CHAPTER IX 

 THE PAVED PATHWAYS OF THE GARDEN 



THE flagstone pathways of the garden are largely 

 modern, their arrival being contemporary with 

 the pergola, and both rightly placed and furnished have 

 their uses. Near to old Tudor or Elizabethan houses 

 they are excellent, and as much in keeping with the 

 outward and visible parts of such places as would be 

 the well-chosen, genuine antique furniture within. In 

 modern erections of red brick, and in conjunction with 

 such and brick-pillared pergolas, the flag-paved way is 

 not a little incongruous — a misguided' attempt to com- 

 bine antique and modern — while a brick-paved way 

 may be more in keeping with its surroundings. Hon- 

 estly, however, I do not favour brick in any form. Red 

 brick attracts too much to itself, and is out of harmony 

 with most forms of plant life. In short, there is 

 nothing to equal old paving stone where procurable, 

 though in many districts it is quite a scarce commodity. 

 Where procurable, that with rounded or long-ago 

 broken corners and well-worn surface is by far the 

 best, and carefully, i.e., intelligently and not too 

 formally, laid, it will at once appear its full age. In 

 laying it there should be no attempt to make good the 

 many faulty corners; these are needed most of all; 

 to embellish them with plant life should be our first 

 thought (Fig. 23). Never dream of employing a mason 

 to lay them, for he of the fixed type cannot work with- 

 out spirit level and the like, while his eternal side tap- 

 ping with trowel will make hundreds of new cuts no 

 one wants to see. A rough garden labourer will do 

 the work much better — from the gardening point of 



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