While the shrubs and plantations that skirt the sides of walks, at intervals, are never placed so as to make a formal line or

hedge, nor pruned or clipped into regular shapes, in relation to curved walks, they ought not so to intrude upon the walks as to prevent their being comfortably used in wet weather. Regard should be had to their usual character and habits at the time of planting, with an ultimate view to this convenience.

In the formation of serpentine walks, it is not well to set their curves out to any regular radius, but simply to please the eye. The length or extent of divergence of the curves from a central line cannot be too varied and irregular, if the turns be not sudden and abrupt. Great variety of curves will best conduce to newness of scene, and maintenance of interest. The most delicate point in working them out will be to blend two curves nicely together, without producing a straight or a tame line at their junction.

Whatever may be at the sides of walks, whether raised banks or borders, or depressions, or comparatively level ground, if a grass edging be used, it should always be perfectly flat, for a greater or less width, according to the space, and then gradually rise (fig. 111) with a concave curve, till it joins a bank or elevated bed, or as gradually fall, with first a convex, (fig. 112,) and then a concave curve, till it unites with the line of a depression or hollow.

With very precipitous banks, that are

compelled to be brought close to a walk, this rule must be set aside, though rocks, stones, roots, &c., clothed with trailing

Fig. 111.

plants, or masses of Ivy, or Cotoneaster alone, will be preferable to grass for such places. Nothing can be more ugly than a

Fig. 112.

convex grass bank reposing angularly on the margin of a walk; and the edge of it can never be cut neatly, while it is apt to be pared back by orderly gardeners, to keep it to some degree of smoothness and straightness, until a deep harsh line of bare earth is presented at its base.'

5 All the fences of a place, unless they be purely architectural ones, or occupy some peculiar position, should be as light as they can be made, consistently with strength, and be otherwise quiet and inconspicuous. A fence is a thing of necessity, and not of ornament; and though the latter feature may, possibly, be added to it, it is not usually to be wished for. The material, therefore, the colour, and the form, should be such as will least excite attention, and can be most readily concealed or disguised.

Sunk fences are, when the nature of the boundary admits of their application, the best of all barriers, especially if the land beyond them be in grass; for they are not at all seen from a distance, and are as good as a common wall in keeping out cattle or other intruders. But they are expensive, and are very rarely fitted for any place, except between the lawn and the park, where they are sometimes invaluable. If the lawn and park be not, however, on the same level where the sunk fence separates them, they should be made pretty nearly so, or the line of division will show itself too much from the house and from some part of

the park, and the apparent size of the land will be lessened. It may be well to mention that the object of a sunk fence should not be to deceive, which they can rarely do; but merely to avoid presenting any interruption or obstacle to a beautiful view, especially where a conspicuous fence might greatly mar that

view.

A sunk fence may be of several different kinds; but, in any form, it is important that the ground lines of the excavation should be carefully regulated. The simplest and most common mode is (fig. 113) that in which a wall is introduced to sustain

Fig. 113.

the earth on the side next the pleasure grounds. This wall should always batter slightly, and stand about five feet above the ground at its base, the sloping line from it extending out twelve or fifteen feet, as shown in the figure. The wall, however, may in some circumstances be less lofty towards the outside, and be surmounted by a low parapet, or by two bars of strong iron or wire fencing, which will diminish the amount of excavation, and make it altogether more inexpensive. In fig. 114,

Fig. 114.

no wall is used, but a slight iron or wooden fence is placed on the inner slope, and is so slanted that it makes an effectual barrier from without, while it is hardly at all perceptible from the inside. It may be remarked, in passing, that it is of course more difficult for man or animals to get over a fence that slopes towards them. An ordinary wire or hurdle fence is, in fig. 115, put in the bottom of the excavation; this latter being just deep enough to make the fence invisible from the lawn of the pleasure grounds. The inner slopes in the two last plans might be used

for a collection of the dwarfer kinds of shrubs, in irregular patches; or for spring flowers, when the aspect is sufficiently

Fig. 115.

sunny. Sunk fences of earth or turf are not sufficiently durable.

For outside boundary fences, something that is rather secure will be principally wanted. Iron or wooden railings on the top of low walls are most ornamental, and give a friendly, hospitable, and open character to a place. Almost any variety of cast-iron fences may be obtained from any good manufacturer; and wrought-iron fences, which are generally preferable on account of their being so much less easily injured or broken, are nearly equally common, in a multitude of patterns. These, however, are nearly all composed of upright bars, and are adapted for towns or their immediate suburbs. In the country, where a lighter and more open fence may be wanted, fig. 116

may be suggestive.

Fig. 116.

The wall would be about two feet six inches high, and the iron bars round, and three quarters of an inch or an inch in diameter. Figs. 117 and 118 show a wooden fence on a similar wall, and would make a very pleasing boundary to a villa garden not too far from a town.

The first of them (fig. 117) would answer for almost any kind of Italian or Classic villa, and the other for any form of

Gothic. They should either be painted green, or stained and varnished, or grained to resemble oak. They would have a less

Fig. 117.

rigid and more rural appearance than iron railing, and, if kept duly painted, are very lasting. Walls, or close wooden palings,

may be useful near towns, or in bad neighbourhoods, but they should not ordinarily be more than five feet six inches or six feet high. Wooden fences are decidedly the most troublesome and expensive in the end. Common walls will have a much less ugly appearance, if furnished with a neat stone coping, and may be greatly relieved by being built in panels. Of wooden fences, that are to accomplish any degree of privacy, perhaps the most useful, and economical, and permanent, especially for country places, is the split-oak paling that is so much employed around