MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES.

I. FOPULATION, &c. OF GREAT Britain and IRELAND.-The following synoptical view of the increase of population, and other statistical facts, may prove of interest to our readers :—

1. Population of the several Counties of England, Wales, and Scotland:

Note. There are sixteen parishes in the county Kerry, and one parish in the county Cork, the returns for which are outstanding, from unavoidable circum

stances.

3. General Summary of Great Britain and Ireland for 1831:

4. Synopsis of the Population of England and Wales from the year 1700 to

7. Population of London from the year 1700 to 1831:

City of Within the walls
London Without the walls
City and Liberties of
Westminster
Parishes with the Bills of
Mortality

Parishes not within the
Bills of Mortality

Totals,

} 130,000 152,000 165,000 168,600 189,400 202,080

326,900 357,600 477,700 593,700 730,700 852,849

9,150 22,350 123,000 162,000 224,300 293,567 674,350 676,250 900,000 1,275,800 1,474,069

8. Cultivation of the United Kingdom.-The following statement will be found interesting, as exhibiting the number of acres in cultivation in the United Kingdom, and the different purposes specified, for which they are employed in England and Wales; as well as the number of farms, and the annual amount of property derived from agriculture:

The number of farms in the United Kingdom is estimated at 2,000,000, and the property annually derived from agriculture in Great Britain and Ireland at £215,817,624.

In England and Wales it is calculated that there are

9. Consumption of Wheat and other Grain in the United Kingdom, in a year,

II. On certain Defects in Pleasure-ground, and the mode of avoiding them.— It sometimes happens, in viewing the grounds connected with gentlemen's seats, that we do not derive that complete satisfaction which we think the thing capable of giving, and which, the expense and other things considered, they might be expected to afford. I believe that this happens, in no small degree, from the want of connection in the several parts of which such scenery is necessarily composed; every improvement, as it is called, which takes place not possessing sufficient relation to the other parts, and of course causing those blemishes which generally attach to after-thought. However, much depends on the way in which the ornamental department is planted and conducted; and as a desire of improving the present style seems general, I venture to offer a few loose thoughts on the subject. Although I have nothing new to offer, and am not so much of the painter as some of your clever correspondents, still I hope something in my paper may be found useful, as I have practised considerably in these matters, for the last four years especially. However, I invite honest criticism, without which truth would scarcely get fair play. I will suggest, in the first place, that intricacy and elegance of outline are not sufficiently attended to either in the formation of shrubbery masses and of groups, or in the style of planting. How frequently we see fine specimens of timber and ornamental trees as studiously concealed by long tiresome tufts of shrubberies, as though they were considered deformities, and the shrubs in front as lumpish as though they had been clipped! The chief cause of that insipidity of form which shrubs too frequently present, is owing, no doubt, to an improper disposition of them at first planting, and to the want of proper under-growths. It appears to me that, in the first planting of trees and shrubs, nearly all the ornamental kinds, and those which possess peculiar character, should be kept just behind the foremost rank in an ever-varying outline, and that the front rank should be principally composed of evergreens, which should be allowed to spread, and become as irregular as possible on the grass. Immediately behind these would also be a good situation for the beautiful tree roses, instead of sticking them about singly on grass, where, as Mr Spence justly observes," they looked just like a May-pole," and have a poor and desolate appearance. When their stems are supported by underwood, they have, on the contrary, a gay and at all times a comfortable look, and by towering here and there among the other ornamental trees, &c., do away with the squat aspect of the mere shrubs, and give a grace to the whole. To plant shrubberies which should possess charms all the year, I think that there should be two evergreens for one deciduous shrub; and all roses, azaleas honeysuckles, and other scented or handsome deciduous plants, should be placed in the small recesses formed between the evergreens; so that the general outline eventually should be formed chiefly or entirely by the evergreens. As to the outline of shrubberies in a majority of cases we find them composed of nothing but tiresome belts, running parallel to the walk; and if we meet with any thing like a mass or group detached, it must of course be an oval or a circle indeed, these ovals, circles, and parallel lines are "the sins which most easily beset" a gardener. He is so much accustomed to them from his first entrance into horticultural life, that it is a miracle if he escape their trammels. Surely a continual play of outline, without adhering to any particular figure (except in the case of parterres and works avowedly artificial), is

more in accordance with nature, and at the same time more graceful. The margin of grass also (whilst it must remain an edging), cut off by this style, adds to the elegance of the scene. However, I protest against the continuance of formal edgings to shrubberies after the principal object is attained, of well covering the soil with elegance of form and beauty of tints; and I enter fully into the spirit of your observations to that effect, as expressed in your Magazine (vol. viii. p. 543.). In planting the banks of water, if picturesque effect is desired, I am satisfied that the readiest way to obtain it, as far as trees and shrubs are concerned, is by thick planting; for pendulous forms are, beyond doubt, indispensable in this situation. I wonder much that such other accompaniments as Uvedale Price recommends are not more frequently attempted. Surely there are tasteful hands engaged in our profession, which could accomplish such matters. I own it would be rather daring: but whilst such materials as ponderous fragments of stone, and large roots or mossy trunks of trees, are at hand, with a fine variety of rock plants and climbers, to effect a partial concealment; whilst the soil can be undulated, and trees be made to grow in almost any position, surely the difficulties should not be considered as insurmountable. In the formation of walks, I have generally found that those which are a trifle below the level of the grass which bounds them always look most graceful to the eye; and then, by levelling the turf, and causing the margin, as it were, to die into the walk, those stiff, deep, formal edgings, of which you so justly complain, will be done away with. There should be no perfect levels longitudinally, if they can be avoided. The wet will of course hang sluggishly on such walks; whilst, by gradual undulations lengthwise, a very slight convexity of surface will be sufficient.—Mr Robert Errington; in Gardener's Magazine, No. 37.

· III. Land Allotment System.—The following is from a small pamphlet just published by Harris, Weatherly, of Basingstoke. “In the month of December 1830, it was made known to the cottars living on or near the estate, that they might be accommodated with small portions of land, at the same rent that a farmer would pay; the amount of tithes and rates being added, in order that the payment of the whole might be made in one sum. At that time seventy-five persons took advantage of the offer, and had land allotted to them accordingly, as near as possible to their several dwellings, in quantities varying from 20 rods to a whole acre to each applicant. The quantity of land altogether thus allotted the first year of the experiment, was 23 acres; making an average of about 49 rods to each occupier. The appointed day of payment for the first year's rent is past. Every shilling is paid. Several of the men came with the money in their hand before the day. All of them, when the day did arrive, were ready and even eager to pay the last farthing, without a word of complaint, or a single hint at any abatement. On the contrary, they one and all expressed their thankfulness for the privilege of renting their little bits of land at all; and were ready, even before they were asked, to tell of the goodness of their crops, and of the great increase of comfort those crops would give them. By a calculation made from their own accounts of their crops, I am confident that their clear average profits is full L. 10 per acre. The real amount of it, indeed, in most instances, exceeds this sum. In the case of these little ten