Art Out-of-Doors 
but as a frame which encircles a picture it 
may be made inoffensive, and sometimes, 
with its bordering plantations, actually ad- 
vantageous. Too wide and open a prospect 
is not desirable any more than one too 
cramped and crowded ; and while planta- 
tions are often needed to justify the course 
of the road, they are also needed to adorn it 
to the eyes of those who pass over it. Trees 
and shrubs may explain its curvatures, while 
it will explain the varied charms of shadow- 
ing foliage and lower masses of green. Each 
factor helps the other by giving it a reason 
for existence, and both together may be 
beautifully brought into the middle distance, 
at the side of a landscape picture, framing 
the foreground and affording glimpses, more 
attractive than a wholly unobstructed view, 
into the wider landscape beyond. 
To preserve a broad expanse of lawn in 
front of a house is in itself sufficient excuse 
for carrying the road to one side. If a 
minor curve is justified by the wish to pre- 
serve a fine tree, so a general deflection from 
the direct line of approach is justified by the 
wish to secure that broad stretch of green 
104 
