House and Garden 
vista of the garden, so long that it ends in 
dim perspective. Old-fashioned flowers run 
riot on either side of the walk. Half way 
down you descend some steps and pass under 
a trellis covered with vines. There are shade 
trees, too, so the sunlight is sifted and only 
falls in spots across the walk, l ime, that 
master gardener, has lent much of the charm 
to this garden; but its real distinction lies 
in the right placing of buildings, arbors, 
and fences and the proper laying out of the 
walks, without which the flowers themselves 
are but a meaningless mass and never bold 
their real value. This is equally true of 
even a small garden, if it makes any attempt 
at formality. Lines and masses should be 
sought for rather than the spotting of flowers 
here and there, even though it be a tempta¬ 
tion to those who love the flowers simply for 
their own beauty. 
In the Ropes house there is another fine 
example of early Colonial work. It differs 
from many of the others in that the lines of the 
fence form a graceful curve toward the 
central posts and then lead up more grad¬ 
ually to the doorway. There is no gate, but 
the fence continues on either side of the 
brick walk. The top railing curves upwards 
to meet the height of the posts which are 
•decorated with carved Ionic pilasters and 
surmounted by richly carved urns. In 
many examples the ball is used in place 
FENCE IN WASHINGTON SQUARE—SALEM 
of the urn with equally harmonious effect, 
and in others the pickets are square instead 
of round; but a similarity of design is fol¬ 
lowed, especially in those in the same town. 
And along the old elm shaded narrow streets, 
in front of the quaint three-storeyed houses, 
one will find many a charming example of 
dainty pilaster and cornice. In Salem, too, 
there are many beautiful fences 
of iron. One of the most suc¬ 
cessful is that of the Pingree 
house on Essex Street. 1 he 
exquisite detail of the front 
entrance, with its curved porch 
supported by slender Corinthi¬ 
an columns between which 
the vines run on narrow lat¬ 
tices, leaves nothing to be 
desired, and the iron fence 
takes its place without draw¬ 
ing attention from this central 
motive. 
The p ane lied fences of 
Portsmouth form another in¬ 
teresting example of local pecu¬ 
liarities in fence building. Bat¬ 
tens are nailed over the joints 
of the wide boards and are 
returned at top and bottom 
STABLE AND PUMP—NICHOLS HOUSE 
229 
