52 THE ART AND PRACTICE OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



application of such means reacts on the imagination, and the feeling 

 of the spectator, with adjusted force. It must be remembered that 

 an avenue across a park divides it in two parts at that point. It 

 is not fitting except it proceed from some important entrance on a 

 side whence no distant views can be spoiled by its introduction. 

 The width of a grand avenue should be 50 ft. The trees may be, 

 preferably, Elm, Beech, Oak, Chestnut, and they should not be planted 

 nearer in precession than 40 ft, unless they be planted at intervals 

 of half that distance with the purpose of destroying alternate trees, 

 as their growth makes the removal necessary. 



A century ago it was the fashion and practice to make boundary 

 plantations continuous and unbroken on the verge of an estate. 

 That is a practice not to be recommended. It is well to place 

 large masses of foliage towards the boundary, especially if these are 

 arranged to present winding intervals of turf, and so that endings 

 and corners be masked ; or such planting may be made only for 

 effect. But an enclosure pure and simple, even though it be of 

 leaves, and not a brick wall, gives a shut-in and cramped feeling, 

 which needlessly militates against expressions of beauty and expanse 

 that may be deftly gained from outside the boundary line. 



Groups of planting in the garden may be more apparently con- 

 nected with the design than is permissible in the park. The effects 

 are for nearer contemplation, and are more intricate ; they harmonise 

 with, but display, the general design. The seeking after natural 

 formation is restricted, the reproduction of it more in miniature, the 

 arrangement is more elaborate and precise. Our choicer plants 

 have to be displayed here to best advantage, and the mean has to 

 be obtained between a mere collection of rare trees and shrubs, and 

 such a grouping of them as will produce a harmonious polytonous 

 effect as a whole. To achieve this, the outline of different groups, 

 and the position of the plants in them, give us requisite help. By 



