558 LANDSCAPE GAEDENING. 



witli a turf unbroken for nearly two hundred years, and 

 of the softness and thickness of velvet. 



Mondawmin, the residence of Mr. Brown, is a very 

 attractive place, prettily laid out and planted. 



In concluding our remarks on what has been done the 

 past ten years, in various parts of the United States, as 

 illustrating the progress in country life, we insert a 

 short account of the state of Landscape Gardening in 

 Ohio, extracted from a letter of E,obert Buchanan, Esq., 

 a well known enthusiast in rural matters, whose taste- 

 fully arranged grounds should, undoubtedly, have a 

 place in the list of beautiful residences in the pictur- 

 esque environs of Cincinnati. 



"Landscape Gardening, according to the modern 

 taste in that beautiful art, is of but recent introduction 

 into the West. Previous to the publication of Mr. 

 Downing's valuable book on that subject, the improve- 

 ments of public and private grounds were made under 

 the direction of the proprietors, or of some gardener 

 who had strayed out to this new country to better his 

 fortune. There was no system — nothing to copy after ; 

 and although all were desirous to improve in good taste, 

 they had no guide. Until Mr. Downing's work appeared, 

 and that was at once adopted as the text-book. Since 

 that period, the magic wand of the enchanter has passed 

 over the country, and in the vicinity of our cities and 

 towns has transformed the barren hills and vales of 

 their environs into tasteful suburban villas, through the 

 skill of the Landscape Gardener. 



" No public or private grounds with any pretensions 

 to elegance, are now undertaken to be improved, with- 

 out the supervision of a competent master of this art ; for 

 no one wishes to have it said, that his improvements 

 were in bad taste. 



"In the vicinity of Cincinnati, on the beautiful hills 

 surrounding the city, many fine specimens of well-im- 



