182 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Or -witlithe keen relish of the English Jockey, whose only idea of; 

 " the tur^" is that of the place nature has specially provided himr, 

 upon which to race horses. 



Neither do we look upon grass, at the present moment, with the 

 eyes of our friend Tom Thrifty, the farmer, who cuts " three tons to 

 the acre." We have, in our present mood, no patience with the tall 

 and gigantie fodder, by this name, that grows in the fertile bottoms 

 of the West, so tall that the largest Durham is lost to view while 

 walking through it. ' v. 



No — we love most the soft turf which, beneath the flickering 

 shadows of scattered trees, is thrown- like a smooth natural carpet 

 over the swelling outline of the smiling earth. -Grass, not grown 

 into tall meadovvs,,or wild bog tussocks, but softened and refined by 

 the frequent touches of the patient mower, till at last it becomes a 

 perfect wonder of tufted freshness .^and verdure. Such grass, in 

 short, as Shakspeare had in his mind, when he said, in words since 

 «choed ten thousand times. 



» 



"How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon that bank ; " 



or AriostO, in his Orlando — 



.; 



"The approaching night, not knowing where to pass, 

 She checks her reins, and on the «efoe< jrrass, 

 Beneath the umbrageous trees, hSr form she throws, 

 To cheat the, tedious hours with biief repose." 



In short, the ideal of grass is a lawn, which is, to a meadow, 

 what " Bishop's Mwn " is to homespun Irish linen. 



With such a lawi^, and large and massive trees, one has indeed ' 

 the most enduring sources of beauty in a country residence. Per- 

 petual neatness, freshness and verdure in the one ; eyer expanding 

 beauty, variety and grandeur, in the other — what more does a rea- 

 sonable man desire of the beautiful about hito. in the country ? 

 Must we add flowers, exotic plants, fruits? Perhaps so, but they 

 are all, in an ornamental light, secondary to trees and grass, vs'here 

 these can be had in perfection. Only one other grand element is 

 needed to make our landscape garden complete-^wofer. A river, 

 or a lake, in which the skies and the " tufted trees " may see them- 



