458 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



those sublime emotions that come from the aspect of desola- 

 tion. They are felt, in these places, unaccompanied by that 

 profound melancholy which must ever attend us when con- 

 templating a wide scene of ruins. Here the appearance of 

 desolation is sufficient to awaken a deep emotion of sublimity ; 

 but while surrounded with so many evidences of a fertile and 

 prosperous country, we are equally affected with a sense of 

 cheerful exaltation. I doubt whether the most beautiful 

 garden in Europe would afford so much of the luxury of 

 mental emotion as a ramble over these bald hils affords to 

 one whose mind is properly attuned for such enjoyments. It 

 is evident that the hills without the rocks would be destitute 

 of the feature that yields them their principal charm. From 

 the sight of the rocks also comes that feeling of alliance with 

 past ages of the world which tends greatly to elevate the 

 mind with sentiments of grandeur. 



The New England stone-wall, as a portion of landscape 

 scenery, is generally considered a deformity. Still it carinot 

 be d-enied that the same lines of wooden fence would mar 

 the beauty of the landscape a great deal more. On account 

 of the loose manner in which the stones are piled one upon 

 another, as well as the character of the materials, this wall 

 harmonizes with the general aspect of nature more agreeably, 

 than any kind of wood-work or masonry. It seems to me 

 less of a deformity than a hedge or any other kind of a fence, 

 except in highly cultivated and ornamented grounds. In 

 wild pastures and lands devoted to common agricultural pur- 

 poses, the stone-wall is the least exceptionable of any boundary 

 mark that has yet been invented. A hedge in such places 

 would present to the eye an intolerable formality. 



One of the charms of the stone-wall is the manifest ease 

 with which it may be overleaped : it menaces no infringement 

 upon our liberty. When we look abroad upon a landscape 

 subdivided only by these long lines of loose stones, we feel 

 no sense of constraint : the whole boundless range as well as 

 prospect is ours. An appearance that cherishes this feeling of 

 liberty is essential to the beauty of a landscape ; for no man 

 can thoroughly enjoy a scene from which he is excluded. 



