72 
MATERIALS USED IN 
teres t that may be made with them. The paltry artificial rock- 
works that mar so many otherwise pretty grounds, need scarcely be 
mentioned, as the sight of them must necessarily make their pro- 
prietors feel as dissatisfied with their effect as the animal who es- 
sayed to don the garb and imitate the roar of the lion was with 
his success. It is not intended, however, to condemn those rock- 
works which are unobtrusively placed, for the purpose of growing to 
better advantage certain favorite plants, but only “rock-work” 
which is built for exhibition. 
What, then, are the materials which every one may command, 
and which can be combined in town and village grounds to realize 
the greatest and most permanent pleasure ? We will name these : 
Of Nature’s gifts — Earth, Grass, Trees, Shrubs, Flowers, Vines, 
and Water ; of Art’s productions — Houses, Walks, Roads, Fences, 
and all the needful accessories of dwellings for cultivated people. 
Let us briefly sketch what are the essential characteristics of Na- 
ture’s materials. 
Earth. — Of the Earth we demand, for decorative planting, that 
she shall be rich, and her bosom smooth and flowing ; that, whether 
varied in surface by billowy inequalities, or formed to less interest- 
ing slopes or levels, the surface lines shall always be smooth, and 
free from all rough irregularities. 
Grass. — This is the most lowly, the simplest, and the loveliest 
element to be used in the adornment of home. A chapter will 
hereafter be devoted to it under the head of The Lawn. Here its 
essential use and beauty is defined to be — a close-fitting green robe 
thrown over the smooth form of the earth, through which every un- 
dulation is revealed, and over which the sunlight will play as upon 
velvet, and the shadows of environing objects be clearly outlined 
as upon a floor. 
Trees. — The beauty of trees is in the endless variety of their 
forms, their coloring, the contrasts of light and shade in the depths 
of their foliage, and their shadows, which play with the sunlight 
and moonlight on the grass beneath them. The latter is one of 
their greatest charms, but one which the smoothness of the ground 
and grass has much to do in developing. There is also a noble 
fascination in viewing the grand trunks of large trees towering over 
