393 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



parallel, unless some obstruction is placed in the way ; and hence also 

 in every public garden her Majesty's subjects are requested to keep 

 off the grass, an injunction repugnant to the inclinations of the said 

 subjects. We prefer also to walk on a Brussels' carpet, rather than 

 on the most brilliantly polished of marble-floors, because of the com- 

 fort afforded by the buffer between our feet and the hard floor. It 

 will be remarked that the footpaths or portions of footpaths least 

 avoided are those which are soft and elastic without being wet, — the 

 foot at once responds to the soft comfortable sensation ; but when 

 a hard harsh surface is encountered, the foot instinctively turns to 

 the grass. The formation of parallel footpaths is compelled when 

 the walk is gravelled with a hard material, or where the bottom is 

 hard and rough, even if blended with fine. Voluntary penance is 

 said to be wholesome, but few aspire to it. 



In making footpaths and walks, it is not necessary to take the soil 

 out deep, as is often done, and to fill up the space again with rough 

 materials, with the idea of making the path dry; this is just frustrat- 

 ing in the very worst way the first object that should be aimed at in 

 making a comfortable footpath. A deep bottoming of stones or shingle 

 destroys all elasticity and softness in a footpath, and does not at all 

 add to its dryness. The line of a footpath can be made thoroughly 

 dry, so far as draining can do it, and provision can be made for 

 carrying off the surface water ; but in order to do so, it is not neces- 

 sary to dig a ditch in the middle of it, and fill in with rubble-stones, 

 but rather to drain one or both sides and leave the middle intact, with 

 just sufficient excavation, say 4 inches, on which to lay a thin coat 

 of fine-sorted gravel, thus preserving as far as possible the elasticity 

 of the soil underneath the gravel. A walk made on the opposite 

 principle remains permanently comparatively harsh and uncomfort- 

 able to walk on, and becomes aggravated in very dry weather. A fact 

 not generally recognised is, that over-dryness is exceedingly detri- 

 mental to roads and walks as well as over-wet ; and we have found it 

 necessary to water the walks of a pleasure-ground to preserve them 

 from breaking up from excessive treading — just as the water-cart 

 benefits a road on which there is much driving in dry weather. Even 

 in the making of walks, where much traffic is expected, deep excava- 

 tion should be avoided. Macadam depended not on a large quantity 

 of materials, but on a thin coating carefully laid on after the foun- 

 dation of the road was built and made thoroughly dry. The most 

 enjoyable footpaths we ever knew were made over bog-soil, well 

 drained, levelled, and just a thin coating of fine river gravel over the 

 surface ; and there seems no reason why bog-soil, where attainable, 

 should not be substituted for harder material for the bottoming of 



