36 
BUILDING SITES 
face for a deeper and larger lot. Here a space, at least wide 
enough to swing a scythe easily, is left between the fence and the 
first grass terrace. It must not be less than six feet wide, nor 
more than one-sixth of the distance from the fence to the house 
steps. Another grass terrace around the house is shown at C. 
Fig. 3. 
Two terraces of this kind are as many as any ordinary place will 
bear. To break a small lawn into a multiplicity of terraces is a 
sure means of spoiling it. This form of surface is well adapted to 
be carried around three sides of a block embracing several resi- 
dences, the fronts of which should be from 80 to 150 feet from the 
street, and the lower grass plat at a from 10 to 20 feet wide. 
Fig. 4 shows two forms of treating a bank made by a deeper 
street-cut — say from six to eight feet. Owners frequently wall 
Fig. 4. 
such Street lines the whole height of the cut. No more foolish ex- 
penditure can be incurred, both in an economic and artistic point 
of view. It is difficult to make such a wall that will resist the 
enormous pressure of the earth when frosts disintegrate, and heavy 
rains soften it. If constructed so that it can resist for years this 
interior pressure, it must be by the expenditure of a sum of money 
that might create ten times the beauty if expended in other ways. 
