STEPS AND STAIRWAYS 137 



The foregoing remarks apply with particular 

 emphasis to the last group among the stairways 

 which we have enumerated those formed in walks 

 laid with broken flags and up wooded and secluded 

 slopes where the foliage is partly cultivated or wholly 

 wild. Nothing will suit such positions better than 

 steps composed of flat stones, with irregular open 

 joints and having as deep a tread and as low a 

 rise as possible. If the stones themselves are some 

 four inches thick, their front edges can be roughly 

 undercut to hold the shadow which looks so well in 

 an ascent of many steps ; as a rule, however, paving 

 stones will be about two inches in thickness, each 

 step being formed of two stones, the upper of which 

 may overhang the lower and give the required 

 depth of shadow. The degree of steepness in the 

 slope will determine the number of steps and how 

 far these will have to be in one or many flights, or 

 perhaps divided into groups of threes and fours. 

 Such steps will often not require a parapet, but can 

 finish against a bank of flowers or ferns, or an 

 irregular line of stones arranged as a curb. 



The parapet or retaining wall for steps forms too 

 large a subject for detailed treatment here, but it 



