forgotten. Those who have examined the agricultural museums now being collected in various parts of the empire will easily imagine the benefit which might be derived from kindred collections in public gardens. To these museums we would recommend the addition of a well-chosen horticultural and botanical library, composed not merely of treatises which ought to be in the hands of every one, but of books of reference, such as the works of Lindley, Loudon, Diel, Hooker, De Candolle, Balfour, and others, to which should be added the various horticultural and botanical periodicals of the day, and many other illustrated works, which persons of moderate fortune, unless they enjoy peculiar facilities of access to public libraries, have no opportunities of consulting. There might also be a collection of elementary treatises for the instruction of the operatives employed in the gardens: indeed, such a library has, with praiseworthy liberality, been formed by the Horticultural Society of London for the benefit of the young men in the garden at Turnham Green. It may seem more connected with our present object to recommend the keeping of a register of observations made from time to time in the garden. In this book we would insert all the judgments formed of fruits and flowers, the reception of every new plant, with its date, the rejection of every worthless article, and the reasons for the same, and all the comparisons of products made in respect to quantity and quality. Selections of the more interesting parts. of this information might be published occasionally; but undoubtedly there would also be much which, though it might not be of sufficient importance to be presented to the eyes of the world, might yet be highly worthy of preservation as a part of the his

tory of the garden and of horticulture in the locality. Under the present system much curious matter is continually lost. An aged and experienced curator dies every now and then, and the whole store of knowledge of which his memory was the only record passes away.

(2.) Zoological Gardens. These places of public resort, though but recently established, have already received much attention, and have contributed largely to popular amusement and instruction. Formerly col

lections of wild beasts were immured in the Tower of London, in Exeter Change, and in other confined localities, or at most were carried about in travelling caravans. The arrangements of the menageries in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris probably first suggested the union of collections of living animals with gardens. This plan, at least, was adopted by the Zoological Society of London, and it has been subsequently followed by various kindred institutions throughout the country. Of course, in all these cases the accommodation for the animals has been the main object, and the garden only an accessory appendage; but neatness and cleanliness are the qualities which we most desire to find in menageries, and with these the trimness of gardens sufficiently accords. Let the necessary buildings be tastefully and conveniently arranged, and we cannot conceive a more appropriate filling up of the picture than that supplied by lawns, flowers, shrubs, and trees. For holiday folks, who probably form a majority of those who frequent zoological gardens, the promenade afforded by the neat gravel walks and well-shaven lawns is an agreeable addition to the other pleasures of the visit. Certain it is, at least, that these gardens have been among the most

popular places of amusement that have lately come into

vogue.

It will be apparent to slight consideration that the proper style for a zoological garden is a medium between a pleasure-ground and a flower-garden; it may partake of the characters of both in different places, or rather it may be described generally as a highly ornamented pleasure-ground. It hardly belongs to us to say anything about the arrangement of the buildings for the use of the animals, except that they may be easily combined so as to form picturesque groups. Of course, certain roads must be formed from the exterior of the garden and between the several buildings, so as to facilitate carriage and transit. Plantations and shrubberies should mask these roads and veil other deformities. Pieces of artificial water may be constructed both for ornament and for the use of aquatic fowls. Walks should be laid down so as to afford easy communication between the various departments of the garden. Where the style approaches that of a flower-garden, it should be of the mixed flower-garden described in a previous chapter, displaying an agreeable intermingling of shrubs and flowers. Perhaps flowering shrubs and a mixture of evergreens should predominate. We are of opinion that anything like excess in the culture of flowers is here out of place, both as requiring an ill-advised expenditure and as exciting an adventitious interest. Zoological gardens have recently been made the scenes of flowershows at first sight this may seem a grotesque and incongruous combination, but in practice the occasions are pleasant enough, and if they benefit the funds of these meritorious institutions, no reasonable objection can be made to them.

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190

Introductory Remarks.

CHAPTER XI.

THE VILLA.

SECT. I. General Properties of the Villa.-The Locality.-The Site.-Roads.-Position of the House.-Style and Arrangement of the House.

SECT. II. Laying out of the Grounds of a Villa.-Seclusion.The Approach. - Kitchen Garden. - Trees and Shrubs. Water.-Leading varieties of Villa Scenery.-The PleasureGround Villa.-The Park Villa.

PROBABLY there are few men, not possessed of ancestral lands, or without the prospect of succeeding to them, and who betake themselves therefore to business, that do not wish and hope, in their outset, to realize so much wealth as will enable them, in the decline of life, to retire to some comfortable villa near their native place, or in some other locality to which they have become attached. Such visions are not unfrequently realized; and the desire in which they have originated has sometimes led to the amassing of large fortunes, and to the possession of extensive estates provided with parks and pleasuregrounds. But even if all that is attained is the villa, still a great good may have been reached. Such residences, whether as retirements from active life, or occasional retreats from business, or the dwellings of competence,

are very generally the abodes of intelligence and refinement. As a whole, they are, perhaps as happy homes as Britain can boast of. Hence their construction and decoration possess an interest, and invite a consideration, which call for careful exposition and study.

Taking the term Residence to denote not only the house, but the locale occupied by the proprietor and employed for his domestic purposes, the villa may be described as a small residence, embracing the whole of the property laid out in gardens and dressed grounds, or, if it include some pieces of pasture lands, such only as are of a limited and subsidiary description. The name villa is applied to places of considerable variety in dimensions-from the house with a small plot of garden-ground attached, to one surrounded by thirty or forty acres of pleasure-ground and park. Some mansions belonging to small or moderate-sized estates are, in their whole character and arrangements, nothing else than villas; but it is not usual so to designate them: they are rather said to be laid out in the villa style, though the distinction is perhaps more imaginary than real. In a suburban district the villa is generally surrounded by a fence of sufficient height to exclude, if not all the scenery at a distance, at least most of it in the immediate neighbourhood. In the country, however, and particularly when attached to a small estate, it will depend not more on the views connected with the estate itself, than on the prospects presented by the surrounding scenery. Besides its inferior size, the villa is distinguished by its superior keeping. Its style may be more ornamental, and its finish ought to be more elaborated and more carefully maintained, than is commonly deemed necessary in more extensive country residences.