363 AGRICULTURE. 



The aim in placing the plantings should be 

 to so arrange them as to allow an uninterrupted 

 sweep to the line of vision wherever some pleas- 

 ing landscape lies beyond, and to hide from view 

 any buildings or objectionable objects. 



The sky-line should neither be too much 

 broken nor too monotonous perhaps on one 

 side rising high above a mass of trees, with pos- 

 sibly a spire of poplar, while on the other side 

 it sinks to the surface of meadow or lake. 



Lawns form the basis of natural grounds for 

 home or school. The center of the grounds in 

 front of the house should generally be devoted 

 to an open, unencumbered, well-kept lawn a 

 beautiful foundation for any grounds. " These 

 lawns may be kept clipped, or the grass may be 

 allowed to grow at its own sweet will ; but 

 clipped lawns have a distinct suggestion of arti- 

 ficiality, and the clipping should be confined to 

 the vicinity of buildings or other positions 

 where smooth surfaces and straight lines are 

 already in evidence (Fig. 137). The unmowed 

 lawn is suitable for larger pieces and for more 

 emphatically natural surroundings " (Fig- 



138). 



The plantings should be upon the boundaries, 

 near the building, and in the background. 

 " One would not want the furniture in the par- 

 lor to take up three-fourths of the room ; much 



* Waugh's Landscape Gardening. 



