or twice a day, by lifting up the grating or plank, and applying the
broom, or by turning on water at one end; and both the dung and the water
should be conveyed by the gutter to the liquid manure tank. If the cows
stand along the house, it should not be less than 18 ft. wide within, which will
allow room for a passage at the cows' heads, as well as behind them. There
ought to be windows with luffer-board shutters, that is, with shutters like
Venetian blinds, on both sides of the house; and ventilating tubes from the
sides of the walls, or the centre of the ceiling if there be one, to the ridge of
the roof. The breadth allowed for each cow should not be less than 5 ft., and
the length of the stall 8 ft.; and there ought to be a boarded or slate partition
between every two cows, or so as to include two cows in each stall. The
manger should be a trough formed of board, stone, or slate, raised so that the
upper edge may be from a foot to 18 in. above the surface of the ground, or
about the height of a cow's knees. As this manger is to contain green food,
or grains when they can be obtained, as well as roots, hay, &c., it should not
be less than 18 in. or 20 in. wide, and a foot deep. Where cows are intended
to stand in the cow-house during great part of the year, the manger for each
cow should be in three divisions; a large one in the centre for hay or herbage,
a small one on one side for water, and one on the other side for roots, grains,
or prepared mashes. A hay-rack for a cow-house is not only unnecessary,
but even dangerous, unless placed as low as the manger; because it is found
that when cows are in calf, raising their heads much above the natural level
is apt to make them slip their calves. So strongly are the farmers of Nor-
mandy impressed with this idea, that they not only take care to have the
floors of their cow-houses perfectly level, and the manger or hay-rack not
higher than the cows' knees, but, when they turn the cows out to grass, they
always harness them with a bridle and brechin, to prevent them from tossing
up their heads. We have, in various works, referred to the Harleian system
of dairy management, and we strongly recommend whoever intends building
a cow-house, to consult the notices of that system, and of various others,
which will be found given at length in our Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm,
and Villa Architecture, § 757. to § 764.
434. The dairy, in warm climates, or in such as are extremely cold,
requires much more care in its construction, than in the temperate climate of
England. A building with thick stone, mud, or turf walls, or with hollow
brick walls, with a thatched far-projecting roof, standing east and west, and
with its doors and windows in the north side and in the ends, will suffice for
a dairy, in the warmest part of our island. The windows should have glass
sashes for use in winter, they should open inside, and they should be covered
on the outside with wirecloth, to exclude flies and other insects during summer,
when they are kept constantly open. There ought also to be outside shutters,
to exclude the sun, in the mornings and afternoons, from the east and west
windows, and to keep in the heat during the severe weather in winter. A
thermometer should be kept in the dairy, and the temperature should never
be allowed to rise above 55°, or fall below 48° or 50°. In winter, the tempe-
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 357.
rature is kept up by the warm milk being brought in, when newly taken from
the cow; but, when necessary, this heat may be increased by placing vessels
of hot water on the floor. Every dairy requires to have a scullery attached,
with a fireplace and boiler, as the vessels which hold the milk require to be
frequently washed in scalding hot water. Cleanliness is essential in every
place where human food is to be kept, but it is particularly so in a dairy; as,
if the milk be put into unwashed or carelessly washed vessels, it will soon
turn sour; and, if the churn and other utensils used in preparing butter be
not frequently scalded, they will give the butter an unpleasant taste, and
prevent it from keeping. The dairy scullery may very conveniently be
placed at one end, or on one side, of the dairy, taking care to have them
separated by double doors, with windows for ventilation in the passage be-
tween, or with a window in the ceiling. This prevents the transmission of
heat from the scullery to the dairy in summer; while, by shutting the windows
and opening the doors in winter, heat may be admitted from the scullery to
the dairy, so as to keep it at the proper temperature. These hints will be
sufficient to show the importance of the subject, and to lead those who can
deduce rules from general principles into the right mode of thinking respect-
ing dairies; while such as require more minute details may have recourse to
our Encyclopædia already quoted.
435. The piggery.—The great requisites here are, cleanliness, dryness,
warmth in winter and shade in summer, a convenient mode of keeping and
supplying food, and a place for the pigs to take exercise. These requisites
are very well attained in the ordinary pigsties, which consist of a small open
court for the pigs to feed and take exercise in, and a covered building for
them to sleep in. The principal defect in pigsties of this kind is, a want of
sufficient drainage in their courtyards, in consequence of which much more
moisture is retained there, than is desirable for the health and cleanliness of
the pigs. There ought to be to every pigsty an underground drain with a
grating and trap (the latter as much to keep out dirt as the bad smell), com-
municating with the liquid manure tank, and to be washed out occasionally
by the water used in cleansing the floor of the pigsty. Though pigs are
generally considered to be dirty animals, yet they have some habits of clean-
liness which are remarkable: for example, that of never doing anything dirty
in their sleeping-place, but always choosing a particular corner of their sty
for this purpose. Hence, if this natural tendency were properly seconded, a
pigsty might be kept as clean as a cow-house or stable. The food for pigs is
either of a dry or of a liquid kind. The latter ought always to be kept in a
large tub, or in a tank under cover; where it is kept till it becomes in a state
of fermentation; it being found to be far more nourishing for the pigs when
sour than when it is sweet. For this reason, there ought to be two tubs or
tanks, that the one may be filling with the liquid refuse from the kitchen,
while the other is using; and they may be put under cover, or sunk in the
soil, in order that fermentation may not be checked by the cold of winter.
Where a proprietor feeds his own pigs, the greatest improvement that we can
suggest is, that of having the pigsties connected with a grass field of one or
two acres in extent, or an orchard; and of having various aromatic herbs
sown among the grass; this would be a near approach towards making the
flesh of the common pig as highly flavoured as that of the wild swine. In-
deed, we cannot too strongly impress it on the mind of the reader, that the
358 THE WILLA GARDENER.
great improvements wanting to almost all the modern systems of fattening
animals are, arrangements for allowing them to take abundance of exercise
while they are fattening, and supplying them with a greater variety of food,
and especially of aromatic kinds. -
436. Poultry.—Next to the kitchen-garden, there is no accompaniment of
a country residence that contributes more to the comforts of its inhabitants
than the poultry-yard; and, considerable as these comforts are, if the manage-
ment of poultry were properly understood, they might be greatly inereased.
It is not our intention, in this artiche, to go at length into the subject, because
it would occupy more space than we can afford, and, indeed, would be less
useful as a guide, than some of those small popular works devoted entirely to
the subject, which may be readily procured. One of the latest of these is
entitled Ornamental and Domestic Powltry; their History and Management.
By the Rev. E. S. Dixon; published in 1849. In order to determine the
principles on which poultry-houses should be constructed, it is necessary to
bear in mind that domestic fowls are natives of different countries and
climates; that some are aquatic, and, consequently, have very different
habits from those that naturally perch on trees or other lofty objects; that, in
a state of subjection to man, they are, like other domesticated animals, liable
to more diseases than when they are in a wild state, and that these diseases
are generally incurable by art: and, finally, that they may be stimulated by
rich food and heat, so as to produce eggs earlier, and in greater abundance,
than they ever do in a wild state, or in cold seasons, in a state of domestica-
tion; while, on the contrary, the season of laying may be retarded by scanty
food, and cold. Experience has shown that the taste of the flesh of fowls
depends very much on the quality of the food which they eat. Musty or
damaged grain, of any kind, will communicate a peculiar taste to the flesh of
the common fowl, the goose, the turkey, or the duck, that has been fed on it,
however carefully it may be dressed by the cook. All the different species of
poultry are exceedingly pugnacious, not only with other species, but even
with their own kind; and all fowls, except the aquatic, have the greatest
dislike to damp, and suffer sooner from it than from any other cause. All
fowls are more or less omnivorous, and they consequently require, not only
corn and green vegetables, but insects, worms, and similar vermin, or the
flesh of animals minutely divided, so as to serve as a substitute for these
objects. The most remarkable circumstance connected with the common
fowl is, that, though it is domesticated in every part of Europe, it is a native
of the warmest parts of Asia; and from this circumstance, independently
of other considerations, it requires greater warmth in its lodging-place than
either the duck or the goose, which are natives of Europe; or the turkey,
which is a native of North America. Hence, the necessity of having a
separate house for every kind of fowl which is to occupy the poultry-yard,
unless we except one or two kinds of similar natures, such as the duck and
the goose, which, in some cases, may lodge in the same building.
437. The poultry-yard.—The situation of the poultry-yard should be open
and airy, but at the same time thoroughly sheltered from the prevailing winds
of the locality, and, in England, more especially, from the north, north-east,
and north-west. In general, the best situation is one which slopes to the
south-east, with the poultry-houses in the upper part, with water for the
aquatic fowls in the lower part, and a lofty open shed, in a central position,
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 359
for feeding the poultry under during rain, and for the peacocks, peahens, and
Guinea fowls to roost under in severe weather. This shed should also be so.
far extended as to include in it a few square yards of surface, to be dug out
to the depth of a foot or more, and filled up with dry sand, for the fowls to
take what may be called a sand bath, which is the principal means they have
of ridding themselves of the body vermin with which they are infested. In
addition to this shed, the poultry-yard, if it be large, may contain two or three
trees, as well to afford shade and shelter to the common fowls, as for a roosting-
place to the pea fowls and Guinea fowls during summer, and to harmonise
the poultry-yard with the woody scenery of the place. There ought also to
be, in a proper situation, a covered tank for receiving the washings of the
poultry-houses, and retaining the liquid till it ferments and thus becomes fit
for manure. The soil is, perhaps, of more consequence than even the situa-
tion; for, unless that be naturally quite dry, or rendered thoroughly so by
art, however suitable the situation and treatment of the fowls may be in every
other respect, nothing can be more certain than that they will not thrive.
The poultry-yard should, of course, vary in size according to the number of
fowls which it is intended to keep ; but more still according to the extent of
ground which the fowls are allowed to run over, beyond the limits of the
enclosure. If the fowls are never to be allowed to go beyond the poultry-
yard, then we should say that the very smallest space in which the common
hen can be kept in perfect health, and so as to lay wholesome eggs, even
though the poultry consisted of not more than a dozen fowls, is the sixth part
of an acre. The reason why so much space is required for so few birds is,
that, to be maintained in health, they require a good deal of exercise, and
they also require to eat grass, and different other kinds of green food, and to
pick up insects and sand, and other objects. Now, though all these articles
might be supplied to them in the poultry-house, or in an enclosure in front of
it, of a few yards square, yet it is certain that the fowls, when so confined, would
not keep their health. The criterion of the size of the poultry-yard, there-
fore, where the poultry are never to go beyond it, is the growth of the herbage
on its surface; for, unless this be produced in a certain degree of vigour, it
will neither support insects nor snails, and, consequently, the fowls will be
deprived of their animal food; and every cultivator knows that grass and other
herbage will not grow with vigour where it is much trodden on by fowls.
Where different kinds of poultry are kept, for the supply of even a moderate-
sized family, the poultry-yard, where there was no other range allowed for
the fowls, would require to be two or three acres in extent; but, as this would
be expensive, and in many cases inconvenient, the poultry-yard ought always,
if possible, to be so contrived as to have a free communication with the open
fields, or even with the nearest public road. There is never any danger of
losing the fowls, unless by thieves; for not only will they return home every
night, at roosting-time, but at any time during the day, on the appearance of
rain or thunder, or at any hour at which they are accustomed to be fed.
When the poultry-yard is at some distance from a field or the public road,
and a place intervenes into which the poultry cannot be admitted to run at
large, a pathway through it may be fenced off, with open lattice-work on each
side, and with a projecting roof to throw off the rain; or, if the distance does
not exceed a few yards, a dry tunnel may be made under ground, or an
enclosed way over a wall, or through any out-building. We have frequently
360 THE WILLA GARDENER,
seen tunnels of this sort under barn floors, to admit fowls from the farm-yard
to the rick-yard, without entering the barn; and we conceive an enclosed
gangway fixed to a garden wall, or to the fence of a frame-ground (such as is
shown in several of Mr. Rutger's designs, in preceding pages of this work),
would answer the purpose of conducting the fowls from the poultry-yard to
the public road. -
438. All poultry-houses should have the following particulars attended to in
their construction. They should all face the south or south-east; and all
should have walls hollow, or of sufficient thickness to exclude extreme cold
in winter, and excessive heat in summer. A 9-inch brick wall, like that
employed in England, is not sufficiently warm, even for the climate of Lon-
don, unless the bricks be kept so far apart as to form a vacuity of at least 2 in.
in the interior of the wall. The height of the side walls should not be less
than 7 or 8 feet; but 9 or 10 feet would be preferable, as admitting more
perfect ventilation by openings, covered with latticework or wire, immediately
under the roof. The side walls should be plastered with cement, or with
sound lime and sand, so as not to harbour insects, and to admit of being
washed to destroy their eggs, if any should have been deposited on them.
The ceilings should, in general, be treated in the same manner, and the floors
should be laid with smooth pavement, so as to admit of being washed out as
clean as any kitchen floor. In every poultry-house there ought to be a win-
dow, with the sill about 3 or 4 feet from the ground; the sashes being glazed,
and constructed so as to slide past each other in grooves. There should be
inside shutters to these windows, for use during winter; and outside shutters,
luffer-boarded, to close during summer, when the sashes are kept open all
night. Close under the eaves, there ought to be an opening for ventilation,
exactly over the window, of the same breadth, and a foot in depth, with a
wire grating, and a shutter on the inside, to slide in grooves, and which should
have a cord attached to each end, hanging down within reach, so as to draw
it on or off at pleasure. The roofs of all poultry-houses should project suffi-
ciently to protect from rain the side-walls, and the outside stair or ladder,
which is made for the fowls to get up to their roost; and there ought always
to be gutters, to collect the water from the roof, so as to keep the ground
immediately in front of the poultry-house doors as dry as possible. Each
kind of poultry should have two apartments: one for roosting in, and the
other for laying and sitting in ; and, in large establishments, there may be
two or three other houses, for fattening in, for confining individuals rendered
unfit to be at large from their pugnacity or from disease, and also for rearing
young chickens, unless there should be plenty of room for this purpose in the
laying-houses.
439. Fattening poultry.—With respect to fattening poultry of every kind,
it may be proper to observe, that the preceding recommendations as to fatten-
ing-houses, have been given on the supposition that every kind of cramming
and confinement in coops for fattening is to be given up; and that the fowls
are to be kept constantly in good condition, and only confined for a week or
two in a feeding-house, with a small yard attached, immediately before being
killed. We may also observe that fowls, so far from fattening better alone
and in solitary coops, actually eat more, and consequently fatten faster, when
several are kept together, and free access allowed them to food at all hours of
the day. A corresponding system has for some years past been adopted for
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 361
feeding sheep and cattle, and with similar success. Having thus noticed the
requisites common to all poultry-houses, a very few words will suffice to state
what is peculiar to each. * g
440. The hen-house, as generally lodging the .most numerous and useful
class of poultry in a yard, requires to be the largest. The roosting-house
should contain, at least, a square foot of area for every fowl that is to roost in
it; this average allowing rather more than a square foot for fullgrown fowls,
and less for chickens. The perches for roosting on may either form a slope
from within 3 ft. of the ground, to within the same distance of the ceiling; or
they may form a floor 4 ft. below the ceiling; the perches being placed across
the house, and about 18 in. apart. The form of these perches ought to be
square or angular in the section; for gallinaceous fowls cannot bend their
toes so as to grasp a round perch. The entrance for the fowls should be on a
level with the roosting-floor, from which the ascent and descent on the outside
may be by a ladder formed by nailing fillets of wood at regular distances across
a board, to serve as steps; or, which is more architectural, by neat brick or
stone steps, projected from the wall. In the inside, there may be a portable.
wooden ladder, to enable any chickens which may have fallen from the roost
during the night to get up again in the morning, so as to go out with the
other fowls, at the opening at the top of the outside stair. There ought to be
a shutter to this opening, which should be carefully closed every night, after
the fowls have gone to roost, in order to exclude vermin. The great advan-
tages of having the perches all on one level, on what is called a roosting-floor,
instead of having them sloping like the stage of a green-house, are, that the
whole of the fowls roost in the upper, and consequently warmest, part of the
house; that there is no scrambling among the stronger fowls to get to the
highest perch, in consequence of which the weaker ones are often thrown
down and hurt; and that there is no temptation to the stronger fowls to fly
up to their perches at night, or fly down in the morning, which always deranges
the weaker ones that are obliged to go up and down to their perches by the
ladder. The shutter to the opening at the top of the outside ladder should
be opened every morning at sunrise; or, when the sun rises earlier than five
or six o'clock, at whatever hour the workmen are accustomed to go to work,
in order that the fowls may get out to pickup snails, worms, and insects, while
the dew is on the grass, and before these vermin have returned to their holes
in the soil. Afterwards, the large door and all the windows of the roosting-
house should be opened, and left in that state till towards the time when the
fowls usually go to roost. The floor, in the mean time, should have been care-
fully washed out, so that, on the return of the fowls, they may find their
roosting-house perfectly clean and sweet in every part.
441. The laying and sitting-house for the common fowls may be of the same
dimensions as the roosting-house; but, instead of being furnished with a
framework of perches near the ceiling, there should be a number of boxes
about 18 inches square, each with a little doorway cut in it in front, for the hen
to enter and come out. A row of these boxes should be ranged along the side
and back walls on the floor, for sitting-boxes; above these, if many fowls are
kept, may be another row of boxes for laying in, with similar doorways, and a
ledge along them in front, broad enough to allow the hens to walk along it,
and which may be ascended to by a ladder (like that of the roosting-house) at
each end. When the hens seem inclined to sit, the requisite number of eggs
362 THE WILTA GARDENER.
is put into one of the lower tier of boxes for the hen to sit on; and she should
be supplied with food and water in the house, to prevent her from leaving her
eggs for more than a few minutes at a time. Some authors direct the laying-
boxes to be always raised 3 ft. from the ground; but this is unnecessary if
only a few fowls are kept, and the floor is quite dry, and where the hens have
a different house for laying in, from that in which they roost. As the floor of
the laying-house will not be so dirty as that of the roosting-house, and as a
moist floor would occasion cramp, and consequently death to the young
chickens, it should never be washed, but only strewed with clean sand every
day, the dirty sand of the previous day being first swept out. *-
442. Warming the houses for common fowls.--Wherever it is intended to
have an abundant supply of eggs in the winter season, provision should be
made for supplying artificial heat to all the houses occupied by the common
fowls. The temperature required should not be less than 60°, because in no
case do fowls lay more abundantly than in common cottages, where they may
be said to live with the family, and where the temperature varies in the winter
season from 50° to 70°. . The means of supplying heat may be a smoke flue
conducted along the back and sides of each of the houses (but not along the
front, as it would interfere with the entrance); or hot-water pipes may be
used in a similar manner; or there may be a small stove in each house. By a
little contrivance one fire may be made to heat three or four houses. It may
also sometimes happen that the common fowl-houses may be built over a cow-
house, or over a dung-pit; or what might frequently be the case, a lining of
dung might be heaped up, when the artificial heat was wanted, along the out-
side of the back wall of the fowl-houses. In general, the difficulty is not so
much in contriving means of heating, as in convincing persons who keep
fowls, that artificial heat is necessary to induce them to lay. Everybody
knows that eggs are cheaper at Midsummer than at Christmas; though but
few people are aware that the only reason for this is, the increased warmth of
the former season.
443. A fattening-house for common fowls may be of the same dimensions
as the roosting-house and the laying-house Where the fowls are fattened in
coops, these should be placed round the walls; but, as we recommend the free
method of fattening, that is allowing them to be at liberty, with plenty of food
to eat when they please, we consider no furniture necessary, farther than some
roosting-poles, which may be placed round the walls at the distance of 3 or 4
feet from the ground, and vessels for containing the food and water, which
may be set in the middle of the floor. In front of the fattening-house there
should be a space enclosed as a yard, for the fowls to take exercise in ; and in
this yard they may always be fed in mild weather.
444. The turkey-house may very properly adjoin the common poultry-
house, and it need not differ from it in any particular, except that all the
details of fitting up may be one fourth part larger. The opening at the top
of the outside stair should be one-fourth higher, and one-fourth wider; and
the roosting-poles should be 2 ft. apart. There should be a laying-house, in
which the boxes may be 2 ft. square, and also a feeding-house with a
feeding-yard.
445. Houses for Guinea fowls and pea fowls are not wanted, as these birds
can seldom be brought either to roost or lay in any regular house. An open
shed or a tree will generally be found their roosting-place, and if the poultry
sº
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 363
enclosure be surrounded by a thick hedge, or if it contain clumps or thickets
of shrubs, their nests will commonly be found there.
446. Houses for aquatic fowls.--Where only a few geese and ducks are
kept, one house will be sufficient for them, provided it be divided into three
parts; one for the common lodging-place, one for laying and sitting, and the
other for fattening. No other furniture or fittings-up are requisite than boxes
for the laying and sitting house; those for the ducks may be 18 in. wide, and
2 ft. long; and those of the geese proportionately larger. It may be here
observed, that, in order to keep ducks and geese, it is not necessary to have
either large deep ponds, or running water. A basin of a few yards in diame-
ter, and deep enough to admit of their swimming in it, will be found quite
sufficient, provision being made for a frequent supply of fresh water. Where
geese are kept in any quantity they require a yard by themselves, and an
extensive range of pasturage, as they are fond of grass, and it appears essen-
tial to them; and as, when confined with other fowls, they become very
pugnacious and very much harass hens and turkeys.
447. Fowls may be kept on a small scale, so as to supply the family with
eggs, by purchasing hens in a laying state, and furnishing them with a port-
able wooden house, containing a sufficient number of nests; placing this in a
warm situation, as in a stable or cow-house, or adjoining a kitchen or other
room having constantly a fire in it; and contriving free ingress and egress
from the public road, or from some extensive space, in which the fowls can
run about and find vegetables and insects. Besides this house for laying in,
there would require to be another adjoining it, and of the same size, with
perches for the fowls to roost on : a wooden house 6 or 8 feet high, and about
the same length and breadth, would be sufficient for roosting ten or twelve
full-grown fowls, and one of half that size would be sufficient for containing
nests for them. A very common mode in which small fowl-houses of this
description might be heated is by a pipe of hot water, communicating with
the cistern at the back of the kitchen fire; and many other methods might be
suggested. In short, if the reader will bear in mind, that the common fowl,
in order to lay abundance of wholesome eggs, requires abundance of farina-
ceous food; an extensive range of surface for exercise, and for picking up
green meat, insects, worms, and other animal food, and the small stones
and gravel necessary for digestion; and that when the fowl is not in active
exercise, it should be in a temperature of between 50° and 60°, he will be at
no loss for contrivances not only to keep fowls, but to insure an abundant
supply of eggs during the winter season. Fowls should also always have
access to mortar, lime-rubbish, or chalk; as if they have not, they will lay
eggs without shells.
448. The pigeon-house, or dovecot.—The common pigeon, of which there
are many varieties, may be kept in a small house, in a manner similar to
common fowls; but it succeeds better in buildings somewhat elevated, or in
low buildings in which the place of entrance is made in the roof; because
pigeons fly higher than any other domesticated birds. A very convenient
situation is a loft over some other building, or when there are various out-
buildings, a turret may be added where it will have a good effect in an archi-
tectural point of view, and the interior turned into a place for pigeons. All
the fiting up requisite is to place nests against the wall; these nests consist
of open boxes, about a foot square, with the lower side projecting 3 or 4
364 THE WILLA GARDENER.
inches for the birds to light upon. The best food for pigeons is peas, but
they will eat oats and barley like the common fowl. Where pigeons have
not an extensive range, it is common to place in the pigeon house a lump
composed of lime rubbish, loam, salt, and other matters, for them to peck at
occasionally, and which it is found prevents them from eating the lime from
chimney tops, and other parts of buildings which they frequent. In general,
a pigeon-house may always be made an ornamental object, whether it forms
a detached building, or an appendage to other offices. As young pigeons are
highly valued in the kitchen for pies, and full-grown ones for substantial,
savoury, and stimulating food, a pigeon-house is a very desirable appendage
to every suburban residence that has land attached; but, where there is no
land, it is scarcely fair to keep pigeons, as they must necessarily live on our
neighbours.
449. The aviary is an enclosure which should always, if possible, be of
considerable extent, containing houses for different kinds of birds. These
houses may be small rustic structures, each with an enclosed court, and
covered with netting or wirework, to prevent the birds from flying away, as
well as to prevent the intrusion of other birds in a wild state. In these
small enclosures the young are reared; and, when full-grown, they are
allowed during the day to go at large in the aviary ground. An aviary,
where there are five or six different kinds of birds to be kept, should never
be attempted where there is less than an acre of ground; because few things
disfigure either grass or plants so much as a superabundance of fowls among
them, while the injury to the birds themselves, for want of space for exercise,
is proportionately great. The birds commonly kept in aviaries in the neigh-
bourhood of London are, gold and silver pheasants, partridges, quails; red,
black, and wood grouse; pigeons, turtle-doves, Muscovy ducks, the Canadian
goose, the bustard, gulls, and curious varieties of the common fowl, such as
bantams, &c. There is however no limit to the number of species and
varieties of birds that may be kept in aviaries, provided there are abundance
of space, and ample pecuniary means. A number of the exotic birds
require artificial heat in their roosting-places during the winter season; but
this is not the case with the kinds mentioned above as commonly kept in
aviaries. The handsomest places of this kind that we know, near London,
are at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, and at Cobham Hall in Kent. There
was formerly a tolerably complete aviary at the Duke of Devonshire's villa,
at Chiswick; but it has been given up for the last ten years. The most com-
plete aviary in England for singing birds, is at Knowlesly Hall, near Liverpool.
450. The swan is one of the greatest living ornaments to a piece of water
of two or three acres in extent; and it is useful in keeping the surface of the
water free from weeds. Swans require very little care from man, except that
of feeding them during severe weather in winter, and having a small house
for the protection of their young. Whenever there is a considerable piece of
water in the grounds of a residence, there may not only be swans, but ducks
of different kinds, curious geese, gulls, and other aquatic fowls. The Swans,
as we have above observed, are useful for keeping the water free from weeds,
and the others for keeping the adjoining grounds free from worms, slugs,
snails, &c.
451. The rabbitry.—Rabbits may frequently be kept in the aviary, though,
unless the extent of ground be considerable, they are better in an area by
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 365
themselves. There are two kinds of rabbits reared for the market; one is
the common wild rabbit, which is kept in warrens, and the stock taken by
nets or traps, as it is wanted to be used or sent to market; and the other, the
animal in a highly artificial state, kept in hutches or small boxes, and fattened
like fowls for killing: the flesh of rabbits of the latter kind cannot be consi-
dered as wholesome ; and, leaving the treatment of them to those who advo-
cate cramming fowls and stall-feeding oxen, we shall close what we have to
say on this subject, by recommending the keeping of rabbits, of what are
called the wild or common kind, in a house with a small yard attached, to
serve as a warren or place of exercise. The house may form one of the same
range as the poultry-houses; and the warren may either be close to the rab-
bit-house, or at any convenient distance from it, communicating with it by a
covered way. The artificial warren may be 50 or 60 feet square : if the sub-
soil be dry, the surface or floor of the warren may be sunk 2 or 3 ft., and
surrounded by a wall rising 3 or 4 feet above the natural surface of the
ground; but, if the subsoil be moist, then the warren may be made in the
form of a raised ridge, and surrounded by a dwarf wall, surmounted by an
open fence. The use of the warren is for the rabbits to take exercise in by
burrowing; and hence, when the soil is not sufficiently free for this purpose,
it ought to be made so by deep trenching, and by the addition of sand. In
order to admit a free circulation of air to the warren, and also to admit of
seeing it at pleasure, it should never be surrounded by a high close fence;
but a sunk wall will always be necessary, to prevent the rabbits from burrow-
ing into the adjacent grounds. The rabbits should never be fed in the war-
ren, but always in the rabbit-house; and this should be done at stated times,
in order that the rabbits may acquire the habit of appearing there regularly.
452. The apiary is another source of interest to all who live in the country,
and fortunately it may be indulged in by the humblest labourer, no less than
by the wealthiest citizen, provided there are fields and gardens in the neigh-
bourhood containing flowers. A beehive, when there is no room for it any-
where else, may, like a pigeon-house, or even a garden of pots, be placed on
the roof of the house. Much has been, and continues to be, written on the
subject of bees; and the kinds of hives are proportionately numerous. In-
stead of pointing out what we consider to be the merits and defects of the
principal of these, we shall limit ourselves to observing that, where little or
no attention can be paid to the bees, except perhaps at the swarming season,
the common hive of the country, whatever that may be, for example the
straw hive in Britain and on the Continent generally, the trunk or pipe hive
in Poland, and the cork hive in Spain and the Canaries, will, in our opinion,
be found the best, because everybody understands it; but that, where there
is leisure, and a disposition to attend to bee culture, Nutt's hives are by far the
best that have been yet invented. It has been a great object with the inven-
tors of hives to devise means for taking the honey without killing the bees;
and Mr. Nutt not only effects this, but what is of incomparably more impor-
tance, he prevents young bees from being generated, except when they are
wanted, and consequently prevents swarming with all its attendant troubles.
The principle upon which all Mr. Nutt's improvements are founded, is that of
regulating the temperature of the hives, so that the bees may breed in one
temperature, and make their honey in another. Under a certain degree of
heat, the queen bee will not lay eggs, nor will these eggs be hatched; while
366 THE
WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
the process of collecting and
storing up honey goes on with-
out much reference to tempera-
ture, provided the sun shines.
Nutt'shive requirestoberlaced
under some description of co-
wer or bee-house. This should,
in general, be so contrived as
to leave free access to the hive
behind, and hence it can never
be placed against a wall or
against a house. It may be
in a detached building, consist-
ing of a rustic structure cover-
ed with bark; or it may be
placed under a roof open on
every side, the props being
rustic pillars, and the roof being
covered with thatch, reeds,
woodman's chips, spray, bark,
heath, or similar materials.
Fig. 217. shows a handsome
bee-canopy of this kind, cover-
ing one of Nutt's hives, which stands in a recess in the pleasure-ground at
Chipstead Place, in Kent. At Bayswater, our Nutt's hive is placed in the
front of a veranda (see fig. 218.), in a line with its pillars, and is consequently
protected from perpendicular
rain; but as the excessive heat
of summer is equally injurious
with rain, it is protected from
that, and from the sudden in-
fluence of either heat or cold
in winter, by a casing of broom
and heath. The back of the
hive, where the doors are, on
opening which the bees may
be seen at work, is most con-
veniently examined from the
veranda.
453. The fishponds. – The
custom of keeping fish in the
grounds of country residences
is much less common now than
it was in the days when, from
the whole country being Ca-
tholic, fish was essential as an
article of food two days in every
week; and when the commu-
nication between the interior
and the sea was so slow, as to
|
L
I gº"
T I º
| T


