138 GARDENS IN THE MAKING 



may be said in general that a low flight is better 

 with a solid wall, while the open balustrade is at its 

 best when high enough to show sky and foliage 

 between its stonework. The sloping balustrade is 

 not invariably satisfactory, and it can be replaced in a 

 variety of ways. Perhaps one of the simplest is to 

 carry out the side walls enclosing the steps at the 

 level of the top step, since a stairway always looks 

 well between walls, especially when the latter are 

 not carried higher than the upper ground level. A 

 few steps with a curving parapet wall is an excellent 

 device to turn the direction of a path, and an up- 

 ward flight of stairs, even if only two or three, will 

 give point and interest to a long walk when seen 

 from a distance. There is, indeed, no end to the 

 usefulness in our garden design of the 'simple feature 

 of the stairway, and its value is not in any way im- 

 paired whether it is treated with economy or with a 

 fine disregard of cost and a single eye to its effect. 



