68 MANUAL OF GARDENING 
The drives and walks should be direct. They should go 
where they appear to go, and should be practically the shortest 
distances between the points to be reached. Figure 66 illus- 
trates some of the problems connected with walks to the front 
door. A common type of walk is a, and it isa nuisance. The 
time that one loses in going around the cameo-set in the center 
would be sufficient, if conserved, to lengthen a man’s life by 
several months or a year. Such a device has no merit in art 
or convenience. Walk b is better, but still is not ideal, inas- 
much as it makes too much of a right-angled curve, and the 
pedestrian desires to cut across 
y the corner. Such a walk, also, 
O b usually extends too far beyond the 
corner of the house to make it ap- 
ff pear to be direct. It has the 
merit, however, of leaving the 
center of the lawn practically un- 
é r touched. The curve in walk d is 
a ordinarily unnecessary unless the 
ground is rolling. In small places, 
like this, it is better to have a 
straight walk directly from the 
sidewalk to the house. In fact, 
this is true in nearly all cases in which the lawn is not more 
than forty to seventy-five feet deep. Plan c is also inexcusable. 
A straight walk would answer every purpose better. Any 
walk that passes the house, and returns to it, e, is inexcusable 
unless it is necessary to make a very steep ascent. If most of 
the traveling is in one direction from the house, a walk like f 
may be the most direct and efficient. It is known as a direct 
curve, and is a compound of a concave and a convex curve. 
It is essential that any service walk or drive, however long, 
should be continuous in direction and design from end to end. 
Figure 67 illustrates along drive that contradicts this principle. 
66. Forms of front walks. 
