some lodge, divided into equal portions on either side of a central archway, with wrought-iron gates of appropriate pattern beneath. It is proposed, therefore, to carry wing walls from the lodge, of the same style and material, (red brick with stone dressings, in the Italian manner,) round a sort of court, which is one hundred and fifty feet square; and the outline broken as to ground line, and also with piers, in the way denoted on the plan. And, as there will necessarily be two openings, for roads, on the right-hand side, two recesses are formed, in corresponding positions, on the opposite side, the one to contain a seat, and the other a drinking basin. The court would further be broken by plots of grass, as in the plan, protected with posts and chains, and having a few suitable trees upon them; while the park wall would be continued in the direction of Lytham, as shown, and also along the side of the Blackpool road, the whole being well backed-up and supported by massive plantations.

My last illustration of the class (fig. 221) is drawn from a new entrance, sketched by me, to the property of Sir Robert Gerard, Bart., at Garswood. The point of entrance here is particularly happy, being at the junction of four roads;-a circumstance that is often of itself sufficient to determine the position of some kind of inlet to a place. Being intended chiefly for the St. Helens road, however, it is called the St. Helens entrance, to distinguish it from two other approaches to the Hall. And as the property around it belongs to Sir Robert Gerard, the corners between the contiguous roads are intended to be cut off from the fields behind them, and planted in the manner shown, being kept in grass, and separated from the roads only by an open fence of posts and chains. In this way, there will be a

certain amount of suitable furniture all around the entrance. The wing fences will be of ornamental iron, on a proper plinth, and will extend on either side as far as the last piers shown in the sketch, where they will be joined by the park wall. The gates, of which there will be one for carriages, and two for foot-passengers, will be of similar material. The drive is only straight in so far as it passes through an old plantation, which is kept as an enclosure. After leaving this, it will curve gently to the right, across the park, to the Hall.

In each of the plans thus given, the lodge is supplied, in its rear, with a small enclosed yard, containing the usual conve

niences. All the lodges, too, are on one floor only, and all are more or less embosomed in trees. The scale of the five plans is a uniform one of 66 feet, or one chain, to an inch.

Double lodges, one on either side of entrance gates, have a great air of pretension about them, and can seldom be justified by necessity. The only way, indeed, in which they can be

rendered tolerable is by connecting them with a central archway, or otherwise working them up, with the aid of walls, into one group; the lodges themselves being partly thrust out beyond the walls. Even then, however, their use is very questionable, unless the entrance to a place should happen to terminate the street of a town or village, when two lodges, corresponding in position and character, may possibly be made effective.

15. Certain localities, in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, are so liable to a visitation of violent gales, bringing with them such quantities of saline matter, that scarcely anything in the way of trees and shrubs can be induced to live in them, much less to become ornamental. And where, as is frequently like.

stantly shifting their position, it is the more important that some definite rule of treatment should be established, which shall at least help to mitigate or remedy the evil, and give a special sort of interest to a place. This renders it proper, therefore, to devote a few words separately to sea-side gardens.

The mode of arrangement which I have found most satisfactory under such circumstances, is to give great prominence to grass in a garden, and, by banks of varied form and height, to secure some degree of diversity, obtaining shelter also by depressing certain parts of the lawn, and throwing these into the shape of a sunk panel. Fig. 222 will, perhaps, more fully explain my meaning; this being the plan of a portion of the garden to be attached to a villa proposed to be erected at Birkdale, near Southport, for Allan Kaye, Esq. The land is close to the sea-shore, and is composed entirely of sand. The place is open to the full violence of the north-westerly gales.

In the plan, 1 is the house, 2 the house yard, 3 the stables and similar outbuildings, 4 a part of the stable yard. There is a descending terrace bank, two feet deep, at 5, vases on pedestals at 6, another descending grass bank, four feet deep, at 8, a sunk level lawn, which might have a few flower beds upon it, or be used as a bowling-green, at 9, a strong close wooden fence, along the sea-shore at 10, and a path to the sea-shore, which would be common to this house and to a contiguous villa, at 11, the path being kept low where it passes the pleasure garden. The dotted line, 7, merely shows the edge of the bank, from whence the ground drops rapidly to the shore.

Such peculiarities as the altered surface of the ground will present, may be better understood from the section, fig. 223, which is to the same scale (vertical and horizontal) as the plan, and is made from the line A to B on the latter. By this it will be seen that the ground on the south or entrance front of the house is to be five feet below the ground immediately north of the house. This is purposely designed to act, in connexion with the house, outbuildings, and walls from them, as a shelter to the south garden. And as the sand is so easily and inexpensively removed, almost anything may be done with it. The section (fig. 223) will further show the drops and depressions in the north garden, and the slope to the northern boundary. This slope is to be densely covered with Poplars, Willows, Wych

Elms, and Sycamores, which, when growing in masses, will rise five or six feet above the top of the bank, and thus produce a fringe of summer foliage, as well as impart additional shelter to

A

Fig. 223.

B

the sunk lawn. The planting at the sides will be of a similar description, with double and single Furze to give a little evergreen clothing at the edges.

By the variation of line in the terrace banks, then, and by having the entire lawn very evenly laid and nicely kept, the want of shrubs and flowers will in some degree be counterbalanced, and there will be scarcely any bare ground for the wind to act upon. In preparing the ground for either grass or planting, here, it is customary to fix the sand by spreading over it a coating of mud, which is obtained on the sea-shore, and is of a somewhat tenacious or clayey nature. And it is remarkable how such trees as Sycamores will contrive to draw support from the mere sand, by striking their roots deep, and transforming them into a fleshy instead of a woody substance. In removing some old Sycamores from a similarly sandy locality several years ago, I found that their roots had entered into the sand to the depth of ten and twelve feet, and that these roots were of a succulent nature, and fully half an inch in diameter throughout.

16. Another description of place that calls for a brief special notice is the town or suburban garden, which is commonly a narrow strip of land, but little if any wider than the house which stands upon it, and varying in depth according to the value of land in the neighbourhood, or the position of the adjoining roads. For gardens of such a class and shape, there can be little question that the most regular plan of arrangement will be in all respects the best. The walks should be straight, and at right angles, and the beds and clumps symmetrical and well-balanced. A walk on either side of such a garden, or one down the centre, will be preferable to having a walk on only one side. And effect may be aimed at in the way of lines or rows of beds and plants, with a summer-house, a small green.