File:Cassell's popular gardening (1884) (20541013965).jpg

Title: Cassell's popular gardening
Identifier: cassellspopularg00fish_1 (find matches)
Year: 1884 (1880s)
Authors: Fish, David Taylor, 1824-1901; Fish, D. T. (David Taylor), 1824-1901
Subjects: Gardening
Publisher: London ; New York : Cassell
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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262 CASSELL'S POPULAH GAEDENINa. recede to any desired distance; a single tree or group of shrubs being occasionally introduced to give force and meaning to the retreat of the turf. Some of the most delightful carriage-roads in the country are those that are supported—or rather, illuminated when the plants are in bloom—with rhododendrons chiefly or only ; thousands and tens of thousands of these plants are employed to advance and rest on the turf or gravel at one side, and rise up boldly and meet and mingle with the trees oa the other. Garden Walks The same general jarinci- ples apply to these as to roads; but as one of their chief uses is to pro- vide a pleasant prome- nade and furnish healthy exercise within one's own do- Fine View main, any reason- able extension of walks within the limits of good taste may be permitted. Still, mere meandering for the sake of lengthen- ing must not be indulged in. One of the most striking examples of this fault ever seen by the writer was that of a zigzag walk carried through a belt of wood about fifty feet wide. The walk skirted both sides of the belt, and was so bent and curved that every now and again the two walks came within a few feet of each other. A definite and satisfactory meaning may mostly be given to the curves of walks by the opening out of distant views of the surrounding landscape, or posting objects of interest, such as a choice tree, or shrub, or group, a seat, arbour, or statue, at par- ticular points. By such means the course of the walk may be made to seem natural, and even neces- sary, and the most convenient. As a general rule, pleasure-ground walks are best curved; the line of beauty seldom or never being a straight one. Hence, to give object and meaning to the curves becomes one of the first duties and the highest merits of the true landscape gardener.
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Pig'. 10.—Lines of Beauty. In Fig. 10 the primary object is to illustrate lines of beauty, and show what they are like to the un- initiated; the secondary purpose, so to dispose oii- ferent objects of interest as to make the lines chosen seem the most natural—almost, in fact, the only available ones. Hence, in proceeding from the house, which is in the direction of a, the fii'st curve in the walk is caused by the flower garden, that compels a slight divergence to the left. Proceeding a little further, a dense group of trees and shi'ubs blocks the way, and compels the walk to diverge to the right and the left. Choosing the right-hand path, it would scarcely be possible to choose a more graceful curve thi'ough a grass lawn to the collection of trees planted in the ai-boretum. The walk diverging to the right at this point leads to the dairy and home-farm. The sharp divergence here is ren- dered necessary by the summer-house that again blocks the way; it com- mands a view of the walks, and the meadows and corn-fields on the other side of it. Of course, the summer-house might have been made the terminus of the walk. But it is generally un- satisfactory to be com- pelled to return on the f,ame walk, where the pleasure - grounds are sufiiciently large to atiord the means of returning by another. In this case, too, there are other reasons for turning to the left, -^t the summer-house—a fernery to ^isit, a rosary in the recess further on to enjoy, and a commanding view of fine landscape, &c., in the near foreground, with a meandering river coiling through verdant meads, like a silvery serpent, in the far distance. Thus the interest of the walk is sustained at all points, and the curves are so adjusted and worked in to surround- ing circumstances as to seem that they could hardly have been otherwise. The difference in walking on such walks, contrasted with the dreary monotony of taking constitutionals on straight lines or round

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