34 Landscape Gardening 



the chief objection Hes. A castellated grotto, for example, 

 with the greatest and most fantastic variety of outline and 

 numerous turrets is occasionally to be seen from a house 

 either in the Grecian or Italian form, or from one of those 

 square, commonplace erections from which everything like 

 style is expressly omitted. 



3. Overplanting. — The practice of planting much imme- 

 diately around a house is erroneous in other ways than those 

 yet pointed out. It prevents the true proportions, outlines, 

 and details of a building from being properly seen and rightly 

 appreciated. If a house be well designed, it should make a 

 picture of itself and only require the aid of vegetable forms, 

 at a little distance from it, as supports and accompaniments. 

 An occasional tree or plant may be valuable to balance the 

 several parts, to soften abrupt transitions of outline, to sober 

 and break a glare of color, or to impart an air of finish in 

 some cases; and even a mass of trees or shrubs would often 

 be effective in blinding inferior parts of the building, or 

 covering defects of symmetry or enrichment. But where 

 the architect has thoroughly studied his subject and treated 

 it as a picture, aids of this sort will be but little wanted 

 and should be adopted with the utmost care. There is 

 probably no one point in landscape gardening wherein less 

 of the true feeling of art is exhibited than in the choice of 

 accompaniments to a building. 



4. Tree Belts. ■ — The planting of tree belts on small places 

 is always quite inappropriate. They consist of strips of trees, 

 either of equal or irregular width, placed just within the 

 boundary, so as to confine the view wholly to the place itself. 

 They serve, in fact, completely to shut it in by a kind of 

 green wall, which effectually excludes a great deal of sunlight 

 and air and all appearance of distance. They make the 

 garden a sort of prison which cannot be seen into by others 



