118 Ornamental Planting. 



with lines of trees as we approach from either way; screens of ever- 

 green may be planted on the cold side or the warm side, as there 

 may be need of shelter from the cold, or heat, or to conceal objects 

 not pleasing to the eye, and groups of shrubbery may be planted in 

 clumps, or in masses, as may be found most pleasing and natural. 

 There should, upon large grounds, be a suitable variety, but if the 

 space be small, it is not wise to attempt too much. A single phase 

 of beauty, of whatever type the circumstances most favor, is sure 

 to be pleasing ; where, if too many objects be to closely crowded, 

 the effect is confused and lost. 



465. Large and dense evergreens in the foreground would be very 

 likely to produce a gloomy and somber impression ; they will be 

 found to show to best advantage, rising in the back-ground, behind 

 and among the deciduous kinds. 



466. Trees should not be planted too near a dwelling. Their 

 shade and humidity are unfavorable to health, if in excess, and 

 they tend to cause damp, moldy walls. They hinder ventilation 

 and the access of air and light, so conducive to health, and some- 

 times breed insects that prove a nuisance. Their roots will find 

 their way into the walls ; and trees planted near a building become 

 one-sided and deformed, from their unequal exposure to the light. 



467. There is always something to conceal. An old stump, or 

 broken and dead tree, may possibly be still made beautiful with 

 the Virginia creeper or the ivy. Barns and out-buildings may be 

 partly hidden, or entirely screened from notice by trees, and a barn- 

 yard may be made comfortable for stock, both in winter and sum- 

 mer, by dense shelter-belts. A useless pile of bowlders, or a rock, 

 may be covered with ferns and myrtle, by giving their roots a hold 

 in the soil. A brook, a marshy spot, or a pond, may be made orna- 

 mental, by drooping willows, or clumps of alders, and by a variety 

 of aquatic shrubs and plants. 



468. It is in good taste to separate the kitchen garden by a hedge, 

 from the lawn plantations, and it is generally profitable to surround 

 the orchard with a shelter belt, or an evergreen screen. Clumps of 

 thrifty evergreens, here and there in an orchard, are of great ad- 

 vantage. 



469. The Lombardy poplar forms an admirable wind-break ; but 

 in ornamental planting it shows to best advantage when it rises 

 from behind, or among trees with rounded tops not at measured 



