82 Hints on Landscape Gardening 



by elevations where the road or path is appar- 

 ently more easily led around than over them. 

 (See Plate V, a, b, c, and d.) 



If there is no obstacle the road should be al- 

 lowed to run straight or only slightly curved, no 

 matter what the distance. Wherever an obstacle 

 appears, it is better to make a short turn close to 

 it than a long, gradual turn for the sake of the 

 so-called curve of beauty. The sharp turns are 

 by far the more picturesque, especially if the 

 road disappears with such a turn in the depths of 

 a forest. Nor should a road running parallel with 

 another be visible from it unless there is a dis- 

 tinct division of hill and valley between, or a dip 

 in the ground, for without this natural division 

 two adjacent paths leading in the same direction 

 appear superfluous, especially when they are on 

 the same level, for the mind must recognize the 

 fitness of the details before the eye will be satis- 

 fied by the entire picture. 



In a landscape of wide sweep, especially, the 

 form given to the grass plots by the enclosing 

 roads must be carefully considered. One may 

 entirely spoil an extensive territory by a short 

 piece of road badly arranged. I call to mind one 

 example which first attracted my attention to this 

 point. There is a hill in my park which extends 

 out conspicuously into a wide stretch of meadow, 

 thereby apparently dividing it into two equal 

 parts. The river flows along this entire stretch of 

 country and a road follows its course. (See ground- 

 plan, Plate V, e.) Observe particularly the line of 



