186 THE PLAN OF THE PLACE 



sance. The time which one loses in going around 

 the cameo -set in the center would be sufficient, if 

 conserved, to lengthen a man's life by several 

 months or a year. Such a device has no merit in 

 art or convenience. It is merely an effort on the 

 part of the maker to show that he has done some- 

 thing. Walk c is better, but still is not ideal, 

 inasmuch as it makes too much of a right-angled 

 curve, and the pedestrian desires to cut across the 

 corner. Such a walk, also, usually extends too far 

 beyond the corner of the house to make it appear 

 to be direct. It has the merit, however, of leav- 

 ing the center of the lawn practically untouched. 

 The curve in walk d is ordinarily unnecessary 

 unless the ground is rolling. In small places, like 

 this, it is better to have a straight walk directly 

 from the sidewalk to the house. In fact, this is 

 true in nearly all cases in which the lawn is not 

 more than forty to seventy -five feet deep. Plan 

 e is also inexcusable. A straight walk would an- 

 swer every purpose better. Any walk which passes 

 the house, and returns to it, /, is inexcusable un- 

 less it is necessary to make a very steep ascent. 

 If most of the traveling is in one direction from 

 the house, a walk like g may be the most direct 

 and efficient. It is known as a direct curve, and 

 is a compound of a concave and a convex curve. 

 It is essential that any walk or drive, however 

 long, should be continuous in direction and design 

 from end to end. Fig. 167 illustrates a long drive 



