38 MY GARDEN. 



metrically, it is offensive to the eye to have curved lines in relation 

 with them (plate n). 



A long straight line is, in a proper place, very pleasing, and my 

 Pear-tree walk is about 150 yards long, parallel with the Park palings. 

 Some of my artistic visitors have utterly condemned this walk as 

 unworthy of a wild garden. Other artists have much admired it, 

 and Mr. H. R. Robertson has made it a subject for a finished 

 picture, which was sold even before it was completed. This walk 

 is overarched, at intervals, with climbing roses ; and planted on one 

 side with pyramid pear-trees. The general effect is in the highest 

 degree charming, when we come upon it from paths of curved lines, 

 and view the chequered shade upon the path. Plate I is an exact 

 representation of its appearance from the valley of ferns, and who 

 can look at that picture without admiration and delight ? 



Again, my Fern glade is straight, and has a straight grass walk 

 by its side. The nut bushes, on one side, are parallel with the 

 stream ; and the grass walk and rows of apple-trees, on the other 

 side, are also straight. In this case also it would have looked un- 

 natural to have had curved lines ; and, although I once was tempted 

 to try it, and had made preparations, for curving the river, I ordered 

 the materials away, so satisfied was I that straight lines alone would 

 look natural for the occasion. My fern glade is a spot of great beauty, 

 and my visitors linger over it with delight in the summer afternoon. 



With the exception of places where straight lines look natural, I 

 eschew them, and also geometric figures, such as ovals, circles, octagons, 

 as not suitable to the horticulturist, and unpleasing to the eye. 



In using curved lines beauty appears to consist in an ever- varying 

 amount of curve. They should be parts of no regular figure, and 

 the Indians have supplied us, in the patterns of their shawls, with 

 forms which ever please us. In arranging them we must be guided 

 by the eye, and frequently a variation of an inch or two makes an 

 ^ important difference in the effect which is produced. 



The plan of my garden, on the scale of six inches to the mile, 

 shows the general mode in which it is laid out. As we enter by the 



