Chapter VI 



Fences — The Boundary — The Separation 



THAT the boundary-fence of a place should be con- 

 cealed from the house is among the few general 

 principles admitted in modern gardening; but even in 

 this instance, want of precision has led to error. The 

 necessary distinction is seldom made between the fence 

 which encloses a park and those fences which are adapted 

 to separate and protect the subdivisions within such en- 

 closure. For the concealment of the boundary various 

 methods have been adopted, on which I shall make some 

 observations. 



1. A plantation is certainly the best expedient for 

 hiding the pales; but in some cases it will also hide more 

 than is required. And in all cases, if a plantation sur- 

 round a place in the manner commonly practised under 

 the name of a belt, it becomes a boundary scarce less 

 offensive than the pale itself. The mind feels a certain 

 disgust under a sense of confinement in any situation, 

 however beautiful; as Dr. Johnson has forcibly illus- 

 trated, in describing the feeling of Rasselas in the happy 

 valley of Abyssinia. 



2. A second method of concealing a fence is by 

 making it of such light materials as to render it nearly 

 invisible ; such are fences made of slender iron and wire 

 painted green. 



3. A third method is sinking the fence below the 

 surface of the ground, by which means the view is not 

 impeded and the continuity of lawn is well preserved. 



