PROFITS OF ORNAMENTAL GARDEXIXG. 17 



flowers, it has been a constant source of delight. AVas 

 the setting of that tree profitable, considering the yaluc 

 at which it is now appraised, and the pleasure it has af- 

 forded ? Profits like these are in the common order of 

 things in intelligent planting. 



In my experience, I have assisted in so imioroving a 

 place of two acres in extent, by varying the grade, filling 

 in marshy parts, arranging walks, drives, trees, and 

 shrubs, that for an outlay of less than six hundred dol- 

 lars, the improvement before the first season was past 

 was so marked, as to increase the owner's asking price 

 by twenty-five hundred dollars. 



Instances could be multiplied to show that, for from 

 two to five per cent of the value of a place, spent on 

 garden improvements, returns of from ten to sixty per 

 cent in increased value have been realized in a short 

 time. Trees, shrubs, climbers, and plants in choice 

 kinds, well arranged, develop rapidly and greatly increase 

 the valuation of a place, through augmenting the beauty 

 of the architecture and the general effect. The presence 

 of these always makes a less expensive house look finer 

 than a costlier one, which presents nothing in the heat of 

 summer, or in the storms of winter, for the eye to rest 

 upon, but bare walls and harsh outlines, unbroken by 

 any trees or other vegetation. 



Many a man with the means and disposition w^ll pay 

 several thousand dollars to architect, builder, and fur- 

 nisher, for a house, with the view that the bea^ity and 

 comfort purchased will yield satisfaction proportionate to 

 the cost. To such a person it may be said, that one thou- 

 sand dollars prudently invested in arranging and plant- 

 ing the home grounds, may be made to pay a much larger 

 percentage of pure pleasure and interest, than tlie same 

 amount put into the building. If one who is about in- 

 vesting five thousand dollars, or a smaller or larger 

 amount, in improving a home, should keep back five per 



