HOW TO CHOOSE A SITE FOR A COUNTRY-SEAT. 163 



work to help on the effects of the ornamental planter. We have 

 seen a cottage or a villa site dignified, and , rendered attractive for 

 ever, by the possession of even three or four fine trees of the original 

 growth, judiciously preserved, and taken as the nucleus of a whole 

 series of belts and minor plantations. 



There is another most striking advantage in the possession of 

 considerable wooded sm-faoe, properly located, in a country resi- 

 dence. This is the- seclusion and privacy of the walks and drives, 

 which such bits of woodland afford. Walks, in open lawn, or even 

 amid belts of shrubbery, are never felt to have that seclusion and 

 comparative solitude which belong to iiie wilder aspect of wood- 

 land scenes. And no contrast is more agreeable than that from 

 the open sunny brightness of the lawn and pleasure-grounds, to the 

 retirement and quiet of a woodland walk. 



Again, it is no small matter of consideration to many persons 

 settling in the country, the production of picturesque effect, the 

 working out of a realm of beauty of their own, without any serious 

 inroads into their incomes. One's private walks and parterres, un- 

 luckily, cannot be had at the cost of one's daily bread and butter^ 

 though the Beautiful overtops the useful, as stars outshine farthing 

 candles. But the difference of cost between keeping up a long 

 series of walks, in a place mainly composed of flower-garden, 

 shruW)ery, and pleasure-grounds, compared with another, where 

 there are merely lawns and sylvan scenery, is like that between 

 maintaining a chancery suit, or keeping on pleasant terms with 

 your best friend or favorite country neighbor. Open walks must 

 be scrupulously neat, and broad sunshine and rich soil make weeds 

 grow faster than a new city in the best " western diggins," and 

 your gardener has no sooner put the series of walks in perfect order, 

 than he looks over his shoulder, and beholds the enemy is there, to 

 be conquered over again. On the other hand, woodland walks are 

 swept and repaired in the spring, and like some of those gifted indi- 

 viduals, "born neat," they require no more attention than the rain- 

 bow, to remain fresh and bright till the autumn leaves begin to drop 

 again. 



Our citizen reader, therefore, who wishes to enjoy his country- 

 seat as an elegant sylvan retreat, with the greatest amount of beauty 



