THE MANAGEMENT OP LARGE COUNTRY PLACES. 173 



ment of such places is also very well understood, and Ijiey need no 

 especial mention in these remarks. 



But in the larger country places there are ten instances of fail- 

 ure for one of success. This is not owing to the want of natural 

 beauty, for the sites are picturesque, the surfece varied, and the woods 

 and plantations excellent; The failure consists, for the most pai-t,, in 

 a certain incongruity and want of distinct character in the treatment 

 of the place as a whole. They are too large to be kept in order as 

 pleasure-grounds, while they are not laid out or treated as parks. 

 The grass which stretches on all sides of the house, is partly mown, 

 for lawn, and partly for hay ; the lines of the farm and the ornamental 

 portion of the grounds, meet in a confused and unsatisfactory manner, 

 and the result is a residence pretending to be much supei;ior to a 

 common farm, and yet not rising to the dignity of a really tasteful 

 country-seat. ' 



It appears to us that a species of country places particularly 

 adapted to this country, has not, as yet, been attempted, though it 

 offers the largest possible satisfaction at the least cost. 



We mean a place which is a combination of the park-like and 

 pastoral landscape. A place in which the chief features should be 

 fine forest trees, either natural or planted, and scattered over a sur- 

 face of grass, kept short by the pasturage of fine cattle. A place, 

 in short, where sylvan and pastoral beauty, added to large extent and 

 great facility of management, would cost no more than a much 

 smaller demesne, where a large part is laid out, planted, and kept 

 in an expensive though still unsatisfactory manner. 



There are sites of this kind, already prettily wooded, which may 

 be had in many desirable localities, at much cheaper rates than the 

 improved sites. On certain portions of the Hiidson, for instance, 

 we could purchase, to-day, finely wooded sites and open glades, in 

 the midst of fine scenery — in fact what could, with very trifling ex- 

 pense be turned into a natural park — at $60 per acre, while the im- 

 proved sites will readily command $200 or $300 per acre. 



' Considerable familiarity with the country-seats on the Hudson, 

 enables us to state that, for the most part, few persons keep up a 

 fine country place, counting all the products of the farm-land at- 

 tached to it, without being more or less out of pocket at the end of 



