‘Ir .
useful ov usreeable, is to elevate om- tastes and onjoymeuts ; and therefore, “
W ‘ " „ S e prepared for any refinement on former things, the particular art to which
tese tCgs?elong should preplire the way for thcir removal, hy presenting appropnate
S i S r ? r e a d in /Z s aiffi « ^ e ^ h ^ . ^ r o ^
M s C d vL n a , would ’be as fitting resomees for one class of pedestrians, as thoso
crowded yards called tea-gai'dens are for others.
ClIAP. IV.
O f the Im provem ent o f the M e c h a n ic a l Agents o f G ardening.
2279. T h e greater number o f the implements and buildmgs enumerated in the fo re going
chapters may no doubt be done w ith ou t, even in the firs t-ra te gardens. A mimbor
kore, hol-ever, might have been added, which are in use m particular situations and
circumstances ; but wo havo omitted them, some as not meriting to become genoial, and
others because thcir forms or constructions were too obsolete for modern practice, or too
new and imperfect in construction to merit recommendation A gardener of science
and experience is not to be confined in his choice to what is or has been in this oi in a y
department of his art; but drawing from the resources of his own mind, he may, a^^
ought, not only to improve what is already in use, but to design and get executed new
tools, instruments, and constructions, better calculated to effect the ends m view generally,
or more suited to the exigencies of his particular case. No wit istanding the
alterations and ameliorations which havo of Late been so frequently made, “ «ic are few of
tho mechanical agents of gardening now in use that would not ™ /
of them, unquestionably, of much improvement. Tho ultimate efect of afl these altei-
ations is to lessen human labour, and to incrcaso the quantity or improve the quality, ot
garden-prodnctions, so tlmt every attempt to extend them is highly meritonoiis.
2280. As a general p rin c ip le in respect to implements, structures a m i buildings, the best
designs should be selected, and thoir execution procured in the host manner and of the
best materials. This can scarcely be too strongly impressed on the mind of the gardener
or his employer. With tools or instmments made of miproper timber or iron, and of
indifferent workmanship, the operator can never satisfy his master or himselt. ^ ihe quantity
of his labour is less and the quality inferior ; add to this, that inferior mstnunents
soon decay, and require to he renewed ; so that, independently altogether of the Ira^
in the quantity and quahty of labour, the loss occasioned hy the renewal of the toH, m-
strumeit, or Machine, ought to be a suffieient inducement to procure at first only the
veiT best. The true way to insure this, where the master is not a judge, is to employ
tradesmen of good repute and long standing. In général, seedsmen v ? Sf?
sons from whom all the implements of gardening ought to he procurable ; bnt as they
often omit this branch of their business, from the want of regulm-demand, recourse must
be had to ironmongers, or to Horticultural and Agncultural Repositories ; of wk
ono of the principal in London is Cottam and Hallen s in Oxford Street, and Winsley
^ I s i Hothouses a re bu fa r the most im p o rta n t class o f garden-constructions. With
respect to them, no degree of horticultm-al skill and practical attention will compensate
for the want of light and air, or a bad exposure ; and where the arrangements for supplying
artiflcial heat are imperfect, the risk is great, and painful for a “
contemplate. One night may destroy the labours of the past year, and forbid hqio foi the
vear to come ; the blame may be laid where it is not merited, and a faitoful seiwant may
lose his situation and his character, without having committed errors of either ignorance
or carelessneæ, complete, elegant, or grand design, when
badly executed, is disagreeable to the view, defective m the object of its erection, and
ruinous to tho proprietor. Bad foundations and roofs, improper matonals, materials ot
different degrees of durability, piled incongruously together, and ba.d workmanship torm
the elements of bad execution. In no country are matenals and labour obtained m
greater perfection than in England ; and in all regular works coming under the architect
or the engineer, we generally find little to condemn, and often much to admire m the
execution ofthe work. Garden-buildings, however, and especially that important class,
hothouses, are, relatively to civil architecture, an anomalous class of structures ; ana
hence they are more the subject of chance or caprice in design, and of local convenience
in execution, than those of any department oi‘ rural architecture. The subject ot horticultural
architectiu-e, indeed, till very lately, has not been deemed of suihcicnt importance,
to induce an architect to make himself master ot the first step towards improi cment
in every art, the knowledge of what has already been done in it by others. Hence it follows,
that garden-buildings, and especially hothouses, are left either wholly to gardeners,
who understand little of the science of architecture, or wholly to architects, who understand
as little of the science of gardening. The consequence in either case generally is,
incongniity in appearance, want of success in the useful results, and want of permanency
in duration. It would be more easy to adduce examples than to avoid the charge of
partiality in the selection. , , , • , • .r • t
2283. T h e recent improvements in the m anufacture o f iro n , a nd the high pric e o j timber,
have greatly extended the use of the former material in most erections, and contributed,
from the novelty of the thing, to a good deal of incongruity in the disposition of the
materials of buildings. Thus we have cast-iron sashes in deal frames, cast-iron rafters
placed on timber wall-plates, iron bars sheathed with copper, and many such discordant
arrangements, certain in the end of defeating the purpose for which they were
adopted. , , .
