1576. The marine villa. The marine villa has seldom much land attached, but great care is usually bestowed upon the architectural ornaments of its gardens, which are laid out with raised terraces, covered alcoves, and other somewhat formal ornaments. The geometric style is generally preferred for the gardens of villas of this kind, as they must depend for their beauty principally on form, and not on luxuriant foliage or a skilful intermixture of trees. Many trees, indeed, become stunted, and lose their foliage when planted by the sea-side, and the trunks of others become twisted and deformed by the efforts they make to turn their heads away from the blighting effects of the sea breeze. Plant-houses, however, of various kinds, are quite suitable and appropriate to marine villas, as they afford the inhabitants almost the only chance they can have of possessing a few floral beauties.
