82 GARDENS IN THE MAKING 



the thickness. It will often be found that a lofty wall 

 will look best with a comparatively slight coping, 

 for the greater expanse of its surface gives it a 

 slighter appearance. On the other hand, a low wall, 

 the thickness of which is readily seen, will stand a 

 heavy coping with several oversailing courses of 

 brick. An open balustrade of shaped tiles, brick, 

 or stone balusters is especially applicable to the latter, 

 and will be noticed in detail later on. Hand-made 

 ridge-tiles, whether circular or angular, combined 

 with tile-creasing make an excellent coping, and they 

 easily adapt themselves to positions where the wall 

 changes in height, placed either in crow-stepped 

 fashion or sloping down in a long straight ramp. 



In laying out the direction of our stone and brick 

 walls, we should never be forgetful of the possibilities 

 of variations in plan. Instead of stretching the 

 wall in a straight line from point to point, we can 

 here and there recess it in square or circular bays ; 

 we can take it round an angle in a segmental or 

 elliptical sweep, or we can break it backwards or for- 

 wards to give definition to a change in the garden 

 treatment, or to afford greater prominence or beauty 

 to a tree or shrub. Moreover, we can change its level 



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