ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 55 



grounds. His plantations are made in irregular groups, 

 composed chiefly of picturesque trees, as the larch, the 

 oak, etc. — his walks would lead through varied scenes, 

 sometimes bordered with groups of rocks overrun with flow- 

 ering creepers and vines ; sometimes with thickets or little 

 copses of shrubs and flowering plants ; sometimes through 

 wild and comparatively neglected portions ; the whole inter- 

 spersed with open glades of turf 



In the majority of instances in the United States, the mo- 

 dern style of Landscape Gardening, wherever it is appreci- 

 ated, will in practice consist in arranging a demesne of from 

 fifty to three hundred acres, or rather that portion of it, say 

 one half, one third, etc., devoted to lawn and pleasure- 

 ground, pasture, etc., so as to exhibit groups of forest and 

 ornamental trees and shrubs, surroundinsf the dwelling of the 

 proprietor, and extending for a greater or less distance, 

 especially towards the place of entrance from the public 

 highway. Near the house, good taste will dictate the 

 assemblage of groups and masses of the rarer or more beau- 

 tiful trees and shrubs ; commoner native forest trees occupy- 

 ing the more distant portions of the grounds. 



Whatever be the extent of the place to be arranged and 

 planted, whether it partake of the character of the mansion 

 or villa residence, and include either a park or pleasure- 

 grounds, or merely ornamental meadows for pasturage, there 

 will of course be various combinations of trees from the 

 smallest group composed only of two trees, or a tree and a 

 shrub, to the tnass, formed by a large number, or even the 

 grove or icood, comprising many hundred individuals. Were 

 the whole surface filled up with scattered single trees at reg- 

 ular or irregular intervals, or even with uniform groups 

 alone, all variety, grandeur, and beauty, would be lost ; and 



