AND GROUND SURFACES. 37 



A solid wall from two to three feet above the sidewalk level is as 

 high as we would advise on street lines from which it is intended 

 that grounds shall show their beauty. On Fig. 2, sections C and 

 D, where the street cut is three or four feet, the ground-slope down 

 to the sidewalk, as shown by the formal terraces, and the lower 

 line, on section C, is more pleasing than any wall. 



But for the deep cut illustrated by Fig. 4, it is an open question 

 whether, as some kind of fence will be necessary, a partial wall, as 

 at /, may not effect that object, and produce the best form of 

 ground surface. It will be seen by the enlarged section a that the 

 coping of the low wall (say 3 feet) is to be cut so as to make its 

 outer surface a continuation of the sloping bank above. This will 

 make a pretty effect, and no other fence will be required ; but the 

 wall must be of great strength. The lower line being merely a 

 sloping bank of grass, would require another kind of fence, and to 

 be treated as at a, Fig. 2. 



Fig. 5 is intended to illustrate the prettier effect that may be 

 produced by making use of small inequalities of the ground, instead 



FIG. 5. 



of grading to a uniform slope. It does not show just the surface it 

 was intended to show, but will suggest to the observer the greater 

 possibility of pleasing effects than on a uniform plane. 



Where a natural elevation for a house occurs a few rods from 

 the street, with an intervening level between it and the street, it is 

 usually better to preserve its form, than to grade down and fill up 

 to bring the whole lot to what some persons are pleased to term " a 

 correct grade." Fig. 6 illustrates what is meant ; the natural sur- 

 face is a graceful form, and the most capable of decorative effect. . 



Though rising ground is usually more valued than that which 



