186 COMMON SENSE GARDENS 



and toned down to a pleasing extent. A white 

 picket fence with a few good vines trained over some 

 of the posts and along the pickets, makes a very 

 light and graceful enclosure that is an addition to 

 the setting of a shingled house, or one of stucco or 

 brick. 



The posts of such a fence should be made of 

 Chestnut or Locust (the latter is the more dura- 

 ble), and it is better to tar the ends that are put 

 in the ground. The cap is built on, and should 

 be surmounted by a finial of some sort to set it 

 off, an urn or a ball or an acorn. The urn is 

 Georgian, the acorn is found on fences in England 

 of a much earlier period, and is appropriate in the 

 neighbourhood of Oak trees. Such finials can be 

 turned at any mill, but as soon as they leave the 

 lathe they should be set in linseed oil and left 

 until thoroughly saturated; then given a heavy 

 coat of white lead, for otherwise they will check 

 and split off when exposed to the weather. 



The arched gateway on page 1 89 is a simple one, 

 but of ancient origin. In the "Romance of the 

 Rose" there is an illumination of a garden that 

 dates from the fifteenth century, and in it there 



