THE NEW ART OF GARDEN-MAKING 25 



small the place, this purpose can be served. The eye is 

 held from the first. In a large place of irregular outline 

 the eye should be given greater freedom. 



I recently did away with an herbaceous border close 

 to the best side of a square house and substituted a rock 

 border. The herbaceous border was beautiful in itself, 

 but, seen in a wrong perspective, was ineffectual. The 

 rock border was perfectly flat, save for the slight uneven- 

 ness caused by the varying thickness of the stones ; but 

 this flatness was in the circumstances an advantage. 

 While, however, in such places I would use the straight 

 line, in cases where I wished to link up the house lawn 

 with distant borders, shrub belts and trees I would have 

 recourse to the curving line. The flowers nearest the 

 house I would have dwarf er than those farther on. 



The pergola, which can be used with great effect in 

 rectangular gardens, should not, I think, be allowed to 

 intervene in a bold, irregular sweep of ground, where it 

 would be out of place. Still worse are disconnected 

 arches, having no definite purpose, and merely serving 

 to support plants, which could be done better with pillars. 

 I would use a pergola to lead from one part of a garden 

 to another, but I would not cut a sweep of grass in front 

 of the principal windows into separate portions with it. 

 Rather would I have the grass entirely unbroken save for 

 one or two carefully chosen trees, and on its confines have 

 bold groups of shrubs with a waved border flowing from 

 one to the other all round the grass. If there is a piece of 

 rising ground it should, if possible, be made use of as a 

 background and shelter, being planted with trees to in- 

 crease its height and its protecting influences. 



Ground falling to water affords natural material for 

 Alpine gardening. On the slopes rockwork may be con- 

 structed. The bed can be broken with flat stones. 



