disposition of scenery is very different from that requisite for the culture and management of a garden; and a gardener can no more be expected to possess it, than a mason or a carpenter the science and taste of the architect. A very good test of the taste, of any one in either art, is a facility in sketching general scenery. We never yet knew an architect, justly entitled to the character of eminent, who could only draw geometrical elevations; nor a landscape gardener deserving of the name, who could only convey his ideas by maps and ground plans. We have indeed known men in both professions extensively employed who could not sketch scenery: but look at their works! We do not say that every man who can scketch is qualified to become an architect, or a landscape gardener; on the contrary, to compose a design in either art, that can be carried into execution, the one must possess a knowledge of the strength of building materials, and the other of ground, of plants, and other garden articles, and of the art of gardening; but we cannot conceive how any person who has not practised sketching from nature, can acquire that habit of foretelling the effect of objects in perspective, and that taste for grouping, connection, and unity of effect, without which an architect or a landscape gardener is good for nothing. We are borne out in this opinion by the best authorities.

The modern art of laying out grounds is, indeed, considered by many as an anomalous business, practised by a set of empirics without principles; but the truth is, as Wheatly, Girardin, the two Masons, Price, Knight, Dugald Stewart, and especially Mr. Alison have shown, its principles as an art of imagination are those of painting, and as an art contributing to the convenience and comfort of man, it is directed by those of fitness and utility. The principles of architecture are precisely the same; indeed the principles of composition are the same in all the arts of taste; and whether an artist compose a poem, a piece of music, a building, a painted or a real landscape, he is alike guided by unity of expression as to the whole or general effect, and by the connection and co-operation of the component parts.

It has been objected to landscape gardeners that no two of them agree about the mode of laying out a plan, or the beauties of a verdant scene: but, it may be asked, do two of any other art accord in any thing but on certain fixed or received principles? Will two architects agree in their plans for repairing a house? Or two physicians in prescribing for a patient? It is enough if scientific men and artists agree in the fundamental principles of their art. If two architects are agreed as to the strength and durability of materials; the quantity of accom

modation required for particular classes of society, or particular purposes of occupation, and the general principles of composition, as applied to the materials they work with; they may differ as to the kind of beauty of the edifice which they design, but each will produce a beautiful edifice. In like manner, two landscape gardeners, equally instructed in their art, might give different plans for laying out the same ground, but both plans would, nevertheless, be beautiful, though neither of them might be suited to the ideas of a third person. Principles that admit of a great variety of application will always display great diversity of taste in the productions created from them. A symmetrical building, in which all the parts on one side have corresponding parts on the other, is understood by, and gives satisfaction to the most ordinary observer: there is an obvious reason for every thing, for there is but one principle of guidance, symmetry: but, in an irregular edifice, the harmony of the parts is not so soon perceived; there seems no particular reason why they should not have been fewer or more numerous, larger or smaller, farther apart or nearer, or differently disposed relatively to one another. To perceive the beauties of such an edifice, the mind must have undergone a certain degree of instruction in the principles of composition. Without this instruction, or with it to a limited extent, it is easy to conceive how great must be the difference of opinion as to the beauty of objects designed upon any but the very lowest principles of art. Hence the great variety of opinions as to the beauties produced by modern landscape gardening, the principles of composition of which admit of infinite variety of application in order to imitate nature; compared with the general approbation of the antient style of laying out grounds, the principles of which were those of regularity or formality, in order to produce works easily recognised as artificial.

That a gardener should at once excel in landscape gardening and in gardening as an art of culture, we consider impossible: it is sufficient if he excel in one department; for the continued personal attention required for each, is such as to preclude all hope of excelling in both. No gardener, however, ought to be limited in his knowledge to one department; for even a moderate knowledge of landscape gardening will be of use to the garden cultivator; and a landscape gardener without a knowledge of plant culture could never direct the execution of his plans. This knowledge we hope our Magazine will eventually increase; and, at all events, we hope to rouse the landed proprietors to a sense of the beauties of this department of gardening.

While devoting our attention to the advancement of garden

ing and gardeners, we hope not to forget the horticultural comforts of the poor. We shall endeavour to promote a taste for the art among country labourers, and to draw the attention of every cottager who has a garden, to the profit and enjoyment which he may derive from its improved cultivation. We shall be the more attentive to this subject, as we think that it, no less than landscape-gardening, has been rather overlooked by our horticultural societies.

Agriculture is so intimately connected with garden culture, that no publication on the one art can wholly separate itself from the other. In this Magazine we will avoid the business of farming, and all discussions on political agriculture, tithes, prices, markets, &c. These subjects have long been conducted in a manner productive of the most beneficial results in the Farmer's Magazine, and in different agricultural newspapers. The introduction of agriculture in the Gardener's Magazine will be limited, in general, to such improvements as are made on a proprietor's demesne, and to the reviews of such agricultural publications as chiefly concern bailiffs and land-stewards, the beneficial direction of rural expenditure, and the general improvement of territorial property, by planting, draining, road-making, &c. Improvements in domestic economy and rural architecture, will, also, come in for a subordinate share of attention, especially such as tend to the amelioration of the operative classes of society.

