and not of more arbitrary mechanical rales. 
They require, on the part of the person who 
proposes to design them or lay them ont, an 
intuitive perception of the beautiful; a knowl¬ 
edge of the principles of the art; the faculty 
of seeing with the mind’s eye the ultimate future 
effect of tile grouping; and also an exten¬ 
sive knowledge of the different charac¬ 
teristics of trees and shrubs as shown in 
their growth, their spray, and the character 
and color of their foliage. In short, to be a 
landscape gardener in the true sense of 
the word, requires that one must have the 
feeling aud appreeiativeoiscu ument, of a land¬ 
scape painter, only instead of working ich 
paints and brashes, one must work with the 
living materials; successful grouping and plant¬ 
ing require this kind of knowledge. Some 
may feel discouraged from attempting the 
ornamentation of their country places, when 
it net d3 such requirements to succeed: but 
there is no real ground for discouragement, as 
every group of trees or bushes growing in a 
field, every pond margined by shrubbery, every 
sheep path across a field gives suggestions of 
what is true art aud taste in such mattei s. Not 
that we should copy nature servilely; we 
should adapt her suggestions to our own needs 
and compositions. Sir Thomas Browne has 
quaintly aud truly said, ‘‘All Art is but nature; 
for nature is but the art of God." Auy educa¬ 
ted, intelligent persou is far more likely to 
succeed iu the art of laudscape gardening than 
would any stupid fellow whom he may employ 
for that purpose, whose only knowledge of art 
matters consists iu serpentiniug walks without 
reason, aud planting huddle-muddles of shrubs. 
Now as to 
Walks. 
it is a mathematical axiom that the shortest 
distance between any two given points is a 
straight line, and this is the proper line to make 
in laying out a walk or road, unless some 
reason, apparent or real, is given for a deviation 
from it The laws of gravity, attraction and 
repulsion have, however, so modified this law 
in nature, that, we never see any natural lines 
of motion that are absolutely straight, they all 
more or less partake of the nature of cuived 
lines. The circle and combinations of its seg¬ 
ments are only arbitrary mathematical figures 
inclosing the largest area within the shortest 
circumference. The former has no actual ex¬ 
istence iu nature among bodies in motion, it be¬ 
ing modified by other laws so as to become a 
spheroid, an ellipsoid, a hyperboloid, or some 
similar figure. Hence the making of a serpen¬ 
tine walk or road by reversing two semicircles 
or arcs of a circle or connecting them by a tan¬ 
gential lino, is in bad taste and is always un¬ 
satisfactory because it is unnatural. People 
inst'nctivcly see that it is incongruous, al¬ 
though they may not be able to give auy reason 
for its being so. 
Figures 133 and 134 will more readily explain 
this. Fig. 133 shows two ares of a circle con¬ 
nected with each other. Fig. 134 represents 
them connected by a tangential line; and fig. 135 
represents a flowing curved line. These make 
the difference very apparent. In laying out 
such a line, we Lave to be governed by the cir¬ 
cumstances of the situation ; graded, natural 
obstructions, such groups of trees or shrubs, 
rocks or other objects, natural or otherwise, 
must always afford a reason for any deviation 
from a straight line. A curved line without 
any reason for it, is an incongruity. When 
passing any obstacle to a straight line, it should 
if possible, always be on the inside of the 
curve ; and it any flower beds are laid out ad- 
joiuiug such curves the line of the bed next to 
the curve should always be of the same char¬ 
acter as the curve, and parallel to it. Iu uo ease 
should a walk or road cross the lawn trans¬ 
versely to the point of the vision from the house, 
for it practically cuts the lawn in two and 
makes two lawns instead 
of one. All such roads 
should appear to be going 
from the house or return¬ 
ing to it, or leading to some 
point of interest, artificial 
or real, such as a summer¬ 
house, au arbor, a flower 
gardeu, a copse of woods 
or something similar. 
Roads aud walks should 
never be lower ihau the 
verges of the lawn imme- 
diately in juxtaposition to 
them, otherwise they sug- .v** 4 : 
gest gullies or ditches; 
they should always be ful- SKY 
iy up to the level of the lawn, or at the edges 
not more than two or three inches lower, so as 
to give a distinct line of demarcation. 
Embankments. 
If it is necessavy to have any embankment 
on any portion of the lawn, it should always 
be made with flowing curves on the face and 
never have the appearance of a railway em¬ 
bankment. Whenever engineers are employed 
to lay out country seats, they invariably fall 
into this error, aud they and nature have con¬ 
tinuous fight, they endeavoring to keep the 
earth at the strict angle of its repose (30 ® to 
37® according to the nature of the soil) and 
nature, through the elements, endeavoring to 
tone down the straight line to a curved one. 
Fig. 136 gives a comparison between these two 
lines. Walks should be kept at a reasonable 
atory of the ground and sky lines for groups of 
shrubs. 
