

PEEPAKATION OF NE"W GROUNDS. 



UiJ 



©« t!|t Ir^^aratioii at fcto irmtnbs. 



^HE season being at hand for the execution of g-round-work in 

 the improvement of new places, we have thought that a few 

 hints might be offered on the subject not altogether unprofit- 

 ably. Wherever we look, we see elegant and costly dwellings 

 surrounded by incomplete, neglected grounds, looking precisely 

 as though the proprietor had spent his last dollar on his buildings. 

 One reason for this, is our universal hurry. No sooner do we decide 

 upon the erection of a dwelling, than up it goes like magic ; the fin- 

 ishing stroke is given while the mortar in the foundation is yet 

 scarcely dry. The garden and grounds must be completed with cor- 

 responding dispatch ; right or wrong, it must be done quickly or not 

 at all. Another reason is, that very few people take into account the cost 

 of improving their grounds in such a manner as to correspond with the 

 buildings. The builder's estimates alone are looked to ; and by the time the building 

 is finished, with all its extras, the proprietor's funds and patience have both been 

 severely taxed, and the gardens and grounds stand a poor chance for their appropriate 

 share of attention. Another reason still, is that the proper preparation of ground for 

 gardens, lawns, and plantations, is neither well understood nor appreciated. Most 

 people seem to imagine that a team with a plow and a scraper can do all that is 

 necessary ; and so the ground is plowed and scraped and levelled, and it is then ready 

 for planting. Now this will never do ; such a system, or rather such a course, is 

 not only disgraceful but unprofitable, because people who plant in such ground soon 

 find out their mistakes, and are compelled to correct them in a very disagreeable 

 and costly way. 



We therefore beg gentlemen who are about fitting up country or suburban resi- 

 dences not to overlook the improvement of their grounds in their estimates — not to 

 regard it as a mere item unworthy of note, but to count the cost carefully, and go about 

 the work deliberately, with a firm purpose to do whatever be done thoroughly. 

 Determine at the outset to be patient, and ia the end you will secure results that will 

 be alike creditable and satisfactory. 



The operations on ground to fit it either for useful or ornamental gardening com- 

 prise grading or leveling, draining, trenching, and manuring. When we speak of 

 leveling, or grading, we do not wish to be understood as supposing that every one 

 will cut down all the natural undulations of the surface, for this would, in many cases, 

 destroy some of the finest features of the ground ; but there are on almost all new 

 places certain abrupt or broken spots that must be brought into a proper shape by 

 grading. This is more particularly the case in small places, where a broken surface 

 allowable to any considerable extent. Now, when laborers are directed to 

 piece of ground, their common method is to draw off the surface with a scr 



October 1, 1853. 



^o. X. 



