should be seen that they are fully adapted to the climate and soil in which they are to be placed, by having come from a similar or an inferior one. A plant may grow all the better in a favourable climate and good soil, from having been reared in a colder or more exposed place, and a poorer earth. But let the reverse of this take place, and it will merely linger out a languishing existence for a time, never forming a beautiful specimen; or it will perish entirely. It behoves those who are intending to plant in a bad climate or indifferent earth, to see, therefore, that their plants are procured from a similar or worse locality, or they will never be likely to flourish.

Plants that are grown in a poor and shallow soil, and a somewhat exposed situation, and have been several times transplanted, are, consequently, well furnished with fibrous roots, and rather stunted than luxuriant in their growth. If they are not planted too thickly, they will also be as well provided with branches as with roots. And these are the very best descriptions of plants for any place, however sheltered it may be, or whatever be the quality of the soil. They will be sure to thrive anywhere; and the more congenial the conditions to which they are transferred, the more perfect and beautiful will they become. These should be the leading considerations in the choice of a nursery for supplying any required stock of plants.

Large plants, taken from nursery rows, never become properly furnished, but always retain their spindly, and bare, and pinchedup appearance. Where larger things are wanted, only such as have been grown separately in borders, or as specimens, should be used. None but the smaller plants, if obtained from rows in a nursery, will be at all satisfactory. And it is small plants which, if well attended to, constantly produce the most healthy and perfect specimens. While, therefore, a few larger things may be admitted into a garden for variety, the staple of its furniture should be made up of lower stuff. Three to four feet in height is a good size for forest and ornamental trees, and about two feet for the majority of shrubs. The Pine and Fir tribe answer better when planted only about nine inches or a foot high, if they be afterwards kept free from weeds, and are not allowed to be smothered by other plants, and the garden is well secured against rabbits and hares.

In selecting plants for furnishing a garden, character and

ornament should invariably be the prime considerations. Mere novelty ought to have little or no weight. Besides the objects to be aimed at in planting, which have been mentioned in previous pages, however, it may be well to take into account the appearance of deciduous trees and shrubs in winter, with respect to their general form, or the colour of their shoots and buds; and also with reference to their beauty when covered with snow and rime. Such as have slender or drooping branches are particularly eligible on the latter account, and none are more so than the weeping Birch. For the colour of their shoots and buds, Birches, Willows, Alders, the red and yellowtwigged Limes, the golden Ash, Dogwood, &c., are most noticeable.

To relieve the excessive bareness of young plantations in pleasure-grounds, Dahlias and Hollyhocks, if copiously introduced, have been found singularly useful. The leaves of newplanted shrubs seldom develop themselves fully for the first year or two; and much may therefore be done to make the clumps look fuller, by means of the two tribes just named, without doing any injury to the more permanent occupants of the ground.

11. Newly planted trees and large shrubs will sometimes require staking or supporting; as, if they can play about in the ground by the action of winds, the roots will be broken and strained, and a hole for the collection of water be formed, which will, in the course of time, rot the roots. Evergreens are particularly liable to suffer, and even die from this cause. They present a greater surface to the action of the winter gales. And all plants that are disproportionately heavy in the head are most likely to need staking

But any kind of staking is sure to be more or less unsightly; and whatever means can be devised for dispensing with it will be a decided boon. Something may certainly be done by planting things of a rather lower growth around one that is disposed to move about by winds. These will soften the force of the attacks, and make the plant more proof against them. For large trees, too, that are planted with balls of earth, and have tolerably strong roots, a triangular or square frame, made of bars of wood, laid across the ball of the plant, and nailed to stout posts driven firmly into the ground at the corners, will

be safer than any upright stakes. (See figs. 245 and 246, the latter being the ground-plan.) Strong ropes, or lines of thick wire, fastened to the upper part of the stem of a newly-planted tree, and tied in several directions to other trees or fixed objects, (fig. 248,) putting some hay or matting round the tree to pre

Figs. 245, 246.

vent it from being cut by the ropes, may occasionally be successful. Planting with good balls of soil, or a little more deeply than usual, will further help to stay large specimens, and to make them able to dispense with extra support.

