4 



PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROrNDS. 



uncomfortable. These differences conld not fairly be 

 attributed to differences in artificial drainage^ for they 

 were often visible on tbe same estate^ and perliaps in 

 tlie same park^ one field being moist and slabby^ and 

 another being dry and airy. A little observation only 

 is required to note these peculiarities in the various 

 localities. Invalids are very sensible to their influences. 

 Those places to which slight frosts are most easily 

 attracted will always be found^ if not with wet surface 

 soils^ certainly with cold^ retentive^ humid subsoils. 

 These evils are best counteracted by thorough drainage ; 

 but this remedy is not always effectual^ or to be so 

 would need to be extended to a considerable range of 

 country. Where perfect drainage cannot be secm'ed, 

 no residence should be formed. We should even hesi- 

 tate to recommend the erection of a house on a cold 

 site;, with a tilly subsoil, for, however well drained the 

 surface may be, the air in such situations is commonly 

 raw and chill. 



Drainage of the Site. — It is important that the site 

 should at least possess that moderate elevation which 

 will facilitate the drainage, not only of the locality which 

 it immediately occupies, but the whole of its environs. 

 The lower apartments of the house should be made 

 completely dry, and free from the effects of surface 

 water or neighbouring springs. Easy and well con- 

 cealed sewerage from the house and offices is a matter 

 worthy of careful attention. Indeed, the thorough 

 drainage, not merely of the house and grounds, but of 

 the park, and of the whole estate commanded by the 

 windows, should be deemed indispensable. Let the 

 reader imagine a house set down on a bank overhanging 

 a flat marshy country of many hundred acres in extent : 



