TREATMENT OF GROUND. FORMATION OF WALKS. 257 



SECTION YII. 



TREATMENT OF GROUND. FORMATION OF WALKS. 



Nature of operations on Ground. Treatment of flowing and of irregular surfaces, to heighten 

 their expression ; flats, or level surfaces. Roclis, as materials in Landscape. Laying out 

 Roads and Walks: Directions for the Approach: Rules by Repton. The Drive and minor 

 walks. The introduction of fences and verdant hedges. 



"Strength may wield the ponderous spade, 



May turn the clod and wheel the compost home ; 

 But elegance, chief grace the garden shows, 

 And most attractive, is the fair result 

 Of thought, the creature of a polished mind." 



COWPER. 



ROUND is undoubtedly the most unwieldy 

 and ponderous material that comes under the 

 care of the Landscape Gardener. It is not 

 only difficult to remove, the operations of the 

 leveller rarely extending below two or three feet of the sur- 

 face, but the effect produced by a given quantity of labour 

 expended upon it, is generally much less than when the 

 same has been bestowed in the formation of plantations, or 

 the erection of buildings. The achievements of art upon 

 ground, appear so trifling too, when we behold the apparent 

 facility with which nature has arranged it in such a variety 

 of forms, that the former sink into insignificance when com- 

 pared with the latter. 



For these reasons, the operations to be performed upon 

 ground in this country, will generally be limited to the 



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