THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Aug. 



I^Drtiriiltural Ifportment. 



EDITED BY P. BARRY. 



FLOWER-GARDEN WALKS. 



In no part of the arrangement of ordinary flower-gar- 

 dens is there greater violation of good taste than in 

 the disposition and formation of the wallts. Grace- 

 less and unmeaning curves, fine lawns spoiled with 

 Btrips of fiery gravel, and unsightly junctures, and 

 surfaces inconveniently convex, are amongst the in- 

 congruities one constantly meets with, especially in 

 the gardens of villa residences. 



If a good lawn is the pride of an English garden, a 

 tastefully disposed and well-formed walk is only sec- 

 ond in importance. The beauty of the one only ex- 

 hibits more glaringly the defects of the other. In 

 the majority of instances walks are too narrow. If 

 you have a walk, let it be at once convenient and in 

 keeping with other parts of the garden. However 

 well arranged the lawn and shrubberies may be, a nar- 

 row, pal*y walk, gives an air of meanness to the 

 whole garden. 



Every deviation in a line of walk should result from 

 some visible cause. The contortions so often seen are 

 in the worst possible taste, or rather in no taste at all. 

 They speak as plainly as possible to the fact that the 

 designer executed the stereotyped curve from imita- 

 tion only, and not from an appreciation of the principle 

 of arrangement. To avoid some disagreeable pros- 

 pects, to gain an interesting view, to reach some 

 pleasing object in the grounds, are some of the rea- 

 sons for curves in a line of walk. Curve after curve 

 of walk on an open space of lawn, without purpose or 

 object cannot be too severely deprecated. 



The junction of walks should be at as great an 

 angle as possible. Thin strips of grass between di- 

 verging walks, like narrow points in a shrubbery, are 

 higiily objectionable, and should ever be obviated, if 

 practicable. To avoid the narrow strip of Grass, in 

 the case of walks, an expedient, as represented in 

 tlie sketch A, is often resorted to ; but from the 



thus made prominent are offensive to the eye, and 

 tend to curtail in appearance the extent of a garden ; 

 and besides, each walk should be definite in its direc- 

 tion, which in such arrangements as that sketched, is 

 not the case. One is as much a main walk as the 

 other. Rather, as at B, indicate that one path diver- 



amount of gravel thus rendered visible, the practice 

 is not to be recommended. Large surfaces of gravel 



ges from the other, merely taking off the angles of 

 the turf formed by the juncture. The effect of the 

 first example is bad on paper, but infinitely worse on 

 a garden lawn. Of course in a carriage drive or 

 other road, more relative scope for turning muse bo 

 allowed than is permitted in a garden walk. 



More than one curve should not be seen from the 

 same point, looking in the same direction, as such an 

 arrangement is not pleasing, and you see too much 

 of the garden at once. It detracts from the interest. 

 Of course, as a general rule, no pleasure-ground 

 walk should be perfectly straight, but exceptions will 

 sometimes occur. Supposing them unavoidable or 

 necessary, good taste will furnish the necessary and 

 appropriate accessories. 



Curved walks, by a straight line of building, as at 

 C, are in bad taste, as likewise is a walk following 

 each outline of a building, as at D. Examples of 

 both are abundant. 



The surface of walks should be' only slightly ele- 

 vated, and not as is often seen, perfectly convex — so 

 much so, as to render them inconvenient for walking 

 on ; merely raised in the centre is all that is neces- 

 sary. The depression below the grass margin 

 should be but slight, and the elevation only in a cor- 

 responding ratio. A couple of inches of bare earth 

 at the sides of a walk, constantly kept bare with the 

 edging-iron, cannot be said to add to its beauty. — 

 I would banish the edging-iron from the flower-gar- 

 den walk, and never allow a " raw"-edge to be seen. 

 The beauty of a walk so treated is not to be compar- 

 ed with one otherwise dealt with. At the sketch E 

 is represented the section of a walk to be avoided ; 



at F, one to retain. The effect of the two in reality 

 will not bear comparison, to say nothing of the com- 

 fort in walking on the flatter surface, the primary 

 object in the formation of a walk. — G. L., in London 

 GaMencrs^ Chronicle. 



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