Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/637

 I860.] Landscape, Decorative, and Economic Gardening. 513 and every kind of expenditure, cannot well be too highl} T estimated. In choosing a location for a country residence, one of the first considerations is that of access to and from a cit}^ ; especially if daily intercourse is con- templated, this circumstance will take a foremost place. The time, trouble and expense of travel on badly-kept roads, prove a serious tax upon the pleasures of the country. A drive of half an hour on a hard road during a fine summer evening, is decidedly different from an hour and a half spent on the same dis- tance, in a snow storm, on a winter morning. I have known of a selection made during summer, when the road was all that could be wished for, to be rejected, when it was discovered that a rain}' day rendered travel extremely dis- agreeable. In these days of railroads and other steam conveyances, it is difficult to generalize upon what might be con- sidered a convenient distance from a city. Upon a well-conducted railroad a distance of twenty miles may be of more convenient access than two miles upon a common road. Proximity to a railroad station will always secure a cer- tainty of convenient transit, even allow- ing the distance to be within an easy carriage-drive in favorable weather, and such facilities should certainly not be overlooked, when they can be secured. While a good road is always a great accommodation, it is not by any means desirable to locate a dwelling too near a much frequented highway. In dry weather, every vehicle that passes over it stirs up a cloud of dust, which pene- trates everywhere, not excepting the lungs of those who have to breathe the offensive atmosphere ; coating trees and flowers in an Unsightly manner, and much to their injury. Should the prop- erty be bounded on any of its sides by such a road, it ought to be of sufficient extent, to allow the building to be placed beyond all such annoyances. Healthiness of locality, it will at once be conceded, is of paramount import- ance. Low, flat lands are generally damp and cold, and should never be chosen for habitations, either for man or beast, if there is any choice in the mat- ter. Valle3 r s, or even slight depressions, are equally an suited : the air after sun- set is always dense in such situations, dews are heavier and more frequent, and, as a consequence, frosts more prev- alent, than on the elevations. Fogs, as is well known, are most frequent on low lands : the extremes of temperature are also greater, especially if surrounded and sheltered by hills or forests, which prevent the free circulation, and equaliz- ing influence, of winds. Wide, lengthy vallej's between uniform hills are occa- sionally subjected to disagreeable sweep- ing blasts, from certain points of the compass, rendering them very unfit as sites for dwellings. Even the vicinity of such localities ought to be avoided, for, although a person may drain, culti- vate, plant and otherwise improve his own property, he may be constantly subjected to the influences of unim- proved lands over which he has no con- trol. An elevated situation is generally healthy. The extent of prospect it secures is also an advantage, although mistakes are frequently made in placing too great value on distant views only. We soon become wearied in the contem- plation of a distant prospect, the objects of which do not strike the eye distinctly. Its sameness soon takes on a stereo- typed expression, accompanied by a certain vague indefiniteness ; and, how- ever pleasing the view may appear to a casual visitor, it ultimately loses its power of arresting the attention of those who see it daily. This does not apply so forcibly to maritime and river views, the constantly changing aspect of water by agitation, together with objects on its surface, is always interesting. Its capacity for reflecting forms on its mar- gins, and the shadows of passing clouds, when calm, invest it with an attractive