108 GARDENS OF ENGLAND 



my small bit of woodland, especially after some 

 years of watching and guiding in the way it should 

 go, with any other such piece that I can think of. 



" The main paths through this woodland space 

 are broad grassy ones kept mown ; they enable one 

 to get about with perfect ease among the trees, and 

 being fairly wide, about fifteen feet, they incite 

 one to a broad and rather large treatment of the 

 tree-groups near them. But there are smaller 

 paths about four feet wide that pass for the most 

 part through the more thickly wooded places. 

 They were made for a twofold purpose, firstly for 

 the sake of having paths where paths were wanted, 

 and secondly for obtaining the thin slice of black, 

 peaty earth, the only soil my ground can boast, 

 that overlies the great depths of yellow sand and 

 stony strata that go down for nearly two hundred 

 feet before we come to water. As the paths were 

 made, this precious earth was stored in heaps by 

 their sides, and these heaps have been a precious 

 reserve to draw upon ever since. In some places 

 this peaty surface is only an inch thick, though in 

 some hollow holes there may be as much as four 

 inches. Below that is an inch or two of loose 

 sand, partly silver sand; this we also save; then 

 comes hard yellowish sand and what is called the 



