Theory and Practice 



133 



I have often preferred it, especially as I know that a few 

 trees or bushes at each end of such a line will prevent 

 the eye from looking along its course. 



Sometimes it happens, from the intermixture of pro- 

 perty or other causes, that the fence is obliged to make 

 a very acute angle ; this may occasionally be remedied 

 by another line of fence fitting to its greatest projection ; 

 and as this same principle may be extended to roads, 

 walks, or rivers, I shall explain it. 



The sharp elbow or projection of the fence a [Fig. 

 17] ceases to be offensive if another fence can be joined 



Fig. 17 



to it, as at b, and the same with the line of road or 

 walk ; the branch obviates the defect. 



It has been observed by the adversaries of the art that 

 exactly the same line will serve either for a road or a 

 river, as it may be filled with gravel or with water. This 

 ridicule may perhaps be deserved by those engineers 

 who are in the habit of making navigable canals only, 

 but the nice observer will see this material difference : 



The banks of a natural river are never equidistant ; 

 the water in some places will spread to more than twice 

 the breadth it does in others. This pleasing irregularity 

 depends on the shape of the ground through which it 

 flows : a river seldom proceeds far along the middle of 

 a valley, but generally keeps on one side, or boldly 

 stretches across to the other, as the high ground resists 



