1008 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



art ; in rows, equidistant masses, in squares, or in quincunx, and in every case so as 

 never to be mistaken for trees or shrubs sprung up accidentally. 



7212. Fences. Here the ancient style has a grand advantage over the modern, in 

 which, as far as respects the imitation of nature, all fences are to be considered as tem- 

 porary, and, therefore, to a certain degree, looked on as nuisances to be afterwards re- 

 moved. Besides, their irregular and circuitous line is displeasing to many who do not 

 understand ground-plans, with a view to picturesque beauty, when the trees are grown 

 up. But in geometric gardening, fences are to be considered in many cases as objects, 

 and when not regarded in this light, their directions and limits are so minutely pointed 

 out by the determined outline of the plantations, that the eye acquiesces in their situ- 

 ation and use. Fences of any common and economical description are employed to 

 protect the trees of open avenues, open groves, and single open rows. But the more 

 common kind are walls, which in the prominent parts ought to be well built of shaped 

 stone, and substantially finished by raised or flat copings, bearing some relation to the 

 copings of the simpler parapets of the house. The gates necessary in these walls, as 

 well as in some sorts of permanent verdant fences, supply occasion for such architectural 

 forms and lines, as are advantageous in reflecting those of the mansion, and strengthening 

 the prevailing idea of dignity, art, and design. Every sort of fence belonging to the 

 modern style, may be occasionally employed in the ancient; and besides walls, half-sunk 

 walls, and raised mounds with a walk at top, we may enumerate hedges of holly, yew, 

 laurel, and other shrubs, either simple or chequered, by alternate deciduous or evergreen 

 species, varied by arcades and standards, shorn into shapes, or in their natural growth. 

 Hedges of flowering shrubs may also be introduced ; of creepers on open palisades ; 

 and various others of great beauty may be invented, or are to be found in books on this 

 style of gardening. 



7213. Management. In this respect also, the advantage is greatly in favor of the 

 ancient style ; for as all operations of pruning and thinning in the other should be done 

 under the eye of the landscape-gardener, so all these operations here may be performed 

 by any laborer ; the object being simply to produce a straight, upright, smooth stem, to 

 a certain height according to circumstances, and allow each particular tree to attain its 

 full size. Shearing or clipping is always a mere mechanical operation ; plain hedges 

 and close alleys require only a line for a guide ; and in the case of arcades or verdant 

 sculpture, there is, or always should be, a frame of trellis-work of correct design to guide 

 the operator. From the comparative brevity of this view which we have taken of plant- 

 ing under the ancient style, the reader will perceive, that we are far from supposing it 

 to take the lead of the natural method to which we now proceed, referring for more 

 particular information to Le Blond, and other French authors ; and to Switzer's Ichno- 

 graphia Rustica. 



7214. In planting with a view to natural beauty, the effect of the whole is here also 

 the first and the grand consideration. All planting, as respects the formation of a 

 country-residence, must necessarily be 

 materially influenced by the character 

 and situation of the house, as the capital 

 feature in the composition. To this 

 feature, the leading masses of wood and 

 lawn, answering the end of light and 

 shade in painting, must invite and 

 direct the eye in the general view of 

 the place, (^g. 691.) Each must em- 

 brace it on one or on more sides, and 

 diverge from it in masses suitable to 

 its magnitude and the extent of the 

 grounds, and in forms and characters 

 of woody surface, suitable to the na- 

 tural situation and the expression to be 

 created. If the mansion is on a decli- 

 vity, the principal light should embrace 

 the front which looks down, rather 

 than those which look up, or on either 

 side. The views from the windows 

 suggest this arrangement, and will 

 point out in every other situation, whe- 

 ther a flat, a hill, or an irregular sur- 

 face, on which side or sides the leading 

 masses are to have their origin. To 

 determine their magnitude, forin, and 

 number, would be impossible, without 



