PLANS FOR LITTLE GARDENS 7 
opinion. The great drawhack to a curving walk in a small garden is 
that it is apt to become a wriggling walk, and then surely no one 
would be bold enough to call it graceful. Of all things to be avoided 
in the little garden is the wriggling walk—it wriggles in and wriggles 
out, never quite sure which way to turn, and finally, having covered 
and wasted a lot of valuable ground, comes to a full stop in front of 
its destination with a self-satisfied air that must surely disgust all 
right-minded gardeners. Once a walk begins to wriggle it is fore- 
doomed to become an eyesore, and nothing can save it. Therefore, 
unless you are quite sure where a graceful curve ends and a wriggle 
begins, I would advise you to leave curving walks to those who 
know how to deal with them and to keep strictly to walks that are 
straight. 
To Avoid Wriggling Walks.—The best recipe I know for the 
prevention of a wriggling path is, first, to make up one’s mind as to 
the exact point it has to reach and then to know exactly where it is 
to start. With these two points definitely settled, it should not 
prove a very difficult matter to make a curving walk which has 
grace yet does not wriggle. I freely admit that a curving walk 
which is graceful has more charm than a straight one, although the 
latter is unapproachable for dignity and quiet effect. But how 
many curving walks one sees that are not graceful! More often 
than not I think the reason of this might be traced to the fact that 
the walk got the better of the designer, who could have had no clear 
idea of the kind of curve he intended it to take. Then, naturally, 
the walk got out of hand. 
PLANS FOR LITTLE GARDENS 
Iv is wonderful what different results can be obtained with plots of 
similar size and shape. For while one person will lay it out in rows 
like a market garden, a second will devote nearly all to turf, and a 
third will cultivate fruit, flowers, and vegetables in the happiest 
association. 
The old fashioned method of laying out a long garden is 
shown by Fig. 1. Of course there are still many who prefer this 
style, but doubtless most will agree that the straightness of all the 
lines gives a monotonous, hard effect of which the eye soon wearies. 
If this plan be compared with Figs. 2 and 3 it will be apparent at 
once that straight lines dwarf the appearance of the whole, while 
circular lines tend to make it seem larger. Fig. 3, by its meandering 
. path, seems to increase the space even more than do the curves of 
Fig. 2, and what is suggested in a sketch like this proves far more 
noticeable in the planted garden. A Laurel hedge between lawn 
and vegetable garden may be found in many gardens, and nothing 
could be a worse error in planning. Except when looking down the 
side walks it appears as though the garden ended in that evergreen 
barrier; no pretty vistas are offered such as add so considerably to 
the charm of the little pleasure garden. 
