266 Landscape Gardening 



than eight feet. Ten or twelve feet will generally be most 

 appropriate for other drives. 



It will be of some moment to adjust the height of walks 

 relative to the general level of the ground with judgment and 

 discrimination. As straight walks are intended to make 

 prominent features in a place they should range as perfectly 

 as possible with the level of the lawn. Any particular eleva- 

 tion, depression, or roundness would not harmonize with the 

 flatness and smoothness so desirable in the grass. If there- 

 fore they are just half an inch lower than the grass at the 

 edges and an inch and a half higher than it in the center 

 (fig. 75a) they wall have two inches of camber which will be 

 quite sufficient. 



For curved walks, as it will be a matter of taste to keep 

 them more or less thoroughly out of sight, a few inches below 

 the surface of the lawn or beds will be the fittest level for 

 them, save where it is intended that they should command 

 particular views, when they can be more or less raised. In 

 the first case (fig. 756) the grass can slope gently down to a 

 narrow flat edging at their margins, while in the other the 

 turf may rise as gradually to join, with a round edge (fig. 

 75c), a broader flat edging at the top. Where the ground 

 and the walks themselves are well drained, and the surface 

 of the former has been perfectly stirred, there will be no 

 danger of depressed walks becoming damp. And besides 

 their being more effectually concealed from the windows or 

 lawn, persons moving along them will see the plants in the 

 beds or borders or on the lawn to greater advantage; they 

 will be a trifle more private and the house will appear higher 

 and bolder as viewed from them. 



But curved walks will always require to have a greater 

 degree of convexity (fig. ^s^) and if they are six feet wide 

 they should, while keeping half an inch below the verges at 



