28 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



and two or three of the sides may consist of wall ; 

 but something of the crescent form, opening its arms 

 to the sun, ought to be preferred ; and then the 

 figure may be completed in a way the least offensive, 

 by a low hedge surmounting a sunk wall, which is but 

 little obtrusive. 



Still the visible line of demarcation is bad ; and 

 nothing tends so much to do away this effect as a 

 few irregular trees near to and without the boundary. 

 And this leads me to remark, what might be proved 

 by a thousand observations, that it is the ring fence 

 of a plantation which mainly fixes on it the stiffness 

 of artifice, and prevents it, whatever be its form, from 

 having the ease and elegance of natural wood. All 

 ornamental clumps ought, therefore, as soon as pos- 

 sible, to be freed from the encumbrance of their sur- 

 rounding hedge or dyke; and it is impossible to 

 describe the instant surprise of new beauty which 

 succeeds to such act of demolition. If to the removal 

 of such hampering lines from the landscape be added 

 the advantage of a few chance-scattered trees, allow- 

 ing the clumps as it were to dissipate like the verge 

 of a cloud, your work of art is completely charming, 

 and hardly to be distinguished from that of nature's 

 hand. But as your garden fence cannot be so dis- 

 posed of, the best that can be done is to break, by a 

 few trees, the exactness of the outline ; and if you 

 have planted within your enclosure, it is at once 

 pleasant and easy to transfer some portion to the 

 outside. For this you have trees where they are 

 wanted, and of such size as to need no fencing; and 

 by forming a colony to relieve an over crowded po- 

 pulation, you avoid the pain of cutting off young and 



