XII. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF LARGE COUNTRY PLACES. 



March, 1851. 



/COUNTRY places that may properly be called ornamental, are 

 \J increasing so fast, especially in the neighborhood of the large 

 cities, that a word or two more, touching their treatment, will not 

 be looked upon as out of place here. 



All our country residences may readily be divided into two 

 classes. The first and largest class, is the suburban place of from 

 five to twenty or thirty acres ; the second is the country-seat, prop- 

 erly so called, which consists of from thirty to five hundred or more 

 acres. 



In all suburban residences, from the limited extent of ground, 

 and the desire to get the utmost beauty from it, the whole, or at 

 least a large part of the ornamental portion, must be considered 

 only as pleasure-grounds a term used to denote a garden scene, 

 consisting of trees, shrubs, and flowers, generally upon a basis of 

 lawn, laid out in walks of different styles, and kept in the highest 

 order. The aim, in this kind of residence, is to produce the great- 

 est possible variety within a given space, and to attain the utmost 

 beauty of gardening as an art, by the highest keeping and culture 

 which the means of the proprietor will permit. 



Of this kind of pleasure-ground residence, we have numberless 

 excellent examples and perhaps nowhere more admirable specimens 

 than in the neighborhood of Boston. Both in design and execution, 

 these little places will, at the present moment, bear very favorable 

 comparison with many in older countries. The practical manage- 



