GARDEN PATHS. 



20 



GARDEN TOOLS. 



to smoothness by the aid of a float a 

 piece of wood with a handle at the back, 

 something like the flatiron used by laun- 

 dresses, but larger, with which plasterers 

 finish the surface of walls and ceilings. 

 No one should be allowed to tread on 

 the surface of a walk thus made until it 

 is perfectly dry and hard. 



Cost of Walks. The cost of garden 

 walks may be estimated as follows, at per 

 square yard : The ordinary gravel walk, 

 when properly made, at is. 8d. ; tar 

 pavement, consisting of gravel mixed with 

 tar and sprinkled with sand, at 2s. gd. ; 

 and concrete pavement, consisting of con- 

 crete faced with cement, at 33. 6d. 

 Asphalte pavement, at a rough computa- 

 tion, ranges from 55. to 153. per square 

 yard, the cost being regulated by the 

 thickness of the coating of asphalte and 

 the concrete substratum below, and the 

 greater the area covered, in some cases, 

 the lower is the cost. It costs more to 

 lay asphalte pavement in the country than 

 it does in London, on account of the 

 carriage of materials. The above prices, 

 it must be understood, are approximate 

 only. 



Grass IValks. Occasionally it is neces- 

 sary, in cases where a piece of garden 

 ground is acquired at some little distance 

 from the house, either for temporary pur- 

 poses, or as a means of extending the 

 garden accommodation at the house itself, 

 which in the outskirts of many towns is 

 but limited, to form the garden paths of 

 turf, which is cleanly in itself, and 

 sufficient for all practical purposes when 

 the garden is not a daily resort. If the 

 land is grass land, then nothing more need 

 be done than to mark out the beds and 

 plots to be devoted to the growing of 

 fruit and vegetables, and to turn and 

 trench these parts, leaving the turf between 

 them to form the paths. It can easily be 

 kept short with a mowing machine, and by 



constant cutting will become a close and 

 verdant carpet. If the garden be on 

 arable land, as the cost of turf is no more 

 than 3d. per square yard, it will be as well, 

 if the season of the year be favourable, to 

 mark out the paths and proceed at once 

 to lay them down with turf. Many pieces 

 of land to be let or sold for building 

 purposes are previously utilised as gardens, 

 and by having paths of turf there is less 

 loss if the land has to be given up on short 

 notice. 



Perfect dryness is of the utmost im- 

 portance for walks, as they should be 

 clean and comparatively impenetrable in 



FIG. 2. WALK BE- 

 LOW GENERAL LEVEL. 



FIG. 3. WALK ABOVE 

 GENERAL LEVEL. 



FIG. 4. WALK LEVEL WITH SURFACE OF GROUND. 



all weathers and at all seasons. Although 

 some recommend walks to be sunk below 

 the general level, as in Fig. 2, and others 

 above it, as in Fig. 3, yet walks generally 

 look best on a level with the surface, as 

 in Fig. 4. When thus constructed, they 

 must be sunk half an inch at the edge, to 

 leave this height of verge, which ought 

 never to be exceeded in pleasure ground 

 walks. Walks themselves should also b^ 

 nearly level, half an inch being sufficient 

 convexity for a lo-feet walk. The wider 

 the walk the smaller is the permissible rise 

 in the centre, as nothing detracts more 

 from the appearance of a gravel walk, of 

 say 15 or 20 feet, than variations in the 

 level of its surface. 



Garden Tools. 



The different sorts of tools necessary for 



