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LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
vegetation, trees, rocks, etc., which, with the influence of 
time, will often render many a scene, that, stripped of its 
enriching drapery would be positively harsh and ugly, 
extremely picturesque, or strikingly beautiful. Proofs of 
this will occur to every one who will contrast in his mind 
the appearance of a steep clayey river bank, or even open 
pit, when bare, raw, and verdureless, and the same objects 
when nature or art has clothed them with a luxuriant and 
diversified garniture of trees, shrubs, and plants. In the 
former case, all was positively ugly and displeasing to the 
eye of taste ; in the latter, all is picturesque and harmo- 
nious. 
A perfect flat , or level surface is often the most difficult 
to improve of any description of ground. In some cases, as 
in the example of a very large park, with an immense 
building, a level surface may be in excellent keeping, giv- 
ing an air of grandeur to the whole scene : for both the 
simplicity, and the wide extent of a level plain in such a 
situation, would be highly expressive of grandeur when 
united to a fine pile of building. But ordinarily, a flat sur- 
face is extremely dull and uninteresting. One unbroken 
plain of green is spread before the eye, varied by none of 
those changing lights and shadows that belong to a finely 
undulating lawn. It is true that this affects the mind dif- 
ferently in certain situations, as a broad plain is a delightful 
contrast and sotirce of repose in a mountainous country. 
But we here speak of the greater part of the surface of the 
United States, where country seats are located, and where it 
will be found, that a diversified surface is greatly to be 
preferred to a dead level. 
Where such a level exists, in some situations, it is almost 
impossible to improve it much. When, for illustration, the 
