THE face of this fence may either be turned towards the plantation, or from it. In the former case, it is less visible; but in the latter, it is a firmer better fence, and incurs a less waste of land; for the slope of the foss being made easy, and sown with grass seeds, as well as the face of the bank, which also falls gently back, the pasturable surface is greater with this, than perhaps with any other fence. By adding a dwarf paling, this fence becomes effectual against hares, at a moderate expence.

As a fence against cattle and sheep, the following have been the dimensions, and manner of construction, here. Level the ground, and turn a gauge turf; dressing it with an even firm angle, as a guide to the whole work. Behind this turf, lay in morticed posts, four feet and a half to five feet long, placing the lower end of the mortice about eighteen inches from the angle of the gauge turf, and in such a position, as to form with the face of the bank, when finished, the lower point of an equilateral triangle, whose upper side is horizontal. Fasten the posts, and carry up the bank, with the excavated mold of the ditch; forming the face of the bank with turf; and ramming in the soil firmly behind it, as the bank is carried up; to prevent its settling too flat and the more effectually to preyent this, the upper part of the bank should be

built, somewhat more upright, than the foot of it; which ought, of course, to form, with a vertical line, an angle of 30°. In this manner, the face of the bank is raised to about six feet slope, allowing some inches for settling; the length of slope, when settled, being about five feet and a half; namely, three feet below the level of the ground, and two feet and a half above.

THE rails are slipt in; the preceding one being bound by that which succeeds it: care being had not to jar the posts, before the bank be firmly

settled.

WHEN the plantation is up, or the hedge becomes a fence, the bank may be thrown down; the temporary fence having then done its duty.

NEARER the eye, and where a hedge would be unsightly, the rails and posts may be repaired, from time to time, at an expence extremely trifling, compared with that of a wall or paling.

2

SECTION THE SECOND.

MINUTES IN DEVONSHIRE.

THE next instance of practice, in the Rural Art, occurred in DEVONSHIRE; at BUCKLAND ABBEY; the residence of the family of DRAKE, from the time of the CIRCUMNAVIGATOR, who purchased it, until the death of the late valuable possessor, SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ;-now a seat of LORD HEATHFIELD.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DISTRICT AND SITE.

THE Western District of Devonshire, in which this place is situated, abounds with picturable scenery. It forms a sort of vale between the Dartmore and Cornish mountains; but differs from ordinary vale districts, in the abruptness of its surface and the dryness of its soil; possessing, in these respects, the distinguishing characters of an upland country; broken, in a striking manner, into ridges and vallies; and, in some places, rising in detached

hillocks; thus giving infinite variety of ground, whose steeper hangs are mostly clothed with wood; which frequently mantles down to the margins of the rivers and estuaries, with which the district is happily intersected.

Bur the immediate site under description, though surrounded with scenery of the last mentioned cast, does not partake of it. The house, situated in a dip or shallow valley, is beset with well turned knolls, folding with each other, in a beautiful manner. The whole is well soiled, and in a state of cultivation, except the more distant swells, which are steeper than the rest, and hung with wood; over which appears a rising knoll of heath, forming a happy offscape, to the principal view from the house: altogether, a monastic site.

SOME sixty years since, much grove planting had been done about the house: and, during the last twenty or thirty years, the whole had been suffered to grow up in a state of neglect; so that the house might be said to stand in a valley of wood, and to be rendered, at once, unpleasant and unwholesome.

SOME alterations, however, had taken place, twelve or fifteen years ago, close about the house, within the walls of the old garden: the terraces

having been thrown down, and the ground formed and laid out, agreeably to the modern style of ornament; and in a manner which would have done the artist credit, had the house been modern; but, to the remains of the old Abbey, terraces and grass plots were the best accompaniments.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

WITH these data, there was only one line of procedure. The character of the foreground, as well as of the distances, was beauty; and all that art could do, with effect, was to bring the middle grounds into unison with them: to break the groves and skreens, in such manner, as to leave well formed masses of wood, with vistas and grassy glades between them; shewing, with the best effect the beautiful undulations of ground, with which the site abounds; but which were almost wholly shut out from the house.

THIS has in part been done; not more with the view of disclosing the beauties of the place, than to ventilate it, and thereby endeavour to counteract the excessive moistness of its climature : an extent of orchard ground, spreading over the valley below the house, with some fences which