PREFACE, 
viii 
late, and have been so frequently urged by persons desiring 
advice, that I have ventured to prepare the present volume, 
in the hope of supplying, in some degree, the desideratum so 
much felt at present. While we have treatises, in abun- 
dance, on the various departments of the arts and sciences, 
there has not appeared even a single essay on the elegant art 
of Landscape Gardening. Hundreds of individuals who wish 
to ornament their grounds and embellish their places, are at 
a loss ho w to proceed, from the want of some leading prin- 
ciples, with the knowledge of which they would find it com- 
paratively easy to produce delightful and satisfactory results. 
In the following pages I have attempted to trace out such 
principles, and to suggest practicable methods of embellishing 
our Rural Residences, on a scale commensurate to the views 
and means of our proprietors. While I have availed myself 
of the works of European authors, and especially those of 
Britain, where Landscape Gardening was first raised to the 
rank of a fine art, I have also endeavoured to adapt my sug- 
gestions especially to this country and to the peculiar wants 
of its inhabitants. 
As a people descended from the English stock, we inherit 
much of the ardent love of rural life and its pursuits which 
belongs to that nation ; but our peculiar position, in a new 
world that required a population full of enterprise and ener- 
gy to subdue and improve its vast territory, has, until lately, 
left but little time to cultivate a taste for Rural Embellish- 
ment. But in the older states, as wealth has accumulated, 
the country become populous, and society more fixed in its 
character, a return to those simple and fascinating enjoy- 
ments to be found in country life and rural pursuits, is 
witnessed on every side. And to this innate feeling, out 
of which grows a strong attachment to natal soil, we must 
look for a counterpoise to the great tendency towards con- 
stant change, and the restless spirit of emigration, which 
form part of our national character ; and which, though to a 
certain extent highly necessary to our national prosperity, 
are, on the other hand, opposed to social and domestic hap- 
