ROADS AND PATHS 



25 



definite goal, and move with long easy curves ; but after 

 that is said, we should pause and await the presentment 

 of all the factors that enter into the problem before de- 

 ciding upon the line to be taken. It is a wise man who 

 uses rules when he needs them, and is not slavishly con- 

 trolled by them. 



Plan on page 28 shows a village lot properly laid out 

 with straight lines, with not a curve among them, and 

 yet we have recommended the use of forms of the ellipse, 



STREET 



BRANCmNG ROADS IN LAEGE PLACE, ENTERING 

 AT RIGHT ANGLES TO HIGHWAY 



so it is evident that circumstances must always control 

 largely in any scheme or system of roads and paths. 



The value of the contour map becomes evident when 

 we undertake to arrange the road and walk system of 

 the smallest village lot. The lines as seen in plan on 

 page 20 represent circuit lines or curves of the surface 

 of the ground that exist at a uniform level, or, in more 

 scientific phrase, intersections of the surface of the 

 ground with a series of horizontal planes at equal dis- 

 tances apart. In the diagram of the map shown on page 