2284. A rtis ts . There are two modes which proprietors may adopt who are desu-ous
of embodying in garden-ercctions the modern improvements. The first is, to employ a
first-rate head gardener, and to authorise and require of him to consult with a regular
ai-chitect or engineer, previously to fixing on any plan for a structui*e or machine ; and
the second is, to employ a regular garden-ai-chitect. A connoisseur will, no doubt,
think for himself, and foim his own plans ; and a spirited amateur will be the first
to adopt new improvements ; but tlie policy of a well-regulated mind will induce any
one who has no pretensions to particular skill himself, to adopt one of the first two
modes.
B O O K IL
OF THE OFERaITIONS OF GAEDENINO,
2285. Aix the operations o f gardening are mechanical, in the first instance, though the
principal intention of many of them is to effect chemical changes, and of others, changes
on the vital principle. They are also all manual, or effected by man; who, though
possessing little power over nature in his naked, unarmed state, yet taking in his hands
some one ofthe implements, instruments, or machines described, becomes thereby aimed
with a new power, and operates on tlie soil, or on the vegetable itself, by effecting changes
in his own centre of gravity, and by muscular movements of his legs and arms, which
are calculated, by pushing, drawing, or lifting, to bring the implement into the action
proper for perfoiming the operation in view. All these movements are governed by the
laws of dynamics; and the operations performed are all referable to one or more of the
mechanical powers, and chiefly to the lever and the wedge.
2286. The operations o f gardening present astonishing p ro o fs o f the advanced state o f the
a rt. In the infancy of gardening, as the implements were few, so would also be the
operations of cultm-c. The ground would be loosened on the surface with a hooked
stick, or scratched with a bone or a horn in the spring season ; the plants or seeds would
be i-udely inserted, and the produce in autumn broken over or pulled up, as wanted, by
the family or tribe to which it belonged. But in the present state of human improvement,
the operations of gardening have branched out into a number and a variety
which at first sight appear astonishing. The operations of pulverisation and sowing, for
example, are not confined to spring; but ai-e practised in every month of the year. The
season of reaping or gathering crops is equally extended ; and for such productions as
cannot be produced, or preserved, in the open air, recourse is had to hothouses, and fruit
and root store-rooms. Vegetation is accelerated, retarded, and modified, ahnost at the
will of the operator; and this is done by processes which suppose him to possess a considerable
degree of physiological and chemical science, as well as practical skill and mechanical
dexterity. Thus, shading, airing, and watering are operations whicli, though
simple in themselves, cannot be performed without continual reference to the state of the
plant, of the soil, and of the climate or weatlier. Hence it is, that an operative gardener
who reaUj knows his profession, requires to be not only a habile workman, but a thinking
and reasoning being, and a steady man. We shall consider the operations of gai-dening,
1. As consisting of operations or labours in which strength is chiefly rcquii-ed; 2. As
operations where skill is more requii-cd than strength; and, 3. As operations or processes
where strength, skill, and science are combined.