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GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



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1S5. An invisible wire or ornamental iron fence may also be placed on tlie 

 top of the ha-ha ; but generally it is best finished with an 

 ornamental wall, or left level with the inside or garden 

 surface. At one time, rustic fences u'ere much used for 

 separating the park from the pleasure-ground. While 

 they are among the most beautiful, they are certainly the 

 most expensive of all fences. They might still be used to 

 separate one part of the grounds from another, — the rabbit- 

 proof garden from the outside pleasure-ground, — where 

 labour and expense are no object. The following are among 

 as pretty patterns as any, and they can be made of hazel, 

 iarch, spruce, or indeed any young trees. Th^. bark should 

 always be left on, and the more numerous and rougher 

 the knots, the more rustic the fence will be. Wire fences, 

 however, look better, and their patterns and prices are 

 endlessly varied, to suit the means and tastes of all. The 

 accompanying look as well as any. 



186. Walls are occasionally introduced into flower- 

 gardens, — either for the shelter they aiford in bleak 

 localities, their architectural effect near dwelling-houses, or the culture oi 

 the more tender plants in the open air. In all such cases they should be 

 formed of the best materials, and either 

 panelled, or rendered otherwise orna- 

 mental. They should seldom be more 

 than ten or less than six feet high, al- 

 though those who have seen the enor- 

 mous magnolia walls at White-Knights 

 Park, near Reading, will feel inclined to 

 double my maximum. As a rule, how- 

 ever, the elevations I have named will 

 look best and be most suitable for cultural purposes. It would be worth 

 going a hundred miles to see a wall six feet high and fifty yards long, fur- 

 nished with a collection of tea-roses in full bloom. If the wall were furnished 

 with a coping projecting four inches, and grooved underneath, to remove the 

 drip of water, and the roses were slightly covered in winter with spruce 

 branches, and sheltered with canvas covering from early spring frosts, such a 

 sight might be realized, and a wall affording alike shelter and fence on one 

 side, become an object of surpassing loveliness on the other. 



187. For single gates across a cai-ri age-road, or anywhere else, nothing can 



be better than those in the sketch. The 

 number of bars and jDatterns of such 

 gates can be made to suit every piupose, 

 and gratify every taste. On cariiage- 

 roads gates should never be less than 

 four, and seldom need be more than. 



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