86 COME INTO THE GABDEN 



But first of all let us make sure that we have 

 them. No yawning intermissions in fence or 

 hedge, with nothing to close them, will do; nei- 

 ther will fine gateposts and gate, with no wall or 

 hedge through which they admit. Either de- 

 mands the other; and the garden demands both. 

 Each must be in scale with the other, too — and 

 with the house and the place generally as well, 

 conforming to its delicate balance quite as nicely 

 as the walks. 



The adjustment of scale in building material, 

 whatever is being constructed, is so largely a 

 matter of feeling, however — of an extra sense — 

 that I hesitate to offer advice concerning it. If 

 one does not know, through this sixth sense, that 

 an iron fence does not belong around a plot oc- 

 cupied by a deep-eaved, shingled cottage; that 

 wire fencing is out of scale with buildings of 

 masonry; or that a hedge is a weak retainer 

 for large grounds and stone buildings, while a 

 dressed-stone wall overshadows a small place 

 and takes interest from wooden buildings, there 

 is little to be gained by telling him. For in 

 some other direction he will turn aside and do 

 the wrong thing, it being impossible to foresee 

 all the unfortunate combinations which may 

 arise — or to foresee instances when the combi- 

 nation becomes intolerable that would, under 



