7 J GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



they are distinguislied. The character of the fence itself, and its efficient pre- 

 servation afterwards, therefore, become objects of the highest importance. 

 In a thickly-populated country like oui's, it is scarcely left optional whether 

 estates shall be inclosed or not ; but the character of the fence used is a 

 matter of taste. Neither is there any lack of materials ; for earth, water, 

 hedges, formed of a great vai-iety of plants,— wooden fences of every type, from 

 the rude post, surmounted by a single rail, to the highly-finished and beauti- 

 fully-designed rustic park fence ; iron of every thickness and every pattern, — 

 brick, stone, and concrete wall,— all are used. And, perhaps, each of these 

 materials is best for special localities. A ditch, two yards wide and four feet 

 deep, with one or two feet of water in the bottom, is a capital fence, or sub- 

 stitute for one, on swampy, fenny lands. A steep earth-bank, with a small 

 ditch at bottom, containing water, may also serve all the purposes of a fence 

 on heavy clay lands. On poor uplands, a wall of turf may answer very well, 

 and stand for twenty years. But, however useful such expedients may be on 

 the soils or localities indicated, they would be of no use whatever on more 

 cultivated properties. Fences will be required for four leading purposes : — 

 Namely, for subdivision into fields ; defining the boundary, and adding dignity 

 to the appearance of the park ; protecting the clumps of trees and plantations, 

 and maintaining a separation between the park and gardens, — or, as some 

 writers have it, between the grass that is mown and the grass that is fed. 



177. The boundary-fence of a park, of whatever material it is formed, should 

 always be of sufficient height and strength to pa-event the ingress or egress of 

 cattle, — it should also be more or less ornamental. A strong fence of wood, 

 brick, stone, or iron, from 3^ to 4^ feet high — it must be a foot and a half 

 or two feet higher where there are deer— is well adapted for these purposes. 

 Hedges, however excellent, can never confine deer, and are seldom effi- 

 cient for cattle. The best wooden park fences I have ever seen were 

 about five feet high, and were thus formed -.—Larch trees, averaging from six 

 to nine inches in diameter, were peeled and cut into lengths of from eight 

 to nine feet for posts. These were placed about ten feet apart, fii-mly 

 rammed, for more than a yard of their depth, into the soil, and connected 

 together by three strong rails of Scotch fir, mortised into the post, about 

 three inches from their front sm-face. Vertical splints or spars of peeled 

 lai'ch, formed by sawing young trees down the centre, were then nailed on, 

 leaving clear spaces of about two inches and a half between them. The splints 

 averaged about four inches in width, and were pointed at the top, thus A, No 

 fence of wood could well look neater or stronger than this ; and if the posts 

 are partially charred for a foot above and below their junction with the soil,— 

 that being the point where wooden posts always decay first, and, conse- 

 quently, where the antiseptic property of charring would be most valuable, 

 — and the whole coated with anti-corrosive paint, or, better still, where 

 the colour is not olyectionable, a varnish of coal-tar, — such fences will 

 last for many years. The next best- looking and still more dm-able woodea 

 park-feuce would have been posts formed of oak, the rails and splints being 



