Wood ami I'ldiildlions 



flowering creepers and vines; sometimes willi lliickcls or 

 liltle copses of shrubs and (lowering plants; sometimes 

 through wild and comparatively neglected portions; I he 

 whole interspersed with open glades of turf. 



In the majority of instances in the United Stales, the 

 modern style of Landscape Gardening, wherever it is ap- 

 preciated, will, in practice, consist in arranging a demesne 

 of from live to some hundred acres, -- or rather that por- 

 tion of it, say one half, one third, etc., devoted to lawn and 

 pleasure-ground, pasture, etc. -so as to exhibit groups of 

 forest and ornamental trees and shrubs, surrounding the 

 dwelling of the proprietor, and extending for a greater or 

 less distance, especially towards the place of entrance from 

 the public highway. Near the house, good taste will dic- 

 tate the assemblage of groups and masses of the rarer or 

 more beautiful trees and shrubs; commoner native forest 

 trees occupying the more distant portions of the grounds.* 



I'ldnldlions in the Modern Slijlc. In the modern style of 

 Landscape Gardening, it is our aim, in plantations, to pro- 

 duce not only what is called natural beauty, but even 

 higher and more striking beauty of expression, and of indi- 

 vidual forms, than we see in nature; to create variety and 



* Although \vc, love planting, and avow tli;il I here :irc few greater 

 pleasures lh;m lo see ;i darling tree, of one's own placing, every year 

 stretching wider- its feathery he;id of foliage, and covering willi a darker 

 shadow Hie sofl Inrf beneath il, slill, we \\ill nol lei Ihe ardent and inex- 

 perienced hunter after a location for a country residence, pass without a 

 word of advice. This is, alnxiijs In make consitlrrahh' sucnji/-/' In i/rl n 

 [ilarr inilh some existing wood, or a few reatli/ t/nmui I ires ii/mn il; espe- 

 cially near the, site, for the house;. Il is heller to yield a lillle in Ihe 

 extent of prospect, or in the direct proximity lo a certain locality, than 

 lo pilch your lent in a plain, -desert-like in its bareness- on which 

 your leafy sensibilities must suiter for half a do/en years al least, beh.rv 

 you can hope for any solace. Il is clonblfnl whether there is nol almost 

 as much interest in studying from one's window Ihe curious ramilicalions, 

 Ihe variety of form, and the entire harmonv, to be found in a line old 

 tree, as in gazing from a site where we have no interruption lo a pano- 

 rama of the whole hori/.on; and we have generally found thai no planters 

 have so lillle courage and faith, as those who have commenced \\ilhuul 

 the smallest group of large trees, as a nucleus for I hen plant at ions. 

 A. .1. D. 



