66 Landscape Gardening 



creased, when this course of planting is adopted; and the 

 whole, to the eye, appears finely varied. 



Where the grounds of the residence to be planted are 

 level, or nearly so, and it is desirable to confine the view, on 

 any or all sides, to the lawn or park itself, the boundary 

 groups and masses must be so connected together as from 

 the most striking part or parts of the prospect (near the 

 house for example) to answer this end. This should be 

 done, not by planting a continuous, uniformly thick belt of 

 trees round the outside of the whole; but by so arranging 

 the various outer groups and thickets, that when seen from 

 the given points they shall appear connected in one whole. 

 In this way, there will be an agreeable variation in the 

 margin, made by the various bays, recesses, and detached 

 projections, which could not be so well effected if the whole 

 were one uniformly unbroken strip of wood. 



But where the house is so elevated as to command a 

 more extensive view than is comprised in the demesne 

 itself, another course should be adopted. The grounds 

 planted must be made to connect themselves with the sur- 

 rounding scenery, so as not to produce any violent con- 

 trast to the eye, when compared with the adjoining country. 

 If then, as is most frequently the case, the lawn or pleasure- 

 ground join, on either side or sides, cultivated farm lands, 

 the proper connection may be kept up by advancing a few 

 groups or even scattered trees into the neighboring fields. 

 In the middle states there are but few cultivated fields, even 

 in ordinary farms, where there is not to be seen, here and 

 there, a handsome cluster of saplings or a few full grown 

 trees; or if not these, at least some tall growing bushes along 

 the fences, all of which, by a little exercise of this leading 

 principle of connection, can, by the planter of taste, be 

 made to appear with few or trifling additions, to divaricate 

 from, and ramble out of the park itself. Where the park joins 

 natural woods, connection is still easier, and where it bounds 

 upon one of our noble rivers, lakes, or other large sheets 

 of water, of course connection is not expected; for sudden 

 contrast and transition is there both natural and beautiful. 



