Between any two points a line of shrubbery swinging in
and out in strong, graceful undulations appears much longer than a
straight one, because it is longer. But, over and above this, it makes
the distance between the two points seem greater. Everybody knows the
old boast of the landscape-architects--that they can make one piece of
ground look twice as large as another of the same measure, however
small, by merely grading and planting the two on contrary schemes. The
present writer knows one small street in his town, a street of fair
dwellings, on which every lawn is diminished to the eye by faulty
grading.
[Illustration: Shrubs are better than annuals for masking right angles.
South Hall, Williston Seminary. (See "Where to Plant What.")]
[Illustration: " ... a line of shrubbery swinging in and out in strong,
graceful undulations."
The straight planting on this picture's left masks the back yards of
three neighbors, and gives them a privacy as well as My Own Acre. The
curved planting shows but one of three bends. It was here that I first
made the mistake of planting a sinuous alley. (See "My Own Acre," p.
34.)]
For this he has no occasion to make himself responsible but there are
certain empty lots not far from him for whose aspect he is
answerable, having graded them himself (before he knew how). He has
repeatedly heard their depth estimated at ninety feet, never at more.
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