Theory and Practice 129 



either mowed, or fed by cattle; and this practical part 

 of the management of a place forms one of the most diffi- 

 cult points of the professors of art, because the line of 

 fence which separates the dressed ground from the 

 pasture is too often objectionable ; yet there is not 

 less impropriety in admitting cattle to feed in a flower- 

 garden than in excluding them from such a tract of 

 land as might be fed with advantage. 



At Sheffield Place, the beautiful and long meadow in 

 Arno's Vale is a striking example of what I have men- 

 tioned ; because, if it were possible, or on the principle 

 of economy advisable, to keep all this ground as neatly 

 rolled and mowed as the lawn near the house, by which 

 it would always appear as it does the first week after the 

 hay is carried off, yet I contend that the want of ani- 

 mals and animation deprives it of half its real charms ; 

 and although many beauties must be relinquished by cur- 

 tailing the number of walks, yet others may be obtained, 

 and the whole will be more easily kept with proper neat- 

 ness by judicious lines of demarcation which shall sepa- 

 rate the grounds to be fed from the grounds to be mown ; 

 or rather by such fences as shall, on the one hand, pro- 

 tect the woods from the encroachments of cattle, and, on 

 the other, let the cattle protect the grass-land from the 

 encroachment of woods, for such is the power of vege- 

 tation at Sheffield Place that every berry soon becomes 

 a bush and every bush a tree. 



From this luxuriant vegetation the natural shape of 

 the vale is obliterated, the gently sloping banks are 

 covered with wood, and the narrow glade in the bottom 

 is choked with spreading larches. It is impossible to 

 describe by words, and without a map, how this line of 

 demarcation should be effected ; but I am sure many 

 acres might be given to cattle and the scenery be im- 



