APPROACH

In Fortification, a term given to tne trench or covered way by which aT besieging army may advance from its camp to the wall of a fortre without being exposed to the fire of the.defenders. Approaches sometimes consist of covering ma es only, formed of earth in bags, fascines, stuffed gabions, woolpacks, bales of cotton, or other materials within reach. Approach, Curve of. In Geometry, the name given to a curve which po e es this property, — that a lieavy body descending along it by the force of gravity, makes equal approaches to the horizon in equal portions of time. It was proposed by Leibnitz, and its properties investigated by Bernoulli and others. Approach Road. In Landscape Gardening, is the road which leads from the public or main road, through a park or pleasure ground, to the mansion of a country residence. In the ancient or geometric style of gardening, this road was bounded by lines either straight or regularly curved, and was generally accompanied by one or more rows of trees on each side, at regular distances: but in the modern style, the approach road is led in graceful sweeps, which are made to appear as if they were determined by existing circumstances, either in the su rface of the ground, or in the trees or other objects which are placed on it. There ought to be no bend in an approach road for which there is not an obvious and suflBcient reason, either naturally existing, or created by art. APPRCyPRIATION. In Landscape Gardening, is the art of so blending the scenery of one estate with that of the others that adjoin it, as to make the one subservient to the other, in a scenic point of view. This is effected by forming appropriate fore-grounds, in the estate at command, to the distant views, in the "estates not at command; or in fields immediately adjoining, by imitating in our own field a part of what is contained in the field of our neighbour: thus, if the park of A. should be chiefly planted with pines and firs, and that of B. chiefly with oaks; A., in order to appropriate the scenery of B., must substitute oaks for a part of his pines and firs; more especially in the immediate vicinity of the grounds of B. [s. 81]