40 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



affectation. Not to say, however, that all paths should be 

 straight ; the farmer, whose home is at a considerable remove 

 from the highway, and who drives his team thither, avoiding rock 

 and tree and hillock, will give to his line of approach a grace that 

 it would be hard to excel by counterfeit. Pat, staggering from 

 the orchard under a bushel of Bartlett pears, and seizing upon 

 ever}^ accidental aid in the surface of the declivity to relieve the 

 fatigue of his walk, zigzagging as it were in easy curves, is un- 

 consciously laying down ^though not a graceful man — a very 

 graceful line of march. And it is the delicate interpretation of 

 these ever}^ day deflexities, and this instinctive tortuousness (if I 

 may so say), which supplies, or should supply, the landscape 

 gardeners with their best formulae." 



The gardens, both flower and vegetable, should be of easy 

 access, the stables and out-houses should be in sufficient 

 proximity, and nothing which can contribute to comfort and con- 

 venience should be overlooked. 



For the full enjoyment of even the smallest suburban estate 

 there must be a degree, of Seclusion. Not to be able to walk in 

 one's garden, to meditate or walk therein, without being subjected 

 to the gaze of neighbors or the passers by, is a condition which is 

 not' agreeable to the refined mind. This seclusion need not be 

 such as to entirely deprive one of vistas into the distant or 

 adjacent country, which are important addenda to every place, 

 and for which eveiy provision should be made, but it should be 

 sufficient to afford that sense of quietude and freedom from inter- 

 ruption so dear to everj^ man, especially a professional one, after 

 the cares and labors of the day. 



• This seclusion is to be obtained by a judicious disposition of 

 plantations and hedges, and not by high walls and fences, unless 

 in exceptional cases. 



Having thus marked out the general principles which should 

 govern in the laying out and embellishment of the small suburban 

 estate, it remains for us in conclusion to add that there are a vast 

 number of places, which from the nature of circumstances, do not 

 admit the application of any principles beyond those which neat- 

 ness and order afford. And this remark applies especially to the 

 suburbs of Boston, where there are a greater number of small 

 estates, naturally adorned to a remarkable degree, than about any 

 other city in the Union. 



