ON THE CHOICE OF A GARDEN SITE. 33 



a valley for miles, saturaticg the air with its noxious perfume ; for tne elevation 

 of this moist polluted air may be almost as clearly defined as the tidal wave 

 upon the seashore. Every consideration of health demands that the site for a 

 garden or house should be chosen at a considerable altitude above the surround- 

 ing country. Such a site escapes — from the dryness of its air — the early spring 

 and autumn frosts, which curtail the summer at both ends, and are often so 

 fatal to the beauty as well as the productiveness of the gai'den. A site, to be 

 desirable, should also be beautiful. Some gardens are so situated as only to 

 malic more apparent the surrounding barrenness, desolation, and deformity ; 

 others throw their own beauty over scenes of equal brightness, harmonizing 

 with and heightening the beaiity of the surrounding scenery. But here tastes 

 and dispositions interpose in endless variety. One man prefers to be near the 

 busy town, another considers most pleasant that solitude pictui'ed by Pollok 

 in his " Com'se of Time," where — 



" Solitude of vast extent, uutoueh'd 

 By hand of Art ; where ISTature sow'd herself 

 And reap'd her crops ; whose garments were the clouds ; 

 Whose minstrels, brooks ; whose lamps the moon and stars ; 

 Whose organ-choir the voice of many waters ; 

 Whose banquets, morning dews; whose heroes, storms ; 

 Whose warriors, mighty winds ; whose lovers, flowers ; 

 Whose orators the thunderbolts of God ; 

 Whose palaces the everlasting hills ; 

 Whose ceiling, heaven's unfathomable blue ; 

 And from whose rocky turrets, battled high. 

 Prospect immense, spread out on all sides round; 

 Lost now between the welkin and the main, 

 Now wall'd with hiUs that slept above the storm." 



89. Philosophers, poets, ancient and modern, as well as landscape gar- 

 deners, all agree in this, that the site should be elevated above the surround- 

 ing country. Hence we have the inspired writer exclaiming, "Beautiful 

 is Mount Zion." And Milton speaks of the — 



" Rural mound and verdurous wall of Paradise, 

 Which to our general sire gave prospect large." 



This "prospect large" constitutes, unless in very moist localities, one of the 

 chief beauties of every garden ; it not only confers dignity and importance 

 upon, but virtually extends the boundai'y of the domain, — 



" O'er hill and dale, o'er wood or lawn, 

 And verdant fields, and darkening heath between, 

 And villages embosom' d soft in trees. 

 And spiry towns by surging columns mark'd." 



90. Congruiiy/. — The charm of variety is quite consistent with another 

 characteristic of a good site, — congruity. There is no necessity for throwing 

 a number of beautiful things higgledy-piggledy together ; and it is seldom 

 necessary to form a garden in such a situation where the surrounding scenery 



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