I trust that the above hiuts and directions 
will enable such of the readers of the Rural 
New-Yorker as propose to improve their 
Let us take a business view of this question 
of breeding horses, and in order to do that in¬ 
telligently, it is first proper to see what classes 
of horses are needed in the market, for in this, 
as in all other transactions, the supply should 
be regulated by the demand. Horses are in 
demand for : 1 —running races; 3—trotting 
races; 3—buggy driviug; 4—carriage and park 
pumoees ; 5—heavy draft; 6—farm or general 
purpose. These classes will probably include 
all the other special purposes that horses are 
used for. With our first-class running horse 
the flat has long since gone forth that nobody 
cau breed him at a profit but your professional 
race horse man. The farmer has no more 
business with raising a thoroughbred horse, 
than he has with any other description of flying 
machine. With our second class, the trotter, 
it is a mere question of time how long the 
farmer will hold this precious delusion to his 
soul. Dan Swigert who carried this business 
as long as his horse genius would let oim—and 
he probably has more of it than auy man in 
Ameri'a—told me that it cost him not a cent 
less than $100 a year for each and every colt he 
raised. He was more than lucky in having 
his sales average him over $500 each at the 
end of five years. To do this, some of the 
FLOWING CURVED WALK 
distance from the foot of each embankments cour 
in any case. In w ill 
Grouping Trees or Shrubs, a del 
great care must be taken not to give them a - 1 
clumpy appearance, either on the ground line 
or on thesky line. Groups of both should have 
the ground lino very irregular, and groups 
BREEDING HORSES FOR PROFIT 
L. 8. HARDIN 
There is probably no animal on the farm 
that so deeply interests both the ambition and 
the hope of gain in the average farmer as the 
horse, and yet how few, how very few, ever 
make any money on the colts they raise ; how 
few. in fact, ever use anything like a matured 
discretion in the course of breeding they pur¬ 
sue. There seems to be a dreadful fascination 
in one branch of horse breeding, that fairly en¬ 
gulfs the great mass of fancy, professional and 
GROUND OUTLINE AS GENERALLY SEEN.—FIG. 138. 
colts had to realize fabulous prices. To be 
sure, he took extra care of his colts, but that 
brought him extra prices. If the farmer will 
count the costoi the stallion’s service, with in¬ 
terest on the money, time the mare is idle; 
the cost of rearing the colt; and extra care 
that i3 necessary to realize an extra price, and 
then deduct the losses on little scrawny 
“ weeds” that are good for nothing—if he will 
keep accounts, with these points strictly in 
view, he will soon give the trotting fraternity 
a wide berth. 
The third class, buggy horses, is not what 
can be called a special class. They are gener¬ 
ally made np from those that fail to come up 
to the standard of other classes—such as trot¬ 
ters, heavy draft and carriage horses or those 
that show more speed and style than are re¬ 
quired on the farm. The gentlemen drivers 
of cities are becoming more numerous every 
year and creating a special but a limited 
market for this class of horses. The demand 
is too limited and the art of breeding too in¬ 
definite for any one to make a specialty of 
breeding this as a distinct class of horses, 
though there is beginning to be some demand 
in England and France for 6tylish buggy 
horses. 
FORMATION OF NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL EMBANKMENTS.—FIG. ISO, 
line made by round-headed trees, or trees of 
the same species, such as is produced w’hen 
trees of oue species of Elms, Maples, Oaks or 
Pines are planted together; hence thenecessity 
of variety of kinds in each group. Trees 
which bloom before their foliage is fully de¬ 
veloped or trees with colored spray, should 
always have a background of dark-fo'iaged 
evergreens, it displays their iloral beauty aud 
colors with great effect, aud, at the same time, 
lightens up or relievos for the time being the 
sombreuess of the evergreens. For the same 
reason trees with light-colored foliage should 
always have a background of trees with darker 
colored foliage, as it brings them out in bolder 
relief. 
Groups of shrubs should have a very irregu¬ 
lar ground line, with deep indentations or 
bays, so as to produce strong shadows as a 
relief to the reflected lights from their foliage. 
As they are generally below the eye, this re¬ 
flected light is too strong unless relieved by 
deep shadows. They should always be planted 
sufficiently lar apart to allow each individual 
farm breeders. That great American produc¬ 
tion, the phenomenon of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury—the incomparable “trotter—” has set the 
bucolic mind agog, and no one thinks he can 
die happy without being iu some way con¬ 
nected with the production of one or more of 
the modern flyers. 1 remember, many years 
ago, when this feeling, especially among the 
younger farmers at the South, was rampant 
about tha running horse yclept the “thorough¬ 
bred," and from that day to this there is noth¬ 
ing that claims the semblance of an ancestry, 
from a bull pup to the crowned king, that does 
not master all his surrouudiogs with the proud 
consciousness that he is “ thoroughbred.” 
It was, however, soon found out at the South 
that while thoroughbred horses had sense 
enough to run around a smooth ring faster 
than any other breed of horses, yet as that 
was not the chief purpose for which horses 
were wanted, they were asked to work on the 
farm, and draw wagons and carriages as well 
as run races. This your high-toned and prince¬ 
ly thoroughbred has always persistently re- 
GROCND OUTLINE A8 IT SHOULD BE.—FIG. 139. 
Our fourth class includes carriage or park 
horses which are the most profitable to raise. 
This is best accomplished in conjunction with 
class number five—heavy draft horses. Tbestal- 
lion should be high-strung and spirited, with 
rather a light body in proportion to the length 
of his legs; but he must car 
ry a high head, and should 
be able to strike a three-min¬ 
ute gait. A solid bay, with 
black points,is the best color. 
The brood mare to be put to 
this stallion should be of 
' heavy body and stand on 
short, thick legs. From 
ij such a pair the offspring 
S should make either a car- 
• ^ riage or heavy draft horse, 
y y.t v ^ that would always command 
an excra prIce in tlie city 
.y/iV-. ? market. When the colt fa¬ 
vors the sire, he belongs to 
the class kne ra as park 
horses. Those that are of good color, high- 
stepping and of free gait, are worth all the 
way from $300 to $1,000, if well matched. If 
the colt favors the dam, then it will be a good, 
heavy draft horse, and should weigh 1,300 
pounds, aud. if well matched, It should bring 
from $200 to $500, the price depending upon 
its style and action. The breeder should be 
able to match his own horses ; for here is where 
all the profit comes in. 
Our last class, the farm horse, is only too 
likely to be the refuse of the above classes. 
He should be put np with a special view to 
