128 PAKKS AJSTD PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



breadth, is one of the most useful forms of plantation. 

 Circles and ovals should he entirely confined to the 

 flower-beds of the dressed grounds, among which, 

 when small, their effect is good enough. In the park, 

 they are distinguished by their invariable tufty char- 

 acter, betraying clearly their formal and monotonous 

 outline. Of all forms of plantation, they are among 

 the most intractable with which the improver has to 

 deal. If the wood could be spared, their entire re- 

 moval would be the speediest and most advisable im- 

 provement to which they could be subjected ; but as 

 this can seldom be done, the improver must exert his 

 ingenuity in grouping them out, or in making such 

 additions to their mass as their size, position, and the 

 nature of the ground will allow. 



JSTote. — After the full and exceedingly practical re- 

 marks of our author, on the several heads of park 

 improvement, scarcely a word need be added. Yet, 

 as the formation of American parks, different from 

 English ones, as frequently consists in cutting out, 

 thinning, and clearing away the forest, or parts of it, 

 as otherwise, a remark or two may be applicable to 

 that branch of the subject. 



In remarking on the naked appearance of our coun- 

 try, in its most extensively cultivated districts, nothing 

 is more common than the expression of regret and 

 disapprobation at the sweeping manner in which the 

 original forests have been cut away by the early set- 

 tlers, and that so few, or scarcely any trees are left to 

 shade and embellish the land. Such expressions are 

 usually made without a proper knowledge of the sub- 

 ject, and which a better acquaintance with the char- 

 acter of our original forests would correct. It is not 



