262 



Landscape Gardening 



will do much towards deterring persons from using their gar- 

 dens so constantly, or at least will rob them of a good deal of 

 enjoyment. 



To be perfect, walks and drives should be dry, smooth and 

 even, hard and firm, in all weathers and at every season. 

 And the more nearly they approach to the reahzation of 

 these things the more they will contribute to comfort and 

 ease. 



Dryness can be attained in a walk by shaping the ground 

 properly in forming it, by rounding it up slightly in the mid- 

 dle, by giving it a decided fall in some direction by placing 

 gratings and catch basins for water at the lowest points and 



Fig. 74. Excavation for Walk. 



by using suitable materials both for the foundation and the 

 surface. 



In the ground formation of a walk or drive (for the latter 

 may be regarded as a larger description of walk in a small 

 garden) a firm bottom should be obtained and it should be 

 pared as smooth as possible, keeping it from three to six 

 inches higher in the center according to its width. At either 

 edge the ground should be sloped gradually down for about a 

 foot or eighteen inches in width to the extreme margins 

 where it may be six or nine inches deeper than at any other 

 part. (See the cross-section in fig. 74, which represents the 

 bed of the walk.) These extra cuts at the sides are to be filled 

 with rougher material and to follow the general inclination 

 of the walk for the purpose of drainage. They can com- 



