11 PREFACE. 



late, and have been so frequently urged by persons desiring 

 advice, that I have ventured to prepare the present volume, 

 in the hope of supplying, in some degree, the desideratum so 

 much required at present. While we have treatises in abun- 

 dance on the various departments of the arts and sciences, 

 there has not appeared even a single essay on the elegant art 

 of Landscape Gardening. Hundreds of individuals who wish 

 to ornament their grounds and embelhsh their places, are at 

 a loss how to proceed, from the want of some leading prin- 

 ciples, with the knowledge of which they would find it com- 

 paratively easy to produce delightful and satisfactory results. 



In the following pages I have attempted to trace out such 

 principles, and to suggest practicable methods of embellishing 

 our Rural Residences, on a scale commensurate to the views 

 and means of our proprietors. While 1 have availed myself 

 of the works of European authors, and especially those of 

 Britain, where Landscape Gardening was first raised to the 

 rank of a fine art, I have also endeavoured to adapt my sug- 

 gestions especially to this country and to the peculiar wants 

 of its inhabitants. 



As a people descended from the English stock, we inherit 

 much of the ardent love of rural life and its pursuits which 

 belongs to that nation ; but our peculiar position, in a new 

 world that required a population full of enterprise and ener- 

 gy to subdue and improve its vast territory, has, until lately, 

 left but little time to cultivate a taste for Rural Embellish- 

 ment. But in the older states, as wealth has accumulated, 

 the country become populous, and society more fixed in its 

 character, a return to, and fondness for, those simple and 

 fascinating enjoyments to be found in country life and rural 

 pursuits, is witnessed on every side. And to this innate feel- 

 ing, out of which grows a strong attachment to natal soil, we 

 must look for a counterpoise to the great tendency towards 

 constant change, and the restless spirit of emigration, which 

 form part of our national character ; and which, though to a 

 certain extent highly necessary to our national prosperity, 

 are, on the other hand, opposed to social and domestic hap- 



