English Gardens 



i^round further afield. The bowhng-green, crociuet-ground, 

 and lawn-tennis courts have formed at one time or another 

 necessary parts in the layout of even a small place. These 

 fiat pieces of the splendid turf which is so common in England 

 are among^ the most beautiful features of the English garden. 

 Here again the love for retirement suggests enclosing walls or 

 hedges, so that the court or the green is really a great out-of- 

 doors room, with garden seats and benches about, or perhaps 

 in the more stately ones, busts on plinths in Italian fashion set 

 against the somber green of the yew hedge. Again one sees 

 that this feature is produced in direct response to a need. 



Le\'el ground cannot always be obtained naturally, and the 

 need of it has developed the terraces which abound in the hilly 

 districts. These may be the mere formal treatment of the plat- 

 form on which the house securely rests ; or they may form the 

 various divisions of the hillside garden ; or again, surrounding 

 the sunken garden, they may give the pleasant walk and that 

 most delightful of all views which one gets of a small garden, 



A LEVEL STRETCH 



88 



