THE PARK VILLA, 



213 



terraces and flower-gardens ; a sundial may likewise find 

 a place, and a group or two of statuary, but this last 

 requires to he sparingly and tastefully employed. 



The inner surfaces of the boundary walls should be 

 covered with ivy, which will present a mantle of verdure 

 at all seasons. It is well to do this even where trees 

 and shrubs are placed in front of the walls, for they are 

 often more conspicuous than they ought to be in the 

 winter and spring months. Portions of these walls may 

 be rendered interesting by having half-hardy climbing 

 plants placed against them in spaces of six or seven feet 

 broad. To afford protection to these exotics, it is a good 

 expedient to plant between the above-mentioned spaces 

 vigorous specimens of Magnolia grandiflora, sweet bay, 

 arbutus, and common laurel, trained up to cover three 

 feet in breadth, and to project eighteen inches or two 

 feet. These evergreens, if well kept, wiU not only form 

 fine verdant columns, but will be found to yield a con- 

 siderable degree of shelter to the more tender plants 

 trained in the intermediate spaces. The walls of the 

 house, as also the porches and verandahs, may be deco- 

 rated with climbing plants and shrubs. 



The pleasure-ground viUa is generally the choice of 

 the botanist and flower-fancier ; and in the vicinity of 

 cities it is often the abode of those whose wealth permits 

 them to indulge a taste for fine scenery and elegant deco- 

 ration. As being more complicated and more carefully 

 furnished in all its parts, it requires a larger outlay at 

 first, and a more laborious, and therefore more expensive 

 keeping, than the plainer form, on which we now proceed 

 to offer some remarks. 



The Park Villa. — In this species of villa, from one- 

 half to two-thirds of the whole area is taken up with 



