302 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



pensate for poverty of sense, so in architectural composition, 

 no beauty of style can ever compensate for want of expres- 

 sion of purpose." Applying this excellent principle to our 

 own country houses and their offices or outbuildings, we 

 think every reasonable person will, at the first glance, see 

 how lamentably deficient are many of the productions of our 

 architects and builders in one of the leading principles of the 

 art. The most common form for an American country villa 

 is the pseudo-Greek Temple ; that is, a rectangular oblong 

 building, with the chimney-tops concealed, if possible, and 

 instead of a pretty and comfortable porch, veranda, or piaz- 

 za, four, six, or eight lofty wooden columns are seen sup- 

 porting a portico so high, as neither to afford an agreeable 

 promenade, nor a sufficient shelter from the sun and rain. 



There are two features, which, it is now generally admitted, 

 contribute strongly to the expression of purpose in a dwel- 

 ling-house, and especially in a country residence. These are 

 the chimney-tops and the entrance porch. Chimney-tops 

 with us, are generally square masses of brick, rising above 

 the roof, and presenting certainly no very elegant appearance, 

 which may perhaps serve as the apology of those who stu- 

 diously conceal them. But in a climate where fires are re- 

 quisite during a large portion of the year, chimney-tops are 

 expressive of a certain comfort resulting from the use of 

 them, which characterizes a building intended for a dwel- 

 ling in that climate. Chimney-tops being never, or rarely, 

 placed on those buildings intended for the inferior animals, 

 are also undoubtedly in a measure, indicative of human hab- 

 iations. Instead, therefore, of hiding or concealing them, 

 they should be in all dwellings not only boldly avowed, but 

 rendered ornamental ; for whatever is a characteristic and 



