8 Introduction 



An important use of fences and walls, 

 more appreciated in Europe than here, 

 is support for vines, fruit trees and other 

 crawling plants. In England it is quite 

 necessary to ripen some fruits, such as 

 peaches, against walls. The additional 

 sunshine and the heat radiated from the 

 wall are responsible for the complete ripen- 

 ing of the fruit in a cool, damp climate. 



As in all other matters of designing, 

 that is designing accessories for the house, 

 the same principles apply for these fea- 

 tures. Appropriateness of style with the 

 house, relation of color and proportion, 

 surface texture and the like ; all these are 

 important considerations. They are the 

 connecting links between the purely nat- 

 ural features of the grounds or garden 

 and the conventional and artificial fea- 

 tures of the building. They are the shad- 

 ings of expression between the formality 

 of the house and the formality of the gar- 

 den or the informality of the grounds. 



