No. 144.J 57 



green trees, &c., simply with a view to display the greatest pos- 

 sible variety. The example given us by nature, or the fancy of 

 great landscape painters, I think much better adapted to satisfy 

 a rej&ned taste, and will grow dearer to us with each returning 

 spring. 



Roads. — Nature has neglected to make roads; they are the 

 work of men and animals. Both of them, but particularly the 

 former, aware of the fact, that between two given points a straight 

 line is the shortest, would always make use of this, if they could 

 always see the object to arrive at, or if it were not that many 

 objects often interrupt that line, and oblige them to take another 

 direction. If we wish to be successful in our operations and 

 imitation of nature, we must bear this in mind. 



If roads and paths are curvilinear simply because fashionable 

 gardening requires them to be so, without any apparent reason or 

 object for departing from a straight line, either near or remote, it 

 would be better to be without curves. Curvilinear roads are 

 beautiful in their place. When skilfully laid out, and every 

 new turn, or the variety of scenery, or the objects passed by or 

 arrived at, show their necessity and justify them, they can not be 

 too strongly recommended. 



Even on a limited scale, art has the means of making such an 

 arrangement as nature would have done on the same extent. We 

 may display quite a variety of forms and pleasing effects, particu- 

 larly with the aid of trees and shrubs from other countries. But 

 we must not commit the common error of displaying on half an 

 acre what nature would have distributed over several square 

 miles, and overload one spot with points of attraction. 



In forming groups, and selecting trees and shrubs for that pur- 

 pose, great care and a thorough knowledge are required in regard 

 to their normal height, time of maturity, color, and form of 

 foliage, habit in spreading their branches; whether of a light, 

 slender growth, like Gleditschia or Sorbus, or a heavy growth, 

 like ^sculus hippocastanum ; even the color of the bark, in 

 many cases, is of great consequence, and not to be overlooked. 

 With all the great variety which both the woods and the nursery 



