62 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



place they may own. Grass walks or alleys are always 

 agreeable looking and satisfactory, except where damp- 

 ness for some special reason is feared, or where contin- 

 ual visitation of many people is apt to destroy the vital- 

 ity of the grass. Walks of gravel that are nearly always 

 dry have a distinct value in the feeling they ensure that 

 one can always use the garden without suffering from 

 dampness. 



The edges of gravel paths in gardens should be by 

 preference grass sod, although dwarf box makes a pretty 

 quaint effect. The only difficulty is, if box happens to 

 suffer from winter, or other causes of destruction, it is 

 difficult to mend it, while with the grass border there is 

 no trouble whatever. It is a mistake to make the walks 

 of a garden too wide; it is better to err in the other 

 direction. Four feet is wide enough for most gardens, 

 and six feet is liberal, and yet some broad green alleys 

 of grass may run through the middle of a garden of an 

 acre or two, eighteen feet wide, and look all right with 

 the other walks eight or nine feet. 



Gravel walks should be narrower, because they are 

 less attractive than grass walks, and less liable to suffer 

 from the increased wear and tear of narrower walks. 

 The beds, also, depend in shape and size on the dimensions 

 and surroundings of the garden, but they must be narrow 

 enough for one to readily reach and pluck the flowers 

 from one side or the other, say six or seven feet. The 

 beds themselves may be of many forms, but they should 

 assimilate themselves to shapes where there are no 

 sharp points or narrow corners, as there would be in 

 acute-angled triangles. Parallelograms are all right and 

 satisfactory, although they present a modest appearance 

 on paper (see page 64). Forms of the ellipse are excel- 



