i88 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



Fences are always a moot question to the gardener, 

 for if she has a pleasant neighbour, she does not like to 

 raise an aggressive barrier or perhaps cut off the view, 

 yet to a certain extent I like being walled in at least on 

 two sides. A total lack of boundaries is too impersonal, 

 the eye travels on and on ; there is nothing to rest it 

 by comparison. Also, where there are no fences or 

 hedges, and what are hedges but living fences, there is 

 nothing to break the ground draught in winter and early 

 springtime. The ocean is much more beautiful and 

 full of meaning when brought in contact with a 

 slender bit of coast. The moon has far more majesty 

 when but distancing the tree-tops than when rolling 

 apparently at random through an empty sky. A vast 

 estate may well boast of wide sweeps and open places, 

 but the same effect is not gamed, present fashion to the 

 contrary, by throwing down the barriers between a dozen 

 homes occupying only half as many acres. Preferable 

 is the cosey English walled villa of the middle class, even 

 though it be a bit stuffy and suggestive of earwigs. 

 The question should not be to fence or not to fence, but 

 rather how to fence usefully and artistically, and any one 

 who has an old stone wall, such as you have, moss grown 

 and tumble-down, with the beginnings of wildness al- 

 ready achieved, has no excuse for failure. We have 



