14 



with clear instructions and suggestions with regard to the operations 

 proposed, and the relative order in which they should be conducted. 

 It may be taken as a rule that no proprietor should undertake improve- 

 ments until he sees clearly the objects and intentions of the design or 

 plan ; and if this information can not be conveyed by inspection and 

 explanation, it is a strong presumptive evidence of defect either in the 

 design or in the explanation, or in both. 



in transferring designs to the ground, the most correct and speedy 

 method is to divide the plan into squares by lines drawn on it in both 

 directions, the side of the square being of any length that will best 

 serve the purposes of accuracy. Squares of 60 feet for the side will 

 be found a convenient length ; but in intricate designs, such as those 

 for flower gardens, squares of 30 feet, or even shorter, may be nec- 

 essary. The ground, or space to be operated upon, is to be divided 

 into squares of the same size, and a stake set firmly at each point of 

 intersection of the lines, and numbered to correspond with the num- 

 bers on the plan. A still more distinctive method is to use numbers 

 for one direction and letters for the other; each stake will then be 

 marked with a number and a letter. The plan and grounds being thus 

 prepared, the placing of a tree, or the laying down of a walk, or any 

 other object, can be executed with the greatest facility. It also ena- 

 bles the work to be commenced at any point, and a short practice will 

 enable any one, by looking at its position in the square on the plan, to 

 place a tree in its relative position in the square on the ground, with- 

 out having recourse to exact measurements. A plan carefully prepared 

 with references, and accurate to a scale, may thus be transferred to the 

 ground by any person capable of reading letters and figures. 



ARRANGEMENT OF OUTBUILDINGS, STABLES, ETC. 



The selection of sites for the various buildings required near a coun- 

 try or suburban residence is second in importance only to the selection 

 of a site for the mansion. Convenience dictates that these buildings 

 should be as near the house as is practically consistent with their ob- 

 jects and character. The dwelling house will, of course, occupy the best 

 and most advantageous position, and its superior size and style of arch- 

 itecture will always be such as to render all other necessary structures 

 of secondary and subordinate appearance. Such buildings as stables 

 and icehouses 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 inconsistant with our ideas of 

 what a country home should be. 



Instead, therefore, of endeavoring to entirely conceal these structures 

 by plantations and other expedients, as is frequently advised, they 

 should be located on the most eligible sites, and display in their archi- 

 tectural details and ornaments an expression of the purposes for which 



