18 



LANDSCAPE GARDEiflNG. 



straiglit. This is sometimes true of walks and drives, 

 which are usually the most conspicuous lines on the 

 grounds; 3'et the general rule must still be adhered to, — 

 that the drives and walks should be curved unless there 

 is some good reason to the contrary. 



But it is not enough that the drives should be 

 curved. There are good curves and bad ones, and if a 

 curve is to be used more thought and skill are required 

 to save it from defect than though a straight line had 

 been chosen instead. In an earlier day the imitators of 



FIG. 4. WHERE SHRUBS ARE NEEDED. 



the English style, — not the legitimate practitioners, — in 

 tlieir enthusiasm for curved lines laid many which were 

 unpleasing to the last degree. The unmethodical, sense- 

 less, meandering, serpentine walks which one still sees 

 sometimes are not natnral, nor are tliey artistic in any 

 sense. It is commonly said lliat every curve in a drive 

 or a walk should have an apparent justification. Tims, 

 if a considerable hill or a group of trees lies within tlie 

 bend it seems to furnish an adequate excuse for the 

 curve. Objects which are not manifestly of sufficient 



