SITUATION. 15 



compare it with another, resting upon the green, glossy foHage 

 of luxuriant trees towering above them, and these again reflect- 

 ing their irregular outlines against the cloudless horizon behind 

 them, and he cannot fail to be struck with the tame and spirit- 

 less appearance of the former, and equally, also, by the pictur- 

 esque and pleasing eflfect produced by the latter. 



A conservatory, or green-house, avowedly ornamental, and 

 intended as an object of architectural beauty, or of individual 

 elegance, requires the most exquisite taste and skill in harmo- 

 nizing the objects around it. These surrounding objects, 

 whether for utility or embellishment, may be so arranged as to 

 heighten the effect of the whole, without impairing the individ- 

 ual effect of the structure, or hiding any of its beauties. The 

 various features of the structure should be presented to view 

 from different points ; and if, from any walk or portion of the 

 grounds, the structure present rather an unfavorable aspect, then 

 some object should be interposed to obstruct the view from this 

 particular point. When a walk is led along the skirt of a wood 

 or plantation, where a glimmering of the structure is continu- 

 ously visible from among the trees, the effect is bad, and ought^ 

 by all means, to be obviated by planting shrubbery and under- 

 wood, leaving here and there an open vista through which a 

 full view of the whole building, or portion of it, may be obtained. 



It has, for some time, been the rage in this country to place 

 horticultural buildings of all kinds upon eminences, and sur- 

 round them, either wholly or in front, with square terraces. 

 These terraces are made sometimes of brick, in all its primi- 

 tive redness, sometimes of small stones and mortar, and more 

 frequently, perhaps, of grass, nearly perpendicular. It is gen- 

 erally difficult to discover which is the most unnatural and 

 unsightly ; and, in nineteen cases out of twenty, we have found 

 the terrace itself, of whatever materials, of very questionable 

 taste. Terraces grew out of necessity, — not out of taste, — 

 except, perhaps, in the Dutch school, which an able writer on 

 this subject styles " a double-distilled compound of labored 

 symmetry, regularity, and stiffness." =^ A terrace may be in very 

 good taste, in connection with a pretty little Tuscan or Italian 



* Downiiig's Landscape Gardening;. 



