26 



PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



or mountainous region. In a low, level, and well- 

 wooded country, the effect of the mansion from with- 

 out, and more particularly the views from it, would be 

 entirely lost were it not built in the highest position to 

 be found within the park. In a hill country, again, a 

 comparatively " moderate elevation" would probably 

 place the house among the mists and clouds, whereas 

 it might be secured from these, or at least have the 

 most favorable station in the district, by occupying 

 the first or second of the lowest platforms of the valley 

 in which it stands. 



Note. — Happily, in the United States, we possess 

 all possible varieties of elevation which the fancy of 

 those seeking park residences may demand, on which 

 to indulge their preference. Our Atlantic states, from 

 Maine to Florida, abound with those embracing beauty, 

 picturesqueness and grandeur, of themselves alone, or 

 in varied combination in their most pleasing forms. 

 And in the broad agricultural states of the west, there 

 are nativral j)arks, of an extent and beauty rarely 

 equaled, and nowhere surpassed, clothed with the 

 noblest trees, in dense forest or in open glades, mean- 

 dered by pleasant streams. These, to the eye of taste, 

 present the finest features for the indulgence of an incli- 

 nation to appropriate them to the most luxuriant parks 

 and pleasure-grounds that can be imagined. — Ed. 



Extent of the Site. — On undulating or hilly surfaces 

 the site selected for the house should always be of suf- 

 ficient extent, not only to contain the whole of its 

 buildings, but also to afford ample space for the roads, 

 and room for carriages turning at the entrance, to- 

 gether with a broad walk and terrace on the drawing- 

 room front. Inattention to these requisites will often 



