Gardening Notes.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1811, 24 March 1886, Page 3

Gardening Notes.

The time ol year hu now arrived (or the formation of n«wground* and re-modelling cf old ohm. I therefore desire to bring under the notice of the reader* of the Stasdabi. the following extract from the American Agricnltnrist upon the subject. In the Wairarapa there is not enough trouble taken in laving out ground* that would ever afterward* repay the owner by their pleasing aspect. When owner* cannot do thutbemaelves they shonld get the assistance of a practical man. Beta. Makino a Flan.— Where, says Mr Long, one prefers to make his own plans for the improvement of his own garden the way to proceed is. to prepare a map of the as it now is, drawing it to some stale, such aa sixteen or thirty-two leet to an nudi. I'pun this all the existing oojects. ,ath as buildings, entrance:,, trees, A- . should be located giving each its exact position. Then with a pencil, the planning of improvements mav be done, marking ani erising as necessary. until Something satisfactory is reached Every ol t intended to be brought in sbou.d he given i:.- Pr [ er size according to the scale. As the v. rk progresses. the plan should often t- viewed from various directions, by holding the upper surface of the paper nearly in line with the eye. This will better show how it wid appear on the grounds when finished, than if looked at obliquely from above, because naturally we view our gardens not as if we were in a balloon, but with the eye* nearly on their own level. Sufficient time ought to be given to this work, so that all features may be deliberately studied in their relation to the whole. Remember, it is always a serious matter to make blunders in in planning a garden, for when the work is once executed, and the trees are growing, they will stand as monuments—who can tell how long- pointing either to wise or unwise decisions on the part of the one who made the plan. Before commencing his plan, one should decide upon what is to be its general style, whether the grounds shall be laid out to produce natural landscape effects, or whether a more artificial style shall prevail. It is only where the surroundings are formal, as in the vicinity of large buil lings, that straight walks, quadrangular beds, and other formal features are admissible. The old gardeners thought they did their work best when they made natural objects wpear as unlike nature as possible. 1 hev clipped avenues of trees to make formal arches „ fad cat evergreen* to resemble men, beasts,

and other objects. Unnatural as they are, even clipped trees have their uses. Regarding these. Mr. Long says : “ A numb t of acres, closely covered with every conceivable pattern of these, such as can be seen in -'■me old European places may well fid us with disgust, but it does not follow that a lew perfect globes, pyramids, urns, or trees in other shapes, well relieved by grass, in s ime parts of our gardens, would not afford genuine pleasure, or even that a larger number of such trees may not sometimes be employed with tastful effect. The most suitable place foi some clipped trees in gardens is in the vicinity of any portion devoted to the formal styles of p anting. A pair of these trees on the sides of the walk near the entrance gate, at the crossing of wa’ks at right angles, or one placed as a Central or terminal object of a walk or drive, or a few along the sides of this, and on terraces, may be very ornamen ta), provided always they are well sustained by grass or by other prominent feature-. Yet it is proper to recommend great caution agnnst introducing them too freely, for un questionab y it is easy to overdo the matter.