COUNTRY MANSIONS. 367
be unavailable for the transport of fish. Nevertheless, fishponds, wherever
they can be made, are not only sources of beauty in the landscape, but of
interest and use with reference to the fish that may be reared and fed
in them. In every garden, however small, and even in every green-house
or conservatory, there may be a vase or small basin for gold and silver
fish. These require very little care, whether in the house or in the open
air, except, in the latter case, breaking the ice in winter, to admit air when
the water is frozen over. Should the fish, however, be intended to breed, the
pond must be in a warm situation, fully exposed to the sun, so as to raise the
temperature of the water early in the season; and the margin must be shallow
and sandy, as it is only in shallow water on a sandy bottom, or on roots or
bundles of sticks, that fish will deposit their spawn. The carp, the tench,
and the perch are the most convenient fishes for managing in artificial ponds;
and, throughout Europe, they are more used for this purpose, than any other
kinds. Of these, the carp is incomparably the best, on account of its aston-
ishing fecundity, its large size, and the rapidity with which it grows when
well fed, notwithstanding the great age which it has been known to attain.
To manage carp properly, three ponds are requisite; one for breeding,
another for rearing, and a third for feeding. In the spawning or breeding
pond, full-grown fish should be put early in Spring; the season for spawning
being from the latter end of May till the beginning of July, the time varying
according to the warmth of the season. After spawning, the old fish are put
back into the feeding pond, and the young fry left to themselves till the
spawning season approaches in the following year. They are then removed
to the nursing-pond, where they remain about two years, the time varying
according to their growth. Every season the nursing-pond is drawn, and all
the fish which are above 5 in. in length, put into the feeding-pond; whence
the largest are taken out as wanted for use. When wanted of extraordinary
size, they may be kept in stews, and fed with garbage, boiled potatoes, bread,
boiled rice, or any soft substance which does not require mastication. Their
natural food consists of the larvae of insects, worms, and soft aquatic plants.
The pond in which the feeding fish are kept, should be rather deep, and have
a soft marly or muddy bottom, and a warm exposure ; the water should be
soft, and this it generally is on marly soils: when carp are fed in stews, they
should be kept in rain water. A carp will usually attain the weight of 3 lbs.
in six years, and 6lbs. in ten years. The largest ever caught was not quite
20 lbs. weight. They are in season from October to April. The whole busi-
ness of stocking ponds, and raising and fattening carp, is reduced to a regular
system, which is practised extensively in the interior of France and Germany,
and more particularly of Prussia. But in villa pleasure-grounds, it may be tried
with a single pond; taking care to reduce the number of fish by using some
of the largest every year in the proper season. From 300 to 400 carp to an
acre, is the number allowed in the feeding-ponds in Prussia; but in these
ponds very little food is given, and hence the range required is the greater.
The tench is generally kept in the same pond as the carp, and requires the
same treatment. It will, however, thrive, and even attain an extraordinary
size, in situations, and in stagnant fetid water, where no other fish would
live. The tench is very tenacious of life, and requires less oxygen than any
other fish. Mr. Yarrell, in his excellent work on the British Fishes, says
that the tench can breathe when the quantity of oxygen is reduced to the
368 THE WILLA GARDENER,
5000th part of the bulk of the water; ordinary river water usually containing
the 100th part of oxygen. Hence, tench will thrive in deep muddy holes,
where no other fish could exist; though, in this case, they should be kept a
week or ten days in clear water, before using for the table, in order that the
muddy taste may go off. The tench is covered with a thick slimy matter,
which is said to have a healing property for other fish if they rub themselves
against it when they are wounded; and hence the tench is vulgarly called the
fishes' physician. The perch requires clearer water than either the carp or
the tench, and will thrive in rivers where the current is not too rapid. When
kept in stews, there should be a stream of water constantly running through
these. The perch eats worms, flies, and young fish of its own kind, and also
minnows, and small roach, dace, &c. The eel thrives in deep, muddy, shady
ponds, where, however, the water must not be stagnant. Eels attain the
greatest size in millponds, or in muddy rivers, in the soft banks of which they
can bury themselves 12 or 16 inches deep, while the stream continues con-
stantly running its course over the mud, and where they are frequently found,
and dug out or speared, in the winter. In stews they may be fed at discre-
tion, with snails, frogs, worms, &c.; and will attain a large size, but they are
seldom kept in ponds, as they destroy other fish. It is not known to many
persons that the eel, in the summer season, frequently quits the water during
the night, and wanders among grass in search of slugs, frogs, and worms;
yet this is the case, and where there is a mill-pond, or a dam between two
ponds, large eels may often be seen in a warm summer's evening, when the
meadows are wet with dew, making their way, with an undulating, or wrig-
gling, though not very rapid motion, through the long grass, in search of food,
or from one pond to the other. The pike grows to a large size in stews or
ponds, where it requires clear and hard water; but it is so voracious that its
keep is very expensive, as it devours all the other fish, and even all the fry of
its own species that come within its reach. “Eight pike,” says Mr. Jesse,
“about 5 lbs. weight each, consumed nearly 800 gudgeons in three weeks.”
“In default of other fish,” says Mr. Yarrell, “pikes will seize moor-hens,
ducks, or indeed any animals of small size, whether alive or dead.” They
swim rapidly, and dart at their prey with great fierceness; and from this,
their extraordinary strength and boldness, and their voracity, they afford
more sport than most other kinds of fish to the angler. The roach and dace
are sometimes kept in ponds, and have a beautiful appearance in the water,
but their flesh is insipid and woolly. Gudgeons, and other common small
fish, are usually found in rivers; as are trout, which, however, may be kept,
and will attain a large size, in ponds which have a hard rocky bottom, clear
water, and a constant stream running through them.
454. Other animals that may be kept in country residences.—Those who
wish to add to their sources of recreation and amusement may keep land
tortoises, much in the same manner as we have proposed to keep rabbits, but
with a smaller exercising-ground, and they may feed them with corn, meal,
and succulent vegetables, and use them as food; or they may keep them in
the open garden, being fed with lettuces, cabbages, &c., and allowed to
burrow in the soil during winter. Tortoises, however, cannot be kept, except
in mild situations, not much above the level of the sea, for they are very
impatient of cold. The tree frog, which feeds on flies, might be kept in
cages, or at liberty, in green-houses and vineries; either merely as an orna-
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 369
ment, or to destroy the flies and other insects: and the large green frog might
be kept in ponds, and fed for culinary purposes, as it is in France, Germany,
and Italy. The edible snail (Hélix pomātia L.) might be kept, as it is near
Vienna, in large pits covered with boards, and fed with cabbage leaves and
other vegetables. The river crawfish (A'stacus fluviàtilis) is not very common
in Britain, but it abounds in some parts of the Continent, particularly in the
marshy meadows of the Vistula, near Warsaw. These fish are reckoned a
great delicacy on the Continent, either boiled and eaten cold like shrimps, or
put into soup. In England they are found in meadows on the margins of
the Trent; and it might amuse a curious suburban resident desirous of
making experiments, to try to subject them to cultivation. The medicinal
leech, which lives chiefly on the spawn of fish or of frogs, might easily be
kept in small ponds, provided care were taken to prevent it from getting to
the fishponds; during summer, the leeches come out on the grass in search of
snails and other food during night, and during winter they go into deep water.
The silkworm, wherever there is a white mulberry tree, or abundance of
lettuces, may be reared, and silk produced as an amusement. The eggs,
which may be procured in Covent Garden market in May and June, require
to be hatched in a temperature of from 60° to 80°, on dry shelves, kept clean
and well ventilated, and the worms require to be carefully tended and well
fed. The silk, however, produced in England, is of no value but as a
curiosity, from its want of tenacity; the thread only acquiring the necessary
toughness to enable it to be reeled and spun with a view to profit, in a hot
and dry climate. -
455. The Ice-house.—Ice may be kept in a dry cellar with as much ease as
coals, wine, or beer. All that is necessary, is to have the walls and roof of
extra thickness, so as to exclude heat; or to have them built double, or bat-
tened, and lathed and plastered. By the last process, a vacuity is formed
completely round the sides and roof of the ice-chamber; and a similar vacuity
should be formed under the floor, communicating with a drain having a trap,
so as to convey away any water that may collect from the thawing of the ice,
without admitting fresh air by the drain. This cellar should either have
double doors placed 2 or 3 feet distant from each other; or, when the ice is
put in, an ample space should be left between it and the door, in order to
allow room for a large quantity of straw, to serve as a nonconducting medium
to the heat that would otherwise pass through the chinks of the door. In
filling an ice-cellar, the ice, having been first collected and laid down near it,
is broken into small pieces, and then pounded till it becomes a powder com-
posed of particles not larger than those of sand or coarse salt. It is then
carried into the cellar, and laid up in a heap, beating each layer as depo-
sited, so as to form the whole into a compact mass, and occasionally sprink-
ling a little water over it, in order to consolidate it. An improved method
consists in using water impregnated with salt, by dissolving 10 lbs. of common
salt in 10 gallons of cold water, and pouring it on the ice through a common
garden watering-pot, every 2 or 3 feet in thickness, as the cellar is filling.
The ice, in cellars filled in this manner, will be found when opened in sum-
mer, to consist of one solid mass of ice, which cannot be broken without the
pickaxe. It will keep much longer without thawing in the cellar, and also
much longer when exposed to the open air; because salt water, and conse-
quently salted ice, has a much less capacity for heat than fresh water or fresh
2 B
370 THE VILLA GARDENER,
ice. This mode of keeping ice was first adopted by Mr. James Young, gar-
dener at Willford House, Nottinghamshire. He was induced to try it, because
the icehouse there was placed in a very exposed situation, the sun shining on
it from rising to setting. Before the use of salt, it was found impossible to
keep the ice above a year; but, afterwards, it was kept three years, and the
last of it was found to be as good as the first.
456. The ice-cellar.—The cool temperature by which the ice must be sur-
rounded, to make it keep, has suggested the idea of forming niches or shelves
within the ice-house, or in the passage leading to it, for keeping articles cool
in the summer season. This has been tried with great success in the case of
common ice-houses; and it would in all probability succeed in the case of
ice-cellars, though the difficulty in this last case would perhaps be increased
from the want of ventilation. We have already, in this work, expressed our
opinion, that it would be more convenient to have the place for keeping the
ice connected with the dwelling-house, either as a cellar under the living-
rooms, or as a cellar under some of the out-door offices, and to place it under
the care of the butler, than to form it in the park or pleasure-grounds, and
place it under the care of the gardener. However, as the common preju-
dice is in favour of ice-houses built in the usual manner in the open grounds,
we shall here describe one of these formed according to the best principles.
457. Out-of-door ice-houses.—Where the soil is wet, and does not admit of
underground drainage, the icehouse may be constructed above the natural
surface, and afterwards surrounded and covered with a mound of earth; it
being farther protected from the heat by trees or shrubs, or what is perhaps
preferable to either, by a covering of giant ivy. The common form of out-
door ice-houses is an inverted cone, and the supposed advantage of this form
is, that as part of the ice thaws, the remainder slides down the sides of the
cone, and still keeps in one compact body. This is no doubt true; but the
advantage by no means compensates for the difficulty of constructing an ice-
house in the conical form. A plain square room, with double side walls, say
a foot apart, a double arch over, and a double floor under, which can be built
with the same ease as any common cellar, will, all other circumstances being
alike favourable, keep the ice as long as any conical form whatever. Where
there is a doubt of being able to exclude the heat, treble walls, roof, and
floor may be resorted to; and the entrance, which should always be three or
four yards in length, instead of being straight, may be made crooked, with a
door at each turn. The space between at least two of the doors should
always be filled with straw; and, to render the removal of this straw easy,
when there was occasion to pass from the outer door to the ice, it might be
put into two or more canvass bags, like immense cushions, which might be
hooked to the ceiling and the sides, so as to close up every interstice. The
space between the second and third doors may be widened, and fitted up
with shelves for holding articles which require to be kept cool, but not to the
same degree as if they were placed in the ice-house. Fig. 219. is a section,
and fig. 220, a ground plan, of an ice-house on the inverted cone principle,
but of an improved construction. This form, as usually employed in English
country seats, frequently fails in keeping the ice, from not having double
walls and double or treble doors, or from imperfect drainage; but the plan
now submitted is free from these defects, and will keep ice throughout the
year in any climate, if covered with a sufficient thickness of earth or straw.
COUNTRY MANSIONs. 371
In this design, a is the well or 219 —r-
cellar for the ice; b, a drain
from its bottom, for carrying ==El
off such water as may be pro- W.
duced by the gradual thawing
of the ice; c, a trap in this
drain to prevent the external
air from communicating with 2.
that of the ice-house; and d, a
leaden pipe from this trap, con-
nected with a small pump at e.
The object of this pump is to
allow of making use, during the heat of summer, of the very cold water pro-
duced by the thawing of the ice, either for cooling wines or water; and in order
that there may always be a considerable quantity of the water produced by the
melted ice in the trap, it may be made of considerable size, so as to serve as a
reservoir or well. This water would be very nearly as cold as the ice, and might
be used for all the same purposes; while it would have the great advantage of
being obtainable immediately, whenever it was wanted, and with very little
trouble. There are five doors to this ice-house, at f, g, h, i, and k; and a vacuity
(l), one foot wide, between the two walls surrounding the cellar, and covering
the inner division of the passage (m). This passage may be fitted up with
shelves, as a place for keeping vegetables and various other articles of food
(raw or cooked) fresh during summer. The cone containing the ice being
supposed to be under ground, the natural level of the surface is shown at
n n; and the whole superstructure may be covered in Britain, to the depth
of 2 or 3 feet with earth, planted with ivy and surrounded with trees. In
warmer climates the depth of earth ought to be increased to 8 or 10 feet.
The size of the well ought also to be enlarged, and there might be even a
third vacuity round it. The space between the doors i and k should be filled
up by a barley-straw cushion, and it would be well to have similar cushions
against the doors g and h, at least during summer. The two recesses, o and
p, are here shown only 2 ft. in depth; but, by making the walls behind them
of brick, that depth may be increased at pleasure. It may also be observed,
that, in situations where brick is cheaper than stone, all the walls in this
design may be built hollow; and that the side walls of the ice-well need not
be more than the width of a brick in thickness, the one wall being tied into
the other. It may be further observed, that, if it should be inconvenient to
cover the building with earth, a covering of straw or reeds, or even planting











2 B 2
372 THE VILLA GARDENER.
ivy against the outside walls, and surrounding the whole with a few trees,
will be equally efficient in keeping out the heat. If trees cannot be planted,
on account of the soil, or of shutting out any view, a slight roof elevated on
props of any sort will have the same effect. One of the most effective ice-
houses that we have ever seen, was sheltered in this manner by a wire trellis,
covered with Ayrshire roses, honeysuckles, clematis, and Virginian creeper.
Ice-houses may be built square just as well as round; and are at less expense,
as effective above the surface as under it. A square ice-house above ground,
or sunk 3 ft. into it, may have treble hollow floors formed of bricks on edge,
covered with foot-tiles or flagstones; and its side walls may be treble also,
and built of bricks on edge. To form the roof, a 9-inch semicircular arch
may be first thrown on these walls, and over this arch three vacuities built of
bricks on edge and tiles: there may be five doors, as in fig. 220. ; and the
whole may be covered with a cone of earth or thatch 4 ft. thick, and clothed
with giant ivy. In fact, by the use of framework, or a stratum of loose
stones to keep the ice from the ground and to allow the water produced by
its thawing to drain away from it, and abundance of thatch, ice may be kept
above ground just as easily as potatoes. Ice-houses are, however, in the pre-
sent day, of comparatively little importance, from the number of freezing
machines, refrigerators, and other machines for making and keeping ice,
which have been lately invented.
SECTION I II.
THE SCENERY OF A COUNTRY MANSION RESIDENCE.
458. General observations.—Every place may be considered as producing
three leading impressions on the mind of a stranger : that called forth by the
entrance lodge, gates, and the portion of the approach which is seen through
the latter; that which is produced by the first good view of the house,
obtained from the approach road; and that which is obtained from the draw-
ing-room windows, after entering the house. There are many houses in
romantic or other extraordinary situations, to which these remarks may not
be strictly applicable; but that they are so to all country houses in compara-
tively flat or tame countries, we think few persons of observation will doubt.
In this section, therefore, we shall submit a few supplementary observations
on each of these points, commencing with the entrance lodge and gates.
459. The entrance lodge and gates.—Good sense dictates that the architec-
ture of the entrance lodge and gates should be in harmony with that of the
house; and hence, if the dwelling-house and offices have any marked cha-
racter of the Roman, Italian, Gothic, or other styles, the same ought also to
be obvious in the lodge. On the other hand, if the architecture of the house
and offices be mixed, or anomalous, so may be that of the lodge; or the lodge
may be wholly in any one of the styles which is mixed up with the others in
the mansion. That in every case the lodge ought to be in a humbler style
of design than the more important buildings of the place, is sufficiently
obvious from its more humble use. Independently altogether of style, care
should be taken that the magnitude and seeming importance of the lodge be
ENTRANCE I/OD(3E, 373
not such as to raise false expectations of the magnitude and importance of
the house; at the same time, no lodge whatever ought to be so small as to
raise doubts in the spectator of its being a comfortable habitation for a human
being. This idea ought to be borne constantly in mind, as well as those
which respect style; for few things connected with an elegant country resi-
dence are more offensive to a humane mind, than to see boxes set down as
lodges, not more, perhaps, than 10 ft. or 12 ft. square, with rooms not above
7 ft. high in the clear. When this is the case, and the occupant has children,
he is sometimes obliged to live with half his family in a box on one side of
the gate, and to send the other half to sleep in a box on the other side.
460. Gates.—Whether a gate ought to be of open work that may be seen
through, or of close boards so as to obstruct the view, is a question that has
reference chiefly to places in the immediate vicinity of towns. In all coun-
try residences, there can be no objection to the gates being of open work; and
there is an advantage to the public in their being so, as it enables the passing
stranger to form some idea of the place, and also tends to ornament the
country. On the other hand, it seems equally clear that the gates of most
small places near towns ought to be close; because one great object of every
country residence is privacy, and, in a small place, without close gates, pri-
vacy is impossible. At the same time, in residences near towns, where the
house forms part of a street or row, and where the entrance door is only a few
yards from the road, an open gate allows the servants to see any person who
may ring, either from the entrance door or the kitchen window; and thus
enables them to avoid losing their time by going to open the gate for beggars
and other intruders. In similar situations, it is often convenient, when there
are close gates, to have a small grating, with a slide within, in order to per-
mit the servant to speak to any person calling at the gate before opening it.
A door is also sometimes made in the carriage gate, to facilitate the ingress
and egress of persons without opening the entire gate. Close gates may,
also, be sometimes desirable in point of effect, even where they are not
required to insure privacy. Wherever there is any very striking object within
the grounds, which can be seen from the entrance gate to better advantage
than it can be from any other situation, then we should say that a close gate
was desirable; in order that the effect of the object alluded to might not be
marred to a stranger, by his seeing it imperfectly before he entered the
grounds, and thus getting his first impression of it disfigured by the bars of
the open gate. At Blenheim, a more striking view of the lake and bridge
than is to be obtained in any other part of the grounds, bursts upon the eye
of the stranger, when the close gates at Woodstock are thrown open ; but if
open bars were substituted for these heavy doors, the spectator would see the
lake and bridge first through them, and the striking effect, which now pro-
duces a strong emotion of admiration and astonishment, would be frittered
away.
461. The style of the entrance gates ought to be as much attended to as that
of the lodge. They ought neither to be so plain as to resemble common field
gates (see fig. 221), nor so covered with ornament as to be disproportionate
to the style of the house (see fig. 222). Whatever style is employed in the
house and lodge, the lines, forms, and ornaments of that style ought alone to
be employed in the gates. In the case of houses in the Elizabethan, or in
the Gothic style, this would give rise to many rich and beautiful designs;
374 THE VILLA GARDENER.
221
222
O=O= =O=O)
1—º —1 ſ I l f A- I —L 1–3
very different, indeed, from those cast and wrought iron patterns manufac-
tured by wholesale, and set up without the slightest regard to the style of the
lodge or house to which they belong; but which, from their cheapness, are
now so very generally adopted by country gentlemen. The sight of these
gates, at the entrance to a place, forbids all idea of taste pervading the
interior of the grounds. The great point for an artist or an amateur to bear
in mind is, the difference between a gate which is merely to serve as the
moveable part of a fence, for the purpose of allowing persons and things to
pass from one side of the fence to the other, and a gate which is to serve as a
portal to a human residence. The humblest cottage, if this idea were borne
in mind, would be approached through a gate superior in style of design to
the gate or door into the adjoining field; while, at the same time, it would be
inferior to the gate of a farm-house. We shall now give two or three designs
for entrance lodges and gates, referring those of our readers who may wish to
know more on the subject to our Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa
Architecture, p. 997, to p. 1006. -
462. Parker's self-acting gate, jig. 223, opens apparently by its own volition,
223



ENTRANCE LODGE. 375
and closes again after the carriage has passed through, without any apparent
cause. The effect is produced by small plates let into the ground at short
distances from the gate, which when the carriage wheels roll over them
descend like a weighing-machine, and act upon certain levers concealed in a
trench underground. By means of these levers, a toothed wheel is made to
revolve, and to turn a toothed pinion affixed to the swinging post or axle of
the gate, and thus to throw it open or close it. Saul's Gate, fig. 224, is con-
1. 224
trived to enable the gate-keeper to open it without going out; and the use of
it is partly to enable old and infirm people to be appointed gate-keepers, as
an easy manner of providing for them; and partly to avoid the risk often
incurred by children who are sent to open gates, being knocked down or
injured by the horses, or the wheels of the carriages. In fig. 224, g repre-
sents a horizontal shaft placed in a tunnel made across the road directly under
the gate, working at one end on the heel of the hanging post by a pinion at
h, and the other by a bevelled pinion at i, on the upright shaft k. This shaft
Butrunce Lodge, a chequers, Buckinghamshire.


376 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
has a pinion which works into another at 1, on the axle of which is the winch
m, which is placed in a convenient situation inside the entrance lodge.
463. Entrance lodges.—Fig. 225, is a lodge in the old English manner,
designed by E. B. Lamb, Esq., and executed at Chequers, in Buckingham-
shire, the seat of Sir Robert Frankland Russell, Bart. The walls are com-
posed of stone and flints, both found on the spot, the materials being placed
alternately, so as to form a chequered surface, in allusion to the name of the
place. The roof is thatched with Kyanised straw.
226
ºmit
| ===
Fig. 226. is the elevation, and fig. 228, the plan, (both to a scale of 1-14th
of an inch to a foot,) of a Gothic entrance lodge of the smallest size, by
Edward Brigden, Esq., Architect, Bristol. The ground-plan
Aºs consists of a living-room (fig. 228, a), with a large recess (b)
next the road. The entrance is through the porch c, and d
is intended for a scullery; e shows a staircase leading to an
octagonal bedroom over the whole. “The most appropriate
material,” says Mr. Brigden, “for the walls of this cottage,
would be flint or ragstone; the latter laid in random courses,
and neatly tuck-pointed, has a very good effect. The dress-
ings might be of Yorkshire stone, or any other which would
harmonise with the colour of the wall. The same stone might
be used for the gate piers; or, if magnesian limestone could
be obtained in sufficiently large blocks, it would answer the
purpose well (it being properly polished). The form of
227 these piers may be as shown in fig. 227. The roof of the
lodge may be covered with slate, or with stone tiles. The
flues should be conveyed to the centre of the building; and the chimney stacks,
which are ornamental, may be of Austin's artificial stone.”
Fig. 229, is the elevation, and fig. 230, the ground plan, of an old English
cottage, formed of wooden framing, raised on a cyclopian substructure. This
cottage was designed by William Wells, Esq., and is erected on his estate at
Redleaf, in Kent. The cyclopian walls are “formed of irregular blocks of
sandstone, without the slightest indication of horizontal or vertical courses.
|


ENTRANCE LODGE. 37
7
The effect, as contrasted with
the numerous straight perpen-
dicular lines formed by the
studwork in the upper part of
the walls, and with the hori-
zontal lines of the roof, is ex-
ceedingly good. The studwork
is filled in with brickwork
plastered over; the smoothness
and finished appearance of
which, as contrasted with the
rudeness of the cyclopian part,
is forcible, and at the same
time pleasing. A great beauty
in this cottage results from the
horizontal division of the upper
part of the roof, which projects
slightly over the lower part. The chimney top is massive and original. The
whole was executed by local carpenters and masons, from the sketches of Mr.
Wells, out of the timber and stone produced by the estate. The plan (fig.230.)
shows a porch (a), kitchen (b), parlour (c), light closet (d), pantry (e), and a
staircase (f) to two good bed-rooms above, and to a cellar under the parlour


378
THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
below; also an open shed (g)
for fuel: ; is a water-closet for
men, and h one for women and
children.” The oven in the
kitchen is sufficiently large to
admit of its being heated with
faggots. The roof of the lodge
is covered with pantiles; but
in America, or any country
where wood is cheap,it is, from
its high pitch, particularly well
adapted for shingles. Where
stone is not plentiful, the lower
part of the walls may be of
brick or mud, on a foundation
of masonry.
Fig. 231. is a design for a
gate lodge in a simpler style,
but very well adapted for its
purpose.
Fig. 232, is a gate lodge in
the Swiss style, which, in a
*
º %
L_1_ _ !
hilly situation, backed by a hanging grove of larch trees, would have a
powerful and characteristic effect.
The following designs, in the Italian style, are from Hunt's Picturesque
-
|I.
º
H3].3H ||
- *Fºllº
| |
º
£ºrse-
232
º
|
º
|
T TL - Tº-
-E-fºr-º-T-2 I-
- ------>
- -






Extrancº Long E. 379
Domestic Architecture; a work
which displays great taste in
the elevations, but not suffi-
cient attention to comfort and
accommodation in the ground
plans. These we have altered
in the following figures, to
supply what we thought was
wanting in the originals.
Fig. 233.shows the plan and
elevation of what would form
a very handsome gate lodge,
and serve at the same time as
a gardener's house. The porch
is seen at b, c and e show an
open gallery or veranda, em-
bracing three sides of a school-
room, which is entered at d,
and adjoining which there is
the closet f: The kitchen and
back kitchen are in the centre
of the house, and require no
explanation; g and h are the
two principal bed-rooms; i is an open gallery; and k a water-closet.
Fig. 234, is a gate lodge, the upper part of which forms a prospect tower.
The gate and approach road are supposed to be on the right hand, and the
sleeping-rooms to be over the arch (under which there is a seat), and in the
lower tower. Such a lodge is perhaps suitable for an entrance gate on an
eminence, where it may be seen from a great part of the surrounding country.
Fig.236, p. 381, shows two entrance lodges, and the gates between, designed
by the late Sir J. Wyatville for the entrance from Edensor at Chatsworth.
464. The approach from the
lodge to the entrance front
should display the features of
the grounds through which it
passes, to the greatest advan-
tage; or, if there beno striking
feature worth looking at be-
tween the entrance and the
house, the road ought to pass
through a dense wood or a
grove. When it passes through
open park-like scenery, trees
should be sprinkled along it,
in such a manner as to form a
kind of running foreground,
both to what is before, and to
what is on each side; and Mr.
Glendinning has shown, in the
Gardener's Magazine, a mode
NT |
º | ºil. -
\\ ||º
-- Tº º








380 THE WILLA GARDENER.
of doing this, so as to produce variety, and yet to prevent variety from
degenerating into confusion, as is shown in fig. 235, with the list of trees
annexed.
51
53
52
54
1, Liriodéndron Tulipifera.
2, T. integrifolia.
3, T. flava.
4, Tília europaea pubéscens.
5, e. parvifolia.
6, e. airea.
7, e. Álba.
8, e. riibra.
9, e. platyphylla.
10, e: laciniata.
11, Negóndo fraxinifolium.
12, Pavia flava.
13, cárnea.
14, macrostachya.
15, discolor.
16, rübra.
17, Acer tatáricum.
18, O'pulus.
19, striatum.
20, platančides.
21, Pseudo-Plátanus.
22, macrophyllum.
23, rübrum.
24, eriocărpum.
25, monSpessulanum.
26, Spicatum.
27, platančides lacini-
atum.
28, Kölreuteria paniculata.
29, Ailántus glandulosa.
30, Gleditschia monospérma.
31, hdrrida.
32, U'imus rubra péndula.
33, Fägus Sylvática incisa.
34, S. ferruginea.
35, americana purpürea.
36, Quércus Süber.
37, gramūntia.
38, Tadzin.
39, coccinea.
40, 45'gilops.
41, Prinus.
42, Cérris.
43, C. exoničnsis nova.
44, Ballota.
45, Phéllos.
46, Liquidámbar Styracíflua.
47, Castānea vésca.
48, Plátanus orientalis.
49, or, cuneata.
50, Occidentalis.
51, Salisbüria adiantifolia.
52, 53, 54, three pines of sorts.
55, Cèdrus Libâni.

ENTRANCE LODGE. 381
236 º -
º ſº º º
º __ºt º -
- | - º - º º
lº ºlºlºlº.
- - -
- sº -
-
465. The first view of the entrance front should, in general, be at an oblique
angle, in order that two sides of the building may be seen at once; or, at all
events, that so much of two sides may be visible, as to make it evident that
the building is a solid mass, and not a mere screenwall. Where the approach
is a straight avenue, advancing to the entrance front at right angles with it,
a view showing two sides of the house cannot be obtained; and the building
must in that case depend, for the effect it produces, on the height or breadth
of its elevation, and on the circumstance of its being with or without open
porticoes, projecting towers, or wings. There is no fixed distance, at which
it is more desirable than at any other, to see the entrance front; but there is
one fixed circumstance which especially requires the attention of the artistin
laying out and planting the approach. This is, that the first view of the
entrance front of the house which is obtained within the grounds ought to
show it as the leading feature of the landscape, and to be, in fact, the best
view of the entrance front that can be anywhere obtained. Before entering
the lodge gates, if the house be seen at all, it has no right to appear other-
wise than as a feature among other features of the general scenery of the
country; but, within the lodge, the house is the main object of attraction, to
which everything else ought to be kept subordinate.
466. In situations near the sea it is necessary to plantathick belt, to shelter the
gardens from the effects of the sea-breeze; as on the east coast of both England
and Scotland the trees are frequently cut in a sloping direction, as shown in
fig. 237. The trees that stand best in these situations are the beech, and the
pinaster, and the shrubs that bear the sea best are the privet and the tamarisk.
Nº. --- 237
467. The view from the drawing-room window.—Having entered the house,
and been shown into the drawing-room, the greatest impression made on
the stranger ought to be by the view which he sees from its windows. This
should be the most striking and the most beautiful view or prospect which the
place affords. In order to be striking, it ought, if possible, to be considerably


38.2
THE Wri,I,
A GARDENER.
：
·
·

VIEW FROM THE LAWN. 383
different from any views obtained between the lodge and the entrance front.
The beauty which it exhibits may be of different kinds: it may be grand from
the extent of prospect; bold and abrupt from the strong contrast and irre-
gularity of its outlines; or it may be simply beautiful as a home view, from
the undulations of its surface, the smoothness of its green turf, and the
luxuriance of its trees, shrubs, and flowers. One of the most common modes
of producing a striking view from the drawing-room windows of a house in a
flat country is, by having the living-room floor of the house on a level of
10 or 12 feet above the natural surface of the ground; and by ascending to
this level on the entrance front, not rapidly by a ramp or by steps, but
gradually and insensibly by artificially raising the general surface, so as to
give the house, on the entrance front, the appearance of standing on a natural
knoll; and to prevent the stranger from suspecting that the ground on the
lawn front is not on the same level as that on the entrance front. When he
reaches the drawing-room, therefore, and looks down on the lawn, the effect
of the scenery is greatly heightened by the commanding situation in which
he finds himself so unexpectedly placed.
468. The lawn.—As circumstances which seldom fail of producing beauty
in the view, we may mention extreme smoothness and high polish in the
lawn, the branches of the trees and shrubs being allowed to recline on the
ground, which shows that no cattle are introduced there; extent in every
direction, but more particularly in the front, which prevents the idea
occurring of confinement and limited property; irregularity in the boundary
to the lawn, produced by scattered trees and bushes, creating variety and
intricacy, which detain the eye and excite the imagination; and an architec-
tural foreground, immediately below the windows of the house, which serves
to connect and harmonise it with the grounds. We do not here mention the
flower-garden, which is often placed on the lawn front of the house, because
it may be sometimes desirable to have one in that situation and sometimes
not; but the above requisites can seldom be dispensed with. One of the
most common faults in the view from the drawing-room front of the house is,
want of breadth in the foreground, (see fig. 238.) This commonly arises from
too many objects being placed there; from these being too uniformly dis-
tributed over the whole; or from a clump, a walk, a pond, a tree, or some
other object being placed exactly in the middle. A second fault, very
commonly met with is, want of proportion between the foreground and the
distance. Perhaps the foreground may be covered immediately in front of
the windows with beds of flowers or of shrubs, which may occupy too large a
space, or which may have grown so high as to shut out great part of the
middle distance; or, in contradistinction to this, there may be no effective
object in the foreground at all, when of course it will be overwhelmed by the
large proportion of the view occupied by the distant scenery.
By effective object we mean the architectural appendages of the house,
flower-beds, shrubs, or any other objects which rise up from the surface, and
produce shade; which, as every one who has ever drawn a landscape on
paper knows, is essentially necessary to a foreground; and hence, when
artists have nothing in nature which they can copy into the foreground, they
introduce the shadows of supposed clouds, or other objects, or human figures
or animals, as in the view shown in fig. 239. : which view, without the horse-
men and their dogs, would be nothing; while with them it is an absurdity,
384
THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
ºsmoſi wopºſ quae /o / wo， w mot øſt wou/moſae
on which the horsemen are, is that on the
-
as the walk in the foreground
lawn front of Wimbledon House, and is never used but for foot-passengers.


-IEW Fºo M THE LAWN. 385
Fiew from the Entrance Portico of Kenwood.
In fig. 240, which is a view from the entrance portico of the mansion at
Kenwood, by E. B. Lamb, Esq., the figure is introduced with more pro-

2 c
386 THE WILLA GARDENER.
priety; as it is in the proper walk, and does not attract too much attention
from the noble oak-trees in the back ground.
A third fault, and one almost as common as the two that have been
mentioned, is, want of harmony between the foreground and the distant
scenery; not in point of extent, but in point of style, or of ornament. Thus
we sometimes find an extensive lawn in the front of the house, which is con-
tinued in the same style of smoothness and high keeping till it terminates
abruptly on a common, or in the hedgerow of a corn-field, or an extensive
wood, or some other uniform surface or mass of similar or greater extent than
itself. Perhaps the most common of all faults in the views from a country
residence, next to want of breadth in the foreground, is, the monotony or
deformity of the lines and shapes produced by hedgerows and plantations in
the middle or third distance. When these faults are in the grounds of an
adjoining proprietor, they of course may be considered as beyond the reach
of correction; but in this case they are frequently at such a distance from
the eye as to be inconspicuous, or to admit of being somewhat disguised by a
few trees in the foreground. There are certain faults of this kind peculiar to
every style of country. In some parts of Middlesex we have a monotony of
hedges and pollard trees, with a total absence of ploughed fields. In some
parts of Kent we have ploughed fields, with a total absence of pasture; and,
in many parts of the lowlands of Scotland, we have the beautiful slopes of the
hills cut across by stone walls, hedges, or belts of plantation, thus abruptly
separating the arable plains from the hill pasture. To overcome or to miti-
gate difficulties of this kind, is one of the most common purposes for which a
landscape-gardener is employed; and, as our friend Mr. Nesfield particularly
excels in this department of his profession, we shall, with his permission,
give an example which recently occurred in his practice.
Fig. 241. shows the outline of a range of distant scenery, from the drawing-
room front of a suburban residence near Stafford. On the hill which
forms the distance, there is a long belt or plantation, running most offensively
parallel to its ridge; and swelled out in the middle, so as to form a clump-
like protuberance there. This clump was made to conceal a high broken
bank of rock, which was considered by the planter, or his employer, as an
object that ought to be shut out; probably, because it was neither productive
of grass or trees: for persons who have no idea of the enjoyments of taste,
can see no beauty in anything that is not applicable to common purposes of
utility. This plantation is shown surrounded by a thorn hedge, which,
having been long left uncut, has attained a great height, and thereby renders
the outline of the plantations as conspicuous and hard as possible. The
outline at p indicates the slope of the hill descending from the back of the
belt; and the line at w shows a portion of a more distant ridge, which, it is
proposed, partially to plant; in order, by the contrast of the trees with the
line of the unplanted ground at p, to render the ridge more conspicuous to
the eye. By planting this distant ridge, a mass will be produced, which will
appear to retire behind the belt, and thus increase the perspective effect, and
raise in the imagination the idea of this plantation extending beyond the
other, and even down the other side of the ridge. At y are high and very
conspicuous thorn hedges. At z z are single thorn trees, which were part of
some hedge-row lines that marked the outlines of former fields; which, by
taking out some, and adding others, may be thrown into ornamental groups.
Đ
Wººi
º
g ſº •
§§§ §§§ §§§ §§
º £ºš
º N. º
ºfºº
º
." ºš
y
º yº RS
§
sº
º Fº:
§§§
sº§§§ º
Uſ)
c)
Er
*.
tr;
Stafford. :
NO p, Slope of hill, descending from the back of the belt. w, Portion of a more distant ridge. ty y, Thorn hedges. z z, Single thorn trees, 2:
o ;
bº ºd
Ç UAE)
§3 & - & º s:
§§§2. El
º º - 5
***- §
§
Same View as proposed to be altered.
a, Steep rocky bank. b, Patches of furze. c, Conical hill, rising in front of the more distant ridge d.
š


















388 THE WILLA GARDENER.
Fig. 242. shows the same view as proposed to be altered. In this view,
a shows the steep rocky bank as it will appear when the trees are cut away;
b, patches of furze, left for the encouragement of game, at the request of the
proprietor; c, a conical hill rising in front of the more distant ridge d. As
in this scene, as it actually exists, there are numerous trees of transplantable
size, of thorns, horsechestnuts, limes, elms, and sycamores, all very favour-
ably circumstanced for removal, most of the additional outstanding trees in
groups, shown in fig. 241., may be transplanted from one part of the grounds
to another, so as to produce immediate effect at comparatively little expense.
469. The Connewion of the House with the Grounds.--It is allowed by all
authors who have written on landscape-gardening, since the days of Uvedale
Price, that the want of artistical connexion between the house and the grounds
is the most glaring defect in English country residences. Houses are very
generally seen rising abruptly from a surface of naked gravel or turf, or par-
tially disguised by a few trees or shrubs, accompanied perhaps on the lawn
front by some flower-beds. The offices at one end of the house, and the
green-house or some other projection at the other, are commonly half or
entirely hidden by masses of plantation, so that nothing is seen of the main
body of the edifice but the two fronts; and even these have their architec-
tural effect often greatly injured by single trees immediately before them.
The principal circumstance which has led to the want of connexion between
the house and grounds in English residences is, the sudden and inconsiderate
revolution introduced by the modern system of landscape-gardening; by
which all the ancient terraces and mural barriers were indiscriminately swept
away, in order to give place to the characteristic features of the new style,
viz., the undulating surface, and apparently unlimited extent of smooth lawn,
the winding approach-road, and the hall haſ ditch, or the invisible wire
railing, which separates the lawn from the park. The powerful influence
of novelty rendered this arrangement satisfactory at the time; but, after
a certain period had elapsed, the incongruity of so much art being found in
juxta-position with what was avowedly simple nature, was felt to be absurd.
Attempts were now made to connect the house with the grounds by means
of trees, partly scattered round it, close up to the doors and windows, and
partly in masses of close plantation. In the course of twenty years, the trees
and shrubs having grown up, this also was found an unsatisfactory mode; the
trees obstructing the views of the surrounding landscape from the house, and
of the house from the surrounding landscape; and, besides, rendering the
house gloomy and damp within. It was now felt that it was not only neces-
sary to connect the house with the grounds, but to connect it in a harmonious
manner; and, instead of bringing the two extremes of highly refined archi-
tecture and simple nature in immediate contact, by planting trees close to
the house, it was thought advisable to introduce, as a medium between the
trees and the architecture, certain architectural appendages, either useful or
ornamental; and gradually to unite these with the woody scenery of the
place. The most general appendage of this sort, and one which is applicable
to the smallest houses as well as the largest, and which, in our opinion,
scarcely any country house ought to be without, is a plinth round the outside
wall, from which the walls of the house should appear to rise. This plinth,
on the smallest and simplest scale, may be from 1 ft. to 2 ft. high, projecting
from 2 in. to 4 in., and be continued round the house: beyond this there may
CONNECTION BETWEEN THE HOLSE AND GROUNDS. 389
be a platform 6 or 8 feet wide of gravel, from 18 in. to 2 ft. higher than the
surrounding surface, and bounded by a slope of turf at an angle of 45°.
Opposite the entrance-door, this platform may be ascended to by three stone
or brick steps, in the slope; and there may be similar steps descending to the
lawn on the pleasure-ground front. In the case of houses on a larger scale,
the platform may be much wider; and, instead of being laid with gravel, it
may be paved with flagstones; for the slope covered with turf, a low wall
may be substituted surrounded by a balustrade or other ornamental open-
work. The flight of steps may also have side or spandril walls, appropriately
finished and decorated. In the case of some houses, in particular situations,
there may be a second terrace or platform exterior to the first, on a lower
level, and considerably broader. The walk on this second platform may be
of gravel, and there may be a strip of turf between it and the first platform,
which may be ornamented with shrubs or flowers, or it may be without these,
according to circumstances. On the outside of the gravel walk, the lawn
may extend indefinitely, and may either terminate in an architectural boun-
dary at a few yards' distance, or it may extend to an haſ ha! or to a wire
fence, the situation of which is not observable from the house. In short,
while the first platform is in width, and character chiefly influenced by the
magnitude and style of the house, the outer or lower one ought to be jointly
influenced by the style of the house, and the natural character of the surface
of the ground. Where the character of the surface is at all marked by bold
undulations, steep slopes, or abrupt transitions, these features ought to
influence the lower platform more than the character of the mansion; but, on
the contrary, where the grounds are comparatively flat, then the character
of the outer or lower platform should partake of that feature in the scenery
which is the most conspicuous, and which of course will be the house. Plat-
forms or terraces, therefore, may be said to form the groundwork of the
appendages to a house in the country. The appendages themselves are
various, as, independently of the offices, which, we contend, ought to be only
partially and not wholly concealed, there are the green-houses or conserva-
tories, architectural seats or loggias, covered or open; seats arranged so as
to be covered from the rain, fig. 243; con- -
necting verandas, sun-dials, vases for flow-
ers, basins for fountains, architectural
baskets, and other mural compartments for
plants or flowers; and various other similar
objects. In the management of these ap-
pendages, an artist, without some invention
and good taste, will be greatly at a loss;
and therefore the proprietor of a house
already built, who wishes to harmonise it with the grounds, should consider
well on whose advice he acts. A mere architect is no more competent to
advise in such a case, than a mere gardener or a mere landscape-painter.
It must be a person who has directed particular attention to the subject, and
who unites the knowledge of the architect, as far at least as the exterior of
the buildings is concerned, with that knowledge of composition of general
scenery which is necessarily possessed by the landscape-painter, and a con-
siderable share of that knowledge of cultivation which is essential to the
gardener. -

390 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
470. Grottos and º, sº a
Moss-houses are very $º rº º: & º
agreeable additions º £º 24
to pleasure-ground º: º sº
scenery in a large
place; but they re-
quire to be managed
with skill to produce
a good effect. When
it is practicable a
preparation should
be made for a grotto
by psssing through
rocky scenery, and
gradually descend-
ing, till the pathbe-
comes a mere passage between rocks, and these rocks appear to form them-
selves into the entrance to the grotto. As this plan, however, is not only
very expensive, but requires considerable space, in most cases it is judged
sufficient to have merely a
kind of summer-house, like
that shown in fig. 244., to
mark the entrance; or an
outway as shown in fig.
245, to lead to it.
471. Moss-houses are
built with a framework of
wood, as shown in fig. 246.,
which is the ground plan of
a moss-house, designed and
executed by Mr. Toward,
in the flower-garden of
Her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Gloucester, at
Bagshot-park. The form is
an irregular heptagon (fig.
247.), with a Gothic portico
in front, supported on rustic
pillars. The ceiling of the
portico is inlaid with moss of various colours, representing a star and
diamonds, as shown in fig. 248, with a cornice of pinaster cones. The floor
under the portico is a copy of the ceiling in different coloured elliptical-
shaped stones of a small size. On each side of the doorway are panels
formed in the rustic style with different coloured woods. The entrance into
the house is Gothic; opposite to which are two Gothic windows, with stained
glass of various colours; under these are four square panels, with a large
diamond in the centre of each, all formed with moss. Along the sides,
between the doorway and the windows, are seats (fig. 246, a) made of stained
cherry-tree: above these is a skirting of rustic wood 18 in deep (see 1 infg.
249.), the surbase of which projects about three-eighths of an inch beyond the



MOSS-HOUSES.
391
É
*
º
AE
&
à
(
(
W
\
Q
\\
C
É
à
- O
** 11.1.1 malai Lill
+
2
5.
ft
.;
Ç). Ö
Ground plan of the moss-house and portico: a a, the seats.
Q
moss, to prevent the back from brushing against it. Each side above the skirt-
ing is divided into four square panels (see fig. 249.), and these into a succes-
sion of squares (k). On the right and left of the Gothic entrance is an oblong
panel, with between twenty and thirty of the most common species of moss
arranged in horizontal stripes.
In the spangles over the doorway, are
upwards of sixty species of moss and lichens, such as are too diminutive in
growth to be incorporated into the body of the work. The whole of the
above have been collected in and about this neighbourhood. Over the seats
and windows are three horizontal pieces, on a level with the ceiling of the
portico, with various devices. (fig. 250. C, D, and E.) These pieces serve as
a kind of plancier to the inner roof, which is a common span, with a gable
end over the entrance, on which is represented the elevation of the building.


