83 



PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



is inferior, these slopes are very suitable for places 

 where a plain style of decoration is required, and par- 

 ticularly at a distance from the mansion-house, as on 

 the sides of bowling-greens or in flower-gardens, and 

 in the more remote parts of the pleasure-grounds. It 

 must be admitted that a terrace with a regularly formed 

 grass bank of considerable depth has mostly a bad ap- 

 pearance. This arises partly from its surface being 

 so plain as to have no variety, and partly from the 

 absence of a diversity in light and shade, particularly 

 in those slopes which face toward the south. A long, 

 natural slope of grass is often very beautiful ; but, on 

 examination, it will be founcLthat it is free from that 

 dead, mechanical uniformity common in artificial 

 works. Perhaps, however, light has the greatest in- 

 -fluence in this respect — • a fact very much overlooked 

 in landscape-gardening. The surface of the slope is 

 turned up toward the light; and so it wants that va- 

 riety of shade which even a plain wall exhibits at dif- 

 ferent periods of the day. Accordingly it is found 

 that, when facing the north, and in an inferior degree 

 when facing the east and west, these grass slopes are 

 always more effective than when turned to the south, 

 for in this last position they are seldom seen in shade, 

 and consequently have a bare and bald effect. Never- 

 theless, a long, deep, grassy slope, closely shaven and 

 neatly kept, is always popular, however ineffective it 

 may be in the eye of refined taste. There are some 

 means of relieving its monotony, which we shall indi- 

 cate in the following, paragraphs. — Ed. 



Shrubs on Terrace Banks. — Long, bare slopes, and 

 particularly when there are irregularities of surface 

 which could be removed only with great labor and 



