208 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



a wooden fence with posts and stringers and pickets, we have an end- 

 less variety of fences of open palings, different in their size and scale 

 and the spacing of their parts according to the design of which they 

 form an element, alike only in that they consist of a series of vertical 

 palings, grouped into panels between the sturdier and supporting posts. 

 Based on essentially the same method of construction, we have many 

 varieties of lattice fence, usually higher fences, particularly those used 

 for screens, with or without vines. Here the panels between the posts 

 are filled with a grille-work of wooden strips vertical and horizontal, 

 diagonal, or forming some more complicated pattern which owe 

 their strength to being fastened together at their intersections. Prop- 

 erly constructed and painted, such lattice work, though lighter, is 

 about as strong and durable as any other wooden fence of the same 

 height. In its simpler forms, it has the advantage of offering a con- 

 sistent but interesting texture over a considerable area. If the lattice- 

 work is fine, a mesh of four inches or so, it serves practically as an im- 

 penetrable screen when seen from any distance. It makes an excellent 

 trellis for vines, and when designed to be so used can be constructed 

 of a much larger mesh, the solid screen being finally furnished by the 

 foliage of the vine. 



For their preservation wooden fences are usually painted or stained. 

 The wide range of color so offered to the designer gives him considerable 

 power to modify the effect of the fence in his design. He may make it 

 blend almost absolutely with the foliage background by painting it 

 green ; he may make it very important in the design by painting it 

 white. He may accent the unity of the various architectural struc- 

 tures by painting buildings and fences with the same scheme of color. 



For more permanent and important fences, the posts may be of 

 brick or stone, perhaps set on a curb or connected by a low wall, and 

 the panels may be of wooden or iron grille. The iron grille-work, like 

 the wooden picket, may consist of a series of vertical members held 

 together by horizontal stringers, or exceptionally of a lattice of inter- 

 woven or superposed iron strap-work ; but more commonly the mal- 

 leability of the iron leads the designer to employ curved forms and 

 interlacing patterns of all degrees of intricacy, from a simple series of 

 circles between vertical iron pickets to the elaborate fioreated designs 



