140 Landscape Gardening 



4. Treatment of walks. — Independently of the approach 

 to the house, there will be a greater or lesser number of other 

 walks in a garden, the treatment of which will demand much 

 attention. They should not strictly follow the boundary of 

 a place, unless it be purely in the formal style and its fences 

 be architectural. But wherever they diverge from the neigh- 

 borhood of the boundary, and indeed at every point through- 

 out their length, the outside fences should be kept in the 

 background by masses of shrubs and trees, especially the 

 former. 



Walks should be made to embrace particular views, to take 

 a variety of levels, to be concealed from each other, and to 

 have a definite object. All the more interesting aspects of 

 the house, the garden, and the country, ought to be seen 

 from them at particular and favorable points. These points 

 should thus be situated where the ground is highest, in a 

 general way, that the view may be more commanding. But 

 the house itself ought not to be seen from a greater elevation 

 than it actually occupies, unless there be a hollow between it 

 and the point of view. Undulation in the surface of walks, 

 where it can be suitably attained, will be very effective in the 

 production of variety. It must be very gentle and gradual, 

 and like the curves in the ground line, the changes should 

 pass softly into each other. Sudden swells or hasty dips 

 should be alike unknown, unless they are to accompHsh 

 some special end or are rendered necessary by the natural 

 conformation. The highest or lowest parts will best occur 

 towards the center of the curves, where the Hnes are easiest. 



If two walks be seen from each other, when they are taking 

 parallel directions, one of them will appear to some extent 

 needless, and in the same degree objectionable. Masses of 

 shrubs, or banks of earth partially clothed with these, are the 

 most natural and gentle divisions for placing between them. 



