nearly invisible; and when formed of proper materials and well constructed they are very durable, and as efficient as a fence can well be. The use of iron rods screwed into each other, in place of the top wire and of the third wire from the ground, improves greatly the common wire fence. We lately inspected a fence of this description which had stood thirty-three years, and found it perfectly sound, and likely to last for as long a period to come. Instead of the above, iron hurdlefences are sometimes used, and being more moveable, have their conveniences in certain situations. Wire fences with wooden posts are at present pretty extensively used. In relation to agricultural purposes, have nothing to say against them; but we confess that we regard them as offensive in the park, and we should employ them only as temporary expedients. At a distance, they appear an array of wooden stumps stuck into the ground without visible utility or connection; and on flat surfaces, where several lines may be seen together, they are at once mean and monotonous.

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Sunk Fences have been generally superseded by wire fences; there are, however, some positions in which the former are preferable, as we have pointed out when speaking of the boundary and deer-park enclosures. The proper place of the sunk fence in the park is where a sectional division is wanted, while it is desirable to preserve an apparent continuity of outline in a glade, or an expanse of grass on a level or slightly inclined surface, on which pehaps even the inconsiderable constraint of a wire fence might be objectionable. The wall of the sunk fence should never face the principal point of view; and from such points it is not an advantage for the line of direction to be seen on end, and so to be enfiladed

by the eye. A low wall, thirty inches in height, forming a sunk fence two feet in depth, with two wires along the top, affords a good cheap protection for plantations where stones are abundant.

Stone Walls are good permanent fences; but on flat or slightly undulating surfaces they often hide a considerable breadth of view, especially when employed as internal divisions. For plantations they are less objectionable, as the trees overhang and veil them. They are best suited for hilly and mountainous countries, and in these they may be freely employed, as the objections which may be made against walls in other places are there less applicable.

Hedges afford a cheap and ready sort of fence; they are not however, generally speaking, very suitable for the park, for however neatly they may be cut and dressed, it is needful, when they form the boundaries of clumps or plantations, to keep the trees trimmed back, in order to prevent them from injuring the hedges, and so they impart a more formal and constrained outline to growing wood than almost any other species of fence does. Hedges may be planted with good effect on the inside of the boundary walls of the park, to clothe them when they are not screened by plantations.

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CHAPTER VIII.

WATER.

Artificial Lakes; Islands; the Head, or Artificial Embankment ; Decorative Accompaniments.-Artificial Rivers.-Jet Fountains.-Jets d'Eau.-Propriety of Introducing Water.

Of all the varied materials in the composition of natural scenery, there is none that produces more beauty, variety, and interest than water; nor is there any that enters into so many pleasing combinations with surrounding objects. This felicity in adjusting itself to the beautiful in nature awakens a strong desire for the introduction of so pleasing an element into the more artificial arrangements of Parks and Pleasure-Grounds. In these it assumes a diversity of forms, such as artificial lakes, ponds, rivers, waterfalls, fountains, and jets d'eau-means of ornament which, when skilfully executed and kept in their proper places, are always a great acquisition to the grounds into which they are introduced.

In the formation of an artificial lake, there are two requisites of almost equal importance. The first is an adequate supply of water, without which, indeed, we may make a morass or weedy pool, but not a pleasing sheet of the liquid element. The second, and not infe

rior object is a suitable site for the lake. If the locality does not convey the impression that the water is resting in a hollow, vale, or platform, and is retained there by a natural obstruction not easily removed, there will be "a want of truth or fidelity" of expression in relation to "the thing imitated" that will tend to excite aversion rather than pleasure in the minds of those who have been trained to a genuine taste for the beauties of nature. Wherever the artificial lake is seen, generally speaking, it ought to appear in the lowest part of the landscape within the park; or if it cannot be made to present this appearance from every point of view, care should be taken to secure a considerable breadth of space between the lake itself and the natural outlet by which its waters seem to be drained off. Without these necessary features there is a want of truthfulness in the expression. It is true that in hilly and mountainous countries pools are found without the conditions above specified, but there is always something to account for them, and they are mostly mere spots in the landscape; while in parks and pleasure-grounds sheets of water are, from their nature, prominent objects, and whatever is obtrusively artificial or out of harmony is sure to be offensive. When a series of ponds or lakes are formed on the same stream, and in the same park, it is desirable that the natural form of the ground should be such as to indicate that, in each case, no great amount of obstruction was necessary to attain the designed effect.

The place, then, for an artificial lake is a natural hollow where no great embankment is required, or where a moderate excavation will afford materials for the banks needed to retain the water, for the islands and promontories on the lake itself, and for the knolls and

slopes by which the ground in its vicinity may be varied. The opposite extreme, however, should be avoided; for where there is too little excavation the boundaries of the lake often seem too feeble for the retention of its contents, and the effect is invariably tame. As a general rule, apparent shallowness should be avoided in artificial

water.

The beauty of lakes depends greatly on their outline, and this, therefore, is an object of indispensable attention. When they are formed in a hollow, the plane of their waters naturally assumes an outline corresponding with the original configuration of the ground, and this outline can be varied and improved only by the formation of bays, promontories, and islands; and by such means considerable additional effect may often be produced. When the site is on level ground, the outline may be varied at pleasure; any form may be adopted. It may be either broad, bending, or winding, as the general character of the park or the extent of the lake will allow. In every case, however, the artificial lake should present breadth rather than length. Variety of outline, and the desirable intricacy of effect, may be secured by the means above alluded to, viz., by bays, and promontories, and islands. Care, however, must be taken that the projecting masses do not obscure or destroy the breadth of surface, as is too often the case with small pieces of water. In some instances, what is intended for a lake dwindles down into a winding canal, or palmated pool with an island stuck into it, certainly as unlike a work of nature as a work of man can be.

Islands should be irregular both in their outline and contour, and small rather than large. They are more advantageously placed near the sides or ends than in the