566 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



ations, with a probable design to avoid those inconveniences to which lofty positions had 

 been subject ; hence the frequent sites of many large mansions, and particularly abbeys 

 and monasteries, the residence of persons who were willing to sacrifice the beauty of 

 prospect for the more solid and permanent advantages of habitable convenience ; amongst 

 which, shelter from wind, and a supply of water for store fishponds, were predominant 

 considerations. (Enquiry, ^-c. bi/ Repton, p. 83.) In hilly countries, or in any country 

 where the surface is varied, the choice is neither made in the bottoms (jig. 532. a) nor on 



d 



the summits of hills (c), but generally on knolls, or on the south or south-east side of 

 considerable eminences (6), upon an elevated platform, either natural or raised by art 

 from the earth of the foundations ; and the rising grounds behind (rf) are planted both 

 for effect and shelter. 



3512. The proximity of water is essential to the comfort of every country residence. 

 Where there are none in springs or surface streams, it may, indeed, "be collected from the 

 roofs of buildings and otherwise, and filtered, and preserved sweet and cool in tanks 

 underground ; but supplies obtained in this way are precarious and expensive, and the 

 water is inferior to that obtained from the soil by contiguous wells, or from a distance 

 by pipes or drains. Water is also extensively required in country residences for the use 

 of gardeners, sometimes for fishponds ; at a moderate distance, and on a lower level, 

 it is always desirable in considerable quantity for the purpose of forming artificial lakes, 

 or river-like reservoirs. Few home features are finer than where the house is situated 

 on a knoll which slopes down on two or more sides to one encircling piece of water. 

 {Jig. 533.) 



533 



3513. The nature of the soil is a consideration inferior to the others, because all bad 

 soils are susceptible of great improvement; but, still, it should be taken into consider- 

 ation along with other objects. A soil retentive of surface water, such as some clayey 

 and soft peaty soils, is the worst, as it is always unpleasant to walk on after rains, and 

 easily poached by cattle and horses. Such soils also require more expense in drainage 

 and roads, and are much less suitable for garden and farm culture, than firmer soils, 

 and such as are naturally friable or dry. 



3514. The subsoil is sometimes of more importance than the soil; for the former in 

 general can only be improved by draining, and subsoils differ materially in their sus- 

 ceptibility of this improvement. A bad subsoil is an effectual barrier to the thriving of 

 timber trees ; and as these constitute the finest ornament of every country seat, the im- 

 portance of choosing a subsoil either naturally congenial to them, or capable of being 

 rendered so by art, is sufficiently obvious. 



