GATES AND FENCES FOR GARDEN AND PARK. 



has been extensively used under the impression that all oak was very lasting, with 

 consequent disappointment to the users, and the fact that, when new, it is often so 

 hard that it is almost impossible to drive a nail into it, tends further to deceive the 

 inexperienced as to its durability. 



Another cheap fence for cottage gardens and probably the most generally useful 



which could be 



contrived, is 



constructed of 



carpenter - made 



lattice framed 



between strong 



square posts, 



three-and-a-half 



FIG. 56. 



FIG. 57. 



inches in dia- 

 meter and spaced five to six feet apart. The bottom rail should be kept clear of the 

 ground, say about three inches, and the top rail wethered or rounded on its top edge 

 and grooved to receive the laths, which should be about i^ by f inches thick and 

 spaced eight or nine inches from centre to centre. A useful height for such a fence is 

 about three feet six inches, and if it is not to be painted, the posts should be of oak, 

 otherwise larch or pitch pine are better. Pillar and climbing roses, honeysuckle, and 

 other flowering climbers can be most appropriately trained over it. 



Another form of fence, with framework of similar construction, is the old upright 

 paling, which may either have the posts rising from the ground or from the top of a 

 dwarf wall. The uprights or balusters may be ij inches by ij inches, set angle-wise 

 or square, or flat pieces about two and a half inches broad and three quarters of an 

 inch thick with the top ends cut to a pattern may be substituted. The possible vari- 

 ations in the treatment of the details are unlimited. In Holland, the tops of the 

 uprights are shaped and coloured to represent tulips or other flowers and the remainder 

 painted white, but such a treatment would generally appear exotic in this country, though 

 many ideas can be culled from the quaint Dutch gardens and also from Japanese ex- 

 amples. Travellers in the latter country speak enthusiastically of the artistic taste 

 and clever craftsmanship displayed in the fences. Even the tiniest gardens are fenced 

 by paling which, in character, is simplicity itself, exhibiting perfect taste in the spacing 

 of the several parts, the sizes and thickness of the woodwork, or woodwork and stone 

 combined as the case may be, minute attention being given to details, and all without 

 sacrificing in the slightest the durability of the work, but rather the reverse, clever 

 contrivances being made to nullify the effects of the weather by means of a pantile 

 roof over the railings or by crowning each post with a metal cap. 



A distinct class of wooden fence is obtained by the use of split or riven oak, which 

 is particularly appropriate for the division of suburban gardens or as a protection from 



a footpath or road. It has the 

 merit of being cheap when its 

 durability is considered, and 

 looks picturesque when weather- 

 stained, and particularly so when 

 overgrown with climbers. As will 

 be seen from Nos. 58, 59 and 

 60, the material allows of varied 

 and original treatment and some 

 forms are decidedly ornamental, 

 FIG . 5 s. though the ordinary pattern, 



Lattice 

 fencing. 



Upright 

 paling. 



Riven oak 

 fencing. 



59 



