GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 57 



posed of when a cellar is excavated. Com- 

 monly this is hauled away from the place that 

 does not require filling to bring it to the cus- 

 tomary dead level; and this sometimes, if not 

 usually, is done at some expense. A terrace 

 effectually makes use of this instead — and varies 

 the uninteresting dead level most agreeably 

 into the bargain. Moreover it affords a vantage 

 point from which to look beyond the boundary 

 planting, just as did the ancient mount within 

 the mediaeval walled garden. And the terrace 

 approach to the house is of all treatments the 

 most effective, especially if for any reason it is 

 necessary or desirable to set a house high above 

 the ground. 



The ramped walk is a pleasant feature alto- 

 gether too little known and adopted on the 

 small place, yet really possible anywhere. Why 

 this graceful slope does not more often take the 

 place of the" steps which we so laboriously build 

 and climb I cannot imagine, unless it be because 

 the idea is generally unknown. Excepting at 

 the main and formal entrance from the street to 

 the house, this ascent is everywhere appropriate; 

 its suggestion of intimacy and ease, however, 

 bars it from the entrance at which strangers ap- 

 proach. It should never be carried out in stone 

 or cement or any artificial medium; but in the 



