SMALL COUNTRY VILLAS. 241 



conceal and vary their boundaries, to connect them with the general scenery, 

 and to disguise their poverty of shape. If, on the other hand, they are con- 

 sidered as gardenesque pieces of water, to be planted in the gardenesque 

 manner, then the shapes of the ponds or miniature lakes ought to be hand- 

 somer in themselves than they now are, so as to produce an agreeable effect, 

 even without any trees and shrubs whatever as accompaniments. At the 

 same time we do not say that gardenesque pieces of water ought to be with- 

 out trees and shrubs ; on the contrary, they require this addition to display 

 them to advantage, no less than picturesque pieces of water ; all the differ- 

 ence being, that in the former case they must be added in a gardenesque 

 manner. The pieces of water in these designs are not sufficiently handsome 

 to be admired as gardenesque, and not sufficiently disguised by trees and 

 shrubs to be decidedly picturesque; but this, as we have before observed, 

 arises in a great measure from the smallness of the scale, and the fear of 

 crowding the places with too many trees and shrubs. 



Design XIX. — To lay out a villa residence of two acres, within a regular 

 boundary, in the geometrical style. 



339. Ground plan, Sfc. — The object in this case is to produce a splendid 

 effect at a moderate expense of annual keeping, but with no regard to profit. 

 The general form of the ground is that of a parallelogram, and its disposition 

 is so clearly shown in the isometiical view {fig. 136.), that it will require little 

 or no description. The entrance is through a straight avenue to a flight of 

 steps, which leads to a raised platform on which the house stands. To the 

 right and left of the avenue are double rows of trees, which may be fruit- 

 bearing kinds, such as the apple, pear, cherry, and plum. Beyond these, on 

 each side, ai'e two small kitchen-gardens, intended for gooseberries, straw- 

 berries, and other small fruits, and for potherbs, tart rhubarb, spinach, kidney- 

 beans, and a few such vegetables as are desirable to have always at hand. 

 The house and these kitchen-gardens occupy about half the entire residence. 

 The other half is laid out in the form of a sunk flower-garden, consisting of 

 a variety of curvilinear beds, bordered by a kerb of stone, and surrounded by 

 turf. From the terrace walks there are four descents to this garden, each 

 consisting of a double flight of steps. Each bed is supposed to be planted 

 with one kind of herbaceous plant, so as to produce large masses of colour. 

 The mode of selecting plants for this purpose, as well as lists of suitable 

 plants, have been already given (p. 69. and p. 123.), and further resources 

 will be found in the lists given in the after part of this work. The sloping 

 border between the sunk area and the flower-garden may either be planted 

 with low evergreen shrubs, with roses kept low, or it may be in turf, or in 

 rockwork : in the latter case, it may be covered with a collection of rock 

 plants. Perhaps the most appropriate disposition of this sloping border 

 would be to vary it with ornaments of box, on a ground of turf, so as to give 

 it the appearance of an architectural moulding. In the centre there is a foun- 

 tain. In situations where so much turf was not desirable, the walks between 

 the beds might be of gravel or paved ; but they will produce the best effect 

 in turf. Instead of a raised terrace-walk surrounding this flower-garden, 

 there might be in its place a narrow conservatory, such as that remarked on 

 in p. 234. ; in front of this conservatory, a narrow border for Cape and other 

 half-hardy bulbs ; then a terrace-walk, two steps lower than the level of that 

 within the conservatory, with another narrow border, and beyond that a low 