Finally, there is one subject which, more than every thing else, will tend to improve gardening and agriculture, the better education of gardeners and agronomes. A man may cultivate a common kitchen-garden, or a small farm, with very little knowledge besides that which he may acquire in being brought up to these occupations. Mr. Knight had a man who could grow pine-apples "without knowing a letter or a figure;" but to fit gardeners for the extent and variety of their duties in first-rate situations, a scholastic education superior to that, which, with very few exceptions, even the best of them receive at present, is required. As gardening has advanced, as its productions and its province have extended, the situation of head gardener has become more and more important; he has become a more confidential servant; he is entrusted with more power, and is more frequently consulted by the master and mistress of the family, with whom his communications are more frequent than they used to be. It is highly necessary, therefore, that an improvement should take place in the elementary education of those intended for head-gardeners; and as most gardeners are the sons of gardeners, we shall consider it a part of our duty to impress on the minds of the parents,

the necessity and advantage of an education for their children considerably beyond what they themselves have received.

It is a common complaint among gardeners, that they are not sufficiently paid, and that a man who knows little more of gardening than a common labourer, is frequently as amply remunerated as a man who has served a regular apprenticeship to his business. This is perfectly true where the gardener is nearly or equally devoid of elementary instruction with the labourer. But the remark does not apply to gardeners who have either received a tolerable scholastic education, or have made up for the defect of it afterwards by self-improvement; or if it apply to them, the blame is their own. We know from the information of some respectable nurserymen, as well as of our own knowledge, that there are a number of proprietors in this country who cannot get gardeners so well qualified as they wish, and who would gladly increase the emolument for a superior class of men. We also know that there are some noblemen who do not allow their head gardener more than the wages of a servant in livery: but this evil we trust to see reformed; for if good gardeners be not sufficiently paid, they will soon cease to be produced. If a class of superiorly educated gardeners were to come forward, they would create a demand for themselves, on the principle that demand is influenced both by the supply and the quality of the article. Besides, as to education, parents will recollect that the better their children are educated, the fitter will they be to change their profession, if they should not succeed in it, or to suffer the disappointment with patience, and make the most of it, if they cannot do better. The same remarks will apply to agronomes. We substitute the word agronome for the hateful appellation bailiff, till some of our readers shall furnish us with a better.

Having now stated at length the nature and object of the Gardener's Magazine, we proceed to lay before our readers such communications as our friends have favoured us with, hoping to render succeeding numbers more and more interesting as the circulation of the work extends, and its correspondents increase in number. We invite all those who take an interest in gardening to assist us by their advice, and by the communication of information on every subject connected with the work: we especially invite practical gardeners to come forward and support a work calculated to promote their own honour and advantage. Let them not make as excuses the being unaccustomed to write, want of style, &c. but let them fix on a subject, begin it at once, and write straight on to the end, regardless of every thing but the correctness of their statements. This done once or twice, a good style will come of itself.

10

PART 1.

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

ART. I. On the present State of Gardening in Ireland, with Hints for its future Improvement. By Mr. JAMES FRASER, Gardener, author of a Letter to the President and VicePresident of the Horticultural Society of Ireland.

THOSE who are practically acquainted with the improve

ments which have been made in Horticulture for these twenty years past in Britain, and have not visited Ireland, will scarcely credit the assertion, that during this time the art in the latter country has rather retrograded than advanced; that even around Dublin, the far-famed environs of Dublin, little, comparativ ly speaking, has been done. It is a fact which can

not be denied, that the numerous wealthy absentees have tended to injure gardening upon an extensive scale, as also to retard the modern improvements. But there are still numerous resident wealthy gentlemen, fond of every elegant enjoyment, who possess, generally speaking, demesnes of greater extent than is usually to be met with in England, which, in point of variety of surface, of hill and dale, of wood and water, are far more susceptible of every rural improvement. Yet, strange to say, we still plod on in the old beaten track; wedded to the old customs, the gardener looks upon every new method introduced as an innovation on his rights; and the employer cares little for those elegancies which render a country life delightful, but feels content if the wants of the family are supplied. There is one obvious cause, however, that has contributed in no small degree to produce the evil of which we complain, namely, the employment of men as gardeners not regularly bred to the business, at a low rate of wages : —men of a very limited education, who are treated as mere indoor servants, placed on an equality with them, and hold their places on the same uncertain tenure. Under these circumstances, we do contend, that it is morally impossible for im