Landscape Gardening 



and, what is not entirely unimportant, an excellent and char- 

 acteristic name for the property may be suggested: for, in 

 the prevailing fashion for distinguishing every place, however 

 small, with a separate title, those are usually happiest who 

 have some historical or local circumstance on which to found 

 it. The old and common names of fields are often highly 

 characteristic, and, when sufficiently descriptive or eupho- 

 nious, there is great propriety in adopting the ancient title 

 of any part of a property intended for a residence, but more 

 particularly of the field on which the house is to be built or 

 the garden founded. 



4. Altitude. — The relative elevation of the district, or of 

 the particular site selected in it, will have a great influence 

 on the healthiness, comfort, and scenery of a place. A tract 

 that is low and flat is always damper, and consequently 

 colder. I have often noticed dips in a road along which I 

 have been accustomed to travel in winter evenings, where, 

 by the much greater coldness of the atmosphere in such lower 

 parts (even though no water existed), I could distinguish the 

 arrival at them with closed eyes; and where rivers or streams 

 or other pieces of water exist in hollows, their dampness and 

 coldness are of course increased. Fogs are always more prev- 

 alent in valleys or low level tracts, and it is a well-ascer- 

 tained fact that spring frosts are felt much later, and autumn 

 frosts earlier, in lowland districts and near the course of 

 streams than on the sides or summits of hills. 



A rather elevated or hilly tract, though more exposed to 

 winds than a flatter locality, will, if it have a good aspect 

 and slope in the right direction, be drier and warmer in winter 

 and command much finer views of the country. It will be 

 more likely to be free from all kinds of nuisances, to be out 

 of the way of cottage property, and to escape from the gaze 

 of travelers along contiguous roads. Where a house and 



