204 ON GARDEN WAI.KS. 



should be only a matter of necessity ; but such notions are only 

 applicable to garden wildernesses, and have no relation to 

 gardening as an art of design. It might be urged, with quite as 

 much consistency, that tlie door of a mansion should be hidden 

 or obscured, being only a means to an end. Those at all ac- 

 quainted with the classical and decorative style adopted in some 

 of the best examples of Continental gardening will readily under- 

 stand this, where indeed walks constitute quite as important a 

 feature in geometrical gardening as windows do in the elevation 

 of a building ; they illustrate in fact a material part in the 

 composition. Divest a garden of walks, and the main lines 

 which mark out its form and proportions are destroyed. As 

 roads are to a country evidences of the degree of its civilization, 

 so walks in a garden are indications of the amount of artistical 

 skill brought to bear upon it. Take as an example a garden 

 planted with all possible taste, and with tlie most decorative 

 flowers which can be selected, and I would ask what satisfaction 

 could such an arrangement produce in a mind cultivated and 

 refined by a high social position, or how could such a garden be 

 enjoyed ? Walks contrasting with turf and flowers, conduce to 

 a harmony in the composition which the two latter of themselves 

 never could accomplish. Where artistic gardening has been 

 carried to the utmost limits consistent with propriety and good 

 taste, and where numerous architectural and sculptural embellish- 

 ments have been introduced, walks are then frequently elevated 

 above the general level. To accomplish this, stone edgings have 

 in some instances been used, and in others, where the style 

 admits of more elaborate embellishment, walls of solid masonry 

 as edgings have been employed in order to raise the walks above 

 the level of the garden, so that the eye may look down upon the 

 flower beds, and more perfectly view the general arrangement 

 and design. 



It has been attempted by some to lay down rules as to the 

 direction which walks should take, and also their width ; such, 

 however, can be of little service, as local circumstances must 

 nearly in every instance determine this. It may be stated, 

 however, as a principle, that where walks take a straight direction 

 and are level, or upon a uniform inclination, the width must bear 

 a relative proportion to the length ; as for example, a walk 10 

 feet wide may look very well if the length does not exceed 200 

 feet, but supposing it to be 2000 feet, the proportion would then 

 be entirely destroyed. These, and other matters of detail, must 

 be left to the operator. 



