38G THE VILLA GARDENER. 



priet}'^ ; as it is in the proper walk, and does not attract too much attention 

 from the noble oak-trees in the back ground. 



A third fault, and one almost as common as the two that have been 

 mentioned, is, want of harmony between the foreground and the distant 

 scenery ; not in point of extent, but in point of style, or of ornament. Thus 

 we sometimes find an extensive lawn in the fi'ont of the house, which is con- 

 tinued in the same style of smoothness and high keeping till it terminates 

 abruptly on a common, or in the hedgerow of a corn-field, or an extensive 

 wood, or some other uniform surface or mass of similar or greater extent than 

 itself. Perhaps the most common of all faults in the views from a country 

 residence, next to want of breadth in the foreground, is, the monotony or 

 deformity of the lines and shapes produced by hedgerows and plantations in 

 the middle or third distance. When these faults are in the grounds of an 

 adjoining proprietor, they of course may be considered as beyond the reach 

 of correction ; but in this case they are frequently at such a distance from 

 the eye as to be inconspicuous, or to admit of being somewhat disguised by a 

 few trees in the foreground. There are certain faults of this kind peculiar to 

 every style of country. In some parts of Middlesex we have a monotony of 

 hedges and pollard trees, with a total absence of ploughed fields. In some 

 parts of Kent we have ploughed fields, with a total absence of pasture ; and, 

 in many parts of the lowlands of Scotland, we have the beautiful slopes of the 

 hills cut across by stone walls, hedges, or belts of plantation, thus abruptly 

 separating the arable plains from the hill pasture. To overcome or to miti- 

 gate difficulties of this kind, is one of the most common purposes for which a 

 landscape-gardener is employed ; and, as our friend Mr. Nesfield particularly 

 excels in this department of his profession, we shall, with his permission, 

 give an example which recently occurred in his practice. 



Fig. 241. shows the outline of a range of distant scenery, from the drawing- 

 room front of a suburban residence near Stafford. On the hill which 

 forms the distance, there is a long belt or plantation, running most offensively 

 parallel to its ridge ; and swelled out in the middle, so as to form a clump- 

 like protuberance there. This clump was made to conceal a high broken 

 bank of rock, which was considered by the planter, or his employer, as an 

 object that ought to be shut out ; probably, because it was neither productive 

 of grass or trees : for persons who have no idea of the enjoyments of taste, 

 can see no beauty in anything that is not applicable to common purposes of 

 utility. This plantation is shown surrounded by a thorn hedge, which, 

 having been long left uncut, has attained a great height, and thereby renders 

 the outline of the plantations as conspicuous and hard as possible. The 

 outline at p indicates the slope of the hill descending from the back of the 

 belt ; and the line at w shows a portion of a more distant ridge, which, it is 

 proposed, partially to plant ; in order, by the contrast of the trees with the 

 line of the unplanted ground at^, to render the ridge more conspicuous to 

 the eye. By planting this distant ridge, a mass will be produced, which will 

 appear to retire behind the belt, and thus increase the perspective effect, and 

 raise in the imagination the idea of this plantation extending beyond the 

 other, and even down the other side of the ridge. At y are high and very 

 conspicuous thorn hedges. At 2; s are single thorn trees, which were part of 

 some hedge-row lines that marked the outlines of former fields ; which, by 

 taking out some, and adding others, may be thrown into ornamental groups. 



