WALLS AND HEDGES 77 



Wherever there is local stone no trouble should 

 be experienced in raising gardens walls. Ashlar 

 (that is, smooth worked stone in regular courses) 

 should be employed only where important archi- 

 tectural work is to be carried out, although softer 

 stones such as Ham Hill may be used more 

 freely in this form, as their surface takes on a 

 beautiful colour in weathering. Ragstone or even 

 chalk can be built up in roughly squared blocks with 

 irregular face, but the most pleasing method for 

 ordinary walling will be found in using laminated 

 stone in rough courses of two to three inches in 

 depth. The stone walls of the Cotswolds, often 

 built dry or with only a little mortar in the centre 

 of the wall, are among the most beautiful kinds to 

 be found. The long lines of irregular deep joints 

 separated from one another by comparatively thin 

 layers of stone, seem to give the wall a fine con- 

 tinuity, and the joints hold the shadow and diversify 

 the surface. A good many local varieties of stone 

 can be treated in this way, and as long as they are 

 provided here and there with piers, gateways, or other 

 features to furnish relief, these types of dry walling 

 will always prove the most fitting for ordinary work. 



