414 Old Time Gardens 



a grass bank, which is ever a trial in a garden ; for it 

 is hard to mow the grass on such a bank, and it never 

 looks neat ; it should be planted with some vine. 



A very curious garden wall is the serpentine brick 

 wall still standing at the University of Virginia, at 

 Charlottesville. It is about seven feet high, and 

 closes in the garden and green of the row of houses 

 occupied by members of the faculty ; originally 

 it may have extended around the entire college 

 grounds. I present a view from the street in order 

 to show its contour distinctly ; within the garden its 

 outlines are obscured by vines and flowers. The 

 first thought in the mind of the observer is that its 

 reason for curving is that it could be built much 

 more lightly, and hence more cheaply, than a 

 straight wall ; then it seems a possible idealization 

 in brick of the old Virginia rail fence. But I do 

 not look to domestic patterns and influences for its 

 production ; it is to me a good example of the old- 

 time domination of French ideas which was so 

 marked and so disquieting in America. In France, 

 after the peace of 1762, the Marquis de Geradin 

 was revolutionizing gardening. His own garden at 

 Ermenonville and his description of it exercised im- 

 portant influence in England and America, as in 

 France. Jefferson was the planner and architect of 

 the University of Virginia ; and it is stated that he 

 built this serpentine wall. Whether he did or not, 

 it is another example of French influences in archi- 

 tecture in the United States. This French school, 

 above everything else, replaced straight lines with 

 carefully curving and winding lines. 