392 THE WILLA GARDENER.

247
H
12 O f 2 3 4. S
t?! -1-1-1–1 | l— t |- ft.
Section of the moss-house from front to back, showing the interior and exterior roofs.
The opposite end is hipped in, and has the figure of the English crown. The
whole of this design is executed in party-coloured moss. The ceiling of the

__2^
uſ—’ iſ)
248
;43. I 9 1 2 3 A. £re -
Section of the moss-house from right to left, showing the seats and the inner and the outer roof,
with gutters, &c.
span part of the roof is inlaid with light-coloured mosses, in the form of
diamonds.
All the styles, rails, and munnions of the panels are formed with Cenómyce
MOSS-HOUSES, 393.
rangiferina (or reindeer lichen), which grows in great abundance on Bagshot
Heath. The ridge of the outer roof is about 4 ft. in length, with six hips
and projecting eaves; the plancier is of rough bark, and the fascia of pinaster
cones, within which is a gutter to carry the water to the back part of the
building.
It may be remarked, that, had the whole structure been one foot higher, it
would have appeared to much greater advantage : the walls are barely 7 ft.,
and they ought to have been nearly 8 ft. in height.
Fig. 251. is an elevation of the moss-house, showing the situation of the
window, the seats, the outer cornice of pine cones, floor of the portico, &c.,
mentioned above.
Fig. 246. shows the ground plan of the moss-house and portico; a a are
the seats.
Fig. 247. is a section of the moss-house from front to back, showing the
interior and exterior roofs. &
Fig. 248. is a section of the moss-house from right to left, showing the seats,
and the inner and the outer roof, with gutters, &c.
Fig. 249. is a sketch of one of the sides. In this figure, k shows the dis-
position of the rods
before the moss is - - -
introduced between -
them; ois Cenómyce ** *-re
rangiferina; p, Hyp- E.
num Schréberi; q is 249 f
Dícranum glaſſicum; Q.
+, Bryum hôrnum; &
s, S phagnum acuti-
fölium, pink var. ; t,
S, obtusifolium; and
w, Bryum cuspidā- E.
tum. / is the rustic
skirting above the
seat; m, the seat; O
and n, the rustic-
work under the seat.
Fig. 250. is a plan, I
of the ceiling to the - f
portico, and of the
horizontal part of the #–
ceiling of the inte-
rior. In this figure,
c D and E are the 72
horizontal panels in
the ceiling of the in-
terior, over the seats.
The patterns in these ºn 3,...}, , , , .9 f 3 £f.
panels are formed by
round rods, as above described, between which are introduced the following
kinds of moss:—a, Bryum hárnum; b, Cenémyce rangiferina; c, Sphâgnum
acutifolium, pink var.; d, Sphâgnum obtusifolium; e, Dicranum glaſſicum ;

O k
394 THE VILLA GARDENER.
6
(G)|2: AST|GX\ aw
NºNº
Nº. V ić......? f ? à
O O
f, Bryum cuspidatum; g, Hypnum squarrösum; h, Dicranum scopärium.
The same fetters refer to the ceiling of the portico.
The following is the method in which the work is performed. The first
thing necessary, before commencing operations, is to have an even close-
boarded surface to work upon; and upon this ground draw whatever figures,
forms, or devices you intend to represent. The next thing is to get round
rods, about half an inch or five-eighths of an inch in diameter, nearly of
equal size, and well seasoned. These rods are to be nailed on agreeably to
the drawing, about an inch from centre to centre, this being the average
space, though it is necessary to regulate the distance, in some measure, ac-
cording to the space allotted for each sort of moss. Each species should
be collected separately, when perfectly dry. It must be adjusted by placing
the top of each piece as evenly as possible, and cutting off a part of the root
end, if it should be found too long. Take a small quantity at a time, and
ram it in between the rods with a blunt wedge-shaped piece of wood. The


MOSS-HOUSES. 395
-
|
rods act as a dovetail; and, if the moss be properly rammed in, it cannot be
pulled out again without tearing it to pieces. The bottom part being com-
pressed between the rods, the top expands, and so completely covers the rods
that not a vestige of them is to be seen in the whole building. Its evenness
of surface, closeness of texture, and variety of colour, give moss thus
arranged an appearance not unlike that of a Turkey carpet. The most com-
mon species of moss adapted for the purpose are, Cenómyce rangiferina, the
pure white of which contrasts well with that of most of the other sorts; Di-
cranum glaſicum, whitish green, and Bryum hºrnum, yellowish green, these
are two of the best, and quite distinct in colour; Sphagnum acutifolium, the
pink variety, and S. obtusifolium, yellowish white, form a striking contrast
with the greater part of the others; Bryum ròseum, pink, B. cuspidatum,
light green, Dicranum scoparium, deep green, Hypnum Schréberi, reddish,
H. squarrösum, bright green, are all good; and H. loreum, bright green, H.
triquetrum, yellow-green, H. (Léskea) dendróides, yellowish green, and some
others, serve to make a variety.
Fig. 252. shows another mode of arranging the side panels, without moss,
and solely placing hazel rods. Fig. 253, shows the ground plan of a rustic
summer-house, which may be built either with or without moss; the elevation
of which is shown in fig. 254. The ground plan of this rustic structure has
nine equal sides, with a portico all round, supported on nine pillars, each of
a young fir-tree, 1 ft. in diameter, with capitals 1 ft. 2 in square, formed of
square boards 4 in thick. On these caps rest four courses of rustic planks,
with the bark on each, 6 in thick, and perfectly horizontal, which connect
the whole of the columns, and support the rafters of the projecting roof,
which may beformed of heath or reeds, or of larch, birch, or oak bark. The
floor on which the columns are placed is raised on a base 1 ft. high, and sur-
rounded by a gravel walk. The position and form of the seat, which is made

396
THE WHILA GARDENIER,
252.
№j
$
�
\; ;
; ;
Sº; ;
\&\;; ;
VZ&S）; ;
0
§
» å
! 4
}
]}}?
@>
№·
<SS
pebbles, bricks of different colours, or with broken bottles,
253
of well-seasoned wood, are shown at a in fig. 253. The floor of the cell may
be laid with flints,
ft.
10
\
0
tºmsk-1-1-1-1-
, £2 6












Moss-HOUSEs. 397
254
- - J
-
º º -1.
S- --- |
- mill -
-
---- |
- - -
--~~ -
*- -
-
º
with their bottoms upwards, and filled-in with Roman cement and sea-shells.
The floor of the portico may be paved in any fanciful manner, with bricks,
or with small stones of various colours, from the nearest convenient locality,
or from the sea-beach. The rafters are 4 in. broad, and 5 in. deep; and, to
secure them from wet, they may be first covered with a layer of slates, and
above that with a coat of heath or of reeds, 9 in. thick. If heath or reeds
cannot be conveniently procured, chips of wood, or of birch or hazel spray,
may be used; and covered, or not, according to the taste of the party, with
plates of larch, birch, or oak bark, laid in the manner of slates, with the outer
surface upwards. If bark is not used as an outer covering, the materials may
be Kyanised. The wall of the cell is 9 in thick, and consists of nine upright
posts, on the inside of which are nailed horizontally (the upper edge standing
out about 1 in from the post) fillets of wood in square, and 1 in apart.
In the interstices between the strips, moss is rammed in with a wedge-shaped
piece of wood. The ceiling is formed in the same manner, except that in the
centre there is a polygonal star, formed by moss of a different colour. On
the supposition that the general surface is clothed by the common ground
moss, the star may be formed of the same moss, dyed by steeping it in a


398 THE WILLA GARDENER.
decoction of logwood; or of the white moss found on trees. The cornice in
the inside is made of the cones of the common Scotch pine, or of the pinaster;
three rows being laid horizontally, and one row projecting a little outward.
The door is made of rustic work, and has the two upper panels filled in with
latticework and stained glass, as are the two other windows in the side walls,
shown in the plan. The seat is formed of different kinds of wood with the
bark taken off, as shown in the plan. The best kinds of wood to use for the
columns, and the horizontal planks over them which form the frieze, are


RUSTIC WORK- 399
spruce, fir, and larch; because these retain their bark alonger time without
its decaying, than any other common British wood. If these kinds cannot be
procured, then it is better to remove the bark. Structures of this kind are
not uncommon in pleasure-grounds: that now described was erected, some
years ago, at Murtle, in Aberdeenshire, by Mr. James Alexander, then gar-
dener there. The cost is chiefly labour, the whole timber and other materials
not exceeding in value 5l. For other moss-houses, see figs. 123. and 124., in
p. 214 and p. 215.
472. Rustic Work may often be introduced with very good effect in park
scenery. A rustic gate and railing (see fig. 255), may be used to form a
*-
II.
boundary between the park and the pleasure-grounds; and a rustic bridge
(fig. 257), somewhat decorated, may form the connecting link between the
dressed ground and the wild scenery.
A bridge of this kind, which is of very
simple construction, though very orna-
mental, has the advantage of being very
easily constructed, by any village car-
penter, of materials which are found in
abundance in every large park. A rustic
table may beformed by cutting off the
head of a tree, and fixing the trunk in
the ground (unless the tree were low
enough for it to be left growing), with a



400 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
-º---
º -
| º
--- * º
ºs- - *-
*º-º-º-º-ºs------
-
round piece of wood for the table, as shown in fig. 258; or by fixing a
number of hazel rods together, as shown in figs. 259, and 260. Rustic seats
may be made either of
rough branches, mailed or
tied together, as shown in
fig. 261.; or with a thatched
roof, as shown in fig. 262.;
or of hazel rods, neatly fast-
ened together, and formed
into an elegantly shaped
chair (see fig. 263.). Rustic
stools may be made as
shown in fig. 264. ; and
rustic flower-stands as
shown in fig. 265.
473. Fountains are uni-
versally acknowledged to
be great ornaments to gar-
dens; chiefly perhaps from
the appearance of life and
motion which they com-
municate to the surrounding
scenery. Many persons are
deterred from indulging in
jets-d'eau, or in some other
description of fountain, from
an idea that they cannot
262
be obtained without great expense, and without an immense supply of water;
but the height to which a jet will rise does not depend on the quantity of



FOUNTALNs. 401
water in the reservoir, but on its height above the 265
surface from which the jet rises; and, when it is con-
sidered that no fountain need be allowed to act in the
night-time, or even in the day at certain seasons of the
year, the quantity of water that will require to be
raised to the reservoir is much less than at first sight
will appear necessary. The greater number of foun-
tains in suburban gardens are indeed only played off
when visitors are present; and this can be effected
with a very moderate-sized reservoir, and with no
more use of the forcing-pump than may be necessary
to fill up the leisure time of a house servant, or a
gardener's labourer. Though no person will undertake to erect a fountain
without employing an engineer, or a plumber who possesses skill and
experience in this branch of hydraulics; yet it may be useful to state a
few particulars, with a view of enabling the proprietor of a suburban
residence to judge how far a fountain may be practicable in his case; and
to form some notion as to whether the person whom he intends employing
to erect it, has a competent knowledge of the subject. Wherever a fountain
is forced, the jet may be made to rise nearly as high as the reservoir. If
the reservoir be 5 ft. 1 in above the level of the surface from which the
jet-d'eau is to ascend, the jet will rise 5 ft. If the reservoir should be 10 ft.
4 in. high, then the jet will rise 10 ft.; and if it be 51 ft. 9 in high, it will
rise 45 ft. In order to procure a jet of 100 ft. in height, it is necessary
that the reservoir be 133 ft. 4 in high. Now the jets will rise at this
rate relatively to the reservoir, whether the latter contains only one cubic
yard of water, or 10,000 cubic yards; all the difference being, that in the
former case the jet would not last longer than a minute or two, because the
cubic yard of water would be immediately exhausted, while in the latter it
would last several days. The next point which a person about to erect a
fountain would desire to know is, the diameter of the pipe which is to convey
the water from the reservoir to the jet. Now this diameter may be as large
or as small as the party chooses: it may be a foot in diameter, or it may be
only an inch; but, whatever its diameter may be, this condition is essentially
necessary, viz., that the orifice from which the jet issues shall be small as
compared with the diameter of the supply pipe, in proportion as the jet is to
rise high. If the jet is to rise to a maximum of height, that is, as nearly as
the nature of things will admit, to the height of the reservoir, then the orifice
must not exceed a fourth part in diameter of the orifice of the conducting
pipe. If, instead of a fourth part, the orifice were made of the entire width
of the conducting pipe, the water would hardly rise above the surface; and
this, which is very remarkable, would be the case, whether the reservoir were
10 ft. or 100 ft. high. Thus, when the reservoir is 10 ft. 4 in, high, the height
to which it is wished to have the jet to rise is 10 ft., and the diameter of the
pipe which conveys the water to it from the reservoir is 24 in., then the
diameter of the orifice must not be larger than 4 in. The following Tables
contain useful data on this subject. The first is taken from Switzer's Intro-
duction to a General System of Hydrostatics, &c., vol. ii., p. 126.; and the
second from the excellent article on Hydraulics in the Encyclopædia Britan-
nica, seventh edition, already referred to.
-
º
|
|
|







2 p.
402 THE WILLA GARDENER,

Height of the Diameter of Thickness of Diameters of Height the Water
Reservoir. the Pipes. the Metal. the Orifices. will rise to.
Feet Inches. | Inches. Lines. Lines. Lines. Parts. Feet. Inches.
100 0 7 0 15%. 16 12 15 80 0
86 4 6 0 14 0 12 14 70 O
72 0 5% 0 12 13 10 12 60 O
58 4 5 O 9 9 8 10 50 O
45 4 4} 0 7# 8 7 8 40 0
33 0 3 O 6# 7 7 0 30 O
21 4 2} 0 # 6 6% 0 20 0
15 9 2} 0 4 5 6 0 15 0
10 4 0 25 3} 4 5 0 10 0
5 1 0 22 3 3% 4 0 5 0
Quantity of Water | Diameters of the Thickness
º e discharged in a horizontal Tubes -
Altitude of Altitude of sº re - required for the
the Jet. the R. ir. minute from an suited to the two Metal of th
€ J 6. * “ lººſ jºg | Pº.
Feet. Feet. Inches. Quarts. Lines. Lines.
5 5 1 32 21 1;
10 10 4 45 26 1;
15 15 9 56 28 2
20 21 4 65 31 24
30 33 0 81 34 3
50 58 4 108 39 4
7 86 4 131 43 5
100 133 4 163 49 6

474. The pipes that convey the water from the reservoir to the jet should be
laid, as nearly as possible, in a straight direction; and that part which is under
ground should be sufficiently deep to be out of the reach of frost, and of one
uniform slope from the reservoir to the jet. In proportion as the direction of
the supply pipe is circuitous, and the level irregular, will the friction of the
water be increased when in motion, and consequently the power of the jet
diminished. There are two other evils which result from not laying the pipes
on a uniform slope: viz., that air will collect in all the higher parts of the
pipe, and mud in all the lower parts; so that, for each deviation, upwards from
the uniform slope, it is essentially necessary to have a small pipe with a cock to
permit the escape of the air from time to time; and in the lowest part of every
deviation from the uniform slope downwards, a pipe is also necessary with a
cock to admit of occasionally, say once a year, washing out the mud. Few
persons are aware how very soon air collects in water pipes; or how much
sediment is deposited by even the purest water; which sediment is generally
difficult to remove, in proportion to its fineness. We have known fountains
that in a very few months after they were put up have ceased to act, owing
solely to the accumulation of air in their pipes; and in other places, where
old fountains, after having played for many years, have ceased to act, the
cause is to be found in the accumulation of air and sediment. Much more
FOUNTAINS. 403
might be said on this subject, as a matter of science, but we trust enough has
been advanced to show the necessity of employing a competent person, when-
ever it is desired to erect a fountain.
475. Fountains, as matters of taste, like every other object by which the
fancy is called into exercise, admit of a great variety of designs. Our guide
in the choice of these must be principally the character of the scenery in
which the fountain is to be placed. In a Dutch, French, or other architectural
garden, we see no objection to figures of animals spouting water (see figs. 266.,
267), to that of a nymph wringing her robe (fig. 269.), or her hair (fig.270.);
or to Caus's very elegant design (fig. 27.1.). In an English garden, however,
where the scenery around is not so decidedly artificial, a simple jet from a rock,
or a group of shells, as in the wood at White Knights (see fig. 272.); or from
the centre of a basin, as at St. Cloud (fig. 273.); or in the design by W. Mason,
Esq. (fig. 27.1.). In this last design, the tube from which the jet issues is to


404 THE VILIA GARDEN.E.R.
be considered as proceeding - 270
from a mass of rock, just seen --
above the water. Fig. 274 is a
view of a piece of rock and shell-
work, with fountains, which may
suit a grotto; fig. 275, repre-
sents a globe; and figs. 276, and
277, are fountains combined with
rock-work. These kinds of foun-
tain and their accompaniments
have no pretensions to be con-
sidered as artistical; but we have
given the designs, as they may
suit various situations where eco-
nomy is an object, and where an
amateur would find pleasure in
erecting a fountain for himself,
with only the assistance of his
gardener. There are various
kinds of architectural fountains
which are, also, from their sim-
plicity, suitable for pleasure-
ground scenery in the modern
style; such as candelabra, tri-
pods, columns, vases, &c. Some-
times, also, instead of a jet, the
character of the scene in which
the fountain is to be placed may
render a drooping, or cascade, fountain more appropriate; for, by this descrip-
tion of fountain, grandeur of effect can be produced with a much smaller
quantity of water, and with much less height of reservoir, than in the case
of upright jets. Most of the artificial-stone manufacturers and plumbers
have a great variety of designs for fountains; and the hydraulic ram may
be obtained from Messrs. Bramah, Piccadilly, or a common forcing-pump
may be used.
476. Flower-gardens differ from those beds of flowers which are often scat-
tered on the lawn, in front of a house (so as to constitute a foreground to the
distant scenery), by forming a whole of themselves. For this purpose, a
flower-garden is, or should be, always surrounded by some sort of boundary,
or inclosure, to separate it from the general scenery of the place to which it
belongs. This boundary may be variously formed: it may be a border of
shrubs; a fence of trelliswork, either as an espalier or as an arcade; a
conservative wall; a walk covered with trelliswork; a clipped hedge of some
kind of evergreen, or an unclipped hedge of various shrubs. Whatever kind
of boundary is adopted, it is essentially necessary that it should not be so high
as to exclude the sun from the area of the garden, or to prevent the free
circulation of air round the plants. What the suitable height of the boundary
fence may be, to insure the admission of sun and air, depends on the extent
of the garden, the elevation or depression of its surface, and its aspect; and, if
it be of any other form than a circle or a square, whether its longest diameter

FOUNTAINs.

406 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
is in the direction of east and west, or of north and south. A case can hardly
occur in which a flower-garden should be surrounded by trees: though, in
very exposed places, these may be introduced on the north, north-east, and
north-west sides; but this should be at the distance of at least three times
their height from the boundary fence of the garden. Nothing contributes
more to the beauty of flowers than abundance of solar light, and the free
circulation round them of air. Even if trees are planted only on the north
side, but so near as to exclude the free action of reflected light from that side,
the flowers will be weak and drawn towards the sun. All near fences have a
tendency to produce this kind of etiolation, as any one may observe in the
case of plants growing on the south-side of a common hedge; and this etio-
lation is directly the reverse of that bushy, tufted, or spreading appearance,
which always accompanies vigorous growth in open airy situations. The
outline of the flower-garden should always be such, as that on the first view
of the interior some general form may be recognised in the area; for example,
it may approach to a circle, to a broad or narrow oval, to a square, to a
parallelogram, or to a triangle. A long narrow strip, either crooked or
straight, would not be satisfactory to the eye; nor would a space, broad in
some places and narrow in others, here straight and there crooked, afford the
spectator half so great a degree of satisfaction, as he would experience if he
recognised some known and definite figure. Whether the boundary line be
regular or irregular is a matter of no consequence, with reference to this end;

FouxTAINs.
407
273
Jº
º
--~~~~
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º
27
|
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º
Yº
|-|--
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- - .
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provided there be ample length and breadth included by the outline, to throw
the interior into some definite shape, when seen in perspective.
477. In some cases a number of flower-gardens, &c., are thrown together, as
in the pleasure-grounds at Bagshot Park, as shown in fig. 278.; the pleasure-
grounds are entered by a close rustic gate at a, through the arbour trellis






408
THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
walk b, which leads to
the rosery at c, consist-
ing of groups of dwarf
roses in mosses or turf.
A garden of showy her-
baceous plants, in beds
edged with box, on gra-
vel, is shown at d. There
is a collection of standard
rose-trees at e, the trees
being planted singly on
turf, and intersected by
a gravel walk, which
leads to the American
ground f, planted with
the choicest rhododen-
275
drons and azaleas. An exotic flower-garden is shown at g, consisting entirely
of pelargonins, fuschias salvias, verbenas, and other half-hardy, or green-house
plants, in beds, or in baskets of wirework, on turf, disposed somewhat in the
manner shown in figs, 276 and 279. There are covered seats in the rustic
- .
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---
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--~~~~~
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FOUNTAINS. 409
277
- - -
- - -
- º ---
-------
-

410
THE WILLA GARLENER.
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fig. 280.), with a basin and foun-
intersected by gravel walks, with twenty-four
is a Dutch garden (.
At 1
surrounded and
style ath, i, and k.
the centre,
tain in
280
-
--~~~~~
-----------
-º-º-º-º-º:



FLOWER-GARDEN. 411
beds on grass, for growing the more choice florist's flowers in masses. There
is a range of green-houses in the exotic flower-garden g; and there is a space
at m, for setting out during the summer the greenhouse plants grown in pots;
n, is an avenue leading to the great conservatory; o, is the reserve ground;
p, the potting shed; r, frames and pits; s, working shed, containing different
kinds of tools, &c.; t, a grove, containing some fine specimens of forest-trees;
u, beds for masses of flowers, one sort in each mass; v, masses of dahlias;
w, rustic vases for flowers; w, walks among steep banks of rockwork; y, bridge
to convey one walk over another; z, greenhouse, with horizontal trellis in
front, for choice climbing and creeping plants. Besides these references,
there are arbours in different situations, covered with climbing plants, and
a number of rustic vases for containing flowers. There is also a handsome
architectural orangery, apart from this garden in the wood, which is
approached by a noble avenue at u, on a moderate ascent; and on looking
from it, five avenues are seen diverging in different directions through the
descending wood, the under-growth of which is formed of rhododendrons and
azaleas, like the woods at High Clere.
478. Geometrical flower-gardens are formed of beds, so arranged as to form
a regular pattern, and placed on turf or gravel; and fig. 281. (the flower-
garden at Esholt Hall, Yorkshire) will show the usual mode of laying out
a garden of this kind. The ground is nearly on a level surface, with a slight
inclination to the east, having a wall on the north side, 8 ft. high, and 100
yards in length, against which are placed different varieties of China roses,
and various creepers, and half-hardy shrubs. On the east and west ends of
the garden there is grass (not shown on the plan for want of room) to the
extent of the wall, on which are planted hardy flowering shrubs, each shrub
having a circle dug round it proportionate to the size of the plant; and these
circles are chiefly planted with early flowering bulbs, as the crocus, snowdrop,
narcissus, &c. All the walks are gravelled, and the beds surrounded with
box, which is kept very low by frequent clipping. When the garden was
formed, drains were cut in different parts of the ground 2 ft. below the
surface, and the walks made from 1 ft. to 15 in. deep, and filled to within
3 in. of the surface with broken stones, or brick rubbish; each walk acting as
a drain to the adjoining bed. There are small grates placed in the walks,
over the main drains, which take away all the surface water, and render the
walks quite dry and firm to walk upon in wet weather or after a shower of
rain. The soil was either entirely taken out to the depth of 15 in., or mixed
with compost suitable to the plants intended to be planted in each bed; and
annually afterwards the beds underwent a partial renewal of soil, to suit the
change of arrangement which was made with the greenhouse plants and
annuals; and, as the dahlias were grown every year in the same places, a
quantity of soil was taken out entirely where the plants had grown, and
replaced with fresh compost every season. Most of the beds have patches of
bulbs, or low-growing early flowering plants, planted about 6 inches from the
box, and at regular distances, according to size; and in the following list
these will be named as edgings in the arrangement of each bed:
1, a, Paeonia Motitan ; b, Escallonia rubra, herbaceous plants. Herbaceous plants,
&c.; c, crocuses, snowdrops, winter aconite, planted 1 ft. from the edge of the bed;
dog's-tooth violets, scilla bifolia, &c., planted with different species of Narcissus planted
near to the edge of the bed; o, bulbs; aſ, close behind every fourth plant. The her-
412
THE VILLA GARDENER,
281
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FI.OWER-GARDEN,
413
Beds from No. 1 to No. 8.
baceous plants are from a foot to two feet in
height, and are varied as much in each bed
as the number of species in the collection
would allow. Some may think that the
beds would be crowded with plants; but
such has not been the case, as the bulbs
have chiefly done flowering before the her-
baceous plants have made much growth,
and the herbaceous plants are nearly all
over before the dahlias are in full bloom ;
which arrangement has insured a succession
of flowers, from the first fine weather in
spring, until the frosts kill the dahlias in
autumn.
283
© o o o © o
: ; ; , , , 7" o
Beds from No. 9 to No. 12.
The beds 9, 10, 11, and 12, are severally
planted with moss, perpetual, and select de-
ciduous roses, marked r, and different varie-
ties of herbaceous paºonies, marked p; with
three patches of white lily, marked l, in each
bed.
The bed numbered 9 is edged with Pri-
müla farinosa and Gentiana septémfida.
10. Edged with Gentiana acatilis.
11. Edged with Gentiana acatilis.
12. Edged with double primroses. As
soon as the paeonies have done flowering,
China aster or Russian Stocks are planted
in front of each paeony for an autumnal
bloom.
13. Common China roses, edged with
auricula, of varieties.
I4. Noisette roses, trained on a flat trellis,
and edged with Eránthis hyemalis.
15. Common China roses, edged with
Hepática, of varieties.
16. Noisette roses, on a flat trellis, and
edged with Muscari botryöides.
17. Azalea pontica globósa in the centre,
With Snowdrops around the plant; then a
circle of Mimulus rosaes, and the bed edged
with Alpine auriculas.
18. Kalmia latifolia in the centre, sur-
rounded with crocuses, and edged with
double primrose, and planted with Lobělia
grácilis for the summer.
19. Similar to No. 17, with Lobélia gráci-
lis for the summer.
20. Similar to No. 18, with Verbèna
Melindres for the summer.
Beds from No. 21 to No. 28.
h, White lilies; d, dahlias.
The beds from 21 to 28 are all edged with
different varieties of Cröcus and heart's-
ease alternately, and were planted for sum.
mer flowering as follows:
21. Scarlet Pelargoniums.
22. Sálvia Grahami and S. angustifolia.
23. Pettinia nyctaginiflora.
24. Sálvia patens.
25. Mimulus cardinalis.
26. Nierembérgia phoenicea grandiflora.
27. Lobélia fulgens.
28. Shrubby calceolarias.
29. Rösa minor, edged with Hepática,
and sown with Gília tricolor.
30. Dark China roses, edged with Saxi-
fraga granulata, and sown with Kaulfüssia
amelličdes.
31. Select China roses, edged with Saxi-
fraga granulata, and sown with Collinsia
bicolor.
32. Tea-scented roses, edged with Hepá-
tica, and sown with Neméphila insignis.
33. Choice tulips and German asters.
34. Double tulips and Eschschöltzia
cröcea.
35. Double anemones and Lasthānia
glabrata.
36. Double anemones and German asters.
37. Edged with choice heart's-ease, and
mixed choice pelargoniums.
38. The same as No. 37.
39. Edged with choice heart's-ease, and
mixed with greenhouse plants.
40. The same as No. 39.
41. Jonquils and Alonsoa linearis.
42. Ranunculus and Heliotropium peru-
vianum.
48. Jonquils and Nierembérgia grâcilis.






