'OBSERVATIONS ON PLANTING ORNAMENTAL TREES. 53 



The plantation must be carefully formed to suit the building it is 

 to shelter and ornament. As the villa and ornamental cottage form 

 the largest portion at present of edifices that claim a pleasure garden, 

 I shall therefore confine my observations to grounds attached to these 

 dwellings. As such houses are generally built on situations too flat 

 to admit of much variety, the first study should be to find how and 

 where we can break the level by throwing up elevations, so as to 

 answer the double purpose of obscuring private walks, and screening 

 other parts from the wind. 



But it requires considerable ingenuity to hinder these elevations 

 from having the appearance of artificial ones, which would make 

 them as ridiculous as a circular lake on a lawn. As the removal of 

 earth is attended by the expense of labour only, this is one of the 

 most advantageous manners of laying out money in the formation of a 

 shrubbery, since five feet lowered in one part, and raised above, will 

 give a slope or bank about double that height. A considerable effect 

 will thus be obtained ; for in a flat country a small elevation gives a 

 great command of prospect, and adds itself considerably to the beauty 

 of a landscape, especially when planted with lofty growing trees, as 

 larches and pines. An undulating appearance may be given to level 

 ground by judiciously planting the trees and shrubs. 



The too general error of planting close to the dwelling-house should 

 be avoided; for although such a plantation may have a pretty appear- 

 ance in the infant state, a few years' growth will cause it to cast a 

 gloom over the apartments, and keep off a free circulation of air. 

 Besides, as plants give out a noxious air in the evening, it should be 

 more particularly guarded against in this moist atmosphere. 



The training of trees to the walls of houses is also objectionable, 

 as they cause damps, harbour insects, and collect leaves and other 

 substances that become offensive by their putrefaction, whilst the 

 view of the plants themselves cannot be enjoyed from the windows. 

 However, all offices, out-houses, and unsightly buildings, may be 

 covered with vines, and ornamental climbers. 



However small the plantation be, those abrupt terminations which 

 mark the limits must not be permitted. The shrubbery should har- 

 monize with the surrounding scenery, and appear to blend with it 

 into one. 



The plants which stand nearest the dwelling must be of the dwarf 



