DECORATIVE PLANTING. 19 



home, where little care seemed taken to make it so ; and yet with 

 an air of comfort, and even elegance, that others, with wealth lav- 

 ished upon them, and a professional gardener in constant employ, 

 with flowers, and shrubs, and trees in profusion, yet all failing to 

 convey the same impression of a pleasant home ? Be assured that 

 the former (though by accident it may be) is the better model of 

 the two. A well-cut lawn, a few fine trees, a shady back-ground 

 with comfortable-looking out-buildings, are the essentials ; and 

 walks, shrubs, and flowers, only the embellishments and* finishing 

 touches of the picture. Only the finishing touches— but what a 

 charm of added expression and beauty there may be in those per- 

 fecting strokes ! How a verdant gate-way arch frames the common 

 walk into a picture view ; how a long opening of lawn gives play- 

 room for the sunlight to smile and hide among the shadows of bor- 

 dering shrubs and trees ; how an opening here, in the shrubs, 

 reveals a pretty neighborhood vista ; how a flower-bed there, 

 brightens the lawn like a smile on the face of beauty ; how a swing 

 suspended from the strong, outstretched arm of a noble tree attracts 

 the children, whose ever-changing groups engage the eye and inter- 

 est the heart; how a delicate foliaged tree, planted on yonder mar- 

 gin, glows with the light of the afternoon sun, or with airy undula- 

 tions trembles against the twilight sky, till it seems neither of the 

 earth or the sky, but a spirit of life wavering between earth and 

 heaven ! 



Let us, then, define Decorative Planting to be the art of pic- 

 ture making and picture framing, by means of the varied forms of 

 vegetable growth. 



