552 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



in its plan. A square house is more compact within, and from 

 its form is warmer in winter and cooler in summer than any 

 other ; it is more easily heated ; it has less space occupied by 

 passages, and externally it exposes less surface to the atmos- 

 phere, and is consequently more easily kept in repair. The 

 principal disadvantage of a square house is that it is supposed 

 to afford less architectural beauty than any other form ; but 

 the author's opinion is that variety, which is obtained by an 

 irregular style, however prominent a beauty it may be in 

 landscape, is only a subordinate one in architecture ; and that 

 the grand characteristic beauties of that art are magnitude 

 and symmetry. Mr, Loudon condemns the custom of placing 

 country houses that are near streets or roads with their sides 

 parallel to that street or road, without reference to its direction. 

 Every house, whether it is thereby made parallel to the street 

 or otherwise, in the country, should have the diagonal line of 

 the general plan north and south. 



With respect to the laying out and planting of the grounds, 

 our author asserts that the difficulties of building, planting, and 

 gardening, on a small scale, so as completely to attain the 

 objects in view, are greater than on a large one. The difficulty, 

 in the case of small places, arises from the deep consideration 

 required to produce the greatest possible result from very 

 limited means. In building or planting on a large scale the 

 means are generally ample ; and if not unlimited, they are 

 at least frequently indefinite. The results obtained, therefore, 

 are generally considerable, and such as to afford ample enjoy- 

 ment to the possessor. In large places, likewise, it is less 

 difficult to make such alterations and improvements as may 

 be suggested afterwards ; in small places the task of alteration 

 is so great as to be almost impracticable. 



It is the privilege of any generation to take advantage of 

 all that is considered excellent in the practices of those which 

 have preceded it. The first architects could have only one 

 manner of architecture to study, and the first gardeners only 

 one method of laying out their grounds ; but the architects of 

 the present day can have recourse to all the different styles of 

 design and modes of building which have been practised by 



