BORDERS 65 
form is a long strip of even width, straight or 
curved, with either square or rounded corners. 
Very frequently the border is a triangle, generally 
obtuse-angled. Then there are various forms with 
all the edges irregular and others where one side 
is broken very much as a coast line is. 
The more closely the border sticks to straight 
lines, the less work in the beginning and from that 
time on. The guiding idea, however, should be fit- 
ness; what is best for one place may be worst for 
another. Asa rule the line of border along a path, 
road or boundary has at least the nearer line paral- 
lel to the latter; this is not necessarily automatic, 
as often there is the permissible very narrow strip 
of turf between. But the border may be parallel 
only a certain distance and then veer off at an angle 
at a point where a break in the lawn gives it an ex- 
cuse for so doing, or where it is desirable to create 
a low screen. 
Irregular borders would better have their edges 
broken by graceful curves when they come close to 
a path; they look better and the bit of intervening 
turf is more easily cared for. As to care, the same 
is true of shrubbery islands in a lawn scheme. If 
a border is to be cut up into capes and bays let it be 
a long one on the farther side of a lawn, where not 
so much the irregular edge as the admirable effect 
produced by it comes into the picture. 
Width and length are governed by circum- 
stances; some borders are from twelve to twenty 
feet wide and others are hundreds of feet long. 
