188 



PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



wire and small iron rods for the use of the park, come 

 nearer to perfection than any others. "We consider 

 them the greatest improvement introduced into this 

 department of fencing during the last hundred years. 

 Their light and simple forms interposing a small 

 amount of opaque matter between the eye and ob- 

 jects beyond, render them nearly invisible; and when 

 formed of proper materials, and well constructed, they 

 are very durable, and as efficient as a fence can well 

 be. The use of iron rods screwed into each other, in 

 place of the top wire and of the third wire from the 

 ground, improves greatly the common wire fence. 

 We lately inspected a fence of this description which 

 had stood thirty-three years, and found it perfectly 

 sound, and likely to last for as long a period to come. 

 Instead of the above, iron hurdle-fences are sometimes 

 used, and, being more movable, have their conven- 

 iences in certain situations. Wire fences with wooden 

 posts are at present pretty extensively used. In rela- 

 tion to agricultural purposes, we have nothing to say 

 against them; but we confess that we regard them as 

 offensive in the park, and we should employ them only 

 as temporary expedients. At a distance, they appear 

 an array of wooden stumps stuck into the ground, 

 without visible utility or connection; and on flat sur- 

 faces, where several lines may be seen together, they 

 are at once mean and monotonous. 



Sunk Fences have been generally superseded by 

 wire fences ; there are, however, some positions in 

 which the former are preferable, as we have pointed 

 out when speaking of the boundary and deer-park in* 

 closures. The proper place of the sunk fence in the 

 park is where a sectional division is wanted, while it 



