136 



THE VILLA GAKDENEK. 

 64 



also a gradual slope (say of 6 in.) towards the point e. In consequence of 

 tiiese inclinations of tiie ground and walks, no rain ever stands o\\ the sur- 

 face, however abundantly it may have fallen. The service water-pipes of both 

 houses are laid down along one side of the walks, from d to a, and are thence 

 conducted to main cisterns for the supply of the houses, to others jointly for 

 the houses and the gardens, and to other cisterns for water-closets. 



205. Soil, walks, Sfc- — The whole of tlie ground, except the part on which 

 the house stands, was trenched 4 ft. deep ; the surface soil of what was 

 excavated for the foundation and basement story of the house, and the 

 half on the surface soil of the road, being previously distributed over the 

 garden in such a manner as to raise the ground at the house 2 ft. higher 

 than the footpath in the street. Round the house the ground was kept nearly 

 on a level for some feet distant ; after which it was made to decline 

 equally on every side, till at the front entrance it was higher tlian the gravel 

 of the public path by the depth of the sill of the gate ; and at the baik 

 entrance it was on a level with the path of the public lane. Before trenching, 

 the ground was also limed, and thickly coated over with the best London 

 stable dung. The lime was introduced, not only for the sake of adding cal- 

 careous matter to the earth, but for forming a compai'atively insoluble 

 compound witli the dung, in order to prevent it from being all employed by 

 the roots of the trees at once. By a part of it being rendered comparatively 

 insoluble, there will be, as it were, a reserve of nourishment in the soil for 

 many years to come ; because it is well known that time and the soil 

 gradually dissolve such a compound. The trenching was performed in 

 autumn, and in the following spring the walks were hollowed out, the edgings 

 firmly beaten, and planted with box, and the walks laid with gravel, and 

 immediately after very heavily rolled. 



206. The houses. — The general appearance of this double house, as seen 

 from the road, is shown in fig. 64., which is a sketch taken by E, B. Lamb, 

 Esq., in September, 1837. The two sti'eet entrances, or gates, are shown in 

 the front wall, each having two small niches for the scrapers. The gates 

 are of open iron rods, hinged to stone, without the intervention of wood, which 

 always gives a temporary appearance when joined with iron-work, especially 

 in a door or gateway exposed to the weather on all sides. Consistency, with 

 reference to durability in architecture, is as much a fundamental principle, 

 as consistency in point of effect ; and to hang an open iron gate to a wooden 

 door-frame is a gross violation of this principle ; and one which, when it 



