FLOWER-GARDEN FENCES. 



579 



retirement, which can never be sought 

 for in the grand and open garden around 

 - the mansion. 



In gardening, as well as in other mat- 

 ters, there are often different terms used 

 expressive of the same thing. Hence 

 we have the word pleasure-ground fre- 

 quently used in common parlance, when 

 a flower-garden, in the gardenesque style, 

 is meant ; for such a garden is not confined 

 to the mere plot occupied with flower 

 borders, as would be the case were we 

 speaking of one in the geometrical style. 

 The latter extends not beyond the boun- 

 dary of its proper enclosure, whereas the 

 other includes the whole ground kept in 

 dressed order, and so far as it extends 

 till united with the park or plantations. 

 The pleasure-ground is thus appropriately 

 enough defined by Mrs Loudon : " A 

 portion of a country residence devoted to 

 ornamental purposes, in contradistinction 

 to those parts which are devoted exclu- 

 sively to utility or profit, such as the 

 kitchen-garden, the farm, and the park. 

 In modern times, the pleasure-ground 

 consists chiefly of a lawn of smoothly 

 shaven turf, interspersed with beds of 

 flowers, groups of shrubs, scattered trees, 

 and, according to circumstances, with a 

 part of the whole scenes and objects which 

 belong to a pleasure-ground in the ancient 

 style. The main portion of the pleasure- 

 grounds is always placed on that side of 

 the house to which the drawing-room 

 windows open, and it extends in front, 

 and to the right, and to the left more or 

 less, according to the extent of the place ; 

 the park, or that part devoted exclusively 

 to pasture and scattered trees, being al- 

 ways on the entrance front. There is no 

 limit either to the pleasure-ground or to 

 the park, and no necessary connection 

 between the size of the house and the size 

 of the pleasure-ground. A small house 

 and a large garden was the wish of the 

 poet Cowley ; and the largest parks are 

 sometimes attached to very small houses 

 and pleasure-grounds, and the contrary. 

 A pleasure-ground in the modern time 

 differs from that prevalent at any former 

 period, in including all the scenes and 

 sources of enjoyment and recreation of 

 the ancient style as well as the modern. 

 For example, adjoining the drawing-room 

 front there is a terrace or terraces, with 

 or without an architectural flower-garden, 



decorated with statues, vases, fountains, 

 and other sculptured and architectural 

 objects. Beyond this, or connected with 

 it to the right and left, there may be a 

 lawn with flowers, shrubs, groups of trees, 

 ponds, lakes, rockwork, summer-houses, 

 or greenhouses, an orangery, and some- 

 times a botanic garden. Walks may 

 stretch away on either, or on both sides, 

 to a shrubbery which, in the present day, 

 is usually formed into an arboretum, 

 containing all the hardy trees and shrubs 

 which the extent of the scene will admit 

 of ; and in the course of the walk through 

 the scene there may be rustic structures, 

 such as wood houses, moss houses, root 

 houses, rock houses, or cyclopean cottages, 

 Swiss cottages, common covered seats, 

 exposed seats of wood or stone, temples, 

 ruins, grottoes, caverns, imitations of 

 ancient buildings ; and, in short, there is 

 scarcely an architectural object capable 

 of being rendered ornamental, and a 

 shelter from the sun, the wind, or the 

 rain, which may not find a place." 



§ 3.— FLOWER-GARDEN FENCES. 



These consist of a variety of materials, 

 all of which should be of the ornamental 

 kind. They are in general intended to 

 be invisible, or, more properly, not ac- 

 knowledged ; as anything like boundary, 

 unless in the architectural style, where 

 terrace walls, parapets, and sometimes 

 hedges, &c, form chief features, should be 

 carefully avoided : hence the introduc- 

 tion of the wire fence, which, according 

 to Sir W. Chambers, has long been used 

 in China. The rustic fence is, in most 

 cases, to be considered as an acknowledged 

 fence, and, when placed in connection with 

 rustic seats, bridges, cottages, &c, forms 

 a part with them in this style of land- 

 scape. They, like the architectural walls 

 close to the mansion, should be sparingly 

 clothed with vegetation. They are not 

 placed in either case to serve the purpose 

 of conductors to plants, but to form a 

 part of a whole in connection with sur- 

 rounding objects, and hence so much 

 taste is required in their construction. 



Evergreen hedges are fences of the 

 acknowledged kind, and are indispensable 

 in the tonsile style. They also form a 

 part in most subdivisions of the geometri- 



