4. The relative elevation of the district, or of the particular site selected in it, will have a great influence on the healthiness, comfort, and scenery of a place. A tract that is low and flat is always damper, and consequently colder. I have often noticed dips in a road along which I have been accustomed to travel in winter evenings, where, by the much greater coldness of the atmosphere in such lower parts, (even though no water existed,) I could distinguish the arrival at them with closed eyes; and where rivers, or streams, or other pieces of water exist in hollows, their dampness and coldness are of course increased. Fogs, which are notoriously unhealthy and unpleasant, are always more prevalent in valleys or low level tracts; and it is a well-ascertained fact that Spring frosts are felt much later, and Autumn frosts earlier in lowland districts, and near the course of streams, than on the sides or summits of hills. Low-lying lands, also, frequently present difficulties in the way of drainage, rendering it necessary to get a good outfall through another property, and thus involving that outfall in uncertainty and litigation, or even making it quite impossible.

A rather elevated or hilly tract, though more exposed to winds than a flatter locality, will, if it have a good aspect, and slope in the right direction, be drier and warmer in winter, and command much finer views of the country. It will be more likely to be free from all kinds of nuisances, to be out of the way of cottage property, and to escape from the gaze of travellers along contiguous roads. Where a house and garden are lower than the outside road, it is extremely difficult to shut them in effectually. From a gentle eminence, too, it will be easy to conceal all the bad features of the adjoining property, and to make use of all the better objects in enhancing the beauty and variety of a scene.

Any extravagant height, however, above the rest of the country, will produce an amount of exposure, both for the house and garden, which will destroy some of the enjoyment derivable from a habitation, and prevent the plants in a garden from flourishing luxuriantly. It would, moreover, occasion some inconvenience in regard to the approach. To have constantly to toil up a steep ascent before a place can be reached, will neither be agreeable to man nor horse, and will contribute somewhat to lengthen the journey. A very moderate elevation is therefore

best, and will be specially appropriate where any member of the family has delicate health, and cannot endure much in the way of bracing winds.

It is a curious circumstance, of which increasing experience only serves to convince me more thoroughly, that the coldness of any spot, or the severity with which certain prevailing winds affect it, can never be accurately predicated by reference to its mere elevation. In excessively hilly countries, it is often found that currents of wind are much stronger and more injurious in the valleys than on the face of the hills; and lofty positions are frequently more sheltered and free from violent blasts than such as, from their lowness, would at first sight appear naturally snugger and warmer. A full knowledge of this can only be obtained by local observation in each case. But it is a very necessary and important subject of inquiry.

In

country where the natural undulations of the surface are very varied and considerable, a spot should be chosen that is not dominated or commanded by neighbouring swells and eminences, otherwise it will be difficult to render the grounds at all secluded and private. Where it is possible, in such a district, the site intended for the house and gardens should either be on the highest knoll of the immediate locality, or should be capable, by being on a slope which falls away from a higher eminence, of being easily screened by planting.

5. Of almost greater moment than the altitude of a district, is the character of the soil; and this, rather as it affects the health and the comfort, than with reference to its influence on garden produce and operations, although the latter is far from being a matter of indifference. Scarcely anything will grow well on thoroughly stiff land; and it is very unpleasant and laborious to work it, besides requiring more attention as to the choice of weather for going upon it, than can usually be afforded.

Nothing is more unsatisfactory than to have a house and garden on a clayey soil. No amount of draining will convert it into an agreeable and open state. And whatever ingredients may be added, or melioration by working it may be attempted, it will still remain more or less cold and sticky, and in some degree unfit for developing vegetable life perfectly. It will be bad to keep clean, and to dig, and to crop, and to walk upon. It will

be cold and greasy in wet weather, and cake together and crack during drought. Few vegetable crops will succeed in it, and a still smaller number of flowers. Even grass grown upon it will generally be either very wet or very dry; and the atmosphere above it will be correspondently cold and moist throughout the winter. Unless the utmost care be used to prevent any part of a building from coming into contact with it, a considerable dampness will be communicated from it to the walls, and a house will thus be made exceedingly miserable.

Land of a light and open texture is, on the contrary, conducive to both health and enjoyment, and renders a house comfortable, and a garden delightful at all times. It never becomes too wet; it is readily worked in almost any weather; it makes a lawn pleasant to walk upon, and encourages the growth of the finer grasses; it is the best of soil for flowers, and, with due enrichment, for vegetables and fruit-trees; and, in short, for any purpose it will be found either perfectly suitable, or capable of quickly being made so.

