98 GARDENS IN THE MAKING 



or filling a definitely defined space (fig. 24). It is 

 only when they are dispersed in aimless fashion 

 about a lawn that both they and the lawn suffer 

 from the lack of order and of any sense of design. 

 A stretch of lawn is the better for a good back- 

 ground or boundary. To this fact it owes much of 

 its beauty when close to the house or against the 

 retaining wall of a high terrace. Unless it is flanked 

 by gradually rising or falling ground, or a bank of 

 trees, it should be furnished with rectilinear boun- 

 daries, or with outlines based on the curves of a 

 geometric figure, for the eye is directed across the 

 level area of the lawn and beyond ; if, then, the 

 immediate boundary is indefinite and characterless, 

 the lawn itself is depreciated. In such cases a low 

 hedge or wall, or perhaps a stone balustrade with a 

 garden house at each end, is sufficient to give the 

 required definition without checking the view, and the 

 whole effect will be immeasurably improved thereby. 

 Whenever possible, high boundaries formed of 

 hedges, walls, pergolas, or lofty trees should be 

 given to the secondary lawns in a garden and 

 especially to bowling greens and alleys, tennis and 

 croquet lawns. Should they be situated, however, on 



