UsiiJ Of* guass, trees, shklbs, etc. ■ 183 



As regards width, long, straight walks or drives should 

 be wider than curved ones, because their beauty depends 

 in a measure upon boldness, and this is secured by 

 breadth. Ordinary walks are made anywhere from three 

 feet wide (and sometimes as narrow as two feet), up- 

 wards, according to their place and the size of the garden. 

 Eear private walks may be the narrowest. General garden 

 walks, if curved, may be four to six feet wide, and straight 

 approach walks, four to eight feet, while terrace or prin- 

 cipal walks in large pleasure grounds and parks, may be 

 eight to fifteen feet or more in width. Five feet is con- 

 sidered a good width for ordinary purposes. Drives may 

 range all the way from eight to fifty feet or more in 

 width, according to purpose and size of grounds. Ten 

 to fourteen feet for ordinary drives in private grounds, 

 with branches or back drives at eight to ten feet is 

 about right. In large grounds, cemeteries, and parks, 

 twenty to thirty-five feet, are the usual widths of drives. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE USE AND COMBINATIONS OF GRASS, TREES, 



SHRUBS, ETC. 



In natural landscapes the common grasses serve the 

 important purpose of supporting or affording a setting 

 for other growths. They thus fill a place for which no 

 other plants could serve so well. It would be better for 

 the soil to be clothed with a carpet of green sward and 

 treeless, than to be covered with trees and plants, to the 

 exclusion of grass. Still, the custom that prevails in 

 some places, of having only grass to ornament the 

 grounds, is by no means to be commended, because of the 

 better effect and greater interest attainable, thi-ough using 

 some of the endless array of beautiful natural materials 



