AND GROUND SURFACES. 
37 
A solid wall from two to three feet above the sidewalk level is as 
high as we would advise on street lines from which it is intended 
that grounds shall show their beauty. On Fig. 2, sections C and 
D, where the street cut is three or four feet, the ground-slope down 
to the sidewalk, as shown by the formal terraces, and the lower 
line, on section C, is more pleasing than any wall. 
But for the deep cut illustrated by Fig. 4, it is an open question 
whether, as some kind of fence will be necessary, a partial wall, as 
at /, may not effect that object, and produce the best form of 
ground surface. It will be seen by the enlarged section a that the 
coping of the low wall (say 3 feet) is to be cut so as to make its 
outer surface a continuation of the sloping bank above. This will 
make a pretty effect, and no other fence will be required \ but the 
wall must be of great strength. The lower line being merely a 
sloping bank of grass, would require another kind of fence, and to 
be treated as at Fig. 2. 
Fig. 5 is intended to illustrate the prettier effect that may be 
produced by making use of small inequalities of the ground, instead 
Fig. 5. 
of grading to a uniform slope. It does not show just the surface it 
was intended to show, but will suggest to the observer the greater 
possibility of pleasing effects than on a uniform plane. 
Where a natural elevation for a house occurs a few rods from 
the street, with an intervening level between it and the street, it is 
usually better to preserve its form, than to grade down and fill up 
to bring the whole lot to what some persons are pleased to term “a 
correct grade.” Fig. 6 illustrates what is meant ; the natural sur- 
face is a graceful form, and the most capable of decorative effect. 
Though rising ground is usually more valued than that which 
