^Preface. 



In the preparation of this work we have aimed at no esthetical 

 ideas ; but believing that the people, as a whole, need some practical 

 guide for the improvement and decoration of their home grounds, we 

 have endeavored to make practical plans to a scale, and from which 

 we think any man of ordinary intelligence can plant, according to the 

 plan and schedule of varieties. 



Since the labors of the lamented and talented A.J. Downing, 

 great taste and desires for, and in the improvement of grounds around 

 our homes, has been developed. The practical utility, as well as 

 financial value of rural improvements is now fully understood ; and 

 all careful observers of the values of real estate concede that one per 

 cent of value employed in decorating a rural home with appropriate 

 walks and roads ; with shade trees, shrubs and flowering plants 

 judiciously arranged in the planting, will add forty per cent, to the 

 value of the same when neglected. It is with this knowledge of the 

 subject that we now present our work. 



It is well known that a small cottage, with trees and flowering 

 shrubs judiciously planted, is worth double the value of a two-story 

 brick house, without any shade decorations around it. There are 

 many who reside in these pleasant cottages around our country, that 

 have more of real enjoyment than the man with a palace of $50,000 

 to $80,000. 



There have been many elaborate works and well-designed plans, 

 even going back one hundred years, but none of them have been 

 adapted to the use of a plain, common-sense man, who can by 

 measure, work to a scaled plan. The majority of the hooks on 

 "Landscape Gardening " have, according to our knowledge, been 



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