ROADS, WALKS, AND ERIDGEJs. lt)7 



appear to be capricious : the shape of the grounds must be so arranged as to be- 

 furnished with trees and shrubs. The direction must apj^ear to be the best for 

 reaching the house ; commanding views of beautiful scenery must be introduced, 

 giving apparent or real design to every bend on a road. Neither must the same- 

 curve be too often rej)eated ; this would show poverty of invention, and become 

 tiresome and monotonous. Keeping these principles in view, and adaj)ting 

 the curves to the nature of the surface traversed by the road, almost any 

 possible line of inclination, from a square to an arch, may be used with pro- 

 priety. Neither is a curved road necessarily so much longer than a straight 

 one. Edgeworth, in his *' Essay on tho Construction of Roads," says, 

 ** A road ten miles long and perfectl}'- straight can scarcely be found anywhere ; 

 but if such a road could be found, and it were curved so as to prevent the eye 

 seeing farther than a quarter of a mile of it in any one place, the whole road 

 would not be lengthened thereby more than 150 yards." 



240. If it were p)ossible, it is not often desirable to make I'oads level, nor of 

 one uniform gradient throughout. Undulations are charming to the eye, and 

 give intermittent seasons of work and rest to the horses. No angle of ascent, 

 however, on a carriage-road should exceed 1 in 25, and 1 in 30 or 40 is better ; 

 for the first is rather too steejD, in fact, to drive rapidly up and down with 

 perfect safety ; the latter gradient is as much as we could recommend. 



■241. The surface of roads should be 



slightly convex, thus. When formed ^i^ 

 across a steep hill, they ma}'- often incline 



two, three, or four inches towards the hill, as at B. This is an excellent shape- 

 in such positions, as it throws the whole inclination "^j^ ^ _3_ 

 of the cai'riage towards the safe side. Carriage- 

 roads may vary in width from 12 to 24 feet, — they 

 are sometimes only 8 or 9; but this gives a mean '^ ^ x^^x's- ^x^s^ 

 appearance to a place : they should never be less than 12, and need seldom be- 

 more than 18 feet wide. For a 12-fcet road, 3 inches of convexity will be 

 enough ; an 18-feet road would be the better for 4 inches. 



242. Except where it proceeds direct from a public road, the back road to 

 a house should always diverge from the carriage-way at right angles with it. 

 It should also be, say two feet narrower than the can-iage-road, and should 

 leave it at some considerable distance, so as to be out of view of the house ; it 

 may then proceed by the nearest route to the stables, kitchen -garden, and 

 kitchen court, terminating on the gravel at the kitchen door : it will thus 

 answer the double purj^ose of a back- and stable-road. 

 Where the above hints are not attended to, the back 

 road is sometimes mistaken for the chief carriage-road. 

 I lately visited a place laid out by a famous landscape- 

 gardener, and nearly passed the mansion without pei*- 

 ceiving it: the carriage-road proceeded in a straight 

 line to the farm in the direction of h h, and bi'anched off 

 at a right angle to the dwelling-house at b 2. 



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