ROADS AND PATHS 19 



fit in the way of convenience and much permanent injury 

 to the beauty of the surface where unattractive roads 

 take the place of attractive turf or trees and shrubs. 



In like manner it is frequently most natural and most 

 convenient to follow a comparatively straight or slightly 

 curved line to the house, except on a very small lawn 

 where the necessary economy of limited space may re- 

 strict us to a perfectly straight line ; and here again, no 

 temptation of the beauty of curves that deviate widely 

 from the straight course should be allowed to divert 

 the more sensible because more direct course. For the 

 same practical reason the apparent aesthetic value of 

 winding or twisting roads, in spite of their frequent 

 beauty of line, is doubtful, when we consider that they 

 are likely to be inconvenient and difficult for the passage 

 of horses and carriages. With paths it is different; a 

 path may gain by winding and twisting, provided a rea- 

 son for the curve is evident in the shape of a tree or 

 rock, or some particular view of building that it is desir- 

 able to reach by a sudden deviation of the line of travel. 



It is easy to conceive of many small places where a 

 straight road entering the center of the grounds is the 

 only thing advisable (see page 28) ; with large estates 

 this is not so. It is well to keep one's mind free from 

 prejudice in favor of formal styles of treatment, depend- 

 ing entirely on the suggestions of the ground and not on 

 a prior theory. An excellent way to design entrances, 

 where the necessity of driving in either way is of equal 

 importance, is to go in at two points, as on page 22, thus 

 creating an enclosed territory or ante-park that offers 

 itself for planting, as a foretaste, as it were, of pleasure, 

 before the place itself has been reached, and helping to 

 make, by the employment of large masking plantations 



