but you will not think so in a few years. Break up your ground thoroughly, and 

 then all surplus water will pass off readily into your drains, j'our trees and shrubs 

 will sjiecdily bcfunio cstablislu'd. and grow luxuriantly in defiance of the fiercest 

 droughts, and your lawn will retain throughout the summer the beautiful verdure of 

 spring. A good lawn is one of the most desirable features of a country residence, 

 and no pains should be spared to secure it. Cirass is among the first things to glad- 

 den us in spring; its greenness, and the fragrance of its frc(iuent mowings are always 

 grateful to the senses during the heats of summer; and it talces on new shades of 

 loveliness amid the desolations of autumn. Provide, then, for a g(Jod lawn }iy a 

 liberal dressing of manure, deep plowing, and by sowing a sufficient (juautity of grass 

 seed and clover.* 



This preparatory or foundation-work being done, you will wish to lay out your 

 walks and carriage road. In doing tliis, study convenience. Do not, however, set 

 your street-gate directly opposite your front door. A house appears generally to the 

 best advantage when viewed obliquely. Let your foot-path and carriage-road enter 

 the grounds a little one side of the middle of your residence, and approach it by easy 

 curves; and, if possible, let there be some apparent reason for those cur\"es. If you 

 wish a private path and a road leading to the kitchen and rear of the house, let them 

 run in straight lines through some retired part of the grounds. You will also need 

 paths leading from yonr house to the kitchen garden and flower garden; perhaps 

 also to an arbor, a water-fall, a rustic seat, a vase or other objects of interest within 

 your premises. Your main walks should be from five to ten feet wide, varying with 

 the dimensions of your grounds and your purse; the soil should be dug out one foot 

 deep, and the trench fdled with cobble-stones, and the whole covered with gravel. 

 In this way alone can you be sure of a dry and firm walk at all seasons of the year 

 and one free, in a good measure, from weeds. Your carriage-road should be made 

 in the same thorough manner. Your minor paths need not be as wide, nor be made 

 with the same care, as your main walks. For paths of this description it has been 

 recommended simply to remove the sod or top soil, round off the surface, put on sitt- 

 ings of coal-ashes, and finish with fine gravel. But do not be lavish in the number 

 of your walks and pleasure roads; it costs money to make them and keep them in 

 repair. They will not take care of themselves. Consult your purse before laying 

 out a single unnecessary path, and make only as many as you can keep in perfect 

 order. 



A few words now about planting trees. If your house is expected to have a porch 

 or piazza, go stand on the ground it will occupy; look out, also, in imagination, from 

 the windows of your parlor and dining-room, and see what desirable views they will 

 command of the surrounding country, — distant hills, a sheet of water, a church-spire, 

 or peaceful valley — then you may consider it settled that no trees should be planted 

 which would hide or materially mar such prospects. Are there, moreover, any un- 

 sightly objects that you would wish to hide? If so, plant a dense screen of trees in 



recommended by Downing and others, to sow three parts of red top grass seed to one of white clover, 

 ere immediate effect is wanted, at tlie rate of throe buphels to an acre. 



