GATES, FENCES, AND EDGINGS 59 



The garden artist will attach much value to the design 

 and material of his gates, knowing well that they often 

 mark the most important spots in the whole garden. 

 Certainly, those who have the laying out of new gardens, 

 and are not handicapped by the errors of former occupiers, 

 should give the matter more than passing notice. 



Nearly every country has its particular style of fencing, 

 and in Japan, the home of dainty craftsmanship and 

 exquisite taste in matters horticultural, they are most 



DESIGN FOR FENCE. 



particular that their tiny palings and boundary walls are 

 in perfect accord with the gardens which they enclose. 

 The garden fence into whose construction barbed wire, 

 broken bottles, and tarred boards largely enter, cannot be 

 otherwise than an eyesore, and however desirable it may 

 be to exclude our neighbours' cats, or even our neigh- 

 bours themselves, these unclimbable fences should not 

 be allowed anywhere in sight. A single strand of 

 barbed wire is quite sufficient to create a note of discord, 

 in a place where beauty and rest are supposed to be the 

 dominant features. Iron and wire fences have done 

 much to ruin the appearance of many English gardens, 

 not that they are used so much in the garden itself, but 

 because they obtrude their presence into the meadow and 



