Practical Considemtions 131 



could soften the action of the waves. But plantations in 

 order to fulfill the purpose well should be pretty dense at the 

 bottom as well as in the higher parts, and the broader they 

 can conveniently be made the more efficient they will be. 

 Mounds or banks of earth, with plantations upon them, will 

 be perhaps the best means of shelter in most positions. If 

 walls be chosen they will be much more useful when backed 

 by a plantation. Fortunately, whatever is usually employed 

 for shelter need rarely produce any kind of shade, the north 

 and points adjoining it being those which most call for pro- 

 tection, and those also on which the rays of the sun will 

 never be intercepted. This is assuming, however, that the 

 materials used for shelter are kept mainly towards the outer 

 edge of a place, as they always should be if the ground be 

 nearly flat, because they would there tend to promote privacy 

 as well. In a hilly place, the flower garden or pleasure 

 grounds may require extra shelter in their immediate neigh- 

 borhood. This should be accompKshed where possible by 

 shrubs only or by trees of a lower growth, that the ground 

 behind may not be rendered useless by shade. 



As any openings in a Hne of objects producing shelter 

 would only serve to draw in more violent and destructive 

 currents of wind, it is essential that the material used should 

 be pretty continuous. If it be a wall or a hedge or a bank of 

 earth alone, or any other close object, this point will be of 

 still greater consequence, and the narrower the opening, the 

 more fiercely would the wind sweep through it. Any obstruc- 

 tion to wind will drive it round the ends or through the 

 apertures of that obstruction with accumulated force; and 

 the smaller the aperture, the more concentrated and powerful 

 will be the volume that rushes through it, particularly if the 

 obstructing medium be a hard and impervious one. AU such 

 openings wiU consequently be bad and destructive, though 



