HINDRANCES AND HELPS. 289 



sciously laying down though not a graceful man a 

 very graceful line of inarch. And it is the delicate 

 interpretation of these every-day deflexities, and this 

 instinctive tortuousness (if I may so say), which sup- 

 plies, or should supply, the landscape gardeners with 

 their best formulae. 



There is no liver in the country so practical, or of 

 so humble estate, but he will have his half dozen paths 

 divergent from his door ; and these he may keep dry, 

 and in always serviceable condition, by simply remov- 

 ing the soil from them to the depth of eighteen or 

 twenty inches, and burying in them the scattered 

 stones and debris, which are feeding weed-crops in 

 idle corners ; he will thus relieve himself of the use- 

 less material that might cumber the highway, besides 

 possessing himself of the greater part of the top soil 

 removed, for admixture with his composts. And 

 this substitution may progress, season by season ; as 

 the garden rakings or refuse material accumulate, he 

 has only to remove a few cubic yards of earth from 

 his paths, bury the waste, and reserve the more avail- 

 able portions of the mould. 



The same rules of construction are good for all 

 road-ways, more especially for the farmer who wants 

 unyielding metal beneath his heavy cartage of spring. 

 The perfection of roads of course supposes perfect 

 drainage, and a deep bed of stone material ; but I 

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