42 THE BOOK OF TOPIARY 
the work, the ground should be mapped out in six or 
eight large squares or quarters. “These squares need 
not be all of one uniform size, or of exactly the same 
shape. As a general rule, the person who is laying out 
the garden will have to be guided by circumstances as 
regards the shape and size of these divisions. 
There are so many different designs of garden archi- 
tecture that it is of very little use trying to describe any 
particular form. I would recommend, however, that the 
design chosen be as simple a one as possible. The 
flower-beds should be made of rather a large size, and 
afterwards may be planted with roses, and herbaceous 
and bedding plants; they will also serve the additional 
purpose of containing the clipped trees. I do not, of 
course, mean that all the beds should be of uniform size 
or shape; but the beds in which trees are to be planted 
should be from twenty-five to forty feet in length, and 
from five to seven feet wide. A bed of these dimensions 
will be found to answer all purposes fairly well, what- 
ever be the design adopted, and whatever shape may be 
given to the beds themselves. 
All the paths, with the exception of the main walks 
between the quarters or divisions, should be grass; and 
those main walks should have a substratum of some 
hard material and be covered on the surface with loose 
gravel. Some objection may be raised to grass walks | 
as being of an unserviceable nature for general garden 
work; but, if the main walks are made as suggested, 
the amount of work and trampling on the grass paths 
will be reduced to very small proportions, and even 
when necessary to do any heavy work over the latter, 
such as wheeling manure or other traffic of a similar 
nature, dry or frosty weather can usually be chosen as 
the most convenient moment. 
In making the flower-beds, box should always be used 
for edging; never stones or ornamental tiles, as any- 