414
GARDENER,
THE VILLA
44. Raniinculus aconitifolia and Calceo-
laria penduli flora.
Beds from No. 45 to No. 48.
45. A fuchsia in each bed, surrounded
with a circle of Eránthis hyemalis; and,
nearer the margin, a circle of dwarf lark-
spurs; o, patches of Anemone Pulsatilla,
A. apennina, and other species; l, patches
of different varieties of martagon lilies;
d, dahlias for summer and autumn bloom.
49. Bulbous Iris and Agatha'a coeléstis.
50. Bulbous Iris, and Senècio Élegans
fl. pl.
51. Tigridia pavonia, edged with Campa-
nula pumila.
52. Gladiolus psittacınus, edged with
53. American plants, edged with double
primroses.
54. The same as No. 53.
55. Azalea coccinea, edged with Gaul-
thèria procumbens.
56. Azalea coccinea, edged with Gaulthè-
ria Shállon.
57. Rhododendron pánticum, edged with
several varieties of Heliánthemum.
58. Rhododendron pánticum, edged with
Erica herbacea.
59 and 60. Tazza vases, which serve as
dropping fountains during winter, and in
the summer season with the jets, &c., of the
late Mr. Rowland. -
61. Seats.
62. Sun-dial.
63. Statues.
64. Vases, which are all elevated on storie
plinths, proportionate to the size of the vase,
and are filled with flowering plants during
the Summer Season.
Campánula púmila.
479. Ornaments to flower-gardens. The features above enumerated may
be considered as the essential materials, or component parts, of a flower-gar-
den; and to them may be superadded various ornaments, such as statues,
spars, and other objects of curiosity, natural or artificial; rustic baskets,
vases, or other contrivances for containing plants (see figs. 286. to 290);
trelliswork, arcades for climb-
ers, open and covered seats,
summer-houses, and fountains,
aquariums, rockwork, root-
work, grottoes, and grotesque
objects; and, lastly, a green-
house, conservatory, or some
other building for plants. Now,
these materials and ornaments
being given, the next point is
to lay down the principles for
using them in the composition
of a flower-garden. In this, --
as in every other species of
design, the leading principle is
the formation of a whole. For
this purpose, there must be a -
consistency in every part, with reference to culture,
and also with reference to lines and forms. One
style of form and line must pervade the entire garden.
In the simplest gardens, curved lines or straight lines, and acute angles or
right angles, may prevail both in the ground and ornaments; but, in the
more artistical kinds, the beds and walks may display the scrollwork or the
embroidery of the French gardens. Whatever form or style is adopted as the
286
287
ØCŞ



FI.OWER-GARDEN.
groundwork of the gar-
den, that is, as the shape
of the beds and walks,
that form or style must
pervade all the orna-
ments with which the * || ||&
whole is decorated. W . (
Where the beds are in
scrollwork, the vases and
the pedestals on which
they stand, the trellis-
work of the arcades, the
statues, the seats and
summer-houses, should
all be of the style of
Louis XIV. A simple
classical vase or statue,
in such a garden, would
be quite out of place; and equally so would be
an Italian summer-house, or an English thatched
rustic seat. The artist is not limited to introduce
only those component parts, or those ornaments,
which were known in the time of Louis XIv.; but,
such as he does introduce, he is bound to compose in that style.
480. As remarks applicable to the composition of flower-gardens generally,
we may observe that ornaments should not be distributed equally over the
garden; and that, as far as practicable, the ornaments should appear to arise
out of something that is of use. For example, at the intersection of two prin-
cipal walks, as conspicuous points in the design which attract the notice of all
spectators, there may be a basin and fountain; and the parapet which forms
the margin of this basin may be ornamented with vases. In the intersection
28S X DSDS-SS
=º º
290





416 THE WILLA GARDENER.
of other walks there may be a sundial on an architectural basement, or a
statue on a pedestal. Where there is a terrace-walk connected with the house,
or with some other building, it may be bordered by a parapet; and this
parapet may be ornamented with statues, vases, or other architectural or
sculptural ornaments, according to circumstances. In these and similar cases
which might be mentioned, there seems to be a reason for the placing of the
ornaments; that is, they appear as a finishing to the works of art to which
they are attached, and they harmonise with all the associations connected
with them. On the other hand, when a vase or a statue is set down on naked
turf, in the midst of a bed of flowers, or in a group of shrubs, it seems in a
false position, and loses its effect; not only from the want of proper accom-
paniments, such as an architectural basement, &c., but from the presence of
such accompaniments as are improper, such as a basement of dug ground and
flowers. -
481. A covered way of trelliswork and creepers often forms a very suitable
boundary for a flower-garden; and it is almost always an excellent approach
to one from open scenery, or as a passage from one flower-garden to another.
The reason is, that it confines the eye, and slightly darkens the vision; and
this, being succeeded by a view of the open garden, its ornaments and the
brilliancy of its flowers produce by contrast a more lively effect on the spec-
tator. Trelliswork in the centre of a flower-garden, as a bower to sit in, is
also useful; more especially if a portion of it should be continued for a few
feet along each of the radiating walks, so that each may serve as a sort of
telescope to the views of the garden, as seen by a spectator seated in the
bower. The laying out of flower-gardens is too commonly intrusted to per-
sons who have no knowledge of the principles of design; which is a proof
that the possessors of them do not fully comprehend the beauties of which
flower-gardens are susceptible. Were this the case, an artist would be con-
sidered as essential in this department, as he now is in any department of
architecture, or of landscape gardening.
482. Kitchen-gardens, belonging to country mansions, are generally on a
large scale, with various hothouses and pits for forcing, which are placed alto-
gether in what is called the melon-ground. Figs. 291. 292. and 293., are kit-
chen-gardens, adapted to country mansions, with all the conveniences usual in
such gardens. Fig. 291. is the plan of a garden, containing an acre and a half
within the walls, and an acre and a half in the slips, which, however, may
be easily curtailed if thought desirable. Instead of espaliers, dwarf-trained
fruit-trees are introduced by the side of the walks; and if these be not
approved, gooseberry and currant-trees may be substituted. Standard apple
and pear-trees may be planted round the culinary department. Fig. 292.
has two acres within the walls, and an acre and a half in the slips. This
garden has entrances on the east and west sides, for convenience; and it has
a broad gravel walk down the centre, to allow a pony carriage to be driven
through it, with a space at the southern end for the carriage to be turned.
In frame-ground, dwarf walls are introduced for training young fruit-trees.
Fig. 290. contains three acres and a half within the walls, and two acres and
a half in the slips. There are three entrances to this garden, but the other
arrangements are as usual.
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5. Vineries, fig-house, and for forcing strawberries, &c. 6. Water-basin, or pump. , 7. Pine-
stove. 8. Peach-houses. 9. Pits. 10. Back-shed. 11. Frame-ground. 12. Cucumber
ridge, early carrots, or potatoes under hoops, &c. 13. Melon or cucumber ranges. 14. Mush-
room-sheds, tool-house; sheds for wintering vegetables, &c. 15. Gardener's house. 16. Fruit
and onion room, with lodging-room for under-gardener, and seed-room over. 17. Department
for compost, mixing and turning dung, &c.




















2 E
418 THE WILIA GARDENER.
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gardener's lodging-room, and seed-room over.
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5. For compost, mixing and turning
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or melon pits.
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lodging-room for under-gardener.
11. Open shed for compost,
13. Fruit and onion room, with seed-room over, and












2 E 2
420 THE WILLA GARDENER.
SECTION IV.
DESIGNS FOR COUNTRY MANSIONS,
483. As Country Mansions are generally places of too much importance to
be laid out without the aid of regular architects and landscape-gardeners, we
shall only give a very few examples: and these, with only one exception, will
be of places actually in existence.
Design XXX-Plan and description of Wimbledon House, Surrey, the pro-
perty of Mrs. Marryatt.
484. General Observations.—This estate, which once belonged to the cele-
brated Bond Hopkins, Esq., and was laid out for him about the middle of the
last century, consists of about 100 acres of table-land, slightly varied on the
surface, not by undulations, bold swells, deep valleys, or precipitous declivi-
ties, but by unconnected hollows, or large gullies, of little beauty in them-
selves, but capable of producing considerable effect when filled with water, as
the principal one now is. In a word, the grounds at Wimbledon House have
naturally little to recommend them beyond their extent, and the circumstance
of their falling in a gradual manner from the lawn front of the house, so as
to display from that front an interesting view of the distant country. The
chief merit of the place, as a suburban residence, consists in its completeness,
the whole lying compactly within a ring fence, and there being a most com-
modious mansion, with complete domestic offices, a park, a farm (including
a dairy and a poultry-yard), a kitchen-garden, and a flower-garden; the
latter, perhaps, unrivalled in the neighbourhood of London, for the number
of species and varieties of herbaceous plants that it contains. Mrs. Marryatt
has long been an enthusiastic admirer of flowers, and especially of such as
are sufficiently hardy to make a display in the flower-garden. She also main-
tains a good collection of greenhouse and hothouse plants; and many of
these, as well as hardy plants, have flowered at Wimbledon House for the first
time in England, as the botanical periodicals for the last twenty years bear
ample witness. Among the more beautiful and remarkable greenhouse plants
which have flowered for the first time at Wimbledon, is the Tacsónia pinnati-
stipula, one of the most elegant, and at the same time singular, of climbing
shrubs. There are few horticultural exhibitions that have taken place since
the Society commenced this mode of encouraging gardening, in which Mrs.
Marryatt, or her gardener, Mr. Redding, has not obtained a medal.
485. The Park at Wimbledon House cannot be considered as having been
planted with much taste; but there are some fine old trees in it, near the
house, especially evergreen oaks. The pieces of water do not form agreeable
shapes on paper, but, in the reality, at a distance from the eye, and with their
outlines more or less disguised by trees, the effect is good, particularly that of
the principal one, seven acres in extent, as seen from the house. Fig. 294.
shows a portion of this piece of water, looking towards the house. Beyond
a certain size, the form of a piece of water is of little consequence; but when
it is so small as to be readily comprehended as a whole by a spectator at no
COUNTRY MANSIONS.
421
2.94
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great distance from it, then, in order to please, it must be of an agreeable
shape.
-
486. What constitutes an agreeable shape in a lake, pond, or piece of sºil
water º-To this question we answer, that whatever constitutes an agreeable





























422 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
shape on level ground or lawn, or on any other flat surface, will look equally
well in water. A shape, whether of smooth lawn or still water, to be agree-
able, must be such as to be readily comprehended by the eye and the mind
at a single glance; and for this purpose the general form must be simple. It
may be an oval or a circle, or it may be some form in which the length and
breadth are more conspicuous elements than the sinuosities of the margin,
and in which, consequently, the whole will always produce its full effect before
the eye is attracted by the parts. These may be considered as fundamental
principles; and, in applying them to the different styles in which water is
formed, or surfaces of lawn surrounded by trees or shrubs, the characteristics
of these styles readily come to our assistance. For example; in forming a
piece of water in the geometric style, the outline must be composed of either
straight or regularly curved lines. The general form may be a square, an
octagon, or a parallelogram, and this general form is that which will produce
the first impression on the mind of the spectator; but the margin of the geo-
metrical figure may be composed of numerous segments or tangents, so as to
form an intricate outline, which will afford amusement to the spectator when
he approaches near enough to the figure to examine it in detail. If we form
a piece of water in imitation of the ponds and lakes of nature, in what is
called the picturesque manner, we must still begin by some simple form, and
trust to this for the general impression. This being firmly established, the
margin may be varied by prominences and recesses, and trees and shrubs (as
shown in fig. 295.), to any extent that does not interfere with the effect of the
figure as a whole. If a piece of water is to be formed in the gardenesque
manner, the same general principles are followed; but, as all the details of
the margin require to be comparatively distinct, and all to appear decidedly
artificial, greater care is requisite to combine regularity, uniformity, or
symmetry, with variety.

COUNTRY MANSIONS. 423
487. In modern gardening, a long winding canal of still water is frequently
the most effective form in which that element can be introduced; and it is
sometimes so good an imitation of a river in a tame country, as to leave
nothing to be desired. This, however, can only take place where long
reaches of it are seen at a considerable distance from the eye, as at Oatlands;
or where it is seen only in successional portions, by a spectator walking near
296
it, and the walk being of considerable length, as at Esher. Sometimes a
bridge may be introduced over a piece of water of this kind with very good
effect; but care must be taken to let the size of the arches be proportionate
to that of the house and grounds. This bridge, with massive stone arches, as
shown in fig. 296, would be out of place where everything around was of
small size; and a bridge with small low arches, as shown in fig. 297, would
have a much better effect. Most commonly such canals are near the eye,
vary considerably in width, and are generally contracted towards both extre-
mities, so as to leave no doubt in the mind of the spectator that they are only
ponds. Pieces of water of this kind are frequently of such a length as not to
be seen all at once, but in succession; and as, from the irregularity of their
width, they can never, when so seen, be mistaken for a river, they ought to


424 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
be treated in such a manner as to give them the appearance of a winding
lake; which, being seen in successive portions, each of these ought to have
an agreeable shape. These shapes are produced on the principles already
laid down, viz., of displaying some obvious figure as a whole, and concealing
the water altogether by wood wherever the desired form is interfered with by
the opposite shores of the lake or canal approaching, or seeming to approach,
each other too nearly. When a winding sheet of water is at such a distance
from the eye as to be seen all at once, then all that can be done is, to cause it
to wind agreeably, either by directing its bends in a manner more or less
regular or symmetrical, or by creating an obvious allusion to some recognised
figure. Thus, the general tendency of the winding may be to produce a
crescent-like form; or it may be serpentine; or there may be one conspicuous
bend in some regular form, and the subordinate bends may be comparatively
indistinct. The safe guide in this case is, the principle already laid down, of
producing some form which may take the lead, and be recognised at once;
and trusting for variety to the subordinate forms, and to the details.
488. As there is no such thing in nature as a piece of water without an outlet,
or as a lake from which there does not issue a brook; so, in landscape-
gardening, no piece of still water ought to be formed, in which there is not
some point indicated, which the brook might be supposed to flow from. In
the geometrical style of forming pieces of water, the brook is represented by
a formal cascade; and, in natural-looking shapes, there is commonly also a
cascade, or something of the kind, in the way of outlet; or, if there is not, a
3. N
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COUNTRY MANSIONS. 425
299
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portion of the margin, in what is decidedly the lowest part of the general
surface of the ground, ought to be concealed by trees, or by an island, so as
to leave the spectator room to suppose that there is an outlet in the proper
place. Most lakes are also supplied by brooks; and, for this reason, in all
imitations of them, whether gardenesque or picturesque, there ought to be an
indication of the point at which the brook or rill expands into a lake, as well
as of that where it contracts again into a brook. Where a rill or small stream
runs through a narrow valley, it sometimes happens that a succession of dams
are formed across the valley, in order to produce a succession of ponds; and
when the dams are not disguised by wood, and the margins properly varied,
this is one of the most formal and unartistical appearances which artificial
water can be made to produce. In valleys which are nearly flat, ponds
formed by throwing dams across are more easily managed; but even in cases
of this kind, the dam is frequently left naked, and the margin of the water
unbroken by trees or islands.
Fig. 298. shows two ponds which existed some years ago in a valley at
Lyne Grove, near Chertsey, Surrey; and fig. 299, shows the manner in which
we proposed to reduce both pieces to the same level, to vary the margin by
islands, and to form a cascade at a in fig. 299. ; where also a hydraulic ram
might be erected for forcing up the water to a cistern on the top of the
dwelling-house. Notwithstanding this digression on the forms of artificial
water, yet that element is so great an addition to landscape, that, where it has
a clear surface, and is of a sufficient extent to receive a breadth of light, it is






















426 THE VILLA GARD ENER,
admissible in almost any shape; and this is exemplified by the effect produced
by the pieces of water in Wimbledon Park, than which none were ever formed
of less artistical shapes.
489. Ground plan, &c.—We shall now proceed to describe the plan, fig. 300:
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428 THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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COUNTRY MANSIONS. 420
º, The entrance lodge.
b. The entrance portico to the mansion.
c, The kitchen-court.
d. The stable-court.
e, The laundry, and brewhouse court.
302 f. The drying-ground.
g, The green-house, with a summer-house
at the back.
h, Paddock, containing an ancient build-
ing, formerly a mill for raising
water, surrounded by a mass of
plantation.
i, Flower-garden.
j, Kitchen-garden.
º, Poultry-yard.
l, Farm buildings.
m, Rick-yard.
n, Arable land.
o, Paddock, with a beautiful architec-
tural grotto at p (formed by Bushell,
who constructed the grottoes at
Oatlands, Pain's Hill, and other
places), and another ornamental
building at q.
r, Osier-ground.
s, Island and ruin; the latter used as a
Catholic chapel by the Prince de
Condé, who resided at Wimbledon
House before it was purchased by
the late Joseph Marryatt, Esq.
t, Wilderness and fish-stews.
u, Open grove of ancient trees.
tº v v. Wire fence, separating the plea-
sure-ground and mown grass from
the park.
w, Hurdle fence, separating the upper
from the lower park.
ºr a, Fish-ponds.
º, Drinking-pond.
2, Well, near which is a hydraulic ram,
which, put in motion by the waste
of the upper piece of water in its
course to the lower piece, forces a
supply to the roof of the mansion,
and to the sheds of the hot-houses.
|
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Fig. 301, is a geometrical sec-
tion of the ground, and bird's-eye
view of the park, looking to the
west.
Fig. 302, is a section and bird's-
eye view, taken on the same line,
looking to the east.
Fig. 303, is a section and bird's-
eye view, looking to the north-
east.


430 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
Fig. 304, is a sec-
tion and view, look-
ing to the south-
west, and showing
the front of the house.
It will be observed
from the lines indi-
cating walks, that
there is one which
makes the entire cir-
cuit of the residence,
besides several cross
walks. It will also
be observed, that the
carriage communi-
cation between the
farm-yard and the
stable offices at the
house is by the public
road, though, there
is a private carriage
road, in a more direct
line, through the mill
paddock.
Fig. 307., p. 434
and 435, is a ground
plan of the flower-
garden and kitchen-
garden on a larger
scale.
|
a, The entrance to the
flower-garden from
the house, through the
avenue by the door-
way of the garden
exhibiting a rustic
arch, as shown in the
sketch, fig. 306. From
the point b, a walk
branches of through
the mill-paddock to
the entrance front of
the house, so that per-
sons may come and go
to the gardens with-
out going through the
house.
Elm-tree avenue, de-
corated, during sum-
mer, with a row of China vases, placed at regular distances along each side of the gravel
walk, and each containing a choice flower.
c. A superstructure of rustic-work, with an elevated rustic vase in the centre, and surrounded
º,

COUNTRY MANSIONS. 431
304 by beds, with bor-
ders of rustic-
work. The cir-
cumference con-
sists of an arcade,
connected by a co-
lumn clothed with
creepersinthecen-
tre, by garlands of
creepers twined
round chains; and
having at a dis-
tance the appear-
ance shown in fig.
3.09.
d, Pond, with a
fountain in the
centre, containing
numerous aqua-
tics of different
species, and sur-
rounded by rock-
work, as shown in
fig. 312.
e, Marble basin and
fountain.
ºf Bower of trellis-
work.
g, Elevated plat-
form, ornamented
on the side next
the flower-garden
with a screen of
rustic-work, and
with rustic vases
filled with flowers.
h, Arcade, covered
with creepers.
i, Conservative
wall, on which
are many very in-
teresting exotic
shrubs.
k k, Plant-houses,
with rockwork in
front planted with
select ornamental
herbaceous plants
and under-shrubs.
The central house
(l) is a green-
house, and those
to the right are
also green-houses,
while those to the
left are hot-houses. At the back of one end of the central green-house is a door, which
opens to the private or reserve court (m), in which there is a pelargonium-house, with a
range of pits along the front, for Cape bulbs; and in the interior of the court are various
other pits and frames.
-

432 THE VILLA GARDENER.
n, Large reserve-ground, surrounded by the potting and working sheds, tool-houses, seed-
room, men's room, &c. * -
o, Farm-yard, the details of which will be found below.
2, Poultry-yard.
g, House of the gardener and general manager. T, Barn.
8, Yard for rubbish, pea-sticks, &c.
t, Pine-pits in the kitchen-garden.
w u, Part of the private road from the mill-paddock to the farm-yard, rick-yard, and arable
field; and which crosses the elm avenue, near the entrance to the flower-garden: but this
road being little used, and that only early in the morning, no perceptible marks of it are
seen in the elm avenue. This avenue having a wire fence on both sides, a gate is placed
in each fence, One opposite the other; and these gates are opened whenever carts are to
paSS. w, East entrance to the flower-garden.
w, Road from Wimbledon to London. a, Wimbledon Common.
y, Upper park, or lawn. 2, North park, adjoining the arable ground.
Fig. 305. shows the ground plan of the farm-yard and poultry-yard, and
also of the range of plant-houses, on a larger scale than in the preceding
plan.
305
24
a, Orchideous house. b, Plant stove.
c, d, and e, Greenhouses, with vines trained under the rafters.
f, Aviary. g, Working-shed. h h, Furnaces.
i, Situation of the cistern on the top of the brick wall of the green-house, to which water
is raised by the hydraulic ram, mentioned in p. 429. ; whence it is conducted to the
different plant-houses, and to the fountains in the open garden, by pipes.

COUNTRY MANSIONS.
-
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Entrance to the Flower-garden at Wimbledon House.
j, Reserve-yard and working-ground. 1, Reserve-ground for plants in pots.
l, Coal-shed. m, Tool-shed. m, Pot-shed. o, Man's-room,
p, Seed-room. q, Carpenter's shop r, Barn. sis, Pits for Cape bulbs.
t, Pelargonium house º, Enclosed yard. º, Liquid manure tank.
w, Granary, supported on stone pillars, with caps to prevent the ascent of rats and mice.
ºr, Open yard. º, Cattle-shed, with fodder-rack 2, Pump and drinking-trough.
1, Cow-house. 2, Calf-pen. 3, Pigsties.
4, Open cattle-shed, with fodder-racks. In the back wall there is an opening, with a shut-
ter, to allow fowls to pass through from the poultry-yard, so as to pick up what food they
can, in the cattle-yard.
5, Stable for cart-horses. 6, Hay-room, and place for cutting straw into chaff.
7, Pigsty, near which there is a privy for the farm servants.
8, Yard for ducks, enclosed by trelliswork.
9, oval pond, paved with brick, into which is thrown the food for the ducks.
10, Houses for the ducks. 11, Poultry yard.
12, Stone basin, to contain water for the poultry.
13, Laying-house for common fowls. 14, Laying-house for hen turkeys.
15, General fattening-house. In this house, common fowls, turkeys, and ducks, are all kept
loose, and fattened together. It is found that this mode contributes generally to their
fattening; because, whenever one bird goes to eat, the othersarestimulated to imitate it.
16, Place for fattening quarrelsome fowls, one fowl being fattened in it at a time.






2 F.
434 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
17, Rabbit-house, in which the rabbits are kept in hutches.
18, Turtle-doves, formerly kept for ornament in a building at One
houses, but the space is now occupied with a house for Orchideae.
end of the range of hot-
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COUNTRY MANSIONS. 435
19, House for pheasants; which are bred here, and afterwards turned into the park.
20, Pigeons. These have their principal entrance in the roof, and have always a salt-cake
placed on the floor.

2 F 2
436 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
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21, Fowls' roosting-house. Here the fowls roost on horizontal strips of board, about 2 in.
on the side, and raised, so as to form a slope, from the floor in the front of the house to
the top of the back wall, in the manner of a greenhouse stage. The object of this is to
facilitate the ascent of the fowls, and to prevent them from dirtying one another when
at roost. 22, Pigsties.

COUNTRY MANSIONs. 437
* Covered way to the poultry-houses, paved with Dutch clinkers, as are all the houses in
this yard. 24, Entrance to the farm-yard. 25, Ritchen-garden.
* Flower-garden, of which a general view, showing the main walk and the plant-houses
is given in fig. 308.; and views of the entrance, rustic structure, and fountain, in figs.
306., 309, and 312. 27, Park.

438
THE VILIA GARDENER.
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Fig. 310. shows the plan of the principal
floor of the house, and of the domestic
offices.
a, Entrance hall, with Semicircular Ionic portico.
b, Saloon, divided by columns into three compart-
ments, and having a fireplace at each end. In
the centre, a window opens under a portico, to
the lawn.
c, Drawing-room. d, Dining-room.
e, Anteroom to the diming-room.
f, Anteroom to the drawing-room.
gg, Passages and principal staircases.
h, Breakfast-room. à, Store-closet.
k, Anteroom to the conservatory.
l, Conservatory; the front architectural, and the
roof of glass, so that the plants in it thrive in
the greatest luxuriance.
qm, Billiard-room. re, Study. o, Cabinet.
p, Library. q, Bath-room. 7, Butler's pantry.
s, Housekeeper's room. t, Servants’ hall.
u, Still-room. , v, Cook's pantry. w, Larder.
ac, Kitchen. gy, Scullery. -
z 2, Four-stalled stables.
1, Harness-room. 2 2, Coach-houses.
3, Three-stalled stable, with coachman's room over.
4, Dung-pit. 5, Washhouse, with laundry over.
6, Cistern, supplied with water by the engine in the
mill paddock. 7, Drying-ground.
8, Brewhouse. 9, Ice-cellar. 10, Dairy.
11, Dog-kennel. 12, Bottle-room.
13, Dust-bins. 14, Coals, wood, female servants’
privies, and other conveniences.
15, Kitchen-court. 16, Chaise house.
17, 18, Coach-houses, and man-servants’ privy
adjoining.

COUNTRY MANSIONS. 439
3.11
There are several other minor conveniences in this and the three preceding
plans, such as water-closets, &c., which we have not thought it necessary to
particularize; and in the plan, fig. 307, there are several rustic seats, benches,
and resting-places, which have not been noticed. There is also a reserve
ice-house near the head of the upper lake.

440 THE VILLA GARDENER,
490. General appearance of the grounds.-In order to convey an idea of
the general effect of the park and garden scenery of Wimbledon House, and
to afford some relief to the reader after the fatigue of perusing so many
details, we shall briefly notice the general impressions the scenery made on us
when we first saw the place some years ago. Passing through the entrance-hall
and the saloon to the gravel walk on the lawn front, a magnificent panoramic
view presents itself; consisting of park scenery in the foreground, enlivened
with a fine piece of water (see fig. 311.), and with a rich, verdant, tame
country in the extreme distance. Among the trees in the park are some fine
old oaks and beeches, some very large evergreen oaks, and several large pines,
firs, and cedars. The stranger, if he proceeds along the gravel walk to the
left, will find it lead him to an ancient green-house, or orangery, and thence
to the flower-garden, the kitchen-garden, the farmery, and the farm. If, on
the contrary, he walks to the right, he will pass through a variety of scenery,
at first highly polished with a smoothly mown lawn, and afterwards of a more
rustic description ; till, having walked upwards of a mile, he arrives at the
flower-garden, kitchen-garden, &c., last instead of first. We took the right-
hand walk from the house, and, passing along it, the first remarkable objects
which struck us in the foreground were some very large evergreen oaks, with
trunks 24 ft. in diameter. On the right was a rural fruit-garden, planted
with the common summer fruits, such as the cherry, gooseberry, raspberry,
strawberry, &c., for the indulgence of the young people, who were allowed to
gather them here for themselves. This may be called a children's fruit-gar-
den; and it appears to us one of the most amiable features, next to children's
gardens (that is, gardens which they are to lay out and cultivate themselves),
that can be formed in a suburban residence. Near this rural fruit-garden
was a garden for British plants, managed solely by Miss Marryat ; and
beside it was a dell filled with rhododendrons, which, from the moistness and
shadiness of the spot, had attained an extraordinary size, and were growing
with great luxuriance. Adjoining the evergreen oaks was a large cork-tree,
a very fine Ligüstrum licidum, gigantic common and Portugal laurels, a large
red cedar, a Rhododéndron pónticum upwards of a hundred feet in circum-
ference, and immense masses of ivy supported on pollard oaks, which looked
like some strange kind of evergreen tree; and, farther on, were several lofty
silver firs. "Passing through a small wicket in the wire fence which separates
the pleasure-ground from the park, but still following the walk, we found
ourselves in comparatively open scenery; and, the atmosphere being tolerably
clear, we observed the towers of Westminster Abbey and the dome of St.
Paul's in the extreme distance. From some points of view, Wimbledon Park,
the seat of Earl Spencer, which borders Wimbledon House, on two sides,
contributes to the effect of the scenery in the park belonging to the latter,
more especially by the aid of a beautiful sheet of water; and, in one part,
the windings of the Thames itself are seen from a seat under an immense
beech-tree, one branch of which measured, in 1829, 75 ft. in length. Passing
through a rustic gate, we arrived at a spacious ivy-covered summer-house,
situated on a slight eminence, and furnished with a large table and matted
seats, capable of accommodating a party of twenty. This summer-house over-
looks that part of the grounds which is called the Wilderness (fig. 311.), in
which there are several pieces of water, overhung with weeping willows,
and inhabited by numerous wild aquatic fowl. Descending from the
Count RY MANSIONS. 141
|
|
|
º
| | |
|
summer-house, we passed a rocky cascade, studded with alpine plants, and
ascended, through a shrubbery, to a romantic grotto; from the entrance of
which there is the retired home view shown in fig. 313. This grotto was
formed by Bushell,—the most celebrated grotto and cascade artist that ever
appeared in England. The grotto at Pain's Hill is considered his chef-

442 THE WILLA GARDENER.
d'oeuvre; and next to it ranks the one at Oatlands, which the grotto at
Wimbledon resembles in general character. Entering an open grove of forest
trees, we next come to a light iron bridge, passing over which, we noticed an
immense pollard oak some centuries old, covered with ivy, and a very large
Magnolia acuminata, which was an imported plant, and brought from America
by the botanist Fraser. Here are, also, Pinus serótina, and some other
American trees, which were planted here when they were first introduced
into England. From this open grove, which is situated near the largest piece
of water, the stranger may either proceed to the gardens and farm-buildings
by an open path directly through the park, or by a circuitous course in the
boundary plantation, which forms two sides to the arable land. Arrived at
the farmery and the poultry-yard, their details will be found remarkably
complete, as the plans and descriptions which we have already given will
prove. The kitchen-garden is chiefly remarkable for producing excellent
crops; but the grand feature of the place, in a gardening point of view, is the
flower-garden, which occupies upwards of three acres, and contains above 200
beds of flowers. These beds are of different shapes and sizes, and they are
scattered over the surface with very little regard to regularity or symmetry;
the object, apparently, being to get as many beds as possible into the given
space, allowing a small strip of grass between them, in order to keep them
distinct, and to admit of walking round them. In point of general design,
therefore, this flower-garden has nothing to recommend it; but, from the
great number of beds, and almost endless variety of the kinds and colours of
the flowers they contain, it presents a dazzling surface, of the most brilliant
colours, mingled together in confusion. This garden is admirably managed
by Mrs. Marryat's gardener, Mr. Redding, who keeps an ample stock of
plants in pots, in order that, as soon as one crop of flowers begins to fade, the
plants may instantly be removed, and replaced by others just coming into
bloom. The number of species cultivated in this garden exceeds 750, exclu-
sive of varieties of florist's flowers, such as dahlias, hearts-eases, tulips, &c.
The first appearance of gaiety in this garden usually commences in February,
with the appearance of crocuses, snowdrops, primroses, and Russian violets.
In March, to these are added narcissi of various kinds, numerous species of
Scilla, and other early bulbs, together with Saxifraga oppositifölia; and, in
April, the different varieties of hyacinth make a splendid show, and perfume
the garden with their fragrance. Primroses, double and single, Arabis,
Aubriëtia, Alyssum, O'robus, the common wallflower, and a number of other
plants, produce a brilliant effect during this month; and, from this period,
the brilliancy and beauty of the garden never fades during the whole of the
summer. In the autumn, the last flowers are those of the dahlia, some of the
Mexican and Californian annuals, and the chrysanthemum; and, after these
are removed, in consequence of being blackened by frost, the garden depends
for its beauty during the winter on the evergreen flowering shrubs, such as
A'rbutus, laurustinus, Erica, Dáphne, &c.; on the beds of evergreen herba-
ceous plants, such as pinks, carnations, saxifrages, sweetwilliams, &c.; on the
green turf, on the rich yellow gravel, on the clear water, and on the state of
neatness in which the whole is kept.
491.-Wire fence.—As the park abounds with hares and rabbits, it is neces-
sary to inclose the flower-garden on the sides next it, and the mill paddock,
with a wire fence, hare-proof; and this fence is so artfully concealed among
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 443
the shrubs, as scarcely anywhere to be seen, except at the two entrances to
the garden, where there are, of necessity, hare-proof wickets.
*2. The whole management of the park, gardens, and farm, is committed
to Mr. Redding, who is an example of a most judicious, careful, and suc-