Nor is the surface soil alone of consequence; for the substra tum will continually more or less affect the upper crust. A cold and clayey foundation soil, or a close retentive layer of gravel, will act upon the roots of all the larger growing plants, and tend to produce feebleness and disease after they have once reached it. A rocky, chalky, light gravelly, or sandy bottom will be much the driest, and altogether the most calculated to promote human enjoyment and vegetable health. A chalky substratum, too, it may be remarked, is almost invariably accompanied with soft and pleasing undulations of surface.

It follows, therefore, that a light and porous (though not a very sandy, or friable, or shallow) soil, on a dry and open, or rocky foundation, will be the best to build upon, so as to secure dryness and warmth in a house, and the fittest to make a garden pleasurable, and to supply the conditions most needed by the bulk of vegetables, flowers, and fruits. And it will, in point of economy, do away with some, at least, of the necessity for artificial drainage.

Lest this conclusion, however, should be unduly appropriated, it may be well to state that it applies only to garden ground, and to the site of a residence; and that, even for the former, any extreme of lightness or sandiness will be apt to occasion withered

grass in the summer, and the necessity for increased manuring in the kitchen garden. For all farming purposes, a moderately heavy land is decidedly preferable: as, if properly drained, and carefully worked, it will yield far more abundant crops at a much lighter expense in the way of manure.

6. As a matter of health and comfort, a plentiful supply of pure water enters largely into the comparative eligibility of a place of residence. For, though much may be done towards remedying any defect in this particular by collecting and filtering all the rain-water from the various buildings about a place, and such a provision should in no case be neglected, it is most essential that the supply should be supplemented and rendered permanent from a spring or other sources.

In the immediate suburbs of towns, good water is often available from the ordinary water-works of the town itself. But, where this resource is not within reach, the possibility of obtaining water from a well, and the probable quality of that water, should be clearly ascertained. In some very hilly districts, too, most beautiful water may occasionally be had from a small stream that flows through the property, and has its rise in the neighbouring hills. And by impounding this at a high level, it may be possible to convey it to the house by simple gravitation.

Pure and soft water is, indeed, almost as needful for a garden as it is for domestic purposes. And the value of an unfailing supply, especially where it comes to the place by gravitation, or is brought there from public waterworks, (thus saving all the expense of pumping,) can hardly be estimated too highly.

7. With respect to the shape or outline of a small place, that form is most suitable which is simple, free from all acutely angular corners, and any great irregularities. A place that has many angles, or a very broken outline, is less capable of being made either useful or ornamental, requires a larger amount of fencing, (which is always expensive,) and the fences consume more ground, as well as throw a greater extent of shadow on the parts within them. Very narrow pieces of land are also to be avoided, as affording no scope for variety of treatment, and presenting the hard boundary lines too prominently.

That boundary is unquestionably the best which is composed of pretty regular lines, and brings the whole into a somewhat oblong figure, of which the greatest length is north and south,

or nearly so, the length being about one-third greater than the breadth. Such a shape is particularly adapted for the geometrical style of gardening. In the freer English manner, a little more irregularity of outline might be preferable. If the southerly end of such a plot be the broadest, this will be a decided merit generally, as it will afford a wider range of view, and make the whole appear larger from the best windows of the house.

A nearly triangular figure, the narrow end of which is cut off, and not drawn to a point, and the broader end having a rather southerly aspect, will be a desirable shape for a small piece of land. If there be space enough for the entrances on the northern side, the increased and expanding breadth at the south part will be of great consequence in an ornamental point of view. At the same time, nothing could be more unfortunate than to have a plot gradually narrowing away on the best side of the house; and a shape at all approaching to a triangle, with the narrow part fronting the principal windows of the house, would be one of the worst that could be selected, unless the slope of the land be a very rapid one towards the south, and (what is of rare occurrence) the property immediately in front be of a decidedly open and park-like character.

On the whole, then, the spot that requires the least quantity of fencing, which gives sufficient room for access on the entrance front, and which widens out towards the extreme verge on the best side of the house, will, by admitting a greater breadth and variety of prospect, and more light and air, as well as by imparting an appearance of extent, and rendering the fences cheaper and easier to preserve, be in all respects preferable.

8. Where a person is in some measure tied to a particular district by business or other connexions, of course there cannot be much latitude of choice in regard to climate. But those who have habituated themselves to observe differences of this kind, will know that, within the circuit of a few miles around any town, there will be found the most striking variations of climate; according as certain winds prevail, or particular degrees of elevation or amounts of vegetable furniture exist.

In the neighbourhood of towns, a knowledge of the prevailing winds is of very great moment; for, at the opposite point from which they come, there will generally be a greater visitation of