THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— May 20. 1850. 1)3 
crimson belt on a white ground; dark disc; and good 
form and habit. 
11. Prince of Prussia .—Fine form, and good habit; 
colour a beautiful glossy sky-blue, with a narrow rim of 
white round a dark disc; a very handsome aud striking 
variety. 
12. Prince Arthur (E. G. Henderson).—A self-coloured 
ilower of the brightest dense crimson colour ; good form 
and habit; a very showy variety. T. Apeledy. 
(To be continued.) 
THE SUBURBAN VILLA AND COUNTRY 
RESIDENCE. 
no. vr. 
THE FLOWER-GARDEN FENCE. 
Fences admit of great variety in form and detail of con¬ 
struction. Of these, however, it is not my present object to 
speak. But the principles upon which particular kinds of 
fences are applicable to certain situations, and vice versa, 
form a subject of no mean importance, and it is this that 
I propose briefly to discuss. 
The so-called sunk fence, or ha-ha, demands the principal 
share of attention, and I believe I shall be unfortunate 
enough to differ from many persons whose opinions are en¬ 
titled to great respect, when I venture to condemn it alto¬ 
gether as a means of separation between the flower-garden 
and the grounds immediately contiguous to it. Yet from 
such situations I would banish it altogether as inappropriate 
in the highest degree. I will endeavour to explain the 
grounds for my objection. In the first place, there is an 
avowed separation between the dressed grounds and the 
park, or paddock, as the case may be. It is fully understood 
that cattle are not admitted to the former, and that flower 
borders and dressed shrubberies are wholly out of place in 
the latter. Why, then, attempt to give the appearance of 
that which cannot by any possibility be recognized in reality ? 
It may possibly be urged, in opposition to this, that a great 
portion of real excellence in garden design arises from in¬ 
genious deceptions, and that it is perfectly allowable in the 
artist to put a “generous deceit’’ upon the spectators. This 
I admit is true to a certain extent, but it can only be allowed 
when the results of such deceptions are calculated to gratify 
the mind by exciting pleasing emotions. But in the em¬ 
ployment of an invisible fence, to separate grounds occupied 
by cattle from others devoted to flowers, the opposite of this 
must always be the result. Suppose, for instance, that we 
are strolling in a garden for the first time, or, at least, thnt 
we are not familiar with its boundaries ; and that while ad¬ 
miring the beauties of the place, and inhaling the fragrance 
of the flowers, we suddenly behold, some fifty yards before 
us, a group of cattle quietly grazing, as it were, among the 
shrubberies. Our first impulse would be to eject them from 
what we should naturally imagine forbidden ground—in 
fact, the flower garden. But presently we meet the gardener, 
who allays our fears by quietly informing us that a ha-ha 
effectually restrains the cattle within their own domain. This 
is, perhaps, an extreme view of'the case, but it is at least a 
i truthful one. But at all times, and even to those most fami- 
i liar with such a garden, there is, when cattle in the adjoin- 
i ing grounds are seen close upon the dressed grounds with¬ 
out any visible intervening fence, an idea of insecurity, as 
well as of incongruity, which tends very much to disturb 
those pleasing emotions which the contemplation of a gar¬ 
den should always inspire, and which forms so large an 
item in the pleasure which it affords. 
During the last century, when the so-called natural style 
of gardening was the prevailing fashion, the ha-ha was the 
ordinary garden fence; very many examples of which yet 
remain, and it is still adopted in newly-formed grounds; for 
so fascinated are some persons with the idea of au invisible 
boundary to their gardens, that it is rarely possible for 
the landscape gardener to overrule its adoption when once 
the employment of it has been conceived by his employers. 
Yet nothing bat a partiality for an antiquated practice could 
insist on such a fence in the situation we are now consider¬ 
ing, for it most assuredly has not one principle to recom¬ 
mend it either on the score of appropriateness or utility. 
