The value of everything that approaches the beautiful is enhanced by an appropriate setting. Even the most beautiful flower of nature is improved by its surrounding of delicately tinted green foliage. The artist when exhibiting his most perfect artificial representation of nature, places it, if possible, with a surrounding which will measurably attract the eye, and yet cast upon the picture an enhanced breadth, and height of coloring combined with the softness which nature in her hazy moods gives to all her productions. Woman, in all her beauty, is rendered even more attractive in a setting of appropriate colors and forms of dress; and woe be to the taste of a blonde who, robing herself in light blue, seeks to decorate for relief with coral ornaments! The opaque red, to use a common phrase, would be "dreadful;" while the use of a pale pink would light up and dispel the pallid moonshine of the blue, and give to all a rich pearly, hazy, rosy hue, as of early morn.

These lights and shades being well understood in our artificial "role," it would appear that in the more permanent matters of life, such as the decorations of our daily homes, they should have control; yet we too frequently find a mansion residence constructed after the best taste and truest principles of architecture with its surrounding fitting, as inappropriate as a bright yellow would be for a lady's walking dress.

The beauty of landscape or home adornments that surround and decorate many of the residences on Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, O., has become proverbial, and a commonplace record of all traveling letter-writers. I may therefore be pardoned if, in a few words relative to the subject, I present views taken from some places there as illustrative measurably of what may be created by the use of judicious taste and a knowledge appreciative of the natural habit in growth, form, and colors of trees and shrubs.

"Turf and trees are the cheapest, most lasting, and most permanently and manageably enjoyable of all the essential elements of an elegant garden, and should have the first thought, whether in making or improving one." That I do not proscribe flowers, none need be informed; but, as a rule, they should be subservient to the general scheme, just as colored decorations within the house are. "Window curtains we must have, but we do not cover our walls, pictures, and looking-glasses with them; and flowers we must have, but in their proper proportion to all the rest of the essentials of a garden. In the foreground of a lawn, a few bold flower-beds are usually appropriate and desirable, and if well furnished, enhance the brightness of the turf, warm up the lovely shadows of the trees, and actually increase the apparent space set apart for pleasure. But when beds are dotted everywhere, when a scheme of a geometric kind is obtruded of far too great an extent for the place, the boundaries contract upon it, the sense of freedom is gone, quiet appears to be banished from the scene, for colore are exciting - sometimes distracting, and quite antagonistic to the enjoyment of quiet and rest".

From every dwelling-house situate with in its own grounds, one set of windows should look upon greenness, and this view should extend over as great a space as possible, consistent with the dimensions of the property. An inordinate complexity of flowerbeds, numerous and close together, tend to confuse the eye, and their mingled colors make an end of harmony and contrast; while, again, a long bed or border on the promenade system becomes monotonous from its continuity and want of relief obtained when the same plants are arranged in bed and border combined. Fig. 17 is a tolerably good representation of a group on the bed and border system, and placed at a gentle curve in the footpath. In a short article, like the present, it is of course impossible to more than touch upon some of the leading features which are requisite to the making up of an effective setting for the mansion. Not only must a knowledge of tree and plant be possessed by the decorator - not only must he understand the principles and effects of light and shade - not only must he have regard to the architectural character of the building as the point to which his setting is to become fitting, but he must also have regard somewhat to the composition of neighborhood surroundings, especially when treating the grounds of a suburban villa residence of only a few acres; and finally, nothing can be done satisfactorily effective without taste.

Fig. 17. - Group on the Bed and Border System.

Fashion, without "rhyme or reason," as in other matters, occasionally sways in landscape decoration, and the use of some particular class of trees becomes so common, and often so inappropriately placed, as to detract much from their real merits. The use of weeping trees may especially be classed as an instance, within the past few years, of the force of fashion; for while they are often in themselves of great beauty, their free use in all places and positions Boon creates a distaste therefor. As single lawn trees, standing out by themselves, they must be used sparingly; but where they can be planted on a margin of a stream, or in some way connected with water, they can be used more freely. The accompanying drawing - fig. 18 - presents the grounds of a place laid out by the writer in 1851, and then the property of John Shelly, Esq., now of Mr. Scowden, on Euclid Avenue. The house fronts the south, and on the lawn can be seen a very fine weeping tree, at the right; in the foreground is a group of Norways, that, when planted, were for the purpose of breaking an outside unsightly feature. North and west of the lawn, evergreens prevail as a background feature, and for the purpose of a screen from cold winds.

Directly in front of the steps, at the turn of the pathways, are beds of plants: the one at the right having in it an African tamarisk, with its base and branches intermingled with English yew. A group of shrubs breaks, at a curve in the path, the too great prominence of the entrance gate, leaving the balance in lawn so graded as to give appearance of breadth beyond reality.

Fig. 18. - Grounds of Mr. Scowden, on Euclid Avenue.

As an instance of what may be done, more by raising and shaping the ground than by much planting, is seen in fig. 19. It presents the present appearance of the residence of Colonel George B. Sen-ter, a gentleman well and favorably known all over the country, but more as a politician and man of general enterprise than as connected with horticulture. This place, ere it was refitted, was deemed gloomy, damp, and unattractive; the ground was on a level with the street; trees were overabundant, and placed without reference to form or effect. In the construction of the house regular lines prevail, and the steps leading to the front portico or colonnade are unavailable in use because of the entrance door being placed at the side. In working up this place the ground was raised, so as to get the grade considerably above the street. The entrance footpath was placed directly in front, midway, and carried straight as far as possible, in order to keep a balance and harmonize with the straight lines of the building; a group of low evergreen shrubs breaks the turn of the pathway to the side entrance, and at the same time the ground is there raised above the surrounding grades.

The appearance of the place is now deemed quite satisfactory.

Fig. 20 presents a partial view of the house and grounds of Joseph Perkins, Esq., a gentleman of great taste and love of the beautiful and good, whether in art or nature. This place has been mainly the creation of its owner's brain in arrangement, and contains more rare and elegant trees and plants than any other one in the Western States. The house was designed by Upjohn - is of cut stone, plain, but massive and symmetrical. The lawn is of considerable breadth, and in its first planting an attempt was made to screen it partly from the street view, by a planting of shrubs, which from the planter's not then knowing well the habit and growth of the various plants has proved in effect rather a failure. This desire to screen and make the lawns partially private is a feature in planting that should be more practiced. The tendency is too much toward creation of scenic effect for the million rather than the use of one's own family and friends' enjoyment.

Fig. 19. - Residence of Colonel George B. Senter.

A bed, near one of the iront entrance gates, of low trailing evergreens, several magnificent shaped magnolias, a bed of rhododendrons and azaleas, a mass of mahonias, and a hedge of hemlocks are among the features of attraction and beauty that adorn this gentleman's home. Upon one side of the house a small greenhouse is constructed, while on the opposite side the flower-garden proper is laid out, and during the summer season is a mass of blooms from the opening of the early crocus, or snowdrop, to the late chrysanthemum, which with its brilliancy of color in flower seems to defy the blasts and cold of winter. Upon Mr. Perkins' grounds there is also a feature of rock-work rare to be seen, which with other items of landscape beauty I will reserve for a future article.

Fig. 20. - House and Grounds of Joseph Perkins, Esq.