162 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the advantage of another ; tlius, are a few loads of earih required 

 in grading? Tiie bed of the future roadway will supply it, and 

 the excavation made will serve as a convenient dumping ground 

 for stones removed from the fields. 



But how is our plan to be executed? Shall it be as public parks 

 are created, b}' employing a host of laborers, gardeners, and sur- 

 veyors, the labor of teams and the blasting of rocks, creating 

 chaos and finallj' bringing out a crude landscape, that requires 

 time for ripening, so to speak, by arboreal growth? Well, it can be 

 done in that wa}-, but my word for it you would not enjoy it 

 much, if you are a true lover of nature and a patient woi'kcr. I 

 have seen men improve their places in that manner, but it gener- 

 ally absorbed their bank balances, their credit willi their friends, 

 and their wives' dowries. 



The true method is to work it out by one's self, as wo have 

 supposed the planning done ; and to a methodical man there is no 

 pleasanter occui^ation to be found than in tiius carrying gradually 

 forward long cherished designs. It is surprising how fast a place 

 ■will grow in beauty under a directing mind, without much visible 

 effort being made in that direction, mainly by bits of chance work, 

 as it miglit be termed. 



For example, in making excavations, or in removing stone 

 walls, a large boulder may present itself. The question at once 

 arises wiiat is to be done with it. The plan will show that it is 

 needed at the divergence of a pathway, where it becomes an 

 object of natural fitness ; or it may be dragged to the side of a 

 lawn, to become in due time an accessory in a prospective grou)) 

 of shrubbery, or it may be thrown into a ravine to aid in the l"oi- 

 mation of a cascade. 



Again, there is no more attractive feature about a country place 

 than a shaded pathway climbing a rude steep ; but it would be 

 expensive work to drag stone expressly for the needed steps, and 

 much time might be consumed in seeking out and collecting a suf- 

 ficient number of proper shape and proportion ; whereas they are 

 frequently presenting themselves one by one as other labors are 

 carried on, and can be easily deposited where they will soon be- 

 come of service ; and so in many similar ways a feature, olijec- 

 tionable in its original situation, may, at a slight expense of time, 

 be made a leading advantage in another. 



The prominent attraction of all country' scenery around residences 



