LAYING OUT THE GARDEN 21 
each way a yard, which gives plenty of space for 
numbers or other designations. 
All borders should be not less than four feet in 
width; six is better, and they may run up to ten or 
twelve feet if there is access from both sides. Three 
feet is a good average width for a path, but if 
growth is eventually to fall over both sides allow 
another foot. 
Straight lines depend largely upon the amount 
of formality that is to enter into the plan. Some- 
times, however, they are considered as the means 
of saving work. Every variation from straight 
lines calls for more labor of maintenance, as well 
as construction, and the same is true of the mul- 
tiplicity of beds and borders in a layout. The 
time to think of both things is when the paper 
plan is taking shape. 
At this point, too, it should be borne in mind 
that laying out a garden does not necessarily im- 
ply that you are binding yourself to do all the work 
designated before the next summer has flown. As 
a matter of fact, in the case of any layout of size 
or one of complexity, the better way is to make only 
a start the first year. If, as is again and again the 
case, the start is a wrong one, it will be the more 
quickly remedied. 
Suppose the garden scheme to be a bordered 
path leading down to a parterre plot. Plant only 
the path border the first spring and let the re- 
mainder simmer until autumn—when it can be 
made ready for planting the following year. This 
