92 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



a visiting day, will need 

 a road wide enough for coaches to pass. 

 If roads and walks are thoroughly con- 

 structed in the beginning, on proper grades, 

 and the water is kept off of them, much 

 labor and expense will be saved later in 

 repairs. 



Grading, whether the changes in the na- 

 tural surface are many or few, is an import- 

 ant matter, especially on those parts which 

 are not to be planted. A graceful and na- 

 tural fitting of the new surfaces to the old 

 requires sorhe skill. A gently undulating 

 surface and long, gentle slopes are more 

 natural, more pleasing, and more easily 

 cared for than short, steep slopes. In na- 

 ture, abrupt slopes with sharp angles are 

 seldom seen in free soil which is undis- 

 turbed by heavy bodies of water. Nature's 

 process is to gradually wear off the sharp, 

 upper edge and fill it in at the abrupt base. 

 The result is a curve gradually running into 

 a reverse curve — an ogee curve as the builder 

 would call it — and it is such a curve that 

 should be imitated in lawn grading. A for- 



or a terrace bank. Such 



a bank should be distinctly formal, with its 

 angles sharply defined and slope flat — not a 

 mongrel with a curved top and an angular 

 base. Very steep and abrupt slopes are 

 sometimes necessary. They can often be 

 filled, and held in place, with heavy, natural 

 boulders, and planted to imitate, so far as pos- 

 sible, a similar slope in nature. It is very 

 desirable to secure a shallow turf gutter at 

 the base of a bank sloping toward the road 

 to prevent the water from flowing on to the 

 gravel surface. The water can be inter- 

 cepted by occasional catch basins, and car- 

 ried across the road, if it is on a sidehill, or 

 disposed of by drains. 



Where a permanently vigorous and lux- 

 uriant growth of plants or a constantly fine 

 turf is required, deep trenching or plowing 

 and liberal fertilizing is essential. It does 

 not follow, however, that poor or barren 

 land cannot be covered with a pleasing 

 growth without this thorough preparation. 

 The luxuriant clothing of barberry, sweet- 

 fern, wild rose, and other plants on the 