444 THE WILLA GARDENER,
cessful farmer, as well as gardener; two pursuits which, considering the
great number of plants in the flower-garden and green-houses, one would
think almost incompatible.
493. Remarks.-There is a simplicity, combined with a certain degree of
grandeur, in the view from the lawn front, which makes a considerable
impression on the stranger. The most complete parts of this residence are
the dwelling-house and domestic offices, and the farm offices. The latter are
neither regular nor symmetrical; but they are designed on the best prin-
ciples; they are quite suitable for a small farm where the object is the con-
sumption of the produce, and they are substantially executed; circumstances
which show that neither regularity nor symmetry is an essential ingredient
where the main object is use. The relative situation of the farm-yard, poultry-
yard, kitchen garden, and back courts to the flower-garden, is also good;
and, though there is no convenient connection, within the grounds, between
these and the stable offices, this is rendered comparatively unnecessary by
the situation of the public road. The ground plan of the house is well calcu-
lated both for splendour and habitableness. The dining-room and drawing-
room are spacious rooms, admirably connected, and yet sufficiently calculated
for display in passing from the one to the other. When the family are alone,
there is a sufficient number of smaller living-rooms to serve the purpose of a
dining-room, drawing-room, &c., for more than a dozen persons; without
using the principal rooms. The grand central passage through the house
being broad, and well lighted both from the ends and the roof, is also a great
source of comfort and convenience; as are the domestic offices, from their
extent and number.
DESIGN XXXI.—A villa, of from 50 to 100 acres in the geometrical style.
494. General observations.—We have given this design, to show how the
ancient style of laying out grounds can be adapted to modern uses. We have
repeatedly observed that we are not among those who consider the ancient,
or architectural, style of laying out grounds as fit only for the ages in which it
first appeared; and that, on the contrary, we consider it as much a style
among other styles of landscape-gardening, as the Gothic is among other
styles of architecture. The suitableness of this style for a country in a wild
state must, we think, be obvious to every unprejudiced mind, from the
contrast which its clearly defined lines and forms afford to the irregularity of
the surrounding scenery, and from the obvious expression of art and refine-
ment which they produce. In travelling over a flat country, like great part
of the interior of Poland, which may be described as one interminable forest
(the cultivated lands and pastures being merely extensive glades), it is
delightful to arrive at a post-house with a walled garden, and perhaps a field
or two enclosed by clipped hedges. In the neighbourhood of Moscow, the
greater part of the country residences are, or at least were in 1814, laid out
in the geometrical style, and the principal things that were admired in them
by the inhabitants were the long straight avenues and walks, bordered by
clipped hornbeam hedges of great height; and the immense spruce fir hedges,
which were found in other parts of the grounds and near the mansions. The
geometrical style, besides being suitable for all countries not regularly lined
out by walls and hedges, and cultivated in regular fields or ridges, is also in
an eminent degree adapted for public gardens and parks, in which masses of
people, or of horses and carriages, are to congregate together. If the reason
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 445
be asked why straight walks, avenues, and formal lines of plantation, are
more suitable for places of public resort than the circuitous walks, scattered
groups, and single trees of the modern style, the answer is, that such straight
walks and broad avenues are better adapted for displaying crowds of
people, and long cavalcades of horses and carriages, to advantage; and that
the great object of those public walks is display. Such scenes are not for
solitude, says Byron, speaking of the gardens of Versailles; and the truth of
this remark must have been felt by every one who has seen such gardens.
We do not say that it is necessary for all the walks of a public garden to be
straight, and all the trees in rows, or in formal masses; we merely take these
features as characteristic of the style, freely allowing that, when the curves of
roads and walks in the modern style are so large as to present large portions
of them to the eye at the same time, the effect comes to be nearly the same as
in the geometrical style in its utmost rigour. Hence, the somewhat curved
roads in the Regent's Park, and in Hyde Park, in London, are nearly as
effective in displaying the company assembled in them as the straight roads
in the Mall in St. James's Park, in the avenues in the Champs Elysées in
Paris, and in the walks of the gardens at Versailles and Schönbrunn. It will
be recollected, however, that the walks and roads in all the places mentioned,
from their comparative straightness, belong more to the geometrical than to
the modern style. To pass from carriage-drives to walks adapted solely for
persons on foot, if we take a review of all the public gardens in Europe, we
shall find that the most effective display, on holidays, is always made in broad
straight walks: for example, in the broad north and south walk in Kensington
Gardens; in the broad avenue through the Regent's Park, opposite Portland
Place; the broad walk opposite the Luxemburg, in Paris; that opposite the
palace of Schönbrunn, near Vienna; and those in the gardens of the summer
palace, in St. Petersburg. The truth is, that the modern style is essentially
calculated for solitude and retirement, while the geometrical style is especially
calculated for publicity and display. The numerous windings of the walks
in the modern style, and the various groups into which its woods are thrown,
occasion, to a spectator walking along them, a perpetual change in the
scenery, and never allow masses or long columns of people to be seen at
once. Every thing connected with the ancient style has exactly a contrary
effect: there can be no privacy in straight avenues.
495. Adaptation of the geometrical style to modern residences.—Since then
the geometrical style is chiefly adapted for an unenclosed or wild country,
and for public parks or gardens, on what grounds, it may be asked, is it
recommended for suburban residences? Our answer is, to accommodate the
taste of particular individuals; to introduce as a contrast to suburban resi-
dences in the modern style; and to suit newly peopled, and thinly inhabited
countries, such as the back settlements of America or Australia. Besides
these reasons, which refer to what may be called the relative beauty of the
style, we contend, that it has some positive beauties, which are peculiarly its
own, and on which account alone it deserves occasionally to be introduced.
Among these are, the grandeur of its avenues, and the consistency with which
this expression is maintained throughout a whole place; the masses of light
and shade which are produced by these avenues; the succession and uni-
formity of the trees which compose them; the idea of distance given by their
lengthened vistas; and the feeling of shelter and protection which intersecting
446 THE VILLA GARDEN.E.R.
avenues and rows of trees always produce. To these beauties ought to be
added those of the scenery in the immediate vicinity of the mansion, the
terraces, the embroidered parterres, the fountains, the statues, and the
comfort produced by the near vicinity of the kitchen-garden. Taking both
the ancient and the modern styles, however, and examining them impartially,
we readily allow that much more variety and interest can be created by the
latter style than by the former; and, further, that the modern style is better
adapted to modern circumstances, not only on account of the contrast which
its lines and forms produce to the lines and forms of a country everywhere
cultivated, but on account of its affording more ready means of displaying the
numerous foreign trees and shrubs, which at the present day are become
comparatively common in the gardens of temperate climates. We shall now
describe the plan before us.
496. Ground plan, &c.—Passing along the turnpike-road (a a in fig. 314.)
indication is given of a gentleman's seat by the triple row of trees within the
boundary wall. Arrived at the point b, we there find an open iron gateway,
in the centre of a semicircular wall; and, looking through the gateway along
the avenue, we observe at its further end a lofty square house (the mansion)
on a raised basement. Between the centre gateway and the lodges on each
hand, there are two openings of the same width as the gateway; and, like it,
they are filled in with ironwork, so as also to resemble gates. Through these
the eye looks along the avenues c c, which are well calculated to give an idea
of extent. After passing through the gates, if we look to the right and left,
we see the avenues at right angles to the approach avenue (dd), and, on each
side of the avenue leading to the house, the side avenues (e e). The centre
avenue has a broad gravel road, but all the other avenues are in grass.
Arrived at f, which is the entrance to the court of honour, if we look to the
right and left, we have the avenues g g ; though these are chiefly calculated
for making an impression on a stranger when he comes out of the court of
honour on returning from the mansion. Having passed through the court of
honour (h) (in the centre of which is a statue, a sun-dial, or an obelisk), and
also directly through the hall of the house, we descend the steps from the
platform on the garden front, and arrive at a terrace walk, which extends on
each side as far as i i. Directly in front, there is an ancient parterre, with a
raised terrace walk round it. On the right is the kitchen-garden (k); and on
the left, the bosquet (!), which is analogous to the modern shrubbery. To the
north of the bosquet, there are a conservatory, summer-room, frame-ground,
and reserve-garden (m), all of which will hereafter be explained more in
detail; and, to the north of the kitchen-garden, there are the stable offices,
cow-yard, poultry-yard, laundry, and drying-ground (n); as will also be here-
after more fully explained. There are the back roads (o o) to the offices,
gardens, &c., proceeding from the main approach at f: so that no servant
need ever have occasion to cross the court of honour, except when in attend-
ance on his master, or to open the court gates. From the points i i and p p,
and from the walks in the kitchen-garden, and in the bosquet, leading to
these points, vistas are obtained along the avenues in the park; which are
shown by the plan so distinctly, that it is unnecessary here to enter into
further details. Two of these avenues (q q) are shorter than the others; but,
to direct attention from this circumstance, which would show the boundary
fence rather nearer than is desirable, obelisks are placed near their termina-
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 447
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448 THE WILLA GARDENER.
tion, at r r. Two other avenues (ss) are interrupted, by omitting the lines of
trees in that portion of them which would pass the front of the house, and
would have obstructed its view; but this interruption will not materially
injure the effect from the points p p in the kitchen-garden and the bosquet.
Certain avenues are carried through the arable lands exterior to the park or
paddock, in order to show that the proprietor's property extends on every
side. At t t, these avenues border the natural wood; but, in the other places,
they are carried through the middle of corn-fields, the ground under the trees
being kept in grass. At v v are woods, that is, standard trees, with coppice-
wood beneath them for the protection of game; at w w are hop-grounds;
at a w, orchards; at y y, gardens to the entrance lodges (not shaded by the
trees of the avenues, as such gardens too frequently are, but fully exposed to
the south); and at z is a single row of trees, which is carried along the public
road as far as the property extends. The farmery in this design is supposed
to be situated on the opposite side of the road, and is not shown in the plan;
but several of the arable fields belonging to it are seen on the east and west
boundaries of the park.
Fig. 315, shows the house, gardens, and offices of the residence just
described, on a larger scale than in the plan fig. 314.
a, The court of honour, with three gateways, and an obelisk in the centre.
b, The stable-court, on the northside of which are a six-stalled stable, harness-room; with
groom's sleeping-room over, and two coach-houses; and in the north-east angle there is a
turret with a clock, a corresponding turret being formed on the opposite side of the court
of honour. c, Cow-yard.
d, Open shed, for roots and other food for the cows in winter, and where calves or a pig
may be fattened, and one or two donkeys kept.
e, Cow-house for five cows.
f, Wash house, with laundry over. g, Fruit and root-room.
h, Banqueting-room, or summer-house, for eating fruit in, with rooms on the first-floor. A
cistern for supplying the fountains is immediately under the roof.
i, Poultry-yard. k, Kitchen-court.
l, Drying-ground, in the north-west angle of which is a pigeon-house.
m, Reserve ground for the kitchen garden. n, Kitchen-garden.
o, Grand terrace walk, from which there are several flights of steps; one ascending to the
house terrace, one descending to the flower-garden, one descending to the kitchen-garden,
and one descending to the bosquet.
p, Basin and fountain, in the centre of the flower-garden; the fountain, supplied with water
from a cistern on the roof of the house.
q, Terrace, or platform, on which the house stands.
7, Veranda, or way covered with a glass roof, which leads to the conservatory and the
Summer room (t).
s, Lobby to the conservatory, communicating with a back room, the forcing-ground, and
a water-closet.
t, Summer room, which may either be a museum, a room for pictures or statues, a room for
reading in, a school-room, or a banqueting-room. On the first-floor are rooms for books
or pictures; and immediately under the roof is a cistern for supplying water to the
bosquet, the conservatory, and the forcing department.
u, Back sheds to the conservatory and potting-shed, and work-rooms for the forcing-ground.
v, Forcing-ground, with two pits, and, at the back, a vinery, peach-house, and house for
pines and grapes.
w, Gardener's house, and two rooms for lodging under-gardeners.
a w, Reserve-ground for the flower-garden and the flower-beds in the bosquet; having, in
the north-east angle, a pigeon-house, or a house for peacocks, to correspond with the
pigeon-house in the drying-ground.
COUNTRY MANsions.
449
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450 THE VILLA GARDENER.
g, Four compartments in the bosquet, one laid out as an ericetum, another as a rosarium, a
third as an American garden, and the fourth as a flower-garden. -
2, The four principal compartments of the bosquet, planted as an arboretum ; the largest
trees being placed adjoining the central walks, and the smallest shrubs bordering the
four side walks. In the ancient style, when there were not above a dozen kinds of trees
and shrubs in cultivation in any garden in Europe, the walks of the bosquet were
bordered by hornbeam or yew hedges, kept regularly clipped ; and the interior of the
compartments was kept full of wood, of the kind most abundant (often of the common
hazel, for the sake of the nuts), but cut so as never to rise higher than the hedges which
bordered the walks, and often cut quite level on the upper surface. Hornbeam was in
most common use for bosquet hedges; but the yew was occasionally employed for the
same purpose, both in France and England; and, in Italy, the phillyrea and the ilex, or
evergreen oak. - . -
1, Boundary fence on the south, east, and west sides of the bosquet, the flower-garden, and
the kitchen-garden, supposed to be a sunk wall, rising 4% ft. above the surface, on the side
next the bosquet, and showing a sloping ditch on the other side, like that of the modern
sunk fence. -
22, Portions of the boundary fence, both of the bosquet and the kitchen-garden, formed
of open iron palisading, in order that spectators within may see along the avenues in the
park. 3 3 3, Commencement of the avenues.
4 44, Terrace walk surrounding the flower-garden, to which there are four descents by
flights of steps. The fountain in the centre may consist of a group of allegorical figures,
which will not only be in harmony with this style of gardening, but will require a smaller
quantity of water, and less elevation of fountain-head, to produce an effect, than where a
single columnar jet is employed. -
5, A covered way, the roof being glazed, with creepers underneath, to correspond with the
veranda (r). Underneath this covered way there are two passages; one to the kitchen
and other under-ground offices (which are all lighted from windows, only half the height
of which is above the level of the platform), and the other up a flight of steps to the
terrace; the object of this last passage being to admit of the master or mistress descending
to the kitchen-court (k), and thence to the poultry-court (i), and to the fruit-room.
banqueting-room, &c., by the most direct mode.
6 6, Situations for sun-dials. - 7 7, Situations for statues.
88, Situations for obelisks.
9, Peach and fig wall, 12 ft. high, with broad border.
10, Conservative wall, 12 ft. high, with a narrow border.
11, Conservative border, for Cape bulbs, in front of the conservatory. - .
12, 12, Holly hedges, 10 ft. high, with stone piers, surmounted by vases, at the doorways,
angles of intersection, &c. For the holly hedges, brick walls may be wholly or partially
Substituted, and covered with fruit-trees or ornamental shrubs.
13 13, Stone piers, surmounted by vases.
Fig. 316. is a slight sketch, showing a bird's-eye view of the whole place.
497. Remarks.-In this design we have purposely omitted a feature common
in the geometrical style; viz., a moat of water round the house, offices, and
gardens; and the reason we have done so is, that we suppose the situation to
be flat in a flat country, and, consequently, that so much stagnant water
would be unwholesome. In many cases, also, a broad straight canal would,
in ancient times, have been carried on from that part of the moat which was
in front of the flower-garden to the boundary of the park; and this also we
have omitted for the same reason. The bosquet, in some cases, would have
had one of its compartments laid out as a labyrinth, which we have not shown,
because we prefer devoting the whole of the bosquet to a collection of trees
and shrubs. We would not, however, omit the labyrinth, not only because it
is one of the features of the style, but because we observe that in those few
places where labyrinths at present exist in England, they are always great
countEY MANSIONS. 451
sources of amusement to 316
the young people who
are allowed to visit the
grounds. Every one who
has been at Hampton
Court will recollect the
labyrinth there, which is
open at all times to all
the world, and is the
source of perpetual
amusement to the pub-
lic. There is also a very
well kept labyrinth at
Chevening, the seat of
Earl Stanhope, where
the grounds have been
laid out by the present
earl, chiefly in the
ancient style, and in
very correct and appro-
priate taste; and where,
with an example worthy
of imitation, they are at
all times open to all the
public. A labyrinth of
hornbeam hedges might
be introduced at w in
fig. 314. in p. 447, instead
of one of the hop-
grounds. The woods
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might be cut into alleys,
stars, and pattes d'oie;
and it would not be in-
consistent with this style,
if the two side avenues
(c c) terminated in obe-
lisks. Directly in front
of the house, in the
boundary row of trees,
or immediately within it,
a column surmounted by
a statue, or an obelisk,
might be placed, as an
object from the house,
and to divert attention from the boundary fence.
498. The park is thrown into compartments by the intersections of the
avenues; but, as no hedges or walls are supposed to exist within it, there is a
free range for animals and sportsmen over the whole. If, however, it should
be desired to make the most of the pasture, by grazing it with cows or sheep,
3.
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2 G 2
452 THE VILLA GARDENER.
the compartments might be separated, in the direction of the lines of trees, by
hurdles, which, joined to the trunks of the trees, and partially concealed by
their heads, would not be in the slightest degree offensive to the eye. In
planting these avenues, there are only a few kinds of trees that could be
employed; such as the oak, elm, beech, sycamore, horse-chestnut, sweet
chestnut, and a few others. Some might prefer planting the whole with the
black Italian poplar, which would produce a splendid effect in ten years after
planting; others might prefer the Lombardy poplar, which would also soon
produce a striking effect, and which would do very little injury to the pasture
below. The young trees should, if possible, be procured from the nurseries
with clear stems, not less than 6 or 8 feet high, and not less than 2 in. in
diameter at the collar. To insure the possession of plants of this size, it may
be advisable to order them a year or more beforehand, or to procure them,
and rear them in a private nursery in the ground, till they are sufficiently
large for planting out. Whichever mode is adopted, it must be borne in
mind that all the trees of the same kind intended for avenues must be of the
same size, and of the same vigour of growth, when planted where they are
finally to remain; and, also, that no more than one kind of tree can be
planted in each avenue. The reasons for these dicta are sufficiently obvious;
viz., to insure uniformity of progress and appearance in every part of each
avenue. For the same reason, the soil, in every part of an intended avenue,
must be trenched, or otherwise prepared, to the same depth; and, by
the addition of manure or compost, rendered everywhere of the same quality.
The trees, after being planted on little hillocks, may be protected in Mr. Law-
rence's manner, already described (p. 265.); or, if it be considered less ex-
pensive, each avenue may be enclosed, by lines of fencing along its exterior
sides. The kitchen-garden will be in strict accordance with the ancient style
if surrounded by a hornbeam, beech, holly, or yew hedge; but stone and
brick walls were also used in this style, and, in modern times, will doubtless
be preferred, on account of the facilities which they afford of growing the
more delicate fruits. No slip is shown round the kitchen-garden, because, in
the plans, the boundary fences are hedges with stone piers; but the introduc-
tion of a regular slip round the walls of the kitchen-garden has nothing in it
inconsistent with the geometrical style, and may therefore be adopted at
pleasure. The compactness of all the garden scenery in the design before us,
and in the geometrical style generally, is attended with some economy in
management, because the whole is more immediately, and at all times, under
the eye of the master, every part being overlooked from the window of the
house; and it may also be more conveniently examined by the female part
of the family and by invalids. r - .
DESIGN XXXII-Kenwood, the Seat of the Earl of Mansfield, at Hamp-
stead. - - - *
499. General observations.—This is, beyond all question, the finest coun-
try residence in the suburbs of London, in point of natural beauty of the
ground and wood, and in point also of the main features of art. The park
may be said to consist of an amphitheatre of hills; the house being situated
on one side, backed by natural oak woods rising behind it, and looking across
a valley, in which there is a piece of water, to other natural woods, also
chiefly of oak, which clothe the opposite hills: and which, combined, give
the name to the place; ken, being derived from kern, the ancient British
COUNTRY MANSIONS. 45
5
Fiew on entering the Gates at Kenwood.
name for an acorn. In consequence of this natural disposition of the grounds,
and of the woods, all exterior objects are excluded; and a stranger walking
round the park would never discover that he was between Hampstead and
Highgate, or even suppose that he was so near London. It is, indeed, diffi-
cult to imagine a more retired or more romantic spot, and yet of such extent,
so near a great metropolis. This impression is felt the moment we enter the
gates, and proceed along the approach, in a hollow between deep banks, ren-
dered dark by overshadowing trees, as shown infig. 317. The impression is
not lessened when we come within sight of the house, a part of the entrance

454
THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
front of which is
represented in fig.
3.18.; or when, pass-
ing through a walk
covered with trellis-
work, in the flower-
garden, to the lawn
front, we look down
the declivity to the
water, at the foot of
the rising woods on
the opposite bank, as
shown in fig. 319.
Kenwood is one of
those places of which
but a very imperfect
idea can be given by
a ground plan, and
little more than some
notion of theinequal-
ities of the surface,
by geometrical sec-
tions of the ground,
and sectional views.
The beauty of the
oak trees, and the
simple and sylvan
grandeur of the
scene, can only be
represented by land-
scapes on atolerably
large scale; or best
of all by a panoramic
view, taken from a
central point in the
lowest part of the
grounds.
500. The ground
plan (fig. 320.) is
taken from a pub-
lished map of the
parish of St. Pancras,
in which the pro-
perty lies, with some
additions, trees, &c.,
from memory. The
sections (figs, 321. to 325.) are also from memory; but the views (figs. 317.
to 319. and figs. 326, to 328.) are faithful copies from nature. The sectional
views are far from doing justice to the beauty of the scenery, but these,
together with the views, may serve to convey to the reader some general ideas

COUNTRY MANSIONS. 455
of the style of beauty which prevails in the grounds at Kenwood. Proceeding
from Hampstead on the road towards Highgate, at the end of Hampstead
Heath, we arrive at the tavern known as the Spaniards (fig. 320, a), where
the Kenwood property commences. Here there is a considerable descent
along the road, while the ground on the right-hand rises gently, and that on
the left falls considerably. At b is a lodge, which leads to the farm offices,
which are in the form of an octagon, and were built from a design given by a
celebrated agriculturist, Marshall. The arable farm lands lie chiefly on the
opposite side of the road. At c is the principal approach to the mansion;
and at d there is another lodge, which may be called that of the Highgate
approach, and also that of the road to the domestic and stable offices. The
following are further details of the plan :-
e, The house. f, the domestic offices. g, The gardener's house.
º, The stable offices. i, The kitchen-garden. º, The flower-garden.

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COUNTRY MANSIONs. 457
3
2
2
3
2
3
London, and come nearer to the magnificent idea of the Duke of Chandos, of having a
straight avenue from Chandos House, in Cavendish-square, to Canons House, near Edge-
ware, than any other that we have heard of.
r. Arablelands occupied as the home farm. s, Grasslands let on lease.
tt, Ponds, supplied from the ponds in the park.
Fig. 322. Section and sectional view on the line A B in the plan, looking
to the north.
Fig. 323. Section and sectional view on the line B A, looking to the
south.


THE WILLA GARDEN.E.R.
Fig. 324. Section and sectional
view on the line C D, looking from
the house.
Fig. 325. Section and sectional
view on the line D.C., looking towards
the house.
501. The house, the kitchen offices,
and the flower-garden, stand on a
nearly level platform, which is gra-
dually united to the rising ground on
the approach side, and terminates on
the lawn front, in a broad terrace
walk, which is carried along the brow
of an artificial slope, slightly indicated
in the plan. This terrace walkis one
of the finest artificial features of
Kenwood. It is 20 ft. wide in front
of the house; and this width is con-
tinued both to the right and left, as
far as the walk remains in a straight
line; it then becomes imperceptibly
narrower, till, in the lowest parts of
the grounds, where it passes the ponds
of water, it is no more than 8 ft.
wide; and it is continued at this
breadth through the woods. In con-
sequence of this terrace walk being
so much above the wire fence which
separates the mown ground from the
pasture ground, the fence is never
seen till we begin to descend the
declivity, when a good impression
having been made by its absence in
front of the house, it is not in the
slightest degree offensive. Indeed
* - we scarcely ever knew a place where,
om the existence of so high a terrace,
there was so slight an appearance of fencing or confinement. But the great
value of Kenwood to a landscape-gardener is the perfect unity of expression
which prevails in the views obtained in every part of the grounds. These views,
though all are equally decided in expression, are of three distinct kinds: first,
the views from the entrance front of the house along the approaches, and those
along the approaches to the entrance front; secondly, the views in the flower-
garden, which is surrounded by trees on every side except that next the
house, and the views in which are, consequently, confined to flowers and
flower-beds; and, thirdly, the views from the lawn front of the house to the
grounds, and from the grounds to the lawn front, in which there are no
flowers to be seen. If it were desired completely to spoil the characteristic
beauty of Kenwood, as far as could be done without removing any of the
trees, the way would be to place beds of flowers along the terrace walk, and


COUNTRY MANSIONS.
459

460 THE WILLA GARDENER,
on each side of that walk, from the commencement of the terrace to the end
of the wood. It argues great good taste in the proprietor that this has not
been done; for nothing can be more natural than for a gardener, who wishes
to make the most of the pleasure-ground, to think of doing so by adding more
flowers. A person must have acquired some feeling for general effect, before
he can fully understand where flowers will be useful, and where they will be
injurious in a scene. Figs. 326. and 327. are views of the grounds from the
terrace walk near the house; and fig. 328. is a view of the house from the
main walk in the bottom, near the water. .
502. When flower-beds may be introduced on the lawn front, and when they
are better omitted.—There are some places where the scenery, as viewed from
the lawn front of the house, has little or no natural expression or character,
and cannot be made to have any by the proprietor, either in consequence of
a flat surface, or of the intervention of other property. There are other
residences, in which the view from the lawn front is so confined, that it
scarcely can be made to form a whole; and some, where, from offensive objects,
the view from the lawn front may be positively disagreeable. In these and
similar cases, that is, wherever there is no marked expression, or an indifferent
or bad expression, flowers and flower-beds may be introduced in the fore-
ground of the lawn front. On the other hand, wherever the view from the
lawn front has a decidedly marked expression that is agreeable, whether by its
grandeur, its picturesque beauty, or its peaceful rusticity, flowers in the fore-
ground ought to be avoided. As examples of what may be called grand views
from the lawn front, we may mention Syon House, in the neighbourhood of
London; and, if we recollect the situation correctly, Dreghorn Castle, in the
neighbourhood of Edinburgh. As an example of picturesque beauty, none
that we know of, in Britain, can be compared to Redleaf, the seat of the late
William Wells, Esq.; and, as an example of peaceful sylvan beauty, nothing
can surpass Kenwood. There are many places in the neighbourhood of
London in which flower-beds are placed immediately under the drawing-room
windows, where they would be much better omitted; and others, where, though
they may not be required, and are not introduced, they might be so without
destroying any expression better than that which they would give; but, on
the contrary, creating an interest, which could not be given by any other
means. Bedford Lodge, Camden-hill, may be referred to as an example of
the use of beds of flowers on a small scale; and Chevening, in Kent, as a
similar example of their judicious employment on a large one. It may be
laid down as a general principle, that it is always more or less dangerous to
introduce flowers in the foreground, when there is an extensive distance as a
termination to the view; and, on the contrary, that where there is little or no
distance, and a view limited in extent, flowers may generally be safely intro-
duced. To avoid error in these and other similar matters, a person must either
have studied the subject so far as to be able to exercise his reason on it, or he
must have a natural feeling or taste for the beautiful in landscape. These
remarks will not be without their use, if they induce persons to think before
they introduce flowers into particular parts of pleasure-grounds where no
flowers have been before; and to examine whether flower-beds already exist-
ing might not be better removed. It has often struck us with surprise, that
the proprietors of the finest residences in England, noblemen and gentlemen
of high education and refined taste in other things, possessing collections of
-COUNTRY MANSION3- 461

462 THE WILLA GARDENER.
the finest pictures, and whose eyes must consequently be familiar with all
that is noble and beautiful in landscape, should yet commit the laying out of
their grounds to their gardeners; or, at all events, permit them to make altera-
tions and additions in whatever relates to flower-beds, flowering shrubs, and
rockwork; forgetting that the life of the gardener has been devoted to the
study of the culture of plants; and not to that of the composition of forms,
and their effect in landscape seenery. Hence it is that many of the most
beautiful places in England are at this moment disfigured by flower-beds,
either placed where there ought to be none, or put down of such shapes, and
in such a manner, as neither to form a whole among themselves, nor with the
other objects near them. How rarely do we find pieces of rockwork, or rocky
cascades, in England, which a man who had profited by the study of pictures
could take pleasure in looking at? It is clear to us, that the possessors of
pictures in general derive very little benefit from them, as regards the improve-
ment of their taste in landscape. How few landed proprietors can, like the
late Sir Uvedale Price, and the late William Wells, Esq., of Redleaf, trans-
fuse the spirit of the finest landscape into the artificial scenery which they
create in their grounds? Many country gentlemen are in the habit of having
artists at their houses, to take portraits, views, &c.; and these being, in many
instances, the guests of the family for weeks together, we often wonder how
it happens that they do not point out the grosser errors of want of connection
and unity of expression, with which they must so frequently be shocked in
passing through flower-beds and pleasure-grounds; but we suppose that
gentlemen do not think of asking the opinion of a landscape-painter on any
point connected with gardening; forgetting that the composition of forms is
the business of the landscape-painter, and that his eye has been educated by
a long course of study and observation, so that he can detect what is right or
wrong at a single glance. There are some proprietors who have studied the
subject themselves, or who, fortunately knowing their own ignorance of it,
have had the wisdom to consult such artists as Gilpin, Nesfield, &c.; and we
only wish that those who do without such aid could see their places as they
are seen by men of real taste. To return to the subject of flowers and flower-
beds, we may remark that the flower-garden at Kenwood is the only defective
part of the place. It is maturally shaded and confined by a lofty lime-tree
avenue on the one hand, and by a rising hill of oak wood on the other; and
the area of the garden contains by far too many small trees and shrubs among
the flowers: in consequence of this, the turf is almost always damp on the
surface; and the flowers come up with slender and etiolated stems, and pale
colours. Most of the flower-beds, also, are too large; and they do not com-
bine so as to form a whole. Were it ours, we should clear the whole area,
and lay out a new combination of figures, chiefly along the centre, planting
them solely with flowers, and keeping between them and the boundary abroad
margin of turf, so as to insure that airiness, dryness, and sunshine, which are
at present-so much wanted. . . . .
503. The variety of trees and shrubs in the grounds at Kenwood is not very
great; nor is it desirable that it should be so, except in the more secluded
parts of the place, where they would not interfere with the general effect.
Adjoining the flower-garden, and bordering a walk which leads from it to the
dairy and farm, a number of new species of ligneous plants have recently
been introduced, and a small pinetum planted. This walk, from the botanical
COUNTRY MANsions. 463
328
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464 THE WILLA GARDENER.
*
variety which it exhibits, forms an agreeable contrast to the main walk on
the lawn front of the mansion, though along that walk, also, there are a few
very fine specimens of foreign trees and shrubs. Of some of these; such as
a cedar of Lebanon, which, in 1836, was 90 ft. high, and which was planted
by the celebrated Judge Mansfield, with his own hands, about ninety years
before; a larch of the same age and size; and a Robinia Pseud-Acacia; we
have, with the permission of the present earl, given portraits in our Arboretum
Britannicum. The oak woods, which are probably the oldest about London,
are remarkable for being composed almost entirely of Quércus sessiliflóra.
504. The farm and farmery are conducted in the Scotch manner, under a
Scotch bailiff, who raises admirable crops of turnips, potatoes, and clover, the
soil being a deep sandy loam. Lupinus polyphyllus has been tried here, as
an herbage plant, with success. •
505. Remarks.--Kenwood, being at no season of the year shown to strangers,
we regret to think that so few of our readers will have an opportunity of study-
ing there the effect of unity of expression in landscape, and of feeling the
powerful impression made by scenery so decidedly simple, rural, and sylvan,
in the immediate neighbourhood of London. The contrast is powerfully felt,
not only between this place and a crowded city, but between it and the extreme
artificialness of most other suburban residences. Gardeners, however, can
always visit gardeners, and they may profit from perusing these remarks, and
comparing them with the impression made on them by a visit to Mr. Cock-
burn, the gardener at Kenwood. One grand cause of the beauty of Kenwood,
though it is one that scarcely admits of imitation, consists in the prevalence
in it of natural oak woods, and the manner in which they are displayed by
the hilly and undulating surface of the ground. The same extent of wood on
a flat surface could never have presented more than a side view to the eye of
a spectator walking through the grounds; and the beauty of the individual
trees in the interior of the wood must, consequently, have been entirely lost.
Whether a wood on a flat surface were a mere strip, or a mile in depth, the
effect to a stranger would be the same; but in the amphitheatre at Kenwood,
the trees are raised one above another, they are in no part crowded together,
and not only display great extent of wood as a whole, but a degree of grandeur
and beauty in the individual trees, which they could not exhibit on any other
character of surface. Hence the impossibility of conveying an equal expres-
sion of naturalness and sylvan grandeur in any place of smaller extent, or in
any place (whether large or small) having a flat surface. Another feature of
great interest connected with the woods of Kenwood is, that they form part
of the natural forest, which in by-gone ages surrounded London, and which
the progress of civilization has gradually cleared away; many of the trees
are of the British Chestnut Oak (Quércus sessiliflóra), which is now seldom
found growing in a wild state in Great Britain, the common British oak
having nearly superseded it. . .
§
465
BOOK III.
P L A N T - H O U S E S.
506. Houses for the protection of plants are of various kinds; some merely
useful, and others useful and ornamental; some for plants from climates only
a little warmer than our own, and which, consequently, require no means of
heating, as they are only necessary to protect the plants they contain from
severe frosts, and from the excessive damps of our climate; others, which re-
quire to give a little warmth, as well as shelter, to the plants placed in them;
and others, which are intended for the plants of tropical climates, which must
be provided with the means of equalling the heat and moisture of climates of
that kind. In the present work, attention will be principally paid to those
houses which are intended for ornamental plants, as the houses for growing
and forcing fruits have been already amply described in the twin work called
The Horticulturist.
SECTION I.
Us EFU L P L ANT-Ho Us Es.
507. The merely useful plant-houses described and treated of in the present
work, will be only those which are required for propagating greenhouse plants,
and keeping them through the winter; those used for the plants of very hot
climates being considered partly useful and partly ornamental. The plant-
houses used in floriculture, which are merely for use, not ornament, are prin-
cipally pits, or low greenhouses; but this division also includes rough frames
for protecting walls and trellises in severe weather, which are removed in
SUIIlmer.
508. Protected trellises are chiefly used for growing peaches and nectarines,
but they may be applied to ornamental plants, or a conservative wall. The plants
are “planted in a slanting position, and trained to a trellis 12 ft. wide, about
2 ft. 6 in. from the ground at the back, and 1 ft. in front;” strong posts are
inserted in the ground, one beyond the trellis, both in front and behind, and
on these posts is nailed a frame to receive the lights; the posts and the frame
being of rough wood, sawn at the Brentford Saw-mills. The details are
given at length in the Appendix to Rivers's Miniature Fruit Garden, but the
plan is not new having been practised many years ago at Hylands, Strath-
fieldsaye, and many other places; the only new features in Mr. Rivers's plan
being the employment of rough wood, and rough plate glass, in panes 2 ft.
long, and 1 ft. wide; whereas, at Hylands and Strathfieldsaye, the frames and
trellis were not at all unsightly, and the glass the same as that in ordinary
2 H
466 THE VILLA GARDENER.
use in hot-houses, when we saw them in 1831, when the frames in question were
in full employment at both places. -
509. Protected walls are of various kinds, some being protected by
canvas curtains, and some by moveable glass frames.
510. Conservative wall protected by curtains. Fig. 329, shows part of a wall
of this kind at Chatsworth, which has been found to answer extremely well.
329
It is divided into panels, about 27 ft. in length, and 18 ft. in height, rising
one above another, and divided by stone piers. The wall is flued, and covered
with a wooden trellis. It has a coping, which projects about 1 ft. in front,
with rods under it, on which the rings of the curtains run. Each panel
has a separate rod with two curtains, which open in the middle, and draw
back like window-curtains in the day, but are closed at night. The cur-
tains are of stout hempen cloth; and in order to provide for the contrac-
tion and expansion in wet and dry weather, and also to keep the curtains close
together, the lower edge of the curtain is furnished with rings, which are put
over hooks fixed on the edge of a board, which lies flat on the border, at the
distance of 13% in. from the wall. The outer edge of this board, which is
113 in. wide, is hinged to a rail 4; in. broad, which is made fast to stakes
driven into the ground, and sawn off level with the surface. In consequence
of this arrangement, when the wet weather contracts the curtains, instead of
shrinking up, and exposing a part of the wall to the weather, it merely lifts
up the inner edge of the board, which sinks down to its place again with the
return of dry weather. The edges of the curtain, next the piers, are made
fast to slips of wood fixed to the wall, and the edges where the curtains join
in the middle, overlap each other, and are tied or buttoned together, if the
weather is severe. Fig. 329. is an elevation of part of the wall, showing the
piers (the one rising higher than the other, as the wall ascends a sloping sur-
face), and the curtains drawn aside,
Fig. 330. is a ground plan of the same portion of the wall; in which a is
the dug border; b, the rising and falling board; c, fixed boards opposite

PLANT-HOUSES,
330
the piers; d, a border of turf; e, a gravel walk, 6 ft. wide; and f, the
lawn.
Fig. 331. is a section of the wall, the wooden coping, the
curtain, and the rising and falling board.
Fig. 332. is a section of the lower part of the wall, the
rising and falling board, and the ground-rail to which it is
hinged, on a larger scale. A list of plants for a wall of this
description, will be given in the after part of this work.
511. Conservative wall, protected by glass.—A specimen of
a wall of this kind is shown in figs. 65. and 66., in p.
138. and p. 140, which existed, and was found to answer
perfectly for upwards of fifteen years, in the garden of Mr.
Loudon's house, Porchester-terrace, Bayswater. The appear-
ance of this glass-case is shown in the section, jig. 65 at a.
The wall was flued, and the glass sashes were fixed in a wooden
frame at an angle of about 45°. The wooden frame, resting
its upper part against the flued wall, and its lower part being
supported by another brick wall, about 18 in. high, about
3 ft. from the main wall. The frame was divided into
compartments, and the glass sashes pushed along a groove in
the lower part of the frame, when it was wished to open them. The sashes
were removed altogether in summer.



