174 



COMMON SENSE GARDENS 



the sentiment of the country is opposed to it. The 

 walled grounds and gardens of England are survi- 

 vals of mediaeval days when one's neighbours were 

 inquisitive and generally obnoxious. We admire 



Picket Fence on a Low Brick Wall 



them as curiosities, quaint relics of the past, but 

 we should not long to imitate them. 



By far the best material to use for walls on a 

 small place is brick, the ordinary, everyday brick 

 that is made on Long Island or in the Hudson val- 

 ley, not the smooth, weirdly red pressed brick that 

 is used for chimney pieces and the fronts of houses. 

 Harvard brick is a pretty good colour and texture, 

 though a little dark, but if you use it eschew the 

 black headers for they give a speckled, artificial 

 effect that is out of place in a garden. The com- 

 mon brick ages rapidly; the red softens down and 

 the lines lose their hardness. Near the coast where 



