110 Landscape Gardening 



Planting the margins of pieces of water, if they should 

 be of much extent, must evidently proceed upon the same 

 leading principle that we have already laid down for orna- 

 mental plantations in other situations. That is, there must 

 be trees of different heights and sizes, and underwood and 

 shrubs of lower growth, disposed sometimes singly, at 

 others in masses, groups, and thickets: in all of which 

 forms, connection must be preserved, and the whole must be 

 made to blend well together, while the different sizes and 

 contours will prevent any sameness and confusion. On 

 the retreating dry banks, the taller and more sturdy de- 

 ciduous and evergreen trees, as the oak, ash, etc., may be 

 planted, and nearer by, the different willows, the elm, the 

 alder, and other trees that love a moister situation, will 

 thrive well. It is indispensably necessary, in order to pro- 

 duce breadth of effect and strong rich contrasts, that under- 

 wood * should be employed to clothe many parts of the 

 banks. Without it, the stems of trees will appear loose 

 and straggling, and the screen will be so imperfect as to 

 allow a free passage for the vision in every direction. For 

 this purpose, \ve have in all our woods, swamps, and along 

 our brooks, an abundance of hazels, hawthorns, alders, 

 spice woods, winter berries, azaleas, spireas, and a hundred 

 other fine low shrubs, growing wild, which are by nature 

 extremely well fitted for such sites, and will produce imme- 

 diate effect on being transplanted. These may be inter- 

 mingled, here and there, with the swamp button-bush which 

 bears handsome white globular heads of blossoms, and the 

 swamp magnolia, which is highly beautiful and fragrant. 

 On cool north banks, among shelves of proper soil upheld 

 by projecting ledges of rock, our native kalmias and rhodo- 

 dendrons, the common and mountain laurels, may be made 

 to flourish. The Virginia creeper, and other beautiful wild 

 vines, may be planted at the roots of some of the trees to 

 clamber up their stems, and the wild clematis so placed 

 that its luxuriant festoons shall hang gracefully from the 



* In modern American vernacular the old English term "underwood" 

 would usually be translated "-shrubs." - F. A. W. 



