To arrange the improvements of a country residence judiciously and economically, is an interesting question to all who anticipate building. It is evident from the many extravagant expenditures of frequent occurrence in the laying out of country places, that the spirit of improvement is entered into without sufficient reflection; for although it may be considered that all have their own ideas of comfort and convenience in the abstract, yet few can carry into execution all the details, or satisfactorily introduce and fit all the disjointed parts so as to form a complete whole.

This is more strictly applicable to the improvement of the grounds. Few are their own architects, although they may have peculiar conveniences which they wish embodied in the construction of their dwelling; the whole is left to the discretionary approval of a competent professional person. On the contrary, most people fancy themselves perfectly qualified to lay out their grounds. In some cases we have known heavy sums expended in the endeavor to secure the indiscriminate imitation of some popular or approved style, altogether unsuited to the genius of the place, and the error has not been found out until it was too late to derive much advantage from the discovery. Such instances are to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to retard the general improvement of grounds under the mistaken notion that a pleasing landscape cannot be developed unless at enormous expense, while the truth is, that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred where heavy sums have been expended in the so-called improvement of grounds, it will be found that the result is far from being commensurate with the expense, and that a change of scenery is not necessarily an improvement.

The art of Landscape Gardening and the art of Landscape Painting are somewhat similar in their results, although the practical application of details and mechanical arrangement of materials are widely different. The gardener must not only possess a high degree of refined and cultivated artistic taste, but he must also have a thorough knowledge of the habits and requirements of plants, their general and special combinations, and every thing in connection with their culture and management. In his compositions he must have an eye to future as well as immediate effect, and his best efforts are liable to become tame and uninteresting from causes which he can neither foresee nor remedy. The painter, on the other hand, can cull from nature many of her matured and richest scenes, and so dispose of them on his canvass that they form one complete and enchanting picture.

That a higher degree of care and skill must be brought to bear upon the arrangement of a place a couple of acres in extent, than in one of fifty acres, is well known to all who have any acquaintance with the subject. Many persons have an idea, and we have frequently heard it confidently asserted, that the same general effect can be produced in both, by following a similar method of arrangement. This impression is quite as erroneous as its production is practically impossible. As well might we expect to derive as true an idea of the magnificent proportions of the Washington monument from the exhibition of a five-foot model, as from the contemplation of the great original, so great is the difference between imagination and reality.

But much can be done to render small places interesting; their confined and limited extent suggests a method of arrangement by which a great variety of interesting features can be introduced, and although they may not arrest the attention and admiration of the spectator by their magnificent grandeur, they afford more pleasure in the examination of details. "Unity in objects is essential to beauty, from the limited nature of the mind, which can only see and understand one thing at one time, and variety is equally necessary, from the expansive nature of the mind, which can see and understand an indefinite number of objects, provided they are presented to it in succession." The leading features to be kept in view are variety and contrast, or distinctiveness in the various objects introduced. The converse of this is well exemplified in many places where the trees and shrubs are so numerous, and planted in such a regular and systematic manner, as to convey the idea of a nursery rather than of pleasure ground.

There is nothing to arrest attention; turn which way we will there is the same unmeaning assemblage, and we are lost in the vain endeavor to discover the design or intention of the planter.

Many persons have vague and indefinite notions respecting the dispositions of trees and shrubs in pleasure grounds. It is not uncommon to see shrubs of the smallest size, and even herbaceous plants, placed in isolated positions on the lawn. This mixing up of grass and small plants is very prevalent, and where it is adopted any thing like striking effect cannot be produced. Shrubbery should be considered and treated as quite distinct from the lawn proper. The ground occupied by masses of shrubbery should, at least while the plants are young, be cultivated and kept clear of grass and weeds. A few years of such treatment, until the plants are of sufficient size to shade and prevent the growth of weeds, is all that will be found requisite. Shrubberies, more especially in small places, where a feeling of extent and intricacy is desired, should be allowed to grow into dense masses, so as to form a screen or thicket impenetrable to the eye. This is one of the finest features of a small place, and the only way in which it can be made to appear extensive, so that in walking through the grounds all the paths are concealed except the one occupied at the time.

By this means a variety of interesting views and scenes may be of constant occurrence, and the attention of the spectator is directed to the variety and intricacy, rather than to the extent of the whole.

Further to secure this illusion, recourse may be had to the frequent occurrence of striking objects, isolated, although apparently connected with the principal groups of planting. Bare trees and shrubs, or those of botanical or historical interest, flower vases, statuary, rustic seats, etc., may be effectually introduced, but they require to be skillfully managed, otherwise what is intended for variety may result in confusion and absurdity.

The most expensive improvement in grounds, and in most cases the least satisfactory, is that which involves the removal of large quantities of soil. With many of our modern improvers, to grade and level seems to be synonymous with taste and beauty. There are, however, instances where artificial elevations and depressions are strikingly valuable. We have seen two walks running nearly parallel, only a few yards apart, completely hid from each other by the intervening space, being elevated and planted as in the Derby arboretum, etc. The effect of several years' growth may thus be obtained in a day, and walks brought quite near each other without being obtrusive, or out of place. Shrubbery, to be effective, must be thickly planted. Plant with a view to a periodical thinning out of the least desirable kinds. Our shrubberies are all too thin; they cover too much space. We have seen wonderful effects produced in grounds where all appeared scattered and confused, by simply gathering in a few of the outside plants and placing them in the main body.

In planting with reference to future thinness, the experienced planter will find no difficulty in locating each kind in its proper situation, both with regard to future and immediate effect; for however desirable it may be to form a feature which will stand as an example for future admiration, it is no less desirable that we should endeavor to supply the wants and claim the approval of the present.

The style of the building invariably suggests the method of arrangement, as well as the most suitable trees and shrubs for its immediate vicinity. The house being the principal feature in the composition should be treated as such, and trees of the largest growth may be placed in connection. Both the kind and quantity of this class of trees will, of course, depend upon the size of the building and extent of the grounds. Shade is indispensable to a pleasant country residence. The introduction of trees, therefore, combines effect and utility in an eminent degree. We shall probably recur to this subject, with a select list of trees and shrubs for a place of moderate extent.