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The hand-book of villa gardening: in a ser. of letters
The handbook of villa gardening in a ser of letters Author:William Paul Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LOCALITY—ASPECT—STYLE. 9 what the soil and climate, and what trees and plants are most suitable to them ?" These satisfactorily determined, we commence planti... more »ng; but that subject is too extensive to be entered on near the close of a letter; and I promise you to return to it as early as possible. LETTER III. " The rudest habitation, the most unpromising and scanty portion of land, in the hands of an Englishman of taste becomes a little paradise." Washington Irving. You ask me to furnish you with my ideas of what a Villa Garden should be, and to this task I will at once apply myself. Two of the first things to consider are, aspect and soil; and, if a choice is at hand, I should examine and weigh well these very important matters, before fixing on a situation. I should avoid the north-east side of a large town, because the wind, except in special cases, prevailing from the opposite quarter in spring, the smoke would prove peculiarly noxious there at this early period of vegetable life. In very smoky localities, ground situated higher than the town is preferable to that which is lower, as trees are found to suffer less in such positions; and the most favourable soil for house and garden is perhaps a friable loam, of sufficient substance and depth that it may not become parched by the heat of summer, and the subsoil so porous that the excess of rain in winter may readily pass away. As to the shape of the ground, I should not be very particular in that respect, so that the angles were neither many nor acute : an oblong or parallelogram, for example, admit of a very satisfactory arrangement. In regard to the style of the dwelling-house, I must confess mypreference for the individualism and fairy lightness of Gothic architecture ; you probably will prefer the Grecian ; and ...« less