468 THE, WILLA GARDENER.
333
Fig. 333. shows a moveable glass-case, applied to only part of a wall to
protect some particular plants.
512. In all country villas and mansions it is necessary to raise a great many
young plants of pelangoniums, calceolarias, verbenas, &c., every year, to
supply the place of those which are bedded out, and left in the open ground
till they are killed by the frost. The most common mode of raising these
plants, is to make an immense number of cuttings in the latter end of August,
and the beginning of September, and to plant them in what are called store-
pots, or pans, sometimes as many as fifty or sixty in a pot. These pots are
then placed in what are called cold pits, because no heating apparatus is
required for them, where they are kept till spring. It is, therefore, evident
that these cold pits are the most useful of all structures to the flower-gar-
dener; particularly as the same wooden frames and glasses which have served
for the cold pits during winter may, if not fixed with mortar on the walls of
the pit, serve, after the store-pots a; taken out of them in spring, as frames
for hotbeds. -
513. A cold pit is formed 334
of brickwork, about 3ft. -
high behind, and 2 ft. in - %
front. The foundation walls º
are 9 in. thick, and those tº d
above ground 4 in. thick. i -
The section of a pit of º t ſ ſ 3 ft,
these dimensions, is shown º e tº
in fig. 334. On the brick- º
work rests a frame of wood, º º
divided into compartments, Sº N º
so as to hold one sash or
light in each, and grooved
so as to allow the sashes to slide up and down. The pit may have any number
of lights required, but the usual number is four, as shown in fig. 335. One
of the lights is shown in fig. 336., which is glazed with panes of glass 2 ft. 6 in.
long, by 9 in. wide. Each light has a handle at the upper end, to open or shut
it when required. Sometimes the walls of the pit are made hollow; as it is
found that the stratum of air enclosed between the two walls, is more effica-

| PLANT-HOUSES, - 469
335 -
t 1/0 ft.
cious to keep out the cold than any mats. Sometimes merely a bottomless
box of wood is used, like the wooden frame of the cold pits already described,
but only for one or
two lights. This box
is set on the ground,
and the frost is pre-
vented from pene-
trating through the
woodwork, by sur-.
rounding it with
dead leaves, straw,
litter, or even earth.
Figs. 337. and 338.
show a cold pit of
somewhat larger di-
mensions, made with
a span roof in order
to give room for
camellias, and other
N
2-SS.
W. NS
N
N
N




470 - THE WILLA GARDENER,
similar shrubs to be kept in the centre. For
this pit, it may be as well to use Hartley's patent
rough glass, which is generally thought best in
panes 18 in. long, and 9 in. broad, as it does
not require shading; and the camellias and
other similar plants are apt to have their leaves
scorched if exposed to a very strong light. No
means of heating these pits is shown, as, indeed,
none is required; for when the pit is filled with
the store pots the glass at the top is covered
with mats, during severe weather, and the frost is effectually kept out.
514. Hot-beds for raising seeds, and striking some kinds of cuttings, are
generally found in bottomless wooden frames, with one or two lights. As
however fresh manure would be too strong for raising most ornamental flower-
ing plants, beds that have been used for cucumbers or melons are generally
chosen, after the fruit has been gathered, and the plants have been taken up
and thrown away. The bed is then stirred up, and perhaps a layer of fresh
soil, about 6 in. thick, is laid over the surface. In this the seeds may be sown,
or the cuttings planted; or the seeds or cuttings may be put in pots, and these
pots may be plunged in the bed.
515. A greenhouse or pit, which will serve as a geranium-house, or heath-
house for holding the pots into which the young plants raised from cuttings
of geraniums, &c., have been put in spring, may be formed as shown in figs.
339. and 340. Fig. 339. shows the elevation of a small span-roofed green-
house or pit, in which a a are air-flues, covered with plain tiles, and b, tiles
covered with sand, to receive the plants. Fig. 340. shows the plan of the
same pit, in wich c c are small gratings to admit the air, and yet exclude the
vermin; and d d are brick pillars to receive the tiles. This pit is admirably
calculated for keeping the hardier species of greenhouse plants which are
intended for bedding out, from the method of admitting air at the bottom, by
which they are gradually hardened, and the ease with which the lights are
taken off when more air is required, they being only hung on with hooks-and-
eyes. There is also an ingenious way of covering the lights with mats, in
severe weather. The mats are fastened at one end to the ridge of the roof,


PLANT-HOUSES- 471
340
and at the other to a roller, the whole length of the pit; by which the mats
are readily run down over the lights, and kept down without any fastening by
T 341
the weight of the rollers. They are also useful for shading, unless the rough
glass is used in glazing, in which case no shading is required. This house
is very suitable for heaths.
342



472 THE VILLA GARDENER.
516. A small greenhouse, for young plants which are to be bedded out, may
be attached to a gardener's cottage, as was the case at Mrs. Lawrence's villa
at Drayton Green, and, as is shown in fig. 341., for the convenience of the
gardener attending to the plants at his leisure hours; the house shown is of
the simplest description, and it is warmed by the fireplace of the living-room
of the cottage. In this house there may be troughs filled with sand, and
heated by hot water pipes, or smoke flues passing under them, which will serve
instead of hot beds for striking cuttings; the pots containing the cuttings
being plunged into the heated sand.
517. A greenhouse, with a stove attached, is shown in figs. 342, and 343.
The house has a ridge and furrow roof, and fig. 342, is a cross section through
the middle of one of the ridges of the roof, in which are shown at ; the
oblique direction of the sash bars between the ridge and the furrow, and the
343
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PLANT-BIOUSES, 473
panes of glass put in at right angles to the bars at k. There are openings
under each ridge, in the back wall, and also in front, for ventilation.
Fig. 343. is a ground plan of a portion of this house, showing the entrance
at a ; a partition, by which a part of the house may be treated as a stove,
b b; the hot water pipes, c c : the stage for greenhouse plants, d; cistern for
water in the stove division, e : and box for Mūsa Cavendíshii, f. The cistern
and the box are formed of slabs of slate, held together by iron bolts, which
pass through the two opposite plates, and are made fast with screws and
nuts: h, g, h, show a vertical profile of part of a ridge on a large scale, in
which g is the ridge piece, or crown of the ridge; and h h the gutters or
furrows. The width of these ridges, from furrow to furrow, is about 6 ft. ;
and the height, from the level of the furrow to the crown of the ridge, is
about 3 ft.
SECTION II.
ORNAMENTAL, PLANT-HOUSES.
518. Ornamental structures for containing plants are of various kinds, and
of every size, from the little plant cabinet to the large conservatory or winter
garden. Some of these plant-houses are not provided with any means of
heating; others may easily be warmed moderately; and others are regular
hothouses or stoves, supplied with abundance of artificial heat, so as to imitate
the hottest climate of the tropics. In the present work the designs given
will be chiefly of rather small houses, which can be erected and kept up at a
moderate expense; and only one or two of a costly description will be
admitted.
SUBSECT. I.-Plant Cabinets.
519. Plant cabinets are the most common of all the kinds of greenhouse;
and they are generally considered more as ornamental appendages to houses,
than as places for rearing or keeping plants. In fact, the plants they contain
are generally grown and kept in some other place till they are ready to flower.
A plant cabinet may be described as a small chamber, built on the outside of
a town house or suburban villa, and constructed principally of iron, brick, or
wood, but having a glazed roof, and frequently glazed sides. It is generally
entered by a glazed door or window from the staircase or landing. As it is
chiefly intended for preserving plants which have been brought forward else-
where, it is of no great consequence whether it is placed against the north,
west, or east side of a house; though the south and south-east sides are
doubtless the most favourable, and the north-east the least so. In street
houses, it is often very conveniently projected from a staircase window, either
on the drawing-room floor, or the floor above. In other cases, it is sometimes
joined to the back parlour, which is made to open into it; or it is placed over
the entrance porch; and, occasionally, it forms a projection, supported on
pillars, from the back drawing-room, Fig. 344. shows the elevation; fig. 345.
the section; and fig. 346, the ground plan of a plant cabinet of the simplest
kind, attached to one of the houses in the Palace Gardens, Kensington. In
jig. 346. a shows the entrance from the drawing-room, and b a flight of steps
474 THE WILLA GARDENER.
344 - 345
leading to the garden; c is a large camellia in the centre ; and d d are
shelves for pots. Very commonly a plant cabinet is formed on the flat roofs
of some attached out-buildings, such as a back kitchen, washhouse, or rubbish
place. In short, there is no situation where there is a door or a window in
the house, and where perpendicular light is obtainable outside, in which a
plant cabinet may not be formed. However irregular the plan may be in
point of outline, and however uneven the roof or roofs which are to form the
floor, the situation is still eligible for a plant cabinet, or a small greenhouse;
on the same principle as an irregular piece of ground is for laying out a flower-
garden in the picturesque manner. In the plant cabinet, as in the flower-
garden, the whole depends on the contrivances for displaying the flowers.
The great art in arranging an irregular plant cabinet consists in the disposi-
tion of wires and rods, in the form of trelliswork, arches, and arcades, for
climbers; and of imitations of rockwork, banks, or benches of stones, for
receiving bushy or creeping plants in pots, such as pelargoniums, mesembry-
anthemums, &c. The rockwork, banks, benches, &c., may be made of bricks
and cement, stained or dashed with paint in such a manner as to represent
different kinds of stone or spars; or natural crystallisations of different kinds
may be procured. The smallest, the most irregular, and apparently the most
unfitting situation for a plant cabinet may be rendered interesting by means
of climbers on perpendicular props, no matter how irregularly placed, plants
rising from groups of rockwork on the floor, and trailing plants suspended in
pots or baskets from the ceiling. In some cases, the effect of a picturesque
grove of climbers of this kind may be heightened by the introduction of a
little stained glass in the roof; but this ought to be used most sparingly, and
not in a larger portion in one place than a star a couple of inches in diameter,
half a dozen of which will suffice for the roof of a plant cabinet containing
upwards of 100 square feet of glass. In the evenings, on particular occasions,
two or three coloured lamps may be introduced; but these, also, should be
used very sparingly. Whatever attracts more attention than the plants should
be avoided, as interfering with the main object of the structure.
520. Wherever the plant cabinet is placed, and in whatever manner it may
communicate with the house, one point only in its construction is absolute;
which is, that it should be at least as lofty, from the floor to the glass of the
roof, as the living-rooms of the house. When this is not the case, it has an
appearance of meanness, which, instead of an elegant ornament, renders it
rather a disagreeable excrescence. The form of the ground plan must, of
course, be in a great measure determined by the situation; but, in general, a
parallelogram, placed with its narrow end to the house, will have the best

PLANT-EIOUSES. 475
effect. One side and the roof should, at all events, be glazed; but, if both
sides be glazed, the effect is much better than if one is opaque; provided,
however, that the roof is glazed, and the width of the house is as great as its
height, or nearly so. Fig. 347. --
shows the ground plan, and 347
fig. 348, the side elevation of -
a plant cabinet of this descrip-
tion; and fig. 349, shows the
elevation of the end, with steps
leading down to the garden.
In fig. 347. there is a bed in
the centre for planting camel-
lias, and there are holes left in
the wall at a for the admission
of vines or other climbing
plants, the roots of which are to be in a bed outside the house. Plants will
thrive in a house with all its sides opaque; it being understood that the
house is as wide as the side walls are high, and that the plants are placed on
348 - 349
a stage, or on the floor, so that the light may fall in direct lines on the upper
surface of their leaves. The sides, when of glass, may be framed and glazed
in any mode considered as in character with the windows of the house; and
the roof may be glazed like a common span-roofed hothouse : but, if the panes
of glass are above 8 in. wide, they ought to be of extra-thick crown glass, or
of the thick rough glass, such as is now sold in London for conservatories; or
of plate glass. One or more sashes in the side or sides, or one sash in the
farther end, ought to be made to open at top and bottom, for the sake of
ventilation; but this may be accomplished without having the sashes hung
with cords and pulleys, by having two narrow sashes made to slide past each
other, or even by having a pane in the upper and lower part of each window
to open. In general, all hinged sashes or panes should open outwards;
because then they are not in the way of the plants within.
521. Where a plant cabinet faces the north, and the situation is much ex-
posed to north winds, it would be very desirable if the glazed sides and roof
were made double. This construction would retain the heat much better in
the winter time; and during summer the inner sashes might be taken away
altogether, and used for growing cucumbers or melons in the garden or yard
behind the house, or, if there were no room there, on the roof, if that were


476 THE VILLA GARDENER.
suitable. In the case of plant cabinets facing the north, where the expense
of the double-glazed roof and sides is considered too great, arrangements
should be made for forming a temporary inner roof of matting or canvass,
for the purpose of retaining the heat during the night, and even some-
times during the day in severe weather. An inner covering of matting or
canvass, at 6 or 8 inches distance from the glass, is always much more
powerful in retaining heat, than if the same covering had been placed out-
side the glass; because in the inside it is kept dry, whereas on the out-
side it will be liable to become saturated with wet ; and in that state it
would carry off much more heat by evaporation, than can possibly take
place from water running down the smooth surface of the glass. There is
another reason against all outside coverings except those of boards, which is,
that they are apt to be deranged, and to break the glass during high winds.
The inside covering may be made to roll up like a window-blind, and it
may rest on iron rods, placed parallel to the roof and to the sides, and
about 8 in. distant from them. In many cases, shutters may be contrived for
the roof, and put on from an upper window; and this covering, when the
weather is extremely severe, may be left on for two or three days at a time;
it being understood that light is freely admitted from the sides. Provided
that the roof of a greenhouse is securely protected from perpendicular cold,
as it is called, a covering for the sides is comparatively of little importance.
We may add that, among nurserymen and commercial gardeners, a substitute
for these different coverings is found in tying or nailing bast mats to the
trellis or rafters of the roof and sides, inside the house; and, as such cover-
ings are seldom wanted above a month or two in the year, during the depth
of winter, it is hardly worth while going to the expense of having them made
of canvass for the inside, or of boards for the outside. -
522. The placing of the plants in the interior of a plant cabinet should vary
according to the size of the cabinet and its situation. Where the cabinet is
10 ft. or 12 ft. wide, and of an equal or greater length, a narrow stage in the
middle, with a shelf a foot broad round thesides, will display the plants to
the greatest advantage; but this supposes that there is nothing disagreeable
in the exterior scenery, which will be seen through the side windows. Where
it is not desirable that the external objects should be seen, the stage, instead
of being in the middle, should be ranged along the sides and the farther end,
and in that case no more of the sides require to be glazed than what is above
the highest shelf of the stage. As the main object is to display the plants
to the spectator within, and as, when placed in close ranks on a stage, such
plants can only be seen on one side, the admission of light to their other side,
as it would chiefly strike the under sides of the leaves, is comparatively of
little use; and hence, that portion of the side and end walls which is under
the level of the top shelf of the side and end stages may always be con-
structed of opaque materials, such as brick, lath and plaster, &c., which will
be a considerable saving in first cost. In general, wherever there are objects
exterior to the plant cabinet which it is not desirable to see, the stage should
be placed against the side walls and the further end; but, where there is
abundance of light on every side, and nothing without to conceal, the best
effect to the eye will be produced by bringing the glass down to the ground on
every side and the farther end, and by having the stage in the centre.
523. The mode of heating a plant cabinet is sometimes a matter of difficulty,
PLANT-HOUSES. 477
on account of the small space to be heated, and the large surface exposed to
the external air. We have already mentioned the practicability of heating
such places from the kitchen fire, or from a fire or boiler placed in another
story; and suggested, at the same time, that the necessary pressure on the
boilers, or the tubes, rendered this mode of heating by no means advisable.
It is also a fact, that in some places sufficient warmth may be given to the
plant cabinet by opening the door of the sitting-room communicating with it
the last thing before the family retire to bed, and leaving it open all night.
On the whole, we are of opinion that the best mode of heating plant cabinets,
or small green-houses attached to dwellings, is by some source of heat on
their own level; and not from any source either above or below. If no flue
has been built in the wall of the house suitable for carrying off the smoke
from any stove or fireplace made in the plant cabinet, a tube of cast or sheet
iron, or of earthenware, may be partially sunk into the outer face of the wall
of the house; and disguised by a projection so designed as to be consistent
with the architectural character and effect of the elevation. In some places,
tubing of this sort may be placed against the wall, and covered with an
architectural case of boards, metal, or slates, painted in imitation of stone;
and sometimes these projections admit of being disguised by common ivy, or
the Virginian creeper. At all events, no architect of the slightest degree of
ingenuity will be at a loss to discover the proper situation for a circular flue
of 3 in. in diameter; and no builder who has any regard either for appear-
ances, or the free ascent of the smoke, in such a flue, will ever put it up with-
out a casing to give it architectural effect, and to serve as a nonconductor,
and thus to preserve what may be called a lining of heat round it, to favour
the ascent of the smoke. The situation for the flue having been fixed on,
the next thing is to determine the mode of heating; and this, we are of
opinion, ought, in most cases of small plant cabinets, to be by a hot-water
stove placed within the cabinet, and heated by a register fire-pot within, like
that of Dr. Arnott. The fuel used may be coke on ordinary occasions;
anthracite when a greater heat was wanted; and, perhaps, charcoal in the
most severe winter nights, when the heat required was very considerable. A
stove of this kind, properly constructed, may be kept burning night and day,
regulating the admission of air to the fire according to the heat required. For
this purpose, the stove may either have a hand regulator, as in the imitations
of Dr. Arnott's stoves, a thermometer one being unnecessary; or, in order to
insure a draught, the air may be brought to the stove by a leaden pipe of 1 in.
in diameter within, from a lower level, either immediately under the house,
or from the open air; or from any place from which it is desirable to extract
the air for the purpose of ventilation. In all these cases, the air admitted to
the fire may be regulated by a common stopcock, like that in use for common
water-pipes. We think it not unlikely that the smoke, or products of com-
bustion, where the kind of fuel we have recommended is used, might be con-
veyed away in a horizontal direction, or perhaps even downwards to a drain,
in a tube of not more than double the diameter of that used for supplying air to
the fire; but, never having seen this mode put in practice, we cannot venture
to recommend it. We have seen the common smoke-flues of hothouses dis-
charge their smoke horizontally, but it is always attended with a waste of
heat. -
524. Heating with hot-water.—The mode in which water is heated by a
478 THE WILLA GARDENER,
small stove is now so well known to ironmongers, that it seems scarcely neces-
sary to describe it. Supposing the fire-pot, or fireplace, surrounded by fire-
brick, to occupy a cubic foot in the centre; then enclose this on three sides
and over the top with a square or circular double cylinder, water-tight. The
side not cased with water must contain the furnace door for supplying fuel,
the ash-pit door for withdrawing the ashes, and an opening immediately under
the top, or cover, for the insertion of the tube to convey away the smoke. On
any of the three sides cased with water two tubes must be joined, one at the
bottom, and the other at the top; and these may be conducted on a level to
any distance from the stove that may be desirable, being joined at the farther
extremity, either by a vertical tube, or by the ends of the horizontal tubes
being inserted into an open cistern. This being done, and the fire lighted, the
circulation will go on in consequence of the difference in specific gravity
between cold water and hot water.
525. A very simple apparatus of this kind is shown in the section, fig. 350. :
a is the fire-pot; b is the furnace door; c, the ash-pit door; d, the situation
350


(I,
/3 sº- /l
*— IT II
of the pipe which supplies air; e, the nozzle to which the smoke-pipe is
attached, and which may be turned in any direction, except downwards, that
may be suitable to the situation; ff, the casing of water which surrounds the
boiler; g, the upper pipe; h, the under pipe; and i, the cistern which forms
the junction between both pipes at the farther extremity. Stoves and pipes
of this description may be placed under the stage of plants, so as to be com-
pletely concealed from the eye; a portion of the stage being made to separate
from the rest, and to draw out, so as to admit the attendant to supply fuel, &c.
In order to save time, and to look well by never requiring the plants to be
taken off the shelves, the moveable portion of the stage may be on casters
and small wheels, the latter running in grooves as far as the area of the stage
extends, and the casters serving to make it run easily on the paths where the
grooves would be unsightly. In plant cabinets where there is no stage the
pipes may be concealed by rockwork, or by some other suitable contrivance;
or the casing of water may be enlarged, so as to form a reservoir of heat suffi-
cient for the demands of the house, without any pipes. In some cases, the
stove and reservoir of water might be covered with a small stage of plants,
with rockwork, with sculpture, or with statuary; or the stove might be ren-
dered ornamental in its form, so as to be regarded as a handsome piece of
furniture: but this last plan would, we think, render the plant cabinet too
much like a living-room.
FILANT-BIOUSES, 479
526. A portable hot-water apparatus for plant cabinets is shown in fig.
351., which was invented by Mr. Joshua Major of Knowstrop, near Leeds.
351 i
-º-Hi d
º |†
s
º
...'
ºut
===
#
|
º
º
º
|
º
This apparatus may be made of tin or copper; the latter, though more expen-
sive at first, being from its durability much the cheaper in the end. Charcoal
is employed as fuel for this apparatus: oil lamps and gas have been tried
instead of charcoal, but with not nearly so powerful an effect. When charcoal
is used, it is necessary to employ pipes to conduct the effluvium arising from
it out of the place to be warmed; and it will be advisable, in order to abstract
all the heat possible from this smoke-pipe before it reaches the outside of the
house, to have it of a considerable length. In order to render the smoke-
tubes suitable for any situation, it is necessary to have elbow pipes, like those
used for turning corners, and several lengths of straight pipes, by means of
which the piping may be lengthened, and turned in any direction that may
be required. The largest-sized apparatus should not be more than 8 ft. long;
as, if longer, it would be inconvenient to move about. The size of the one
which Mr. Major found the most useful is as follows:—The whole height of
the centre portion of the apparatus, comprising the boiler, &c., is 15 in., and
the width 54 in. by 7% in. ; the fire-pan is 5% in. by 4% in., and 3% in. deep;
surrounded on three sides by a boiler, in the form of a casing, half an inch in
diameter, which becomes more spacious upwards, as the fireplace diminishes.
The opening necessary for the reception of the fire-pan, and for supplying it
with fuel, is 6in. wide by 5% in. deep. At the top of this opening the fire-
place begins to taper, and, consequently, the water in the boiler expands
more immediately over the fire; the smoke-pipe takes its regular width
(1% in.) in the boiler, about an inch below where the lid unites; the hori-
zontal water pipes (fig. 325. a) are each 28 in. long, by 2 in. in diameter; the
end pipes (b) are 144 in. high, by 3 in. in diameter; a feeder (c) is added, in
case it should be thought better to have the lid fixed tight on the boiler. In
order to promote the circulation of the water, small holes are to be perforated
in the top of the lids (dd), which are also intended to be fixed tight. The


















480 - THE WILLA GARDENER.
apparatus may either be placed on the floor of the house to be warmed, or
raised by bearers, or suspended by wire or cord; the two latter methods
making the fire to burn more freely.
527. A mode of heating employed at Strathfieldsaye, is shown in fig. 352.
The apparatus consists of a stove (originally Dr. Arnott's) and two copper
cylinders. The stove con-
tains two copper boilers 1 ft. 352
deep, and 3 in. wide, which
form the fire-box of the
stove, out of which the
boiling-water flows by the
top pipe into the cylinder,
and returns by the lower
pipe into the bottom of the
boiler. The cylinders have
each thirty tubes, one inch
in diameter, extending
through their whole length,
and among which the water
flows; so that the stove and
the two cylinders all radiate
heat equal to their surfaces,
and warm the air that
passes between them. The
stove is 18 in. square, and 3 ft. 9 in. high, including the ornamental cap at
the top, which is four inches deep. The cylinders are 18 in. in diameter,
and the same height as the stove. The apparatus consumes a bushel of coke
every day, half being given in the morning, and half at night. The water is
given through a covered valve near the top of each cylinder, as shown in the
figure. There is a small pipe for evaporation at the back of each cylinder.
The ornamental caps are moveable, and conceal the tubes of the cylinder, and
the feed-hole of the stove. The smoke escapes by a tube at the back of the
stove, communicating with a flue built in the wall. The apparatus has a
very neat appearance, and two of them are found sufficient to heat a con-
servatory 67 ft. long, 27 ft. wide, and 21 ft. high, so as to preserve the plants
from injury by cold or damp. For other modes of heating, see Loudon's
Horticulturist, p. 194 to p. 218, where the subject will be found fully
discussed.
528. Plant cabinet heated by hot water.—Fig. 353. is a plan, and fig. 354. a
cross section, of a plant cabinet, in which the stage is placed along the sides
and against one end. The stove for heating it is placed at a, from which hot
water pipes proceed to the right and left under the side stages; the two
shelves, b b and c c being for the purpose of concealing these pipes. The
stove is concealed by the portion of the stage d, which is on casters, and
draws out with the pots on it, to admit the operator to the stove. The hot-
water pipes are seen in the section (fig. 354.) at e e. The smoke from the
stove may be conducted away in a tube under one of the stages, and carried
up the side of the house, as indicated at f. The water of the roof may be
collected and conducted to a cistern under the stage by the pipe g, placed in
the opposite angle to the smoke tube. Props for climbers may be placed as


PLANT-HOUSES.
481
indicated at h h, &c.; and,
during the severest weather in
winter, matting may be made
fast to the iron tie-rods (i i in
jig. 354.) of the span roof.
The exterior guttering is shown
at k. It will be observed that
artificial heat is by no means
essential to a plant cabinet,
and that in fact the examples
which have been previously
given are all intended to do
without it. Camellias and
vines do not require artificial
heat, unless it is intended to
force the one into flower, and
the other into bearing earlier
than their natural time; and
indeed, most of the half-hardy
shrubs grown in conservatories
and planted in the ground, only
require protection from frost,
and are better without fire-
heat. The plants in pots, it is
true, generally require artificial
heat, but they can rarely be
$
|
353
1 I l
• * * * *
E
kept alive through the winter in a plant cabinet without more labour and
expense than new ones can be bought for in spring; and the house-kept
plants generally have a shabby etiolated appearance.
Indeed, even nursery-
men very rarely attempt to keep their old plants through the winter, and they
preserve their stock by cut-
tings, which they keep in cold
pits, as before described. For
the benefit, however, of those
who may wish to try to keep
their plants through the winter,
we will give a few details on
the usual modes by which plant
cabinets may be heated.
529. A plant cabinet, ar-
ranged so as to conceal the mode
of heating it.—Fig. 355. is the
plan; and fig. 356. a cross sec-
tion of a span-roofed plant
cabinet, with the plant stage in
the middle. The stage may
either be finished at the end
next the entrance with right
angles, as at a, or rounded off,
as at b ; and the further ex-
k
354

482 THE VILLA GARDENER,
tremity both of the sides 355
of the house, and the end
of the stage, may either be
semicircular or square, at
pleasure. If it were square, , c
a portion of the stage might o
be made to draw out right - Č, \\ f : X
and left, to admit the at- —us ; : * •y-
tendant to the fireplace;
and if semicircular, as in
the plan, the semicircle
might be formed into two
quadrants, each turning on
a pivot at the angle, and
opening outwards to a suf- |
ficient extent to admit the sº
operator to the stove, as C. •]- ~ * ::- - - - - - - ID
shown in fig. 355. at c. One
advantage of this arrange- l
ment is, that the stove can -
never be seen by a visiter;
because the attendant,
when he is at work at c,
cannot escape from that
place without shutting at
least one of the quadrants.
Another advantage is, that,
while both quadrants are
open to the fullest extent,
as at d d, the pots being on
the shelves, any person entering the cabinet will rather consider the appear-
ance as the peculiar termination of the stage, than as a convenient arrange-
ment for getting at the
stove. There are props for
plants at e. The water-
pipes are shown at f in
fig. 356., and the arched
rods to the props at g. In
severe weather mats can be
stretched along the whole
extent of the roof, attached
to these arches. The en-
trance from the house is at
h, fig. 355.
530. Ventilation is the
only remaining point of % (2
importance, connected with
plant cabinets or small
green-houses, which re- £9
mains to be touched on, c ſºf f O i ei D


PIANT-HOUSES. 483
and this is highly essential in every situation. In houses 20 or 30 feet long,
and from 10 to 15 feet broad, the sashes of the roof should be made to slide,
so that the upper ones may be let down at pleasure, and the lower ones drawn
up; or they may be hinged at the upper end, and made to lift up. In addi-
tion to this, the upright sashes should either be made to open outwards, by
being hinged at one side (which, in general, is the best mode) or at the top;
or they may slide in two grooves, so that the one can be pushed past the
other. These modes are applicable to green-houses 20 or 30 feet in length;
but, for those under 20 feet in length, it will generally be sufficient to have
one or more small openings in the roof or sides. It must, however, never be
forgotten that the atmospheric air forms an important part of the food of
plants; and that unless they have a sufficient quantity, they become sickly,
and will not produce either fruit or flowers. One of the simplest and most
elegant modes of having an opening in the roof is by having a cap to be
raised by means of a vertical rod, with a line and pulley, as shown in fig.
357. In this figure, which is a cross section of a span roof, a represents the
cap; b, the rod by which it is raised; c, a cross piece of iron, in which the
rod b works; d, the cord passing over the pulley e, for raising and lowering
the rod; and f, the rafter (forming part of the span roof) which supports the
whole. The rod and bars of the cap are generally of iron; and the panes of
glass small, to lessen the risk of breakage. Sometimes the cap is balanced
by a weight attached to a cord which passes over a pulley fixed on the other
side of the rod opposite to e : and which, by counterbalancing the greater
part of the weight, and leaving little more than the friction by the rod pass-
ing through the bar c and the rafter f to
be overcome, renders it easy to raise a Q/
cap of the largest size, either by hand,

or by a self-acting apparatus to be here-
after mentioned. Though we have shown f ſå
in fig. 357, this cap on the ridge of a 2- a
67
span roof, yet it may be constructed b
with equal ease on the upper part of the l
slope of any pent roof, or even in any
part of that slope, by introducing on the
upper side of it a cross bar, or a flashing of lead, to throw off the rain to
the two sides. Air may also be admitted through the side sashes, by hinging
a flap in the upper part of any of the sashes, with a lever and pulley to open
it, as shown in fig. 358. In this figure g is a lever,
which, when pulled by the cord h, raises the flap at
pleasure to any point not beyond i. Whenever venti- `s
SS
s
S$
©
357

358
lators of this kind are used, they ought to be placed -
in the highest part of the house; because as the hot- Hºr
test air always ascends, it consequently collects there, :N.
and will pass off by any opening with greater rapidity
than it would through an opening on a lower level, €7 ! y
admitting a counter current of fresh air to supply its º il.…”
place. s
531. When the sloping sashes of a span roof are
made to slide, the operation of opening them may be }.
greatly facilitated by balancing them with a weight in ly
2 I 2
484 THE WILLA GARDENER,
the manner shown in fig. 359. In
this figure, a represents cords attached
to two opposite sashes, and passing
over pulleys fixed on the ridge-piece;
after which, under the stage (c), they
are joined together at b, which repre-
sents a weight attached to a pulley,
and which weight is sufficiently
heavy to balance the two sashes.
By this arrangement, either sash or
both sashes may be let down at plea-
sure, to any length desired. When
they are drawn closely up, the
weight (b) is within 2 in. of the floor
(d); but, if it were necessary, an
opening might be made in the floor
for the descent of the weight to the
extent of 2 or 3 feet. On inspecting
the figure, it will appear evident that
a cap, such as that described in fig.
357., may be balanced and raised in
a similar manner, as shown in fig.
360., and as practised in the case of
chandeliers in churches and ball-
rooms. In this figure, the weight (e)
may have a basket or saucer attached
to it, so as to admit of disguising it, by
surrounding it with pots of hanging
359
—
a l-
d.
plants. In this case, however, there should be heavier and lighter weights to
hook on at pleasure, so that, with the addition of the pots of plants, the total
weight should be no more than just
sufficient to balance the cap.
532. Regulation of temperature.—
In the case of small green-houses,
where a regular gardener is not kept,
a provision for preventing the house
from becoming over-heated, which
will act independently of human
assistance, is very desirable. There
are many contrivances of this kind;
some, such as Kewley's automaton
gardener, calculated for regulating
the temperature to the greatest
nicety; and others for merely preventing great extremes of heat. The
simplest and most economical mode is to have a hinged pane in the upper
part of one of the upright sashes, opening inwards. To the lower part
of this pane one end of a cord is attached, and the other is joined to a
netting which encloses a bladder nearly filled with air, and air-tight. A
string from the other end of the bladder is attached to any fixed point near
at hand. The bladder should be moderately distended, by filling it with air


PLANT-HOUSES. 485
in the house, when the air of the
house is at the highest temperature
required; and, consequently, when
any increase of temperature takes
place, the air in the bladder will ex-
pand and completely distend it, so
as to change its shape from that of
an oval to that of a globe; shortening
the long axis and lengthening the
short one. The effect of shortening
the long axis is to pull in the hinged
pane of glass, and thus to admit the
external air. This is, without doubt,
a very rude mode, and will not regu-
late the temperature with any degree
of nicety; but for ordinary purposes,
and where economy is a great object,
it is quite sufficient. Another mode
2%
S
361
.9
consists in applying a hollow brass tube, of 5 or 6 feet in length, against the
lower part or valve of a window that opens outwards, or against the lower
end of the vertical rod of a cap which opens upwards. Thus, in fig. 361., if
we imagine the rod f to be a hollow
brass tube, touching the floor (g) at
one end, and the spindle (h) of the
ventilating cap at the other; and
that, when the rod is in this state of
contact with both the floor and the
spindle, the house is at the maximum
temperature required; it is evident
that any increase of heat, by expand-
ing, and consequently lengthening,
the brass rod, would raise the venti-
lating cap; and the extent to which
this might be done, would be greatly
increased by placing the brass rod on
the end of a lever. Brass rods, when
required to open the sashes or ven-
tilators of a green-house, may also be
applied in a great variety of other
ways, which any ingenious mechanic
will readily discover. The last mode
which we shall mention is one which
has been adopted with success by an
eminent horticulturist, John Williams,
Esq., of Pitmatson. This ventilator
operates by the expansion and con-
traction of air in an air-tight vessel,
(fig. 362. a), communicating with a
cylinder and piston (b, c, d), which,
by means of a rod (g), operates on the
362
---, -, -, ------->
-º-º-º-Lº-Tº-º-º-º-º-
----------
---, amº. --> *


486 THE WIT,LA GARDENER,
hinged pane or sash to be opened. The use of the water or other fluid is to
confine the air; and, by that means, when the air expands or contracts, it
operates upon the piston. By means of an adjusting screw, the register may
be made to open at any required degree of heat. The air-vessel should
contain several gallons, according to the size of the valve or register to be
opened. When first used, the vessel must be heated sufficiently to expand
the internal air; water is then to be poured in at the top of the cylinder, so
as to give the required motion to the float; and about half an inch of fine oil
must be laid on the top of the water, to prevent evaporation. In a plant
cabinet, such an instrument may be conveniently placed under the stage, so
as to have the rod (g) directly under the ventilator or sash to be opened.
SUBSECT. II.- Ornamental Green-houses.
533. A green-house is a house with a glazed roof and sides, in which plants
are kept in pots; usually on wooden stages in the centre, but sometimes on
the brickwork, casing the pipes or flues; or on shelves at the back or sides
of the house. The green-house differs somewhat from the plant cabinet,
which is always an excrescence affixed to the house, and generally entered
from the staircase or landing-place of the first floor; whereas the green-
house is always built on the ground floor, and may be either attached to the
house or not at pleasure. Some green-houses have no apparatus for heating ;
and those which have hot-water pipes, smoke flues, or any other mode of
heating, have only a sufficient apparatus to keep up a moderate heat, say
from 45° to 50°. When plant houses can be heated more than this, by artifi-
cial means, they are no longer called green-houses, but stoves. Green-
houses, without fire heat, are generally used for camellias, the Australian
acacias, some of the Australian climbers, and most of the newly-introduced
Chinese plants; in fact, all that are called hardy green-house plants, and
which it is only necessary to preserve from the frost. Green-houses, with
fire-heat, are used for Mexican and Peruvian plants, and for those from the
warm parts of Australia.
534. A small green-house, with ornamental glass, is shown in figs. 363. to
365. This house, which partakes of the nature of a plant cabinet, but is not
363

PLANT-HOUSES. 487
attached to the dwelling-house, is not provided with any means of heating;
and it is placed so as to shut out a disagreeable view from the drawing-room
windows of a town or suburban
dwelling; from which windows it 364
is easily entered across a small ->2-
paved court. As the object is to
prevent any external objects being &
seen through the glazed sides of |
the green-house, they are filled in t-
with ground and coloured glass,
disposed in an ornamental manner,
as shown in figs. 364. and 365.; and
the stage is also made ornamental,
and is diversified with spaces for
statues and vases, as indicated in —H
the ground plan, fig. 363.
365
535. A green-house, with an ornamental stage, and a trellis for climbers.
The stage is formed with angular points, so as to form a series of Vandyck,
or lozenge-like projections, as shown in fig. 366. The principal feature in
this house is the mode of arranging the
stages for pots; the fanciful disposition 366
of which has a very agreeable effect from
the open space on one side, which is
used as a kind of morning room by the
ladies of the family, who sit there to
work or read. Ornamental climbing
plants are trained up the pillars, and
S.
$:
*
*
along a light trellis in the roof, so as to
afford an agreeable shade in the open
space; while the angular shape of the
stages, and the manner in which they are
placed so as to intersect each other, E ...--→ ->
allows ample space for walking between
them. In the alcove, at one end of the
house are placed a table and chairs, and a small chefſonier, or a set of
book-cases.



