BORDERS 65 



form is a long strip of even width, straight or 

 curved, with either square or rounded corners. 

 Very frequently the border is a triangle, generally 

 obtuse-angled. Then there are various forms with 

 all the edges irregular and others where one side 

 is broken very much as a coast line is. 



The more closely the border sticks to straight 

 lines, the less work in the beginning and from that 

 time on. The guiding idea, however, should be fit- 

 ness; what is best for one place may be worst for 

 another. As a rule the line of border along a path, 

 road or boundary has at least the nearer line paral- 

 lel to the latter; this is not necessarily automatic, 

 as often there is the permissible very narrow strip 

 of turf between. But the border may be parallel 

 only a certain distance and then veer off at an angle 

 at a point where a break in the lawn gives it an ex- 

 cuse for so doing, or where it is desirable to create 

 a low screen. 



Irregular borders would better have their edges 

 broken by graceful curves when they come close to 

 a path; they look better and the bit of intervening 

 turf is more easily cared for. As to care, the same 

 is true of shrubbery islands in a lawn scheme. If 

 a border is to be cut up into capes and bays let it be 

 a long one on the farther side of a lawn, where not 

 so much the irregular edge as the admirable effect 

 produced by it comes into the picture. 



Width and length are governed by circum- 

 stances; some borders are from twelve to twenty 

 feet wide and others are hundreds of feet long. 



