oo_ grass only, for it is far more manageable; and if kept
well rolled and closely shorn it has a very neat, and indeed, beautiful
appearance. The lawns in the compound of the Government House in
Calcutta are formed of _ooloo_ glass only, but as they have been very
carefully attended to they have really a most brilliant and agreeable
aspect. In fact, their beautiful bright green, in the hottest summer,
attracts even the notice and admiration of the stranger fresh from
England. The _ooloo_ grass, however, on close inspection is found to be
extremely coarse, nor has even the finest _doob_ the close texture and
velvet softness of the grass of English lawns.

Flower beds should be well rounded. They should never have long narrow
necks or sharp angles in which no plant can have room to grow freely.
Nor should they be divided into compartments, too minute or numerous,
for so arranged they must always look petty and toy-like. A lawn should
be as open and spacious as the ground will fairly admit without too
greatly limiting the space for flowers. Nor should there be an
unnecessary multiplicity of walks. We should aim at a certain breadth of
style. Flower beds may be here and there distributed over the lawn, but
care should be taken that it be not too much broken up by them. A few
trees may be introduced upon the lawn, but they must not be placed so
close together as to prevent the growth of the grass by obstructing
either light or air. No large trees should be allowed to smother up the
house, particularly on the southern and western sides, for besides
impeding the circulation through the rooms of the most wholesome winds
of this country, they would attract mosquitoes, and give an air of
gloominess to the whole place.

Natives are too fond of over-crowding their gardens with trees and
shrubs and flowers of all sorts, with no regard to individual or general
effects, with no eye to arrangement of size, form or color; and in this
hot and moist climate the consequent exclusion of free air and the
necessary degree of light has a most injurious influence not only upon
the health of the resident but upon vegetation itself. Neither the
finest blossoms nor the finest fruits can be expected from an
overstocked garden. The native malee generally plants his fruit trees so
close together that they impede each other's growth and strength. Every
Englishman when he enters a native's garden feels how much he could
improve its productiveness and