488 THE WILLA GARDENER,
536. A camellia-house may be used either as a conservatory, or for grow-
ing the plants in pots. It does not require any artificial heat, but there may
be an air-tube down the centre, communicating with the open air, and furnished
with ventilators, so as to admit a constant current of fresh air through the
house at pleasure. Vines may be trained over the roof of this house to produce
shade; and if this is not done, there must be a canvas on rollers used for that
purpose. It must be observed that camellias do not like either too much sun-
light, or too much heat; as the first camellias that were introduced were
killed by being kept in a hot-house. A very slight protection from severe
cold during frosty weather is all they require; but as they flower in winter
and early spring, the flowers, especially the white, are frequently injured by
the weather, when the plants are growing in the open air.
SUBSEcT. III.—Conservatories.
537. A conservatory differs from a green-house in having the plants grow-
ing in the free ground, instead of being kept in pots. The conservatory is
generally much larger, and more lofty than the green-house, as it is designed
for growing large specimen plants; and it is placed either in the flower-
garden, or adjoining the drawing-room of the house, when that chances to be
on the ground-floor. In other cases, it opens into a library or breakfast-room.
Conservatories are of various kinds; sometimes they are contrived to have
the glass removed in summer, so as to let the plants kept in them appear to
have been grown in the open air; and in other cases, they form what is called
a Jardin d'hiver, or winter garden, in which the ground, covered with glass,
is laid out in walks, and decorated with vases, fountains, &c., like a garden
in the open air.
538. The conservatory at the Grange, is generally allowed to be a remark-
ably handsome one. It is 70 ft. long, 46 ft. wide, and 21 ft. high. It is
entered by a portico, leading into a vestibule; beyond which the ground
is divided longitudinally into three beds. The walks (k, in the section, fig.
367.) are under an arched covered way, formed of double plates of rolled
367 .2°ºss.
2 -->
**.
*
*

PLANT-HOUSES.
489
368
iron (l), between which is con-
fined a stratum of air, to pre-
vent the escape of heat. The
bottom of the beds (m) are of
a concave form, that the drain-
age may go to the centre;
under each bed there are
three dry wells, filled with large
rough flints, laid as hollow as
possible; and as the wells were
sunk in the chalk, any drain-
age from them was unneces-
sary. The hollow (n) along
the middle was also laid with
flints, and the whole bottom
covered with a layer of brick-
bats, &c., about 18 in. deep;
on this was laid a thin layer of
coarse shingly gravel, still
keeping the concave form.
The bottom being thus finished,
the depth left for soil was in
the centre 4 ft. 6 in., as the
larger plants were intended to
grow there; and on the sides
3ft. 6 in. The soil was chiefly
chopped turf, sandy peat, and
loam, mixed with a little
gravel; the proportions being
changed according to the nature
of the plants intended to be
grown. Along the back wall
there is a border, 18 in. wide,
drained and filled with soil in
a similar manner to the beds.
In this border are planted the
scarlet pelargoniums, and other
plants trained against the wall,
and which are fastened to a
wire trellis. At each pilaster,
along the front and ends, are
369
º
& º
º & | ©
|||||| ||
º Ż. 3
2% § 3;
3% | *->
º | Sº
1 |
2 1 *
3.
- || ||
ël
º !.
% g
*|| | | ||
Ø | i
à N
3. NS
* à
3. f :
à sº ; :
à ; :
&
% & 8
à
%
à
% sº
à sº
H
à
º
ſº
º i
à
%
%
% * t º
%
small beds of mould, in which are planted climbers that run up the pillars,
and which are allowed to hang down from the roof. The walks are of Port-
land stone, with a kerb of the same, 2 in. high, and 13 in. broad, rounded off
at the top, which not only makes a good finish, but prevents the soil from
being washed off the beds in watering. In the vestibule stand large plants
in pots, or boxes of orange-trees, camellias, &c.; and in the recesses of the
windows, between the pilasters, are stands, 7 in, high, for small plants in pots,
under which are ventilators for admitting hot air and steam, either together
or separately, into the house at pleasure. This is done by having a hot-air


490 THE WILLA GARDENER,
chamber under the paths, heated by hot water pipes; and by having a con-
trivance for filling this chamber with steam when required. This is done by
having steam-pipes communicating with the hot air-chamber, fitted to the
boiler of the hot water apparatus, and furnished with valves, so that the steam
can be admitted through them, or cut off at pleasure.
539. A long narrow conservatory may be formed, leading from one part of
a house to another; or it may serve to mask the kitchen offices, or it may be
a means of communication between the drawing-room and the garden. Figs.
368., and 369., show a conservatory of this kind, intended to have stages for
plants at a a, in fig. 369., and beds for camellias, Australian acacias, roses,
and other similar plants, in the central house b, b, b. Vines, or other climb-
ing plants may be trained under the glass of the roof, particularly if camellias
are grown below. If the conservatory is used as a means of communication
between two places, the doors c c, in fig. 369, may be omitted, and the open-
ings may be made at each end. There is no means shown of heating this
house; but it may be easily fitted up with hot water pipes.
540. A semicircular conservatory, to be placed adjoining one of the living-
rooms of a house, is shown in fig. 370. There are no means shown of heating
it, as it is only intended to hold camellias, orange-trees, and pomegranates,
370
| I t 1–4 —f º r º
º t
| 0 O 5 | 0
T. T.
7,


PLANT-HOUSES. 491
in pots or boxes, which only require a slight protection in winter from severe
frosts.
541. Jardin d'hiver, or winter garden.—In conservatories of this kind, a
piece of ground of from 100 ft. to 500 ft. in length, and of proportionate
width, is laid out as a garden (as shown in the ground-plan fig. 371.), with
ŞNºNNSN NSN Š
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walks, beds of flowering shrubs, baskets of flowers, rockwork, fountains of
water, vases, statues, seats, or, in short, any kind of decoration common in
garden scenery; and then the whole is covered with glass, and supported by
pilasters, which are made hollow to serve as tubes for conveying the rain to
cisterns underground, from which the fountains are fed. The pilasters, also,
serving as supports, round which climbing plants are twined; other similar
plants being trained along the rafters, and suffered to hang down, as in the
large conservatory in the Botanic Garden, in the Regent's-park. The out-
ward elevation of houses of this kind is generally very simple, as their claim
372
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for admiration depends on their interior, 373
which is generally very splendid. The
appearance of a garden of this kind may Ş
be easily imagined. The mode of heating
is generally by hot air-chambers, or hot
water pipes carried under the walks, with Óº
gratings at regular intervals to admit the N.
heat into the house; and a very moderate















492 THE VILLA GARDENER.
degree of heat is generally found enough, unless tropical
plants are to be grown. The roof may consist of three spans,
as shown in fig. 372., each terminating in an angle, as shown
in fig. 373., on the apex of which are fixed the ornaments
represented in figs. 374. and 375. In fig. 372., a is the
door, b the front without the glass to show the frame-work,
and c the other part of the front, with the glass in it to show
the form of the panes.
Subsect. IV.-Hothouses.
542. Hothouses differ from green-houses, chiefly in requiring more heat,
as they are intended for the growth of tropical plants; whereas green-houses
are intended for the plants of climates only a little warmer than our own.
Hence the temperature of a hothouse should be several degrees higher than
that of a green-house; the lowest heat being from 55° to 60° even at night,
and rising in the middle of the day, partly by sun heat, to 80° or 90°, or higher
during summer. The great difference between the heat of the night and the
day, is one of the late improvements in horticulture. Formerly gardeners
kept their stoves at nearly the same heat night and day, though it was clearly
different from the natural habits of the plants, as the nights in tropical
climates are well known to be very much colder than the days. There are
many varieties of hothouses, but the most useful are the stove, the orchideous-
house, and the aquarium.
543. The moist stove has generally a lean-to roof, as shown in fig. 376.; and
those which were built some years ago had always a brick pit for tan or earth
in the centre of the house. Into this pit the pots
were generally plunged; but sometimes the bed was 376
covered with a slate on which the pots were set. The
pots were also occasionally set on brick flues. Now,
when there is a pit in the centre, it is generally
covered with brick, and either contains tanks of hot
water, or hot water pipes, or flues. Sometimes it is a
hot air-chamber, furnished with gratings that can be
closed by slides, so that hot air can be admitted into
the house at pleasure; observing that whenever hot
air is admitted into a plant house, by the Polmaise, or
any other mode of heating, there must be open tanks or cisterns introduced
to give moisture to the air. There should also always be two or three ven-
tilators, or more, as near the roof as possible, to let off the air that has passed
through the house; and if these ventilators are only of moderate size, there
is no danger of any cold air entering by them; as the volume of hot air which
is continually rising to the roof, will either be sufficient to repel the cold air,
or at least it will mix with it, and warm it sufficiently to prevent any danger
resulting to the plants. e
544. The dry stove only differs from the moist stove in having less mois-
ture, as it is intended for the growth of the cactacae, and other succulent plants.
In some cases there is a kind of stage for the pots, like a green-house; but
generally they are kept on shelves and flues.
545. The aquarium.—This kind of house is more rare than any other, as


PLANT-HOUSES. 493
the tropical aquatics are generally grown either in the orchideous house, or
the common stove. As, however, some very interesting plants belong to this
class, and as they should be near the glass, so as to have a strong light, which
they cannot possibly have in an orchideous house, it is best, if practicable, to
have a house set apart for them. Houses for aquatic plants are generally built,
with a large cistern in the middle, and a walk round, as in the aquarium at
Kew. A low, span-roofed house, is considered the best; and it should be
about 8 ft. high in the centre. The cisterns may be of either slate or stone,
and they should be furnished with a waste-pipe at one end, and a supply pipe
at the other, as a regular supply of fresh water is essential to the health of
the plants. The house should be heated with two sets of hot water pipes, the
upper one being a little above the water in the cisterns. When there are two
cisterns, only one need be heated by having a pipe pass through it.
546. The orchideous house may be of any given length, and 12 ft. 6 in.
wide. There need not be more than one walk, which may be composed of
pieces of wood, nailed to sleepers, and be 3 ft. 6 in. wide. The house may be
heated by flues, enclosed in hot air chambers, which should rise 2 ft. 6 in.
above the level of the floor; and it should contain three leaden cisterns, one
at each end 3 ft. Square, and one in the centre 8 ft. long, by 3 ft. wide, the
latter being filled with aquatic plants. The height of the back wall may be
11 ft. 6 in., and that of the front wall 2 ft. 6 in. On the top of the front
wall may be an elevation of glass, 2 ft. 6in. high, making the front 5 ft. high
in all. In the front of the house, in the open air, may be a small pit for half
hardy species.
547. Plant houses and forcing houses comprised in one range.—Figs. 377. and
378. are intended to represent a range of plant houses and pits, to be erected
in a square of 100 ft., and to include all the houses necessary for the supply
of a villa, arranged in such a manner as to render them ornamental, and easy
of access. In fig. 377., a a, are the entrances; b b, the boilers; d d, the
vineries; e e, pine stoves, with cucumbers in boxes, on a trellis over the
path; f, orchideous house; g g, peach houses; h, green-house; i, plant
stove; l, early strawberry, and late melon-house; m, early melon-house; n
and o, nursing pine stoves; p, miscellaneous pits; q, passage containing the
liming for heating the pits; s s, paved passages for inspecting the different
houses; u, potting shed; w, tool shed; y, fruit-room; and 2 2, bedroom and
kitchen for the foreman, or assistant gardener, who attends to the houses.
Fig. 378. is an isometrical view of the whole group. The plan of having so
many houses together is a very economical one, and much less heat is
required than if the houses stood separately; as the warm, dry walls of one
apartment materially assist to warm and dry the walls of another: and it is
obvious that the destination of these houses may be changed at pleasure, and
that where pines or peaches are not grown, the houses intended for them may
be used for ornamental plants or vines. Peaches, requiring a comparatively
low temperature, much light, and a free circulation of air, and therefore the
house set apart for them would be very suitable for growing pelargoniums or
heaths, if peaches are not grown. The nursing pine-pits would be very
suitable for striking cuttings, or keeping stove plants during the winter; and
in that case they would not need any dung linings. The vineries should have
a leaden pipe, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, perforated with holes from
the upper side, about half a line in diameter, and one foot apart, conducted
494 THE WILLA GARDENER.
377
i
-
–
all round, about 1 in. above the uppermost hot water pipe, and connected with
a cistern, a little elevated, for the purpose of raising vapour, by moistening
the hot pipes. The orchideous house may have ferns and mosses on the back,
and over a circular stand of bricks in the centre; and the stage round the

PLANT-HOUSES, 495
##
§§
º
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front and ends should be cemented so as to hold water, in which pans may be
placed for the purpose of putting the orchideous pots upon them. All the
walks between the houses should be of stone, 4 ft. wide, raised an inch in the
middle, with gratings in the gutters, 9 ft. apart. The roofs are to be sup-





