Wood and Plantations (>."> 



the larger masses near the house. Sometimes several small 

 groups will be almost joined together; at others the effect 

 may be kept up by a small group, aided by a few neighbor- 

 ing single trees. This, for a park-like place. Where the 

 place is small, a pleasure-ground character is all that can 

 be obtained. But by employing chiefly shrubs, and only 

 a few trees, very similar and highly beautiful effects may 

 be attained. 



The grand object in all this should be to open to the eye, 

 from the windows or front of the house, a wide surface, par- 

 tially broken up and divided by groups and masses of 

 trees into a number of pleasing lawns or openings, differing 

 in size and appearance, and producing a charming variety 

 in the scene, either when seen from a given point or when 

 examined in detail. It must not be forgotten that, as a 

 general rule, the grass or surface of the lawn answers as the 

 principal light, and the woods or plantations as the shadows, 

 in the same manner in nature as in painting; and that these 

 should be so managed as to lead the eye to the mansion as 

 the most important object when seen from without, or cor- 

 respond to it in grandeur and magnitude, when looked upon 

 from within the house. If the surface is too much crowded 

 with groups of foliage, breadth of light will be found 

 wanting; if left too bare, there will be felt, on the other 

 hand, an absence of the noble effect of deep and broad 

 shadows. 



One of the loveliest charms of a fine park is, undoubtedly, 

 variation or undulation of surface. Everything, accord- 

 ingly, which tends to preserve and strengthen this pleasing 

 character, should be kept constantly in view. Where, there- 

 fore, there are no obvious objections to such a course, the 

 eminences, gentle swells, or hills, should be planted, in 

 preference to the hollows or depressions. By planting the 

 elevated portions of the grounds, their apparent height is 

 increased; but by planting the hollows, all distinction is 

 lessened and broken up. Indeed, where there is but a 

 trifling and scarcely perceptible undulation, the importance 

 of the swells of surface already existing is surprisingly in- 