Where neither of these plans is applicable, or would not be effectual, stakes themselves must be employed. If the wind

blows most roughly from any particular quarter, the principal stake should be placed on that side, that the plant may blow away from the stake, and not upon it. Some hay, matting, or other soft substance, should be put between the plant and the stake, and also round the plant where the cord embraces it.

More than one or even two stakes (fig. 247) will sometimes be requisite for very strong or very heavy plants. But, if the stakes are driven down very deeply, they need not stand more than one, two, or three feet above the ground, which will render them less objectionable. If only one stake be employed, it may, by chance, be able to do its work if placed behind the plant, so as not to be seen from the walk; and this is everywhere desirable, when it does not diminish the power of support. No stake should ever be disproportionately thick, or it will appear clumsy. When one end is thicker than the other, the thick end must be inserted in the ground. And it ought to be remembered, too, that the higher any stake stands out of the ground, the greater will be the power of leverage upon it, and the deeper should it descend into the earth.

In applying stakes to plants, the time when their roots are bare, and before they are covered with soil, should be chosen for placing the stake in its right position, that it may not injure any of the roots. If driven down at random after the roots are all buried, it will most probably damage or sever some of the more valuable of them. The nearer it can be placed to the stem of the plant, consistently with safety, the more power it will possess, and the less distinctly will it be visible. The tree should in all cases be fastened as firmly as possible to the stake; always providing that it has room to expand itself for two or three years.

12. Where good turf can be had without much trouble or expense, it will be more immediately beautiful and satisfying to sod a lawn than to sow it down with fresh seeds. And even if it be too serious an item under any circumstances, the edgings of walks, and the outlines of beds should be everywhere defined by a strip of old turf, at least a foot in width. This will prevent the seeds from being scattered on the walks or borders, and make the edgings firmer and less ragged for several years. Indeed, it is impossible to make a sound and satisfactory edging, except with old turf.

Sods should always be chosen from an old pasture, and one where sheep have been accustomed to graze will be best. The autumn months offer decidedly the fittest season for laying them down, as they will then at once take hold of the ground, without the danger of their separating, and curling up at the

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edges, during the succeeding summer. But any mild weather throughout the winter, or a showery time up to a late period in the spring, may be selected for the operation, if more convenient. The soil should always be well stirred as the sods are laid, and if there is any chance of their suffering from drought, or if the grass is not sufficiently fine, a little light soil, mixed with lime, may be strewn over them after they are laid, and swept into their interstices with a scrubby broom. A few of the finer grass seeds may be added if it be in spring. Sods, too, ought always to be laid lengthwise up and down steep slopes, or at right angles with a line of walk, as the edgings will then remain firmer, and may be cut truer.

13. For sowing down grass seeds, the ground should be lightly dug over about the last week in March or August, and the seeds sown immediately after. It will be advisable to scatter them rather thickly, and then tread and rake them well in, and give the ground a thorough rolling. Care must be exercised to make up the ground, by the edgings already laid, to the level of the top of those edgings; in order that, when the young grass springs up, all may be on the same level, and there may not be a break or dip between the old and the new. After the grass has vegetated, it will simply require to be kept free from weeds until it is strong enough to be mown. A dry day, in a showery season, will of course be best for sowing grass, as it is for all other seeds. And it ought not to be forgotten that, on the evenness with which the ground is dug, levelled, and raked, will hereafter be the beauty and smoothness of the lawn.

Some of the fittest seeds for a lawn are Poa pratensis and triviale, Festuca ovina, Cynosurus cristatus, Avena flavescens, Trifolium minus, and white Dutch clover. Poa nemoralis is the best grass for growing under trees. Other and coarser kinds are usually added; and many good nurserymen have mixtures of their own, adapted to particular soils. But the smaller the proportion of the stronger growing kinds that is admitted, the finer, and smoother, and softer will be the grass, and the less mowing will it require. Any sort of rye-grass, some variety of which is too commonly introduced into mixtures, will be especially unsuitable.

14. Fruit-trees, trained to walls in kitchen-gardens, demand a rather peculiar preparation for the borders. If these last are made