80 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENLN-G. 



the dwelling-house from the dust and publicity of 

 the public street or highway. 



The range between five hundred and a thousand 

 square yards will generally be found sufficient. It 

 is most important that there should be ample space, 

 without conveying impressions of excess ; besides, 

 as carriage-sweeps should be particularly well made 

 and kept, they are expensive luxuries if too large. 

 To curtail this expense, and also improve their 

 appearance in the opinion of some, circles, ellipses, 

 or squares, in the middle of carriage-sweeps, have 

 frequently been laid down 

 in turf, or planted with 

 trees and shrubs. Occa- 

 sionally, too, handsome 

 vases, fountains, or groups 

 of statuary, are placed in 

 the centre of the space ; all 

 these are out of place in 

 such positions, and seem 

 exposed to so much danger 

 as to mar one's enjojonent. 

 Statuary in such positions 

 is altogether too sugges- 

 tive of the Italian boys 

 with their trays of images 

 on their heads to be per- 

 missible. Better boldly 

 reduce the space to the 

 necessities of the family ; 

 or, if this is impossible, 

 give it all up to the use of 

 the horses and carriages, 

 with instructions that the 

 whole is to be run over 

 and kept in use for exercis- 

 ing the horses rather than 

 not at all. The pear-shaped 

 sweep (Fig. 2) is one of the 

 most common and con- 

 venient. It should always 

 he made of sufficient area 



to allow of a carriage and pair being driven easily 

 round it. In this form of sweep it matters com- 

 paratively little where the front door is placed, the 

 latter being almost equally easy of access from any 

 portion of the bend. Perhaps no form affords more 

 facile access and egress in less space than some one 

 of the many forms of the pear sweep. 



One most important point seems often overlooked 

 in the formation of carriage-sweeps ; that is, thorough 

 drainage below, and the prompt removal of surface 

 water. Nothing contributes so much to the latter 

 as a slight fall from the house to the further side of 

 the space. Sometimes they are made to fall towards 

 the centre — this is a most unsightly arrangement. 



Fig. 2.— Pear-shaped Sweep. 



Front Door 



Fig. 3.— Semi-ciectjlar Sweep. 



While the fall must be made efficient, it must on 

 no account be excessive. As carriage fronts look 

 best when apparently level, one inch or so to a yard, 

 or even two yards, will suffice to remove the sur- 

 face water if the surface is kept hard and smooth ; 

 and even when or where river or sea-shore shingle 

 is employed for surfacing carriage fronts, the water 

 will freely percolate through on such gentle inclina- 

 tions. Gratings may also be placed on the outer 

 edges, or wherever the surface is lowest, to receive 

 the surface water, as in Fig. 1. This matter of in- 

 clination to insure the 

 more thorough drainage 

 and consequent drj-ness 

 of carriage fronts is one 

 of the most \dtal import- 

 ance, as few things have 

 a more depressing effect 

 on the inmates, or con- 

 vey a more painful im- 

 pression of desertion and 

 dilapidation, than stag- 

 nant water on a carriage 

 front right up to the 

 front door. This is not 

 seldom the result of im- 

 perfect keeping, the allow- 

 ing of ruts to be formed, 

 and lea\'ing them for days 

 or weeks unraked and 

 unrolled; but proper 

 making would reduce such 

 discomforts and disfigui'e- 

 ments to a minimum. It 

 is also weU to delegate to 

 some man or boy the duty 

 of removing all manure or 

 other litter fi'om the car- 

 riage front once, or even 

 twice a day. The time 

 requii-ed is trifling ; but 

 the difference it makes in 

 tidiness, comfort, and good keeping is marvellous. 

 If dmnng these processes the ruts, when needful, are 

 also raked in, and a hand-roller run over them, the 

 perfect keeping of the carriage-sweep will be insured. 



Shape of Carriage-sweeps. — This is of less 

 importance than size ; squares or parallelograms 

 are generally the most teUing, close to the archi- 

 tectural lines of the house, or where the front is 

 raised higher than the surrounding grounds, which 

 is often the case, in order to bring it almost or alto- 

 gether to the level of li^ang-rooms, and the whole 

 is supported by a retaining wall. Any other form^ 

 however, may be chosen that proves the most con- 



