78 LANDSCAPE GARDENINO. 



abundance of opportunity for either taste Within the last 

 five years, we think the Picturesque is begnining to be pre- 

 ferred. It has, when a suitable locahty offers, great advan- 

 tages for us. The raw materials of wood, water, and sur- 

 face, by the margin of many of our rivers and brooks, are 

 at once appropriated with so much effect, and so Httle art, 

 in the picturesque mode ; the annual tax on the purse too 

 is so comparatively little, and the charm so great ! 



While, on one hand, the residences of a country of level 

 plains usually allow only the beauty of simple and grace- 

 ful forms ; the larger demesne, with its swelling hills and 

 noble masses of wood (may we not, prospectively, say the 

 rolling prairie too?), should always, in the hands of the 

 man of wealth, be made to display all the breadth, va- 

 riety, and harmony of both the Beautiful and the Pictu- 

 resque. 



There is no surface of ground, however bare, which has 

 not, naturally, more or less tendency to one or the other of 

 these expressions. And the improver who detects the true 

 character, and plants, builds, and embellishes, as he should, 

 constantly aiming to elicit and strengthen it — will soon 

 arrive at a far hisrher and more satisfactorv result, than one 

 who, in the common manner, works at random. The latter 

 may succeed in producing pleasing grounds — he will un- 

 doubtedly add to the general beauty and tasteful appearance 

 of the country, and we gladly accord him our thanks. But 

 the improver who unites with pleasing forms an expres- 

 sion of sentiment, will affect not only the common eye, but 

 much more powerfully, the imagination, and the refined 

 and delicate taste. 



But there are many persons with small cottage places, 

 of little decided character, who have neither room, time, 



