Port Eliot Red Book: Plantations Continued

POINTS OF VIEW

In forming Plantations, we must calculate their effects from certain leading points of view, as it is impossible so to place objects that they shall appear equally advantageous from every point of a park. The points from whence I more particularly considered these plantations are:
1. the view from the house,
2. the view from the water and ground near the boat house, and
3. the view from the covered seat on the Craggy Tumulus.

This last will comprehend the most general prospect of all the woods and lawns about Port Eliot and will on many accounts be a very favorite station. From hence, the plantations B. C. D. and E. will form one great assemblage of wood – without too closely uniting into a heavy mass – but the shapes of the lawn will be varied and intricate. The plantations I. K. and N. will also be in some measure united. Though they appear on the map distant from each other and to occupy a small proportion of the park in that direction, yet – from the natural shape of the ground – they will become a very rich and ample clothing – with bold projections and recesses to break the heaviness of a great mass – and produce a play of light and shadow without disturbing the continuity and unity of Wood.

The Plantations L. and M., as an accompaniment to the Prospect room, I trust, will be justified by the effect . . . shewn in the following sketch.

For ease of reading, punctuation and capitalization have been modernized.