26 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS. 



20 the contour lines or intersections are three feet apart. 

 In working out the contours of the ground of a small 

 place, we may seem to be taking trouble that is hardly 

 necessary. But it is in reality a sure way of securing 

 the best and most certain results. When we find in this 

 way that a road cannot be carried a hundred feet on a 

 grade less than ten per cent, without filling in earth, we 

 will be in better shape to solve the road problem than 

 we were before we obtained the contour map. 



If we work out from the contour map parallel cross 

 sections of the proposed roads at diiferent points, and 

 plot these sections to a scale, in their true relative posi- 



OPEN CARRIAGE TURN ON MEDIUM-SIZED PLACE 



tions, or referred to the same level or datum line, it will 

 be easy to locate the axis of the roads and estimate the 

 quantities of excavation and embankment. In this way 

 it is often possible to learn that the fill and excavation 

 can be made exactly to balance each other, a fact it 

 would not be possible to learn in any other way. 



By taking such precautions to secure an intelligent 

 plan and estimate of the special details of a road sys- 

 tem, the owner of a village lot can always learn what 

 the entire undertaking will cost, and pursue his work in 

 a sensible, practical manner. Village lots have been, in 

 the author's experience, more often laid out with a lack 



