ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 445 



ground should fall from it in all direc- 

 tions, more rapidly in front than back, 

 where the descent may be merely suffi- 

 cient for drainage. Back of the house, 

 positions should be selected for the veg- 

 etable garden, stables, and other build- 

 ings, such as greenhouses and graperies, 

 all of which will be sheltered and pro- 

 tected by the higher ground beyond. 



The nature of the soil should receive 

 attention in selecting a spot for a house. 

 Clay soils are retentive of water; and, 

 even when artificially drained, the sur- 

 face is disagreeable after rains. Clay, 

 in contact with foundation walls, keeps 

 them damp and cold. The expansion of 

 clay when wet, and shrinkage when dry, 

 unfit it for a safe foundation. If every 

 other condition is secured in a site, art 

 can do much towards ameliorating the 

 physical qualities of the soil; but, for 

 all the purposes of human comfort and 

 enjoyment, in the immediate vicinity of 

 a house, a light, open, porous soil is de- 

 cidedly the best. 



It is always desirable to secure the 

 beauty and utility of a natural planta- 

 tion; but, to select a site for a mansion 

 in the center of a grove of old trees, with 

 the intention of making them a nucleus 

 for future landscape effect, will generally 

 prove unsatisfactory. In natural forests 

 the trees grow closely together; their 

 trunks are long, slender, and destitute of 

 branches; and, if thinning is attempted, 

 those that are left seldom flourish for any 

 length of time. If the thinning out is 

 gradual, and the best of the remaining 

 trees are judiciously pruned, they may 

 ultimately recover, and make a satisfac- 

 tory appearance. 



Where old trees abound, it is difficult to 

 prepare or keep a good lawn, or to introduce 

 new shrubs or flowers. The roots of the 

 trees prevent thorough renovation of the 

 soil, and the shade of the branches in- 

 terferes with the growth of plants. There 

 is a steady antagonism between the old 

 and the new, both with regard to indi- 

 vidual growth and landscape effect, until 

 either the one or the other predominates. 

 It is no matter of doubt or uncertainty, 

 but a settled question with all who have 

 any experience in remodeling or adapting 

 old woods or groves to modern improve- 

 ments, that it is immeasurably better to 

 commence on a treeless, naked field ; as 



a judicious selection and intermixture of 

 fast-growing trees, properly planted in good 

 soil, will, in a very few years, serve all useful' 

 purposes, produce such effects as are con- 

 templated, and give far more satisfaction- 

 than can be derived from the accidental 

 position and growth of natural forests, at 

 least so far as relates to improvements in 

 the immediate vicinity of a rural resi- 

 dence. 



OUTBUILDINGS, STABLES, ETC., 

 Arrangement of. — The selection of sites- 

 for the various buildings required near a- 

 country or suburban residence is second 

 in importance only to the selection of a 

 site for the mansion. Convenience dic- 

 tates that these buildings should be as 

 near the house as is practically consistent 

 with their objects and character. The- 

 dwelling-house will, of course, occupy 

 the best and most advantageous position, 

 and its superior size and style of architec- 

 ture will always be such as to render all 

 other necessary structures of secondary 

 and subordinate appearance. Such build- 

 ings as stables and' ice-houses are so- 

 obviously necessary to domestic comfort 

 that their presence is not only expected, 

 but their absence conveys an impression 

 of poverty or incompleteness altogether 

 inconsistent with our ideas of what & 

 country home should be. 



Instead, therefore, of endeavoring to 

 entirely conceal these offices by planta- 

 tions and by other expedients, as is fre- 

 quently advised, they should be located 

 on the most eligible sites, and display, in' 

 their architectural details and ornaments, 

 an expression of the purposes for which 

 they are intended, and be judiciously 

 exposed to view without rendering con- 

 spicuous the operations necessarily con- 

 nected with the structure. 



The best location for these buildings^ 

 will be governed, to some extent, by 

 local circumstances; but, where there 

 are no grades, views, or other exceptional 

 features to interfere with the selection, a 

 point in a northeast direction from the 

 house will combine the greatest number 

 of advantages. 



When the stables and other farm build- 

 ings should not be entirely hidden from 

 view at certain points, at the same time 

 it will be obvious that a due amount of 

 privacy in and about the buildings them- 

 selves, as well as in the line of view from. 



