226 Landscape Gardening 



in design and execution these little places will, at the present 

 moment, bear very favorable comparison with many in 

 older countries. The practical management of such places 

 is also very well understood and they need no especial 

 mention in these remarks. 



But in the larger country places there are ten instances of 

 failure for one of success. This is not owing to the want of 

 natural beauty, for the sites are picturesque, the surface 

 varied, and the woods and plantations excellent. The fail- 

 ure consists, for the most part, in a certain incongruity and 

 want of distinct character in the treatment of the place as 

 a whole. They are too large to be kept in order as pleasure 

 grounds, while they are not laid out or treated as parks. 

 The grass which stretches on all sides of the house is partly 

 mown for lawn, and partly for hay; the lines of the farm 

 and the ornamental portion of the grounds meet in a con- 

 fused and unsatisfactory manner, and the result is a resi- 

 dence pretending to be much superior to a common farm 

 and yet not rising to the dignity of a really tasteful country- 

 seat. 



It appears to us that a species of country place particu- 

 larly adapted to this country, has not, as yet, been at- 

 tempted, though it offers the largest possible satisfaction at 

 the least cost. 



We mean a place which is a combination of the park-like 

 and pastoral landscape. A place in which the chief fea- 

 tures should be fine forest trees, either natural or planted, 

 and scattered over a surface of grass, kept short by the 

 pasturage of fine cattle. A place, in short, where sylvan 

 and pastoral beauty, added to large extent and great facility 

 of management, would cost no more than a much smaller 

 demesne where a large part is laid out, planted, and kept 

 in an expensive though still unsatisfactory manner. 



There are sites of this kind, already prettily wooded, 

 which may be had in many desirable localities at much 

 cheaper rates than the improved sites. On certain portions 

 of the Hudson, for instance, we could purchase to-day finely 

 wooded sites and open glades, in the midst of fine scenery 



