ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 455; 



great portion of the time, it is more agree- 

 able out doors than it is in rooms; yet 

 it had better be secured by covered 

 verandas than by trees. It is also more 

 conducive to health to sit under a covered 

 roof. Exposure to evening dews is a 

 well-known fruitful source of sickness, 

 and the partial protection afforded by 

 the overhanging branches of trees is not 

 sufficient when dew is falling. 



Trees of the large-growing species 

 should not be planted nearer than sixty 

 feet to the walls of a dwelling-house. 

 Such trees are the sugar and the silver 

 maple, the sycamore, elm, linden, ash, 

 chestnut, and poplar. Trees of medium 

 growth, such as the Norway and the 

 English maple, and others of this class, 

 that do not attain a height of more than 

 thirty feet, may be planted thirty to lorty 

 feet from the building. 



Another disadvantage resulting from 

 surrounding the building with a thicket 

 of foliage is, that it shuts out the views 

 of immediate and distant scenery, as seen 

 from the house, at the same time the 

 house, as an object of the local landscape, 

 is completely hidden from view. If the 

 architecture of the structure has received 

 any study as a work of artistic design, 

 it should in itself form a picture which, to 

 be properly appreciated, must be seen 

 and viewed as a whole, so that its pro- 

 portions, outlines, elevations, and orna- 

 mental details may be taken in at one 

 view. Even beds of low shrubbery, if 

 abundantly introduced near the base of 

 a building, will foreshorten the elevation, 

 obstruct the view of the horizontal base 

 line, and seemingly destroy architectural 

 proportions. Many of the finest struc- 

 tures, both public and private, are ruin- 

 ously shorn of their beauty by careless or 

 ignorant planters, who, in their endeavors 

 to beautify a building, succeed only in 

 concealing those salient lines and projec- 

 tions that give it character and distinctive- 

 ness. 



A proper connection of the house with 



its surroundings is the first point to which 

 attention should be given in laying out 

 grounds, as it is the most prominent and 

 leading detail of improvements. A house 

 should not appear to have risen out of 

 the green lawn like a tree. It is necessary 

 that some evidence should be apparent 

 of suitable preparation having been made 

 for the building j at least, a level platform 

 of more or less width should project from 

 the base line. The ground line should 

 be level, and all walks should correspond 

 with the lines of the ground plan. Zigzag 

 and curving walks close to the straight 

 lines of a large, or even the most humble 

 building, are directly opposed to beauty 

 or propriety; they are sure evidence of 

 unskilled labor. 



The principal front of a building 

 should show a terrace, either architectur- 

 ally treated, or at least with architectural 

 appendages. The level line of terrace 

 will furnish a uniform base to the build- 

 ing, and masses of low- growing plants 

 may be introduced below the terrace 

 where they will not interfere with the 

 view of the structure. A few trees may 

 be planted at the ends or in the rear r 

 which will serve to connect the house 

 with the grounds and their scenery, and 

 this can be done without either hiding or 

 overshadowing the building. 



It has long been laid down as a gen- 

 eral principal that round-headed trees- 

 contrast best with the prevailing perpen- 

 dicular lines of Gothic architecture, and' 

 those of a pointed or conic shape with 

 the horizontal of the Grecian. It may 

 be questioned whether either of these 

 rules is sufficiently accurate to be worthy 

 ot consideration ; certain it is that there 

 may be found compositions of expressive 

 beauty, where the arrangements are the 

 reverse of those proposed in the general 

 principle. It is perhaps nearer the facts 

 to state that, in the arrangement of forms r 

 harmony will prove more pleasing than 

 contrast; but when applied to colors,, 

 contrast will develop the most distinct 

 and expressive compositions. 



