. The art of landscape gardening. any cases, the lineshould be straight. I have already hinted in this chap-ter that the fence of a wood or plantation should beconsidered as merely temporary, that is, till the thornsplanted among the trees can supersede its use. Where-fore, it is of little consequence in what manner a hurdle,or rough posts and rails, without any hedge or ditch,may be placed : a straight line is ever the shortest, and Theory and Practice 133 I have often preferred it, especially as I know that a fewtrees or bushes at each end of such a line will preventthe eye from looking alon
. The art of landscape gardening. any cases, the lineshould be straight. I have already hinted in this chap-ter that the fence of a wood or plantation should beconsidered as merely temporary, that is, till the thornsplanted among the trees can supersede its use. Where-fore, it is of little consequence in what manner a hurdle,or rough posts and rails, without any hedge or ditch,may be placed : a straight line is ever the shortest, and Theory and Practice 133 I have often preferred it, especially as I know that a fewtrees or bushes at each end of such a line will preventthe eye from looking along its course. Sometimes it happens, from the intermixture of pro-perty or other causes, that the fence is obliged to makea very acute angle ; this may occasionally be remediedby another line of fence fitting to its greatest projection ;and as this same principle may be extended to roads,walks, or rivers, I shall explain it. The sharp elbow or projection of the fence a [] ceases to be offensive if another fence can be joined. Fig. 17 to it, as at b, and the same with the line of road orwalk; the branch obviates the defect. It has been observed by the adversaries of the art thatexactly the same line will serve either for a road or ariver, as it may be filled with gravel or with water. Thisridicule may perhaps be deserved by those engineerswho are in the habit of making navigable canals only,but the nice observer will see this material difference: The banks of a natural river are never equidistant;the water in some places will spread to more than twicethe breadth it does in others. This pleasing irregularitydepends on the shape of the ground through which itflows : a river seldom proceeds far along the middle ofa valley, but generally keeps on one side, or boldlystretches across to the other, as the high ground resists 134 The Art of Landscape Gardening or the low ground invites its course. These circum-stances in natural rivers should be carefully imitated inthose of art, a
Size: 2811px × 889px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorreptonhumphry17521818, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