A ha-ha is simply a ditch with a more polite name ; and 
as an appendage to a style of gardening in which the 
avowed object was to bauisli as much as possible-the appear¬ 
ance of art, nothing could appropriately supply its place ; 
but a3 a boundary to a garden properly so called, every part 
of which should bear strong evidence of the continued in¬ 
terference of art, it is incongruous in the highest degree. 
The flower-garden fence ought to be a visible one, and it 
should not only be sufficiently strong in reality to afford pro¬ 
tection from cattle ; but it should appear as such—it should 
seem to be adequate for the office it assumes ; for, if from 
extreme lightness of construction (a point, by-the-by, too 
much aimed at), it seems not sufficiently strong for the 
purpose intended, it will, in some degree, give rise to appre¬ 
hensions similar to those which are felt by a person under i 
the impression that no fence whatever exists. 
I know a large mansion in which the windows of the prin¬ 
cipal rooms have lately been glazed with plate glass, in 
squares of such large dimensions, that all the ordinary sash- r 
bars have been removed as unnecessary. The consequence ! 
of this is, that when you are in the rooms the window-frames j 
appear to be without any glass in them; and it would be 
pardonable in any one, unacquainted with the truth, who j 
should attempt to walk through without opening the win¬ 
dows, from the belief that no impediment exists. This ar¬ 
rangement I have heard highly extolled. But it appears to 
me to be, like the invisible fence, in the worst possible 
taste, because it affects a deception which is not only not 
necessary, but which is calculated to produce much inconve- ; 
nience. We know that some boundary to the garden must 
exist, and that our living rooms must be protected from the I 
vicissitudes of the weather; upon what principle then, can | 
we, in either case, banish the appearance, while we admit our 
need of the reality ? As well might we make the walls of our 
dwellings transparent, to impress the idea that we live in the | 
open air. I introduce this somewhat irrelevant illustration 
because it exemplifies the principles I am endeavouring to ! 
advance. 
But, nevertheless, there are situations in which the ha-ha 
and sunk fence are not only useful, but highly appropriate. 
Where it is advisable to separate a large lawn grazed by 
cattle into several parts for convenience, and where, perhaps, 
visible fences would be inappropriate or unsightly, the ha-ha 
can be employed with) good effect, because the object 
sought is deception, and the means employed effectually 
accomplishes it. The appearance of an unbroken space is 
maintained, while the convenience of separate enclosures 
exist in reality. Or, in other words, a useful deception is re¬ 
alized, and the realization is a source of pleasure. 
Of late years, irou has been much and very usefully em¬ 
ployed as a material for ornamental fencing. The “ invisible ” 
iron-fence admits of very extensive employment, and as the 
name is, fortunately, a pleasant fiction, such a fence becomes, 
in many cases, doubly appropriate, combining, as it does, 
lightness and elegance with efficiency. 
But whatever material is employed as a fence, simplicity 
of design ought to bo a prominent feature in it. All fan¬ 
tastic patterns should be avoided, for such are rarely at¬ 
tempted without the result degenerating into a monstrosity— 
a cockueyism. 
The simple lines are always the most appropriate. Such 
“ fancy” patterns as are frequently met with in the vicinity 
of towns are heresies to be vigorously avoided. There are, 
of course, situations where fences of peculiar and fastaslic 
designs are appropriate, as in connection with buildings, or j 
gardens of particular or fancy styles. But such exceptions ! 
do not affect the positions assumed; for the observations con¬ 
tained in these papers, it will be borne in mind, treat mainly, 
of principles, and those of the broadest character. 
But although I would not, as a principle, employ the ha-ha : 
as a fence to the flower-garden, it may sometimes be both i 
usefully and appropriately adopted in conjunction with a j 
balustrade, or other fence. Situations will sometimes occur, 1 
where a fence of ordinary height would obstruct a view from j 
the principal windows of a residence, or from some particular 
position in the grounds. Then a low fence may be rendered 
effective by the addition of a modified ha-ha , having a per¬ 
pendicular side next the garden faced with masonry, and ex- 