496 THE WILLA GARDENER.
ported on hollow cast-iron pillars; and all the walls on both sides, except the
outer wall, may be lath and plaster, or glass, so as to allow persons passing
along the walks to see into the houses without entering them. The fruit-
room should have a ventilator at the top, and a window in front with a wire
cloth screen, a wooden floor, and a small charcoal stove at one end; and
it should be fitted up with two tiers of shelves 18 in. apart, leaving a walk in
the middle, 4 ft. wide. The tool shed is to be fitted up with a rack, in which
all the long-handled tools should be placed, with the handles inwards, so that
they can be selected from, and inspected at a glance; and there should be a
few large drawers, in which small tools, such as hammers, &c., may be kept;
this shed should have a window in front, and a loft over it. The potting shed
should be paved with stone, it should contain a table 9 ft. long, 2 ft. 9 in.
broad, and 2 ft. 6in. high; and it, also, should have a window in front, and a
loft over. The potting shed should have either a pump, or water laid on by
pipes, with waste-pipe, &c., for the convenience of washing the flower-pots;
and there should be a water tank built with bricks and cement, attached to
each house. In arranging the plan for these houses attention was paid to
their probable appearance in an ornamental point of view, as well as to
their utility. A house of grapes looks best from the front, when the upper
side of the leaves above the trellis, and the broad side of the clusters below,
can be viewed at once : peaches look best when seen on a line with the eye;
and flowering plants should be in the same position. Cucumbers are most
ornamental when trained to rafters, with the fruit hanging down. Pine-
apples should be arranged like an amphitheatre, the tallest at the back; and
melons, though they should be looked down upon, should have the fruit
raised a little above the foliage. Houses for forcing fruit are generally con-
sidered eyesores in gardens; objects of utility, it is true, but which should
be concealed as much as possible. By attending, however, to limits given
above, forcing houses need no longer be considered as blemishes and neces-
sary evils, but they may be made positively ornamental.
The houses were made to join each other to save heat; for it is obvious
that if each had stood separately exposed to the effects of the weather, much
more fuel would be required to heat the whole, than by the plan proposed;
according to which the warm dry walls of one house serve to dry the walls of
another. As it is also known that light and heat pass through glass in greater
porportions, and to more profitable purpose, when the rays make right-angles
with the surface of the glass, the roof should be elevated to an angle equal to
the latitude of the locality. Peach-trees require a comparatively low tem-
perature, much light, and a free circulation of air; therefore, a span-roofed
house, running north and south, will be found most suitable, and the trellis
for the trees should be circular at both ends. The orchideous house may have
ferns and mosses at the back, and over a circular brick stand in the centre.
497
BOOK IV.
LISTS OF ORNAMENTAL PLANT's SUITABLE TO WILLA GARDENS,
WITH THEIR. CULTURE.
548. The plants grown in the open air in villa gardens may be divided into
the ligneous, including the trees and shrubs; and the herbaceous, including
the annuals, the biennials and perennials, and the bulbs and tubers. The
herbaceous plants being those most generally cultivated in villa gardens, we
shall give them most in detail, referring to the lists of ornamental trees and
shrubs already given in many of the preceding pages of this work, but more
particularly in pages 68, 99, 100, 101, 147, 148, 262, 263, 291 to 293,
330 to 338; and from these lists selections may easily be made. The culture
of trees and shrubs will be found by reference to the INDEX, in various places
throughout the work.
SECTION I.
H E R B A C E O U S P L A N T S.
549. The term “herbaceous plants,” is generally applied by gardeners only
to perennials; but, in fact, it belongs to all plants the stems of which are not
woody, but are composed principally of what is called cellular tissue. Plants
of this kind are subdivided into those with fibrous roots, and those with
bulbous or tuberous roots; though the latter are, properly speaking, under-
ground stems, with fibrous roots attached. The fibrous-rooted plants are
again divided into annuals, biennials, and perennials; and under these heads
we shall consider them.
SUBSECT. I.-Ornamental Annuals.
550. Annual plants are, properly speaking, plants which only live one
year; but gardeners generally include under the term all that flower the same
year that they are sown. Many of the plants of warm climates will do this
in England, and die in winter, being killed by the first frost, which will live
many years in their native climes, or even when they have the protection of
a green-house in England. Thus, for example, the common mignonette,
which is always considered as an annual in England, is a shrub in its native
country, Barbary; and it may be trained into the appearance of a small tree in
this country, by keeping it in a green-house and pinching off the lower side
shoots as they appear. Besides the common annuals, which are sown in
April or May, there are what are called the Californian annuals, which are
sown in autumn, as soon as the seeds are ripe, and which flower in very early
spring. There are also the half hardy annuals, which are sown in a frame on
a hotbed; and there are tender annuals, which are raised on a hotbed, and
flowered in the green-house or the stove.
2 K
498 THE WILLA GARDENIEH,
551. The culture of annuals embraces their sowing, their thinning or trans-
planting, and their training; and these operations are nearly the same
whether the plants are hardy, half hardy, or tender; the only difference
being, that the hardy plants will grow freely if sown in the open air where
they are intended to remain, while the half hardy kinds must be raised on a
hotbed, and transplanted into the open ground in May or June; and the
tender kinds must be kept in pots, and only placed in the open air during the
warmest part of summer.
552. When the seeds of annuals are sown, the ground should first be made
firm by pressing it with the saucer of a flower-pot, or the back of the spade;
the seeds should then be sprinkled thinly over the ground, and just covered
with fine earth, which should be slightly pressed down over them. When
they come up, if they appear too thick, they should be thinned out so as to
leave each plant standing apart; the distance at which they are left from
each other varying, of course, according to the strength and habit of growth
of the plants. The plants of some kinds of annuals will bear transplanting
after they have been taken up in thinning, but generally they are not worth
the trouble of replanting. The seeds when sown are often destroyed by
birds; but this may be prevented by turning a flower-pot over each patch till
the seeds have germinated, taking care, however, to remove it as soon as the
plants begin to grow, lest they should be drawn up by the shelter thus
afforded, and become weak. Snails and slugs are dangerous enemies to
young and tender annuals, and care should be taken to search for them early
in the morning and late in the evening; or to destroy them by watering the
ground with lime-water, so weak as not to disfigure the plants.-(Ladies’
Companion to the Flower-garden.)
553. List of ornamental annuals which should be sown in the open ground
towards the end of March or the beginning of April:
Name. Country. Colour. Size.
Alyssum calycinum (Sweet Alyssum) England White Dwarf.
Amaranthus caudatus (Love-lies-bleeding East Indies Red Tall.
Varieties - Pale Yellow Tall.
hypochondriacus (Prince's Feather) Virginia Red Tall.
Variety Greenish White Tall.
Anagallis arvensis (Pimpermel) England Flesh colour Dwarf.
caºrulea England Blue Dwarf.
grandiflora East Indies Red Dwarf.
Anthemis arabica Barbary Golden Yellow Dwarf.
Valentina Spain Yellow Dwarf.
Argemone albiflora (Prickly Poppy) Mexico White Moderate.
—— mexicana Mexico Yellow Moderate.
Aster Tradescanti (Michaelmas Daisy) N. America. White or Blue Tall.
Blumenbachia insignis Monte Video White Dwarf.
Borkhausia, or Crepis, rubra (Pink Hawk-
weed) Italy Pink Lilac Moderate.
Campanula Speculum (Venus's Looking Glass) S. of Europe Purple Dwarf.
Centaurea. Cyanus (Corn Blue-bottle) Pritain Blue Moderate.
moschata (Sweet Sultan) Persia, Pink Moderate.
suaveolens (Yellow Sultan) Levant Yellow Moderate.
Cerinthe major (Honeywort) S. of France Yellow and Purple Tall.
Chrysanthemum carinatum Barbary White and Purple Moderate.
coronarium Sicily Yellow Tall.
Convolvulus major S. of Europe Purple and White Climbing
ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS.
499
Name. Country. Colour.
Convolvulus minor S. of Europe Blue
Glaucium luteum (Horm Poppy) Britain Yellow
Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) Peru Yellow
Helichrysum bracteatum (Yellow Everlast-
ing) New Holland Yellow
macranthum Swan River Pinkish
Hibiscus Trionum (Bladder Ketmia) Italy Cream colour and
- Purple
africanus Africa Pale Yellow and
- Brown
Impatiens Noli me tangere (Touch-me-not) England Yellow and Red
pallida (Jumping Betty) N. America Pale Orange
Lathyrus odoratus (Sweet Pea) Sicily Various
Lavatera trimestris (Tree Mallow) S. of Europe Lilac
Linum usitatissimum (Flaac) Britain Blue
var. alba White
Loasa nitida Chili Yellow
aurantiaca Chili Orange
Lupinus albus (White Lupine) Levant White
luteus (Yellow Lupine) Sicily Yellow
pilosus (IRose Lupine) S. of Europe Pink
elegans Mexico Blue
Lychnis lata Portugal Pink
Malope grandiflora Barbary Crimson
trifida, Barbary Crimson
var. alba White
Nicandra physalóides (Kite flower) Peru Purple
Nicotiana Tabacum Virginia Pink
Nigella damascena (Love in a mist) S. of Europe Blue
hispanica Spain Blue and White
Nolana atriplicifolia Peru Blue and White
OEmothera spectabilis (Evening Primrose) Mexico Yellow
tetraptera Mexico White
Papaver Rhoeas (Corn Poppy) Britain Fed
Somniferum (Opium Poppy) England White
Phacelia congesta - Texas Blue
tamacetifolia California Purple
Reseda odorata (Mignonette) Barbary Greenish
Ricinus communis (Palma Christi, or Cas-
tor-oil plant East Indies Green
Rudbeckia amplexifolia Louisiana Yellow
Salvia Horminum (Purple Clary) S. of Europe Purple
var. rubra (Red-topped Clary) S. of Europe Red
Sanvitalia procumbens Mexico Yellow
Saponaria Waccaria (Soapwort) Germany Purple
calabrica Calabria Red
Scabiosa atropurpurea (Sweet Scabious) Europe Dark Purple
Silene Armeria (Lobel's Catchfly) England Pink
War. alba (Yellow Hawkweed) Peru. White
Tolpis, or Crepis, barbata S. of France Yellow
Tropaeolum majus (Garden Nasturtium) Peru Orange and Yel-
low
war. atrosanguineum Dark Red and
Orange
Size.
Dwarf
Moderate. ,
Tall.
Moderate.
Tall.
Moderate,
Moderate.
Tall.
Moderate.
Tall.
Tall.
Tall.
Tall.
Moderate.
Climbing.
Tall.
Moderate.
Moderate.
Tall.
Dwarf.
Tall.
Moderate.
Moderate.
Tall.
Tall.
Moderate.
Tall.
Spreading.
Tall.
Spreading.
Tall.
Tall.
Moderate.
Moderate.
DWarf.
Tall.
Tall.
Moderate.
Moderate.
Dwarf.
Dwarf.
Dwarf.
Tall.
Moderate.
Moderate.
Moderate.
Climbing.
Climbing.
554. List of hardy Californian annuals, with their colour and size.—The seeds
of all these plants may be readily obtained in the seed-shops, and they should
2 K 2
500 THE WII, LA GARDENIER,
all be sown in autumn, if they are to flower in spring; as if sown in spring
they will not flower till late in the summer. “About an inch in thickness of
very light soil should be laid on a hard surface of rock or gravel, in any
obscure part of the garden, and in this the seeds should be sown the first
week in September. In March or April, according to the season, when the
flower-beds and borders have been dug over and prepared, the young seed-
lings should be taken up by spadesful and laid over the bed, filling up all the
interstices between the patches with earth, so as to make the surface even.”—
(Ladies' Companion to the Flower-Garden.)
Name. Colour. Size.
Bartonia aurea. Yellow Spreading.
Calliopsis, or Coreopsis, Drummondii Yellow and Brown Tall.
tinctoria Yellow and Brown Tall.
Clarkia elegans Reddish Purple Tall.
War. roSea. Pink Tall.
pulchella Purple Tall.
var. alba White Tall.
Collinsia bicolor Ililac and White Moderate.
grandiflora Blue and Purple Dwarf.
Erysimum Perowskianum Orange Tall.
Eschscholtzia californica Yellow Spreading.
CrOCéâ. Orange Dwarf.
Eutoca multiflora Pale Lilac Dwarf.
Franklini Pale Blue Dwarf.
viscida Dark Blue Coarse growing.
Gilia achillea folia Purple Dwarf.
bicolor White and Brown Dwarf.
capitata Blue Tall.
var. alba White Tall.
tricolor White, Brown, and Lilac Dwarf.
Godetia lepida Purple and Crimson Dwarf.
Lindleyana, or roseo-alba White and Rose Moderate.
purpurea Purple Tall.
Romanzovii Blue Dwarf.
vinosa Pale Lilac Dwarf.
Lasthenia californica Yellow Spreading.
Leptosiphon densiflorus Pale Purple Dwarf.
—— androsaceus White Dwarf.
Limnanthes Douglasii Yellow and White Spreading.
Lupinus nanus Blue Dwarf.
affinis Blue Dwarf.
micranthus Purple and Blue Dwarf.
Nemophila atomaria White and Black Moderate.
aurita, Purple Dwarf.
—— discoidea Very Dark Moderate.
--—— insignis Bright Blue Dwarf.
—— phaceliöides Lilac Moderate.
maculata White and Purple Moderate.
Platystemon californicus Cream colour Moderate.
555. List of other ornamental annuals, which should be sown in autumn :
Name. Country. Colour. Size.
Adonis autumnalis Britain Scarlet Moderate.
Delphinium Ajacis Crimea Different colours Tall.
Ilalllllll
Dwarf.
ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 501
Name. Country. Colour. Size.
Iberis umbellata Candia White and Purple Moderate.
—— coronaria - White Tall.
Malcomia maritima South of Europe Lilac Dwarf.
Viola tricolor Europe Various colours Dwarf.
556. Culture of half-hardy annuals.-‘‘The seeds may be sown either in
plunged pots, or in a bed of earth on a slight hot-bed, in February or March;
and after they have come up they may be pricked out into plunged pots, or
into the earth covering another slight hot-bed, where they may remain till the
beginning of May, when they should be transplanted into the beds or borders
in the open garden where they are finally to remain. In most cases, how-
ever, it is not worth while to prick out the plants in a second hot-bed; and
sometimes they may be sown in pots, and thinned out to two or three plants
in a pot; and when they have grown two or three inches high, the ball of
earth, and the plants in it, may be turned out into the open border. This
mode is well adapted for strong clayey soils, because when plants from a hot-
bed are transplanted into such soils, they commonly receive a severe check;
whereas when they are turned out with balls, provided the soil round them is
settled by a good watering, they receive no check whatever. The soil in
which half-hardy annuals are raised, should be light and rich, because it is
only in such a soil that the tender seedlings will grow vigorously, and produce
numerous fibrous roots, without which they would produce but little effect
when turned out into the open garden.”—(Ladies' Companion to the Flower-
Garden, fifth edit., p. 8.)
557. List of half-hardy annuals, which should be raised on a hotbed in
March, and planted out in May. Those which are not marked with a star
may be sown in the open ground in April or May, but when thus treated they
do not flower till autumn.
Name. Country. Colour. Size.
*Ageratum mexicanum Mexico Blue Tall.
*Amaranthus tricolor East Indies Leaves variegated Moderate.
Argemone Barclayana Mexico Orange Moderate.
sulphurea Mexico Pale Yellow Moderate.
*Aster sinensis war. (China aster) China Red and Blue Tall.
IläI18, Hybrid White and Purple Dwarf.
tenellus Cape of Good
Hope Blue Dwarf.
*Balsamina hortensis East Indies Various Moderate.
*Brachycome iberidifolia Swan River Blue Dwarf.
tº- alba White Dwarf.
Cacalia sonchifolia East Indies Scarlet Moderate.
*Calandrinia grandiflora Chili Purple Moderate.
speciosa California. Red Dwarf.
% discolor Chili Purple Moderate.
Calendula pluvialis Cape of Good
Hope White and Purple Moderate.
hybrida Cape of Good
Hope White Moderate.
Campanula Lorei, and varieties S. of Europe Purple Dwarf.
*Celosia cristata (Cock’s-comb) China Red Moderate.
Dwarf.
Ilällä
*Celsia, or Alonsoa, urticaefolia, C. cretica, and C. Orientalis.
502
THE WILLA GARDENER,
Name. Country. Colour. Size.
#Clintonia pulchella California Blue Dwarf.
Dianthus sinensis war. flore-pleno (Chinese
Pink) China Red Dwarf.
*Didiscus caeruleus New Holland Blue Tall.
Helichrysum bracteatum New Holland Yellow Tall.
macranthum Swan River Pink Talk.
*Heliophila trifida Cape of Good
" . Hope Blue Dwarf.
Hibiscus africanus (Bladder Ketmia) Africa Yellow Tall.
Ionopsidium acaule Portugal Lilac Dwarf.
Ipomoea coccinea Carolina. Scarlet Tall.
*Kaulfussia amellóides Cape of Good -
- Hope IBlue Dwarf.
Lathyrus odoratus (Sweet Pea) Sicily Various colours Tall.
Loasa lateritia - Tucuman Red Tall.
ambrosia-folia Lima Yellow Tahl.
*Lobelia gracilis New S. Wales Blue Dwarf.
*—— alba White Dwarf.
# heterophylla Swan River Plue Moderate.
3% I'8.In OS3. Swan River IBlue Moderate.
Lotus jacobaeus Cape Verd Dark Brown Dwarf.
Lupinus mutabilis Peru Blue and Yellow. Tall.
Cruckshanksii Peru Blue and Yellow Tall.
*Matthiola annua (Ten-week Stock) White, Purple Moderate.
Varieties Red, etc. etc.
Nigella hispanica (Love in a mist) South of Europe IBlue Tall.
*Nolana atriplicifolia Peru Blue and White Dwarf.
prostrata Peru Pale Blue Dwarf.
*Phlox Drummondii Texas Pink Moderate.
Polygonum orientale (Garden Persicaria) East Indies Pink Tall.
*Rhodanthe Manglesii Swan River Pale Rose Dwarf.
*Salpiglossis sinuata Peru Various colours Moderate.
Scabiosa atropurpurea (Sweet Scabious) Purple Tall.
*Schizanthus pinnatus Chili White and Red Tall.
% retuSuS Chili Yellow and Red Tall.
Schizopetalon Walkeri California. White Dwarf.
*Senecio elegans fl. pleno (Purple Ragwort Cape of Good
or Jacoboea) Hope Purple Tall.
Tropacolum peregrinum (Canary-bird flower) Peru Yellow Tall.
Wiscaria oculata Algiers Pink Tall.
Zinnia elegans coccinea, and other kinds Mexico Scarlet
Tall.
It will be observed that some of these, such as the balsam, the cock's-comb,
the globe amaranth, and the Amaranthus tricolor, are usually called tender
annuals, and they should always be kept in pots, though the pots may be
set in the open air while the plants are in flower.
SUBSECT. II.-Ornamental Biennials and Perennials.
558. Biennials are generally classed with perennials in gardening books,
because both of them when raised from seeds do not flower till the second
year; and though the biennials are said to die after they have ripened their
seeds, this is very rarely the case. “Brompton stocks, hollyhocks, wall-
flowers, snapdragons, and Canterbury-bells, are generally considered biennials,
ORNAMENTAL BIENNIALS AND PERENNIALS. 503
though some of them live three or four years. Biennials should be sown in
March or April, thinned out in May, and transplanted in September to the
place where they are to flower the ensuing year. A little earth should be
taken up with the roots, when they are transplanted, and they should be well
watered, and shaded for a day or two, till they are thoroughly established.
Those kinds which require a peculiar soil, should have pits prepared for them
about a week before they are transplanted, that the earth may have time to
settle.” (Ladies' Companion to the Flower-Garden, 4th ed., p. 32.) Hollyhocks
should have the pits prepared for them at least a foot square and deep, and
they should be filled with a rich soil composed of loam and the remains of an
old hotbed. It would be useless to give lists of biennials, as the genera and
species are so few ; and the names of the varieties are so innumerable, and
so continually changing. As an example of this, in one nursery there are
nearly eighty various kinds of snapdragon; and the stocks and hollyhocks
are of every shade in their respective colours, from the darkest to the brightest
tints. The best way is, when there is time to do so, to visit the nurseries
when the plants are in flower, and to procure young plants of the kinds
preferred.
559. Perennials, or herbaceous plants, as they are called by gardeners, are
those permanent plants which are not woody, but which generally die down
to the ground every year, and spring up again the year following. There are
some, however, which are called evergreen perennials, which never die down
to the ground, such as pinks, carnations, several kinds of saxifrage, &c.
Perennials have the great advantage over annuals and biennials, that they do
not require renewal from seed, but are propagated by division of the root or
cuttings of the stem. The greater part of the plants which ornament the
borders of gardens are perennials, including under this term bulbs and tubers.
The fibrous-rooted perennials should be taken up and divided when they are
growing too large; and even when division on this account is not necessary,
most of the kinds are benefited by taking up and replanting in fresh situa-
tions occasionally, on the principle of the rotation of crops. All plants
require certain salts, and other mineral substances which they find in the
ground; and when they have taken up all within their reach, which they
will do in the course of a few years, the ground in which they grow becomes
unfit for them. Nature has provided a remedy for this by elongating the
roots of all perennial plants, whether ligneous or herbaceous, every year;
and this is sufficient to prevent trees and shrubs in permanent plantations
from being injured; but from the constant digging, &c., in a garden, peren-
nial herbaceous plants are very seldom permitted to extend their roots to a
sufficient distance to find suitable soil; and they are, therefore, benefited by
taking up and replanting, or laying down decayed leaves or fresh soil over
their roots. The season for taking up and replanting perennial plants should
be either in autumn, after they have done growing, or in spring, before they
begin to grow; and if the soil about the roots looks black and saturated with
moisture, or, as gardeners express it, “ sour,” the roots should be washed
quite clean before replanting. Where the roots are to be divided, it may be
done, if they are large, with the spade, or, if they are small, with a knife:
and, at all events, they should be cut smooth, and trimmed (that is, all the
bruised parts removed) with a sharp knife, before replanting.—(See Ladies’
Companion to the Flower-Garden, fifth edit., p. 218.)
504 THE WILLA GARDENER,
560. List of ornamental perennial herbaceous plants to be planted in
borders, &c. :
Aconitum variegatum (Wolf's-bane)
Napellus (Monk's-hood)
Eranthis hyemalis (Winter Aconite)
Cyclamen repandum
COURIſl *
Cynoglossum coelestimum
Cypripedium Calceolus
Delphinium grandiflorum flore pleno
azureum (Siberian Larkspur)
Dianthus barbatus (Sweet William)
—- War.
Dielytra formosa
Dictamnus Fraxinella
Digitalis aurea
- purpurea (Common Foxglove)
Echinops spinosus (Globe Thistle)
—— sphaerocephalus
Dracocephalum grandiflorum
Speciosum
Epimedium grandiflorum
—— violaceum
Euphorbia Cyparissias
Linum monogynum
montanum
Linaria purpurea (Purple Toadflaw)
dalmatica
Lithospermum purpureo-ca-ruleum
Lobelia splendens
fulgens
Lythrum Salicaria (Willow herb)
Lychnis chalcedonica
fulgens
Mimulus alatus
guttatus
Paeonia albiflora (Poeony)
tenuifolia flore-pleno
—— officinalis
Pentstemon speciosum
gentianóides coccinea
• Ovatum
Phlox divaricata
suaveolens
Van Houttei
Potentilla insignis
atroSanguinea
Pulmonaria azurea.
officinalis
Salvia hians
CàIleSCéIlS
Solidago humilis (Dwarf Golden Rod)
reflexa
Spiraea Ulmaria multiplex
Statice Gmelini
—— bicolor
Time of
Flowering. Colour. IIeight.
July White and Blue 3 to 4 ft.
- Blue *-
February Yellow 3 in.
April Red º-
Feb. and Mar. -*. -º-,
August Blue and White 2 ft.
May and June Yellow 1 ft.
July Elue 2 to 3 ft.
June & July Various *
- . Rosy Purple 1 ft.
June Rosy Lilac 9 in.
- Burple 2 ft.
July to Sept. Orange 2 ft.
- Purple ---
August White 3 ft.
-** Blue 3 to 4 ft.
August Blue 1 ft.
- Pink 12 to 18 in.
April Light Purple 1 ft.
Violet, --
June Greenish Yellow 1 to 2 ft.
June White 2 ft.
- Blue cºmmemº
July Blue 3 ft.
- Yellow 3 ft.
May Purple 1 ft.
July Scarlet 3 ft.
- Purple sº-
June Scarlet 3 ft.
e- * 1 to 2 ft.
July Purplish Blue 1 ft.
June Yellowish Brown 1 to 2 ft.
May White and Pink 2 ft.
t- Red 2 ft.
August Elue 2 to 3 ft.
July Reddish Purple *-3
- Purple 3 ft.
June Purplish Blue 9 in.
August White 1 to 2 ft.
Purplish White 2 to 3 ft.
July and Aug. Yellow 2 ft.
July Blood Red 1 to 2 ft.
May Blue 1 ft.
-* Red 1 ft.
June, July Blue and White 2 ft.
July Lilac *-
- Yellow 1 ft.
August * 3 ft.
-* White 2 ft.
July Purple 1 to 2 ft.
* Blue and White º
ORNAMENTAL BULBS AND TUBERS. 505
rº. Colour. Height.
Thermopsis fabacea June Yellow 1 to 2 ft.
Trollius europaeus (Globe Flower) May 1 ft. .
asiaticus - Orange *
Veronica maritima August Purple 2 ft.
- gentianöides June Whitish 1 ft.
hybrida August Blue 1 ft.
Viola Odorata (Violet) February Blue 6 in.
odorata alba *- White --
neapolitana - - ---
Campanula persicifolia July, August Blue 2 to 3 ft.
speciosa May, June Purple 2 ft.
pyramidalis July and Aug. Blue 3 ft.
Asclepias tuberosa August Orange 1 to 2 ft.
incarnata July Flesh 3 ft.
Aquilegia glandulosa (Large Blue Colum-
bine) June White and Blue 1 to 2 ft.
Skinneri Scarlet and Green —
canadensis tº- Red and Orange -
Arabis rosea March Rose 6 to 9 in.
albida (Wall Cress) May and June White --
Anemone coronaria May Various -
vitifolia. July White 1 to 2 ft.
japonica August Purple tº-
Apocynum androsaemifolium *- Pinkish 2 ft.
Orobus VermuS - May Purple 1 ft.
Coronilla minima July TYellow 1 ft.
Corydalis tuberosa March Purple 6 in.
lutea May to Oct. Yellow wº-
Chelone barbata July Scarlet 3 to 4 ft.
Coreopsis tenuifolia Yellow 1 to 2 ft.
Dodecatheon Meadia (American Cowslip) April and May Purple 1 ft.
Eryngium Bourgati July Pale Blue 2 ft.
alpinum *- *-* tº-ºº-ºº
Gentiana acaulis April and May Plue 4 in.
Wernä, -- tº-
Geranium Sanguineum July Red 1 ft.
ibericum tº- I}lue 1 to 2 ft.
Helleborus niger (Christmas Rose) Winter White 6 in.
Hedysarum coronarium (French Honey-
Suckle) June Crimson 3 ft.
Geum coccineum July Scarlet 2 ft.
Hepatica triloba and its varieties April Various 4 in.
QEnothera macrocarpa (Evening, or Tree
Primrose) June, July Yellow 6 ft 12 in.
Lupinus polyphyllus (Tree Lupine) June, July Blue 2 to 3 ft.
*– albiflorus White -->
SUBSECT. III.—Ornamental Bulbs and Tubers.
561. Bulbs are, properly, underground stems which send upwards their
leaves and flower-scapes, and downwards their true roots, as may be seen
in hyacinths and tulips, when grown in glasses. What are commonly called
bulbs are of three kinds: namely, the tunicated, which consist of a number
of coats or tunics, which may be peeled off one after another, as in the
506 THE WILLA GARDENER.
... -
onion and the hyacinth; the scaly, which consist of large fleshy scales,
adhering together only at the root, as in the lily; and the solid, which consist
of a homogeneous, white, nut-like mass, as in the crocus, and which, indeed,
are not bulbs, but corms.
562. The culture of bulbs is a matter of much difficulty. It was formerly
supposed to be necessary to take up all the kinds as soon as they had done
flowering; as it was found that if left in the ground, comparatively few sur-
vived the winter, being destroyed not so much by cold as by damp. Most
bulbous plants are natives of hot dry countries, where they have alternate
seasons of excessive rain, and excessive drought; and where the extraordinary
provision of feculent or starchy matter laid up in the bulb, is necessary to
supply nourishment to the leaves and flowers during their rapid growth in
the rainy season; as at that season they want food faster than it could possibly
be taken up by the roots and leaves. When the plant has done flowering,
all this matter is exhausted, and only the membranous part is left. The
plant, when left in the earth, then begins, through its leaves and roots, to take
up sufficient nourishment from the soil and air to form a new bulb ; and this
process of alternate exhaustion and replenishing goes on every year, if the
bulb is kept dry while it is in a state of repose. If, however, the bulb is
exposed to moisture during the winter, the starchy matter laid up in it is
dissolved too soon, as in winter there is not light and heat enough for it to
develope its leaves and flowers; and consequently the bulb rots instead of
germinating. It is on this account that bulbs are generally taken up as soon
as they have done flowering, and their leaves have begun to decay, and
replanted in spring. If, however, they can be kept dry, it is much better to
leave most of the kinds in the ground all the year, as then they form masses
of bulbs, which, from their roots never being disturbed, grow with extraordi-
nary vigour, and flower splendidly. All the kinds which are called corms,
such as the gladioli, the different kinds of crocus, and nearly all the Cape
bulbs, succeed best when treated in this manner; but choice hyacinths and
tulips are still generally taken up as soon as the leaves begin to decay,
as the flowers are said to degenerate if the bulbs are left all the year in
the ground.
563. List of hardy ornamental flowering bulbs and corms, to be planted in
beds or borders. -
F.º, Colour. Height.
Tigridia pavonia (Tiger flower) May Orange I to 2 ft.
conchiiflora Yellow tº--
Scilla bifolia (Squill) March, April Blue 3 in.
Sibirica. * - *-
Ornithogalum marbonense (White Star of w
Bethlehem) July White 1 to 2 ft.
Narcissus Jonquilla (Jonquil) May Yellow 9 in.
Bulbocodium (Hoop Petticoat) April 6 in.
Ajax e-- - 1 ft.
Muscari moschatum May Blue 4 in.
racemosum (Grape Hyacinth) April e- * -
Leucojum vernum (Snow-flake) Feb. and Mar. White 9 in.
——— a stivum (St. Agnes's Flower) May -- 12 to 18 in.
—— autumnale September Pink 9 in.
ORNAMENTAI, BULBS AND TUBERS. 507
Time of
Flowering. Colour. Height.
Iris germanica (Flag-flower) May Purple 3 ft.
fragrans June Blue 1 to 2 ft.,
—— lusitanica May *E=== — `
—— xiphióides June *=ºmº *
Galanthus nivalis (Snowdrop) Feb. March White 3 in. ,
Fritillaria imperialis (Crown Imperial) April Yellow 3 ft
pyrenaica June Purple 1 to 2 ft,
—— lutea April Yellow 1 ft.
Lilium bulbiferum (Orange Lily) June Orange 3 ft.
—— candidum (White Lily) *º- White gº
—— Catesbaci July Scarlet fººmsº
japonicum (Japan Lily) sºme ºmºmº White Gº-º-º:
tº Martagon (Turk's Cap) tºº Purple sº
— tigrinum (Tiger Lily) gº tº Orange tºº
Colchicum autumnale (Meadow Saffron) September Purple 4 in.
tº-ººs variegatum Light Purple fºgº
Gladiolus communis (Corn-flag) June, July Red 2 ft.
—— cardinalis (Scarlet Corn-flag) July and Aug. Dark Red 3 to 4 ft.
—— psittacinus (Parrot-flower) August, Scarlet and Yellow 4 ft.
byzantinus June Purple Red 2 ft.
Crocus, different SOrts Mar. and Apr. Various 3 in.
564. Tubers closely resemble in their nature what are called solid bulbs or
corms, and appear to be reservoirs of nourishment which have been laid up
by nature for the support of the infant plant. Some tubers have numerous
buds in different parts of their substance, like the potato, and others have
only buds in the upper part, like the Dahlia and the Ranunculus.
565. The culture of tubers depends in a great measure upon their nature;
and the principal tubers grown in the open ground being the Ranunculus, the
Anemone, and the Dahlia, we shall say a few words on each separately.
566. The Ranunculus.-The species of Ranunculus may be divided into
two kinds: border flowers and florists’ flowers. The latter consist of some
hundreds of varieties obtained from the species Ranſºnculus asidticus, a native
of the Levant with tuberous roots, which is rather too tender to endure the winter
in the open air without some kind of protection. The wild plant grows naturally in
Persia, in meadows which are moist during winter and in the growing season,
but dry during great part of summer. Hence, one of the first requisites in
the culture of this flower is a loamy soil kept moist; and as the varieties are
all double, and in a highly artificial state, the soil requires to be made very
rich with leaf mould, or the mould of hotbed dung. The common season for
planting the Ranunculus is November; the roots may be placed about six
inches apart every way, covered with two inches of soil, and protected by
straw, mats, or rotten tan, during severe frosts. The plants will come into
flower in July, and when the leaves wither, the roots may be taken up, dried
in the shade, and preserved in a dry place till they are wanted for replanting.
A great many named kinds may be procured in the seed-shops, the most dis-
tinct of which are the Turban, or very dark red, the orange, the white, and
the fine or cut-leaved. As the plant seeds freely, even when semi-double, new
sorts without end may be raised from seed, which may be sown in pots or flat
pans as soon as it is gathered, and placed in a cold frame. Those persons
who wish to grow the Ranunculus as a prize flower, should consult Hogg's
Treatise on the Ranunculus, or some other work exclusively devoted to florists'
508 THE VILLA GARDENER.
flowers; but for private gardens, it may be sufficient to remark the following
particulars. The tubers, if kept dry, will retain their vitality for two or three
years; and hence, if roots which should be planted in November are kept out
of the ground till the November following, and then planted and protected
from frost, and when they appear above ground put into greenhouse heat,
they will flower at Christmas. If not planted until December, they will
flower about the end of January; and if not planted till January, they will
flower in March. In this way, by always having a stock of old roots, and
planting some every month in the year, Ranunculuses may be had in flower
all the year round.—(Ladies' Companion to the Flower-Garden.)
567. The Anemone is treated in the same manner as the Ranunculus.
568. The Dahlia.—The importance that has within the last few years
attached to the Dahlia would render it easy to fill a volume with descriptions
of its various species and varieties, and the details of their culture. Its history
is also somewhat curious, as, strange to say, though it has become so great a
favourite, and is so universally cultivated, the history of its introduction is
very obscure. It is generally said to have been introduced by Lady Holland
in 1804; but the fact is, it had been introduced many years before that period,
and was only brought from Madrid, in 1804, by Lady Holland, who
apparently did not know that it was already in the country. The first kind
of Dahlia known to Europeans (D. variábilis, Dec.) was discovered in Mexico
by Baron Humboldt in 1789, and sent by him to Professor Cavanilles, of the
Botanic Garden, Madrid, who gave the genus the name of Dahlia, in honour
of the Swedish professor Dahl. Cavanilles sent a plant of it the same year to
the Marchioness of Bute, who was very fond of flowers, and who kept it in the
greenhouse. From this species nearly all the varieties known in the gardens
have been raised; as it seeds freely, and varies very much when raised from
seed. In 1802, a second species (D. coccinea) was introduced from France, in
which country it had been raised from Mexican seeds. A few varieties have
been raised from this kind, but they are much smaller than the others. It is
rather remarkable, that the two species do not hybridise together; and the
first kind produces flowers of colours so different as crimson, purple, white,
yellow, orange, and scarlet, without hybridisation. Among all the colours,
however, displayed by these varieties, no flowers have yet appeared of blue,
and comparatively few of a pure white. These two species, and their varieties,
were the only Dahlias known in English gardens for many years; as though a
few kinds were introduced from time to time from France and Spain, yet as
they did not hybridise with the others, and were rather more tender, they
were not generally cultivated, and appear to have been soon lost.
The Dahlia is a tuberous-rooted plant, which is propagated either by seeds,
or by division of the root. The seeds are chiefly used for raising new sorts;
and they should be treated like tender annuals, being sown on a slight hotbed,
in February or March, and planted out in May. The plants rarely flower the
first year, but the tubers will form in the course of the summer, and may be
taken up in autumn with those of the old plants. When the plants are propa-
gated by division of the root, care must be taken that each piece has a
bud attached to it. These buds, or eyes, as gardeners call them, are not scat-
tered all over the tubers, like those of the potato, but collected in a ring round
the collar of the root. These eyes, when the tubers are in a dry state, are
sometimes scarcely perceptible; and to discover them nurserymen often plant
ORNAMENTAL BULBS AND TUBERS. 509
their Dahlia-roots in a hotbed, “to start the eyes,” as they callit; that is, to force
the latent buds sufficiently forward to show where they are situated, before they
divide the tubers for the purpose of forming new plants. Sometimes the eyes
do not form a ring round the collar or crown of the root, but a considerable
portion of it is without any buds. These parts, when divided from the rest,
are called blind tubers; and, though, if put into the ground, they will live for
several years, sending out abundance of fibrous roots every year, no gardener
has yet been able to induce a blind tuber to form an eye, or to send up a shoot.
Dahlias are also propagated by cuttings of the stem, taken from the lower
part of the plant; or young shoots slipped off the tuber, with part of the woody
fibre attached. The cuttings should be struck in sand, or very sandy loam,
under a bell-glass, and with bottom-heat. Great care should be taken to shade
them from the direct rays of the sun, till they have thrown out roots; as the
leaves are easily withered, and when this is the case they cannot be recovered,
and the cutting will perish for want of a due circulation of the sap. The roots
will generally form in a fortnight, or, at most, three weeks. The best soil for
Dahlias is a compost of equal parts of sand and loam, with a little peat; which
may be enriched with part of an old hotbed, or decayed leaves. Manure of
any kind should, however, be used very sparingly; as too much will cause
the plant to produce strong, coarse-growing leaves and stems, instead of fine
flowers. Striped flowers are never either bright or distinct in their colours in
very rich soil. Dahlias will not grow well in the richest clayey soil without
sand; and though they will grow freely in sand without loam, the flowers will
be poor and only semi-double. Though they flower so late in the year, Dah-
lias are killed by the slightest frost; and thus their beauty, great as it is, is
generally rather short-lived. As soon as the leaves turn brown from frost,
which is generally in October, the stems should be cut down; and in November
the tubers should be taken up. A dry day should be chosen, if possible; and
the tubers should be carefully taken up, and laid on boards in an open shed,
or some similar place, to dry. While drying they should be turned every
day, and the earth that falls from them should be swept away. They should
be dried in an open shed, if possible, where they will be only sheltered from
the rain; for if dried suddenly by fire-heat, or exposure to the sun, the tubers
are apt to wither up; and if dried too slowly, without the admission of plenty
of air, they will rot. They generally do best kept during the winter in a dry
cellar, in sand or sawdust; but any dry place will do, which is not too hot. In
spring, the tubers are replanted, either in pots plunged in a slight hotbed,
about the middle of February, or the beginning of March, or in the open
ground in May or June; but the dwarf early-flowering kinds may be planted
in the open air in April. When the tall kinds are wanted to flower early, they
may be forced rapidly forward by being plunged into stronger heat, and kept
in the hotbed till just ready to flower. If, however, the summer should prove
hot and dry, the plants thus forced are frequently attacked by a disease called
the curl, which is caused by an insect known by the name of the green bug,
that perforates the young leaves, and occasions them to wither and shrivel up.
569. The operations of gardening will be found in various parts of the twin
volume, The Horticulturist.
~
I N D E X.
[The pages are referred to, not the paragraphs.]
A.
Acre, number of trees and shrubs to an,
221
Alcove, 179
, rustic, 400
Alcoves, rustic, 214
American plants, sunk garden for, 242
Anemone, 508
Annuals for a suburban garden, 149
—, culture of 497
——, lists of, 149, 498
, ornamental, 9
—, seeds of, to sow, 498
Apiary, management of the, 365
Apples and crabs, list of, 263
, selection of, 88
Apple-trees, list of, 293
*Approach road, 166–169
, mode of planting the, 380
Aquarium, 492
Aquatic fowls, 363
Architectural ornaments, 33
– ornaments for gardens, 178
—182
style of a villa, 12
Arch of rustic work, 274
Art, appearance of, 18
- , recognition of 19
Artificial aspect of a suburban residence,
45
— exposure, 48
Artistical landscape, 156
Artistic arrangement of beds, 22
imitation of scenery, 37
Aspect of villas, 9
Autumn sown annuals, 500
Aviary, 304
B.
Back gardens, planting of, 60
Baskets of rustic work, 179
Bath-room, 345
Bedford Lodge, 246
Beds, artistic arrangement of, 22
Beds grouped near a walk, 24, 25
— of flowers, rules for planting, 57
Biennials, 502
and annuals, 113
, list of, for a suburban garden,
149
Boat-house, 195
Borders for fruit-trees, 76
Boundary fence, 170
walls, 151
Bridges over still water, 423
, rustic, 398
Brugmánsia suaveolens (Datiºna arborea),
I25 -
Building or planting, which should be
done first, 224
Buildings, mode of executing, 224
Bulbs and tubers, 505
for a geometric garden, 123
, arrangement of, 102
C.
Cabbages, best kinds to grow, 80
Calceolarias, the best for planting out, 69.
Californian annuals, lists of, 69, 499
Camellia house, 488
Changes of trees, 3
Chequers, entrance lodge at, 375
Cherries, list of, 264
Chester Holme Cottage, 244
Chestnut, sweet, kinds of, 264
Choice of a situation for a villa, 6
Climate, characters of, 8, 11
Climbing annuals, 149
half-hardy annuals for a sub-
urban garden, 149
plants for a wall, 69
roses, and other plants, 85
shrubs for a suburban garden,
148
Coach-house and stables, 129
, management of the, 350
Coachman’s bed-room, 351
Cold pit, advantages of a, 4
Cold pits, 468–470
INDEX,
5 i 1
Combination of objects, 33
--— of parts to form a whole, 23
Comparative merits of different styles, 41
Connexion between the house and
grounds, 388
Conservative wall, 210
, protected by curtains, 466
——, protected by glass, 467
Conservatories, 488°
Conservatory, definition of the term, 55
of a country villa, 160
*=s with moveable sashes, 234
Cottage, inconveniences of a, when
thatched, 12
Cottage residence equal in enjoyment to
a villa, 5
Country houses in three classes, 43
Country mansions, 43, 345
, designs for, 420
Country residence, enjoyments of a, 156
Country villas, 156
, how defined, 43
, large, culture and manage-
ment of 338
—, large, to lay out, plant, &c.,
259 .
—, small, 225
, small, culture and renova-
*Rºmº
*mºms
tºmºmº
tion of, 255
Covered seats, 389
Covered way, 416
Covered way of trellis-work, 455
Cow-house, construction of the, 259, 355
Cows, how to choose, 260
, management of, 339
Crops, succession of, 78
Cubic form best for a villa, 16
Culinary crops, 88
*== , management of, 102
Culinary vegetables, list and proportions
of, for a garden, 77
Culture and management of large coun-
try villas, 338
of small country villas, 255
—— of suburban gardens, 145
Cutting down trees and shrubs, 255
D.
Dahlia, 508
Dairy, construction of the, 356
, management of the, 259
Deciduous shrubs for a suburban garden,
148
- trees for a suburban garden,
147, 148
Dense mass of trees, how produced, 217
Diagrams for planting flower-beds, 58
Disadvantages of suburban gardens, 147
Distance that trees ought to be apart, 217
Distant scenery, 157
Docks and thistles, to destroy, 341
Domestic offices, mode of concealing, 208.
Doric temple, 215
Double suburban villa, 105
with a geometric
flower garden, 109
Double villa in Porchester-terrace, Bays-
water, 134
with greenhouses, 118
Dovecot, 363
Drainage in suburban gardens, 150
map, 163
of a country villa, 160
—— of a suburban residence, 53
Draining a paddock, 261
—— permanent pasture, 343
Drains, 162
——, dimensions of, 343
Dry stove, 492
Dunchurch Vicarage, 320
Dutch garden at Redleaf, 309
E.
Economical gardens, 61
modes of building, 222
Edgings of wirework, 180
Elevated situation, advantages of an, 7
Elizabethan suburban villa, 105
English garden at Redleaf, 311
style of gardening, 37
Enjoyments of a country residence, 1, 3
Entrance-lodge, 196
— and gate at Redleaf, 307
Entrance-lodges and gates, 372—381
Evergreens for a suburban garden, 148
in a small street garden, 64
—, screen of, 69
Evergreen shrubs for a suburban garden,
148
Expense of building, 221
of laying out and keeping a
street garden, 64
of planting suburban pleasure-
grounds, 103
— of planting a fruit-garden, 90
Exposure to winds, 8
tºmº
F.
Fac-simile imitations of natural scenery,
40
Fairfield Cot, 296
Farm-buildings suitable for a villa or park
farm, 354
Farming, moral influence of, 352
——, pleasures of, 352
512
INDEX.
Farming suitable for a villa or park farm,
354
Farm, management of the, 351
— , situation of the, 353
, how to stock, with sheep, 281
Fattening poultry, 360
Fences, 151
in suburban gardens, 151
of suburban gardens, 48
Ferme ornée, 354
Field-book, 201–203
Fig-trees, kinds of, 295
Firs, how to mix, with round-headed
trees, 29
Fishing-houses, 193—195
Fish-ponds, management of, 366
Fitness of a building for the end in
view, 17
Florists’ flowers in a suburban garden,
124
Flower-beds near an Italian villa, 128
on lawns, 460
——, rules for planting, 57
Flower-garden at Bedford-lodge, 251
——— at Wimbledon-house, 436
——, geometric, at Mrs. Law-
rence’s villa, 272
of a country villa, 160
—, situation for a, 211
—, to plant the, 69
Flower-gardens, 93, 95,404–414
Flowering trees, list of, 291
Flowers, distribution of, in the pleasure-
ground and shrubbery, 174
— for beds, 85
for a country villa, choice of
kinds, 177
for a country villa, distribution
of, 177
Food of plants, 145
Forcing-houses in a suburban garden, 115
Foreign trees and shrubs, planting of, 217
Form of a villa residence, 14
Fortis Green, villa at, 278
Fountain at Wimbledon House, 441
—, drooping, 210
Fountains, 400–404
Fowls, houses for, 361
, management of, 358
Front gardens, planting of, 60
Front garden, to plant the, usefully, 72
Fruit and vegetables in a small garden,
75–77
Fruit garden, management of the, 91
Fruit-tree borders, 76
Fruit-trees for a small garden, 75
——for walls, 87
——in a small back garden, 63
*-
Fruit-trees, lists of, 263,293
, training of, 83
G.
Gardenesque imitation of scenery, 38
Gardening, enjoyments of, 1, 3
Garden of a suburban residence, 44
of a suburban residence, size of, 51
of a suburban residence, planting
the, ornamentally, 120
Garden scenery at Redleaf, 306
Gardens of semi-detached villas, 60
of street houses, 60
Garden tools required in a suburban gar-
den, 155
Gas-pipes, 51
Gate, rustic, 398
Gates of various kinds, 373–381
Geometric flower gardens, 411–414
flower-gardens, modes of plant-
ing, 111
park, 451
style of gardening, 36
villa, 444
Geometrical garden, mode of planting,
122 -
Glass-case, moveable, 468
Gooseberries, selection of, 88
Gourds and pumpkins, 72
Grass land for pasture, to renovate, 340
Grass, laying down in, 107
Grass seeds for renovating a lawn, 257
Grass walks, 165
Gravel walks, to renovate, 257
Green-house, advantages of a, 3
, enjoyments of a, 55
to a suburban residence, 115
plants in a suburban garden,
sº-
125
——, list of, 69
Green-houses, ornamental, 486
, useful, 470—472
Grotto at Wimbledon, 441–443
Grottoes, to make, 390
Grotto-work, tricks of, 33
Guinea-fowls, 362.
H.
Half-hardy annuals, 501
Harmonising a residence with the sur-
rounding country, 217
Harmony in landscape gardening, 35
Harness-room, 350
Hay, to prepare grass for, 341
Health of plants, conditions necessary to
the, 146 -
Bealthy situations for villas, 6
Heating a plant cabinet, 476
INDEX.
- 513
Hendon Rectory, 327
Hen-house, 361
Herbaceous plants, 497
for a suburban garden,
148
-*-* management of, 102
Hill, house on the side of a, 26
Hoole House, near Chester, 315
Hot-beds, 470
Hot-houses, 492
House and grounds, to connect the, 388
House on a slope, 27
House, position of the, 26
I.
Ice-cellar, 370
Ice-house, management of the, 369
Ice-houses, construction of, 370
Implements required in a suburban gar-
den, 155
Indigenous imitations of scenery, 40
Insects in suburban gardens, 155
Irregular house, disadvantages of an, 15
Isometrical plan of a villa on a square
piece of ground, 228
Italian scenery, imitation of, 127
Italian suburban villa, 127
Italian terrace and green-house, 128
Ivy and other evergreens in a small street
garden, 62
J
Jardin d'hiver, 491
K.
Renwood, 453
Kinds of trees, distribution of, 219
Kitchen-garden of a country villa, 159
—, planting the, 77, 81
Ritchen-gardens, plans of, 416–419
————, to renovate, 258, 345
-*
L.
Lakes (see Water)
Landscape, artistical, 156
Landscape gardening, rules for, 19
Large country villas, 259
Lawn, management of the, 71
Lawns, grass seeds for, 257
, laying out and management of,
*
107
of various kinds, 383
, when to be broken by flower-
beds, 460
Laying house for fowls, 361
Laying out and planting a villa, 16
Laying out a small street garden, 62
Laying out grounds, 39
, mode of, 225
Light, disadvantages of a want of, in
suburban gardens, 147 | -
Liquid manure, management of, 71 !
Lupines as herbage, 464
Lyne Grove, Chertsey, 425
M.
Mammoth gourd, how to cook the, 72
Management of a fruit-garden, 91
Management of a lawn, 70
Management of suburban pleasure-
grounds, 103
Mansions in the country, 345
Mansions, in what different from villas,
43
Manure for suburban gardens, 146
Manures, how to use, in suburban gar-
dens, 146
Marryat's, Mrs., Wimbledon House, 420
Memorandum-book, 201–203
Mercury, bronze figure of, 273
Milking a cow, 340
Moist stove, 492
Moral influence of farming, 352
Mosses, to destroy, 342
Moss-houses, 390–397
Moveable glass-case, 468
N.
Natural style of gardening, 37
O.
Offices detached from the house, 349
, domestic, mode of concealing, 208
, situation of, 347
Orchideous house, 493
Ornamental gardens, 61
— plant-houses, 473
—— planting, 118
—— plants, lists of, 197
suburban garden, 95
Out-buildings in a suburban residence, 52
P.
Paddock, management of the, 260
Park in the geometric style, 451
Pasture land, to break up, 344
Pasture lands, to drain, 343
Peach-trees, list of, 295
Pea-fowls, 362
Pear-trees, lists of, 263,293
Pears, selection of, 87
Peas and beams, best kinds of, 80
Peas, mode of training, 89
Perennials, 503
514
INDEX.
Perennials and bulbs, planting with, 112
Perennials, list of, for a suburban garden,
148
. , lists of, 504
Permanent residents, advice to, as to re-
novating a garden, 256
Picturesque imitation of scenery, 37
Pigeon-house, 363
Piggery, construction of the, 357
Pines and firs at Hendon Rectory, list of,
336
—, where to introduce, 220
Pipes through a suburban garden, for
water or gas, 51
Pits and frames in a suburban garden,
116
Pits, uses of, 4
Plan for laying out and planting a subur-
ban pleasure-ground, 96
Plans, making, and carrying them into
execution, 198—208
Plantation of trees, how to vary, 28
Plantations, use of, in a small villa, 239
Plant-cabinet with a lean-to roof, 473
—, with a span roof, 475
Plant-houses, 465
—— of various kinds in one
range, 495 r
Planting, 28
— a flower-garden with perennials
and bulbs, 112
——— an Elizabethan villa, 106
—— a small back garden, 62
——— a small front gardem, 62
——, expense of, 224
—— flower-beds, 57
— grounds, 39,
— or building, which should be
commenced first, 224
single trees, 197
—— trees and shrubs in the grounds
of a residence, 170
—— trees for ornament, 119
trees too deep, bad effects of, 153
— with biennials and annuals, and
green-house plants, 113
Plants, conditions necessary to the health
of, in suburban gardens, 146
———, food of, 145
in a plant-cabinet, 476
, ornamental, lists of, 497
———, selection of, for a suburban gar-
den, 147
——, to keep distinct, 59
Pleasure-grounds of a villa, 16
——of a country villa, 163
*-*-*-* of country villas, im-
proved mode of planting the, 175
-*-
-*-
Pleasure-ground walk, 212
Pleasure-ground walks, breadth of, 165
Pleasures of farming, 351
lums, list of, 264
Porchester-terrace, Bayswater, villa in,
134
Position of the house in a suburban resi-
dence, 44
Posts to support clothes-lines, 54
Poultry-houses, 360
—, management of, 358
yard, 358
Priced list of trees, 99
Principles on which a villa should be laid
out, 17
— peculiar to landscape gar-
dening and architecture, 42
Profitable gardens, 61, 71
Protected trellises, 465
R.
Rabbits, management of, 365
Banunculus, 507.
Recognition of art, 19
Redleaf, near Penshurst, 299
Regular piece of ground, how to lay out,
as a villa residence, 225
Renovating suburban gardens, 150
Renovation of large country villas, 340
of small country villas, 255
of suburban gardens, 150
Reserve garden to an Italian villa, 129
cºmm-sº-º , use of a, 111
Roads and walks, 22
Roads, direction of, as regards a suburban
residence, 48
Rockwork, 181—189
— at Hoole House, 317, 321,
322, 323 -
Rocky lawn at Redleaf, 313
scenery, 20
Rosarium, mode of forming a, 243
Roses, preparing the soil for, 70
Rules as to what style to employ, 42
for planting flowers, 57
Rustic arch at Wimbledon House, 433
bridges, 398, 399
gate, 398
scenery, 40
seats, 178, 179, 213,400
tables, 399
vases, 179, 180
*
S.
Scenery of a country mansion residence,
372 -
, to improve, 387
INDEX,
5
l
5
Screen of evergreens, 69
of trees, how to manage, 217
Sculpture in gardens, 180, 181, 182
Sea-breeze, effects of the, on trees, 381
Seats covered from rain, 389
, rustic, 178, 179, 213,400
Seed, quantity required of culinary vege-
tables, 81
Selection of culinary vegetables for a
small garden, 80
of plants for suburban gardens,
147
Sheep farm, management of a, 281
Sheep, profit of, in a farm, 283
Shrubs, climbing, for a suburban garden,
148
, deciduous, for a suburban garden,
148
, distribution of, in the grounds of
a country villa, 174
, evergreen, for a suburban garden,
148
for a country villa, choice of kinds,
175
for a country villa, distribution
of, 176
, how many to an acre, 221
, treatment of those which have
been neglected, 152—155
Single villa, 130
Sitting-house for fowls, 361
Situation of a residence, 198—208
of a suburban residence, 44
— of offices, 347
Slope, house on a, 27
Slugs, to destroy, 155
Small places, variety in, 34
Smoke, list of trees which will bear it,
68
, trees that will bear the effects
of, 65 •
Snails, to destroy, 155
Soil for a villa residence, 9
— in old suburban gardens, 150
— in suburban gardens, 146
—— in suburban gardens, to renovate,
150
Spades for draining, 344
Square house, disadvantages of a, 15
piece of ground, how to lay it out
as a villa, 225
Stable offices, 349 .
Stages for plants, 481,487
Staking trees to protect them, 267
Statues in gardcms, 122
, where to introduce, 33
Strawberries, selection of, 88
Street garden for profit, 71
Street garden of the second size, 66
— of the smallest size, 62
Street gardens, 60 |
Stove attached to a green-house, 472 | *.
Style and character of a villa, 35 f
Subsoil for a villa, 10
Suburban garden for flowers, 92, 95
*mammºms —, renovation of a, 150
, selection of plants for
a, 147
Suburban gardens, 44
——, culture of, 145
, disadvantages of, 147
of flowers, fruit-trees,
and vegetables, 83
—— soil of, 146
Suburban residence, how defined, 43
Suburban villa on rather a large scale, 131
, to lay out and planta, 67
with a green-house, 117
Succession of crops, 78 -
Sun-dial, 209
—— at Kenwood, 459
Surface, characters of, 7
Swans, management of, 364
Symmetry in laying out grounds, 27
T.
Tables, rustic, 399
Temporary residents, advice to, as to
renovating a garden, 257
Terrace walk at Kenwood, 461
Thatched cottage, inconveniences of a, 12
Tools required in a suburban garden, 155
Tree guards, 265, 266
Trees and shrubs for a country villa,
choice of kinds, 175
—— for a country villa, dis-
tribution of, 176
—, treatment of those
which have been neglected, 152—155
Trees at Hendon Rectory, list of, 330–338
, at what distance apart they should
be planted, 217
—, changes in, 3 -
——, deciduous, for a suburban garden
147, 148
——, distribution of, in the grounds of a
country villa, 171–174
— for an Italian villa, 127
— for a suburban garden, 147
—, how many to an acre, 221
—, how to group, 23, 24.
— in a park, 25
—, list of, for a suburban villa, 68
——, list of, in a garden in Porchester-
terrace, Bayswater, 141
——, ornamental, lists of, 262, 291
*men-, *=
*
y
3.
516
INDEX,
Trees, ornamental, list of, for a suburban
garden, 99
——, to stake, 267
~ Training peas, 89
Traps to prevent the ascent of smells, 161
Trellises, protected, 465
Trellis for fruit-trees,87
Trellis-work for creepers, 416
Trenching, uses of, 170
Turf, 152
—, to renovate, 152
Turkey-house, 362
U.
Underground drainage, 150
Underground walk, 213
Union of all the parts of a country resi-
dence, 195
Useful vegetables, 79
V.
Variety in laying out grounds, 28
in the prospect, 30
Vase, 181
Wases for flower-gardens, 414
—, where to introduce, 33
Vegetables in a small garden, 73
——, the best to grow, 79, 81
Ventilation of a plant-cabinet, 482
Vicarage-house and church, 326
View from the drawing-room window, 381
Views from the house, 30
Villa and grounds, 31
— at Hammersmith, 285
— in the geometrical style, 444
— laid out by Mr. Glendinning, 287
— of Mrs. Lawrence, at Drayton-
green, 270
— residence, best form for a, 14
—— residence, principles to be taken
into consideration respecting a, 6
—, small country, 225
Villas, country, 156
Villas, in what different from man-
sions, 43
—, situation for, 6
W.
Walks, 152
and roads, 21
, direction of, 164
, how to conceal, 32
———, how to lay out, 32
—, how to make, in a suburban resi-
dence, 53
—— in suburban gardens, 152
——— in the gardenesque style, 38
—— in the picturesque style, 39
— on varied surfaces, 165
— under a tunnel, 213
, width of, 76
Walls in suburban gardens, 151
, plants for covering, 69
Walnut-trees, objections to, 264
Warrens, artificial, 365
Water, 12
at Kenwood, 463
—— at Wimbledon House, 439
, introduction and management of,
in small places, 188—193
, management of, in landscape
scenery, 421–427
, small pieces of, 239
Watering, pleasures of, 2
Water-pipes, 51
Water-trap, 161
Width of walks in pleasure-grounds, 215
Wild-fowl for a pond, 287
Wimbledon House, 420
Window gardening, 56
Winter gardens, 491
Wirework, 180
Wirework-edging, 181
Worms, to destroy, 155
Working plan for laying out pleasure-
grounds, 96
———— for planting trees and
shrubs, 216
THE END.
JAN 2 .
i916
LONDON :
PRINTED BY w. TYLER, Bolt-courT.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GRADUATE LIBRARY
DATE DUE
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