GARDEN WALKS AND ROADS. 



81 



venient. One of the most efiective carriage-sweeps 

 known to the writer is sixty yards long by thirty 

 wide, and six feet above the surrounding ground. 

 The proportion of the length, double the breadth, 

 looks well, and is found most convenient. Kg. 4 is 

 one of the largest carriage-sweeps that can be re- 

 quired for private residences. Were it found, how- 

 ever, too limited for the congestion that might occur 

 in the traffic at the sharp bend leading into the 

 stable-yard, the carriage-road could be led right 

 through the quadrangle on the line of the garden gaJB,, 

 and swept back to the stable-yard un|der the retaining 

 wall, thus affording sufficient sjpace for the traffic of 



piece of gravel constituting the carriage front, 

 whatever its size or form, but more especially if 

 square or oblong, forms a sort of secondary base to 

 the house, and must therefore be treated with the 

 mathematical precision of architectural, rather than 

 the freer erratic irregularity of picturesque prin- 

 ciples. It is well to bear this in mind, as during the 

 period of sudden revulsion from overdone art to 

 more natural methods of gardening, it was no un- 

 common thing to ..find magnificent mansions rising 

 oatf.pfjiiather than safely built upon, parks degraded 

 into wild-looking commons, with furze, bramble, and 

 wild bracken looking in at the drawing-room win- 



Shrubbery 



Carnage Sweep 



Garden Gate 



llllllllllll""lllllll II IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT 



Retaining Wall crowned with Vasea 



Fig. 4. — Large Rectangitlab Sweep. 



a royal palace. As at present arranged, however, a 

 block has never occurred, though at balls and public 

 treats many hundreds of carriages have come and 

 gone on a single day or night. On such occasions, 

 however, not a few of these return, after depositing 

 their fares, or are ranged on either side of the 

 carriage-road at some considerable distance from the 

 house. No doubt the sharp bend into the stable-yard 

 is objectionable, and could easily be avoided by 

 leading the road straight off the quadrangle of gravel 

 into the yard. But the shrubbeiy is held in great 

 veneration, as completely shutting out the stables 

 from the house, and hence the sharpening of the bend 

 into the yard. 



Semi-circular, and circular, elliptical, and other 

 forms look well, and one or two are given as samples, 

 as well as to illustrate the best points of entering 

 and leaving the carriage front. This should in- 

 variably be either in the centre, directly at right 

 angles with the front door, or at either end. The 

 6 



dows, and cattle, sheep, and deer browsing right up 

 to the front door. This was nature dominating art 

 with a vengeance. Proper carriage fronts and ap- 

 proach roads not only enable art to modify nature 

 in the immediate vicinity of the house, but also 

 impart that sense of safety and seclusion which is 

 not one of the least charms of every home, whether 

 in town or country. Both, however, are overdone 

 when the carriage front is shut in with gates and 

 bars within sight of the house, giving the latter 

 more the appearance of a workhouse, asylum, or 

 prison than, a home. Not only are gates and bars 

 in such positions objectionable on the ground of 

 taste and sentiment, but likewise from the incon- 

 venience and danger they involve. Starting with 

 spirited horses, it is no easy matter to pull up almost 

 directly to open or close gates. So far as possible, 

 therefore, not only carriage-sweeps, but carriage- 

 roads should be kept free from such constant sources of 

 friction, hindrance, and .danger, as gates across them. 



