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74 ON THE PROGRESS AND PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 



would select a wood, clearing away my open spaces, and leaving my masses, 

 clumps, and detached groups, or single trees. What magnificent garden-parks 

 might be cut out of the American forests ! Having well weighed the advantages 

 of these natural aids in the selection of the ground, the next point to be considered 

 is the application of art for its improvement ; and the great point to be aimed at 

 is, that a certain extent of cultivation, rather than artistical arrangement, should 

 be the impression conveyed at first sight. 



In the most distant plantations, none but forest trees should be admitted, 

 and the greatest degree of wildness consistent with the health of the trees allowed 

 in the undergrowth ; here, too, a solitary poplar should be introduced now and 

 then at a judiciously-selected point, and occasionally a group of three or five, 

 which will greatly relieve by their upright and aspiring lines, the otherwise 

 monotonously rounded masses of the general foliage. Looking over a landscape 

 without poplars, produces in my mind a somewhat analogous effect to looking 

 over a large town without steeples, where the prevailing horizontal lines of the 

 house tops are unrelieved by any varying perpendiculars. But in attempting this 

 effect, great care must be taken not to dot them about indiscriminately, as they 

 would completely defeat the object in view ; the points thus to be rendered 

 salient and marked, must be as carefully selected as in an architectural elevation. 

 I would avoid a regular belt of plantation, as is too usual, all round the grounds ; 

 for such a ring, unless of very great extent indeed, must produce a disagreeable 

 effect when seen from any elevated spot which would allow the eye to embrace the 

 whole circuit. I would have the exterior plantations in large masses, leaving 

 openings sufficiently wide to connect the grounds with the surrounding country, 

 which ought to be one of the fundamental principles of landscape gardening ; and 

 also be cautious not to let the interior distributions be so elaborate as to disconnect 

 it with the adjacent scenery, for this would give the residence and its grounds the 

 appearance of a patch in the country, an effect as disagreeable as that produced 

 by a patch of an ill-matched colour in a garment. The effect to be given is not 

 that of a spot of country different in character, but merely a spot more carefully 

 cultivated, and where the prevailing characteristics of the surrounding landscape 

 have been more concentrated, .rendering it thus the most interesting point for the 

 eye to rest upon. I would of all things avoid completely detaching a place from 

 its surrounding landscape. 



In the farthest part, , too, of grounds not exceeding five or six hundred yards 

 in a straight line, in any direction from the residence, the water should be 

 managed ; for a sheet of water should be at least five hundred yards distant from 

 the house. In the present instance, I have supposed an available stream, which 

 should be spread into a lake-like pool, at a point seen to advantage from the 

 windows of the principal apartments. As its extent could not in reality be very 

 great in the present instance, it must be made to appear large, by concealing the 

 extremities, which is easily done by taking advantage of the inequalities of such 



