Enclosure 



27 



and a deep ha-ha or ditch alongside, while all 

 the abruptness of the hollow thus made can be 

 avoided by covering it with varied plantations. 

 The paths should approach this ha-ha or ditch 

 only when — for instance, by means of a small 

 bridge — one wishes to sally forth through an 

 opening into the surrounding country. The 

 method of screening the bridge and the bound- 

 aries should be as varied as possible. In one place 

 the foliage should run two or three hundred paces 

 along the boundaries, showing a high plantation 

 of trees; in other places again, it should be made 

 up of narrower and lower groups of trees, so that 

 over and beyond one can catch glimpses of the 

 outside country. In other places, these distant 

 views should be visible above coppices and under 

 isolated trees, standing among but high above 

 the shrubbery. If a wall surrounds the park, this 

 can, at intervals, be allowed freely to emerge, bro- 

 ken only by scattering bushes and trees, and will 

 look best in a ruined or unkempt state, covered 

 with ivy and Virginia creeper, or the foliage 

 may be merged into a building, a gallery, etc. 

 Under such conditions the wall will never be a 

 disturbing influence, but an improvement. 



If the locality permits, — probably only in a 

 few cases, — I would propose the following plan 

 as my ideal for an enclosure for our climate, 

 although I could follow it only in certain por- 

 tions of my estate. On the boundaries of the 

 park, wherever open views are not desirable, a 

 trench one Ruthe (a rod = twelve feet) wide, should 



