44 WALL AND WATER GARDENS 



tunity of treating the two terraces in a much larger 

 way horticulturally, while equally preserving their 

 architectural value. 



This richness of effect is plainly seen in the fine 

 example illustrated, though it is open to question 

 whether it would not have been better still had the 

 upper wall been carried solid to the height of the 

 coping of the balustrade, or even higher, and the 

 upper ground levelled up to it. 



But there are fine things in this piece of gardening. 

 It shows plainly the salutary effect of rambling 

 growths partly veiling the balustrade, and even of tall 

 things of the Cypress class doing the same work, 

 though this came possibly as a happy accident ; such 

 another accident as those that are of so high a value 

 in the tree and shrub overgrowths of the old gardens 

 of Italy. The defect of arrangement in this picture is 

 a certain monotonous repetition of Gyneriums alter- 

 nating with Yuccas in the lower border. Here would 

 have been a grand place for grouping the Yuccas as 

 described in the chapter on the Rock-wall in Sun. 



One can hardly imagine a more perfect site for a 

 garden than a place where such an arrangement as 

 this would be reversed on the further side of the lawn, 

 so that there would be a range of double terrace on 

 the shady side as well as on the sunny. Where new 

 gardens are being made, such a disposition of the 

 ground is well worth considering, for in many sites 

 where ground comes awkwardly with regard to a 

 house — sometimes sloping away diagonally — such a 

 garden could be laid out. 



