In all grounds to be laid out, however, which are of a lawn or park-like extent, and call for the exercise of judgment and taste, the mansion or dwelling-house, being itself the chief or leading object in the scene, should form, as it were, the central point, to which it should be the object of the planter to give importance. In order to do this effectually, the large masses or groups of wood should cluster round, or form the back-ground to the main edifice; and where the offices or out-buildings approach the same neighborhood, they also should be embraced. We do not mean by this to convey the idea, that a thick wood should be planted around and in the close neighborhood of the mansion or villa, so as to impede the free circulation of air; but its appearance and advantages may be easily produced by a comparatively loose plantation of groups well connected by intermediate trees, so as to give all the effect of a large mass. The front, and at least that side nearest the approach road, will be left open, or nearly so; while the plantations on the back-ground will give dignity and importance to the house, and at the same time effectually screen the approach to the farm buildings, and other objects which require to be kept out of view; and here, both for the purposes of shelter and richness of effect, a good proportion of evergreens should be introduced.
