CHAPTER X, 



WALKS AND ROADS. 



IF, as we have insisted, a correct map has been made of the 

 grounds, with all the buildings, and the trees already growing, 

 marked thereon, the next work is to lay out roads or walks 

 upon this map. First, question your wants as to where the 

 street entrances or gates had better be made. This is to be de- 

 cided principally by the direction of daily travel over them. They 

 should always be in the directions that the family go oftenest, and 

 should be laid out so as to connect most conveniently the street or 

 streets with the entrance doors of the dwelling and outbuildings. 

 No more walks should be made than are wanted for daily use, either 

 for business or pleasure. In small grounds, walks made merely for 

 the purpose of having "pretty walks" meandering among suppo- 

 sitional flower-beds, convey the impression of a desire for show dis- 

 proportionate to the means of gratifying it. Where there is an 

 acre, or more, of ground devoted to decorative gardening, and it is 

 intended to keep a gardener in constant employ in the care of it, 

 then walks conducting to retired seats, or summer-houses, or made 

 for the purpose of revealing pleasing vistas, or intricacies in the 

 shrubbery, or charming surprises in flowers that may be arranged 

 upon their borders, may add greatly to the beauty of the place. 

 We would not advise having any carriage-way to the front entrance 

 of a house, unless the distance is from eighty to one hundred feet 



