LANDSCAPE FORESTRY 227 



no reason exists why a slightly curved ride should not 

 possess them to an equal degree, and at the same time 

 conform more closely to the picturesque ideal than those 

 referred to above. It is not asserted that a perpetual curve 

 is necessarily more picturesque than a straight, for, as a 

 matter of fact, both straights and curves are required to give 

 roads and rides a natural and informal appearance. But 

 rides laid out in gentle curves are certainly preferable to 

 those which run entirely in straight lines, and which have 

 all their corners at right angles, and divide the wood into 

 perfect squares. An occasional straight length of 200 or 

 300 yards has often a good effect, especially on undulating 

 ground, where the rise and fall of the latter provides a 

 certain amount of variety, and breaks long perspective 

 lines in itself. But, otherwise, graceful curves are the best 

 features that rides in general can possess, although their 

 deviation from a straight line need not be great enough, to 

 add appreciably to their length, or to make awkward or 

 dangerous corners for the sportsman. 



Corners, again, should branch off at slightly obtuse or 

 acute angles, or those joining the main ones may even 

 divide when near a junction, and leave a three-cornered piece 

 of ground, which can be planted up with trees or shrubs of 

 an ornamental nature, or contain a picturesque group of 

 ordinary forest trees. Such corners, if not of too geometrical 

 a nature, may represent the most picturesque features of 

 a large wood, and enable the larger blocks of ground to be 

 worked more economically, without destroying the whole of 

 its ornamental features when clearing takes place. 



The width of ordinary rides varies from 10 to 20 

 feet, but it is not necessary, and it is certainly undesirable, 

 that this width should be absolutely uniform. Nothing, in 

 the writer's opinion, spoils woodland scenery so much as that 

 slavish maintenance of a long ride at one regular width 

 throughout. On wet, heavy ground this is often due to 

 the necessity for open drains on either side, and the raising 

 of the middle of the rides to keep it as dry as possible, but 

 the formal lines which may arise from this may be greatly 

 modified by allowing an occasional tree or group, or a few 

 bushes or shrubs to stand on the ride itself and break its 



