14 Landscape Gardening 



it, it will be admirably sheltered. No position could be 

 warmer or more favorable than one on the slope or at a 

 short distance from the base of such a range of hills. They 

 will ward off all the worst and most unhealthy winds to 

 which this country is exposed, without at all interfering with 

 the action of the sun at any time of the day, or during any 

 part of the year. 



In hilly countries, there is often a considerable depression 

 or hollow in the face of the hills, caused by the projection of 

 large arms or buttresses on either side; and the basin thus 

 formed, if it front any point near the south, will yield a par- 

 ticularly warm and snug retreat for a house and homestead. 



Masses of well-grown trees on the northerly sides of a place 

 would be an excellent substitute for hills, and may occa- 

 sionally be more pleasant and congenial. Plantations are 

 always highly effective in regard to shelter, and it is a great 

 point to find them already on the ground. 



Independently of shelter, however, if trees have not been 

 drawn up and spoiled by neglect, there can scarcely be too 

 many of them on any spot intended for habitation. Nothing 

 is easier than to thin out and remove them, and there is 

 always a great pleasure resulting from the formation of open- 

 ings through old plantations, to get views of the outside 

 country. If the trees be not unhealthy, therefore, and are 

 well supplied with branches, the more abundantly they exist, 

 the greater will be the capabilities of a place. Large or aged 

 trees and shrubs are also valuable in destroying all semblance 

 of newness or rawness in a garden, in giving an appearance 

 of age and cultivation, in shutting out bad objects, in improv- 

 ing the outlines and grouping of new plantations, and in sup- 

 plying an increased amount and play of agreeable shadow. 



Available outbuildings, or walls, or fences of any kind, 

 should not be wholly disregarded. A good existing fence, 



