ON GAKDEN WALKS. 203 



carefully laid on will suffice. Therefore when the cost of a 

 cubic yard of gravel is known, it will be easy to ascertain ex- 

 actly the expense of coating any given extent of garden walks. 



I shall now direct attention to the form which the surface of 

 walks should have when finished. This I apprehend has been 

 but little understood by those who have attempted to lay down 

 rules for our guidance, inasmuch as certain requirements, as 

 well as peculiar situations, have a considerable influence in the 

 matter. 



Perfectly level walks, like the floors of a house, are not only 

 more agreeable to walk on, but they are also strictly in conformity 

 with good taste in geometrical gardening, where sculptural and 

 architectural decorations prevail, and indeed in all kinds of 

 gardening ; the only plea that can justify a deviation from this 

 rule is, that our garden walks are exposed to the atmosphere, 

 while the floors of our houses are protected. To render walks 

 available therefore for the purposes for which they are introduced, 

 becomes a matter of primary import, otherwise the level rule 

 might be made absolute, as is the perpendicular in the elevation 

 of a building. Now on terraces surrounding buildings, and in 

 elaborate parterres similarly or identically circumstanced, the 

 nearer the walks approach a level surface, just in proportion will 

 a mind imbued with taste and a correct eye appreciate their 

 execution. AYalks so laid down are only available in perfectly 

 dry weather. Situations which are elevated, either naturally or 

 artificially, and thus rendered perfectly dry, afford the best oppor- 

 tunities for a close approximation to this rule. It must be stated 

 also, that even in situations where the traffic over them is con- 

 siderable, they will soon cease to afford either comfort or enjoy- 

 ment. Necessity, therefore, compels the adoption of a surface 

 less or more convex as the circumstances may appear to demand. 

 Walks in private gardens are little used in wet weather, and 

 therefore they are not likely to be much disturbed at such a period, 

 which is the time above all others when excessive traffic breaks 

 up their surface. The water does not pass off, but is held in the 

 loose gravel until they become almost impassable, which is in fact 

 the case in all public walks so constructed, as was formerly 

 notoriously exemplified in the Society's Garden on wet exhibition 

 days previous to their being altered. It therefore becomes clear 

 that situation, and the uses for which walks are required, should 

 materially influence the operator as to the proportion of convexity 

 which they should receive. 



Some entertain an idea that walks should only maintain a very 

 subordinate position in garden arrangements, that they should be 

 kept as much as possible out of sight, and that their appearance 



