Beauties and Principles of the Art 4'3 



The raw materials of wood, water, and surface, by the mar- 

 gin of many of our rivers and brooks, are at once appropri- 

 ated with so much effect, and so little 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 graceful 

 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, variety, and 

 harmony of both the Beautiful and the Picturesque.* 



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 higher and more satisfactory 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 appear- 

 ance 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 

 nor income, to attempt the improvement of their grounds 

 fully, after either of those two schools. How shall they 

 render their places tasteful and agreeable, in the easiest 

 manner? We answer, by attempting only the simple and 

 the natural; and the unfailing way to secure this, is by 

 employing as leading features only trees and grass. A soft 

 verdant lawn, a few forest or ornamental trees well grouped, 



* This reference to the rolling prairies looks like easy prophecy. In 

 modern times several able men have attempted to define and to create a 

 "prairie style" in Landscape Gardening. -- F. A. W. 



