CHAPTER XVI. 

 GARDEN PATHS. 



THE path question is always a difficult one ; bad paths 

 may spoil the garden ; but every path may be a real joy 

 if it is carefully managed. It really requires an artistic 

 eye to determine the best positions and directions for 

 paths. It is very difficult for an ordinary gentleman 

 gardener like myself to give this information. 



I often regret that I have had no real training in land- 

 scape or art gardening. What I have learned has been 

 by experiment on a small scale, and from books, but 

 books alone I find are not enough without experiment. 

 I recommend the reader to work for himself. He may 

 read the following notes, but actual experiment with light 

 roughly made paths, which are easily taken up, will teach 

 him a lot more. He should never be afraid to extend 

 his borders and to alter them by altering the paths ; for 

 all the while, if he uses his eyes, he will be learning much 

 about the art of path construction and design. 



Some Things to Avoid : I will take the reader in imagina- 

 tion into a garden I once saw, the owner of which was 

 keen on geometry. His borders were circular, triangular, 

 or rectangular ; the paths were either made in the shape 

 of very accurate circles, or in long straight lines. His 

 triangular bed was surrounded by pathways forming an 

 outer triangle with angles of 60. It was a triumph of 

 mathematics, but a very ugly border and path. From 

 the top of the garden one could see a straight path running 

 down to the bottom of the pleasure grounds. It turned 

 at right angles and ran along the bottom, and then turned 



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