THINGS WORTH DOING 287 



The shorter avenues of grand trees leading to 

 houses have usually seemed to be the best because 

 the whole thing can be seen at once, and forms one 

 complete picture, just as there is always a pleasant 

 Dutch-picture-Hke look about a short avenue of 

 Pollards. 



The very long lengths of formal planting are 

 only suitable for large parks that have palatial 

 houses of a certain class. The fashion of planting 

 trees in this way came from Holland with William 

 III., and prevailed for many years. The examples 

 that remain from those days have now acquired all 

 the beauty of a more than mature overgrowth; and 

 though this kind of tree-planting is by no means 

 the most delight-giving, yet one cannot help re- 

 gretting the destruction of the many fine examples 

 that had no sooner attained to a splendid young 

 maturity, than, in obedience to the rule of the next 

 wave of fashion, they were ruthlessly swept away. 



In private roads, such as those through parks, 

 one often sees a quite unnecessary mdth of road- 

 way. Except in cases where it is cut in the side 

 of a hill, there is no need for the road to be of 

 greater width than suits a single carriage ; where 

 two have to pass, there is no harm in having to 

 drive over the edge of the grass ; indeed even in 

 the case of uneven ground, if the Avay is levelled 

 so as to include grass verges, it does equally well, 

 and saves a large amount of expensive road -making. 



