OKNAMKNTAL GAKDENING. 113 



become suddenly rich, and if they originally possessed a 

 boorish taste, they usually carry it with them to their new 

 position. This is one reason why we see so many costly 

 dwellings in the suburbs of our large cities and villages 

 with such meager sun-oundings. The proprietors probably 

 engaged a competent architect to furnish designs for his 

 buildings and see that they Avere executed ; but for his walks, 

 roads, and the general arrangement of his garden and 

 lawn, he depended upon his own abilities and taste, or that 

 of some common farm laborers, and the result is just what 

 might be expected, an unbecoming medley of absurdities. 

 Whereas, had the proprietor instructed his architect to give 

 him a less expensive house, and expended the balance in 

 obtaining a design from some landscape gardener for his 

 grounds, the stranger, as he passed, might have suppo'sed 

 him a man of taste and a gentleman by birth and educa- 

 tion ; instead of this, every one who looks upon these 

 grounds (unless it be those of the same capacity as him- 

 self) can not refrain from thinking, if he does not so ex- 

 press himself, that the proprietor made his money either 

 by shoddy or petroleum. 



We can not give a better illustration of our idea of poor 

 taste, or no taste, as displayed in hundreds of what are 

 sometimes called elegant places, than to describe one not 

 a hundred miles from New York, and located in a fashion- 

 able neighborhood. 



The house is quite large and of modern style — probably 

 cost twenty-five thousand dollars. It is painted white, with 

 green blinds ; elegant in all its proportions from observatory 

 to foundation, and doubtless designed by a first-class archi- 



