European and Japanese Gardens 



THE OBLONG POOL 



Thus the En^Hsh garden has its forecourt and basecourt, 

 its gardens for fruit, vegetables and flowers, its places for sport 

 and recreation ; and to guard and protect all these from search- 

 ing winds and prying eyes, are the boundaries, the divisions, 

 the walls and the hedges. The walls, especially those near the 

 house, are always in close touch with the house itself. They 

 are built of stone if the house be of stone, and of brick if the 

 house be a brick one, and in their ornament, balustrades, gate- 

 ways, posts, copings and finials, they echo the character of the 

 house. As one goes further from the house the walls are less 

 architectural and more purely utilitarian. The boundary wall 

 of the place, or the north or east wall of the garden may be ten 

 or twelve feet high, for these are to serve as a real protection ; 

 others may be but two or three feet high, mere boundaries to 

 mark a line. The hedge is perhaps the commonest bound of 

 all, and this varies from the rough pasture hedgerow to the 

 clipped yew, or holly, or box. The ornamental clipping